Decisions! Decisions!

A great activity on decision-making and reaching consensus with lots of twists and turns. Participants love it - the key question is: Can you bring the whole team along with you and make decisions you can all live with? Not easy when you are trying to achieve two contradictory objectives - keeping customers satisfied and maintaining high profits.

How it works

Teams represent the senior management of Extreme Holidays Ltd currently overseeing a trek in Borneo consisting of 17 clients and courier, Dirk Hanson. Dirk sends a series of faxes demanding decisions on problems he is facing. Teams must evaluate the situations and choose how to respond from five options. Spending money on a problem puts client morale up but cuts into profits. The chosen option is entered into a single computer (or laptop) and the consequences of the decision are printed off together with the holidaymakers’ morale – plus the next fax!

What it does

This activity does two things – first it allows teams to practice decision making procedures; second it allows them to balance profit against customer satisfaction. Not an easy balancing act! Can teams reach consensus? Just how reasonable is Dirk? Problems not dealt with efficiently come back to haunt the group. Finally a report is printed with customer comments, profit figures and a final score.

Learning benefits:

• Group decision making
• The value of individual contributions
• Profit/customer satisfaction balance
• Reaching agreement
• Expressing views
• Consensus

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