Team Survival Simulations for Workplace Team Building
Bradford R. GlaserWhen the only way to survive is to work together, teamwork is essential. Of course, we’re not suggesting you plop your employees on a deserted island for your next scheduled team-building exercise. Instead, simulations can do wonders to help you build a high-functioning team.
In this post, we’ll take a look at the benefits of these team-building activities for work, and we’ll explore some of the best team-building simulations from HRDQ’s Team Adventure Series that you can use to get started.
Table of Contents
- The Benefits of Team Building Simulations
- Team Simulation Activities
- Master Conflict Management with Whiteout
- Build Synergy with Beyond the Valley of the Kings
- Develop Group Process Skills with Vacation in the Keys
- New Teams Can Break the Ice with Marooned
- Collaborate Under Pressure with Black Bear
- Tips for Facilitating Team Survival Simulations
- Keep Learning with HRDQ
The Benefits of Team Building Simulations
Team-building activities for work, such as survival simulations, are incredibly powerful because they provide an interactive, engaging way for team members to develop essential group process skills, such as communication, collaboration, critical thinking, decision-making, planning, and more.
Additionally, team simulations can boost morale by providing engaging scenarios that require collaboration, helping team members break down barriers and build camaraderie. These simulations also identify specific areas for growth and reveal how team members interact, giving organizations clear insights to tailor training programs to team needs.
Team Simulation Activities
HRDQ offers a collection of team-building activities for work. Our survival simulations are engaging and help teams practice real skills that they’ll use each day. Explore our options and pick your next team activity!
Master Conflict Management with Whiteout
Whiteout is a great team-building survival scenario that emphasizes conflict management and teamwork. This activity is perfect for teams experiencing conflict.
On a dog-sled trip in Alaska, one sled falls through the ice. The rest must work together to save those involved. This two-hour session covers synergy and develops key skills like decision-making and problem-solving.
Build Synergy with Beyond the Valley of the Kings
Teamwork matters both in the Arctic’s cold and the Sahara’s heat, where this simulation takes your team.
In Beyond the Valley of the Kings, participants are stranded in the desert after a hot-air balloon tour crashes in Egypt. Teams must work together to survive by ranking six action strategies and 10 duffle items – first individually, then as a team. Participants compare their team scores with the best individual score and the expert rationale to determine whether synergy was achieved.
Develop Group Process Skills with Vacation in the Keys
In Vacation in the Keys, your team faces a life-or-death challenge: decide which 15 salvaged items will help you survive.
Disaster strikes a group of friends on a charter trip to the Florida Keys when their 43-foot sport-fishing boat suddenly explodes. In the blink of an eye, everyone and everything is thrown overboard.
Participants rank the 15 salvaged items first individually, then again as a team. By the end of the simulation, participants will uncover how to develop group problem-solving skills using a five-step process, learn the three elements of synergy, and understand critical interpersonal skills.
New Teams Can Break the Ice with Marooned
Marooned presents a classic team-building scenario. Participants are stranded on an island when they don’t make it back on the cruise ship on time, so they must collaborate to survive and escape. Marooned is an excellent training tool for any team, particularly for newly formed teams, groups assigned to a new project, or as an icebreaker game.
In this simulation, participants are challenged to rank four immediate response alternatives and 10 daypack items in order of priority – first individually and then as a team. Participants compare their team scores with the best individual score and the expert rationale to determine whether synergy was achieved.
The exercise introduces synergy’s three elements, a five-step problem-solving process, and four group maintenance skills.
Collaborate Under Pressure with Black Bear
Following a bear attack, Black Bear teams must work together to save their scout leader using items from a backpack. This will require quick, strategic planning and cooperation under pressure.
By ranking items, the group is asked to make a crucial strategy decision: "What is the most effective means of ensuring the victim’s survival?" The backpack items are then evaluated for their usefulness to the group as it carries out its plan. The team must then select the best strategy to improve the scout leader’s chances for survival.
Tips for Facilitating Team Survival Simulations
As a facilitator, your key task is to foster open discussion – before and after – about expectations and experiences. Encourage team members to assess their roles, discuss what aspects of teamwork worked, and reflect on successes.
A follow-up discussion helps articulate individual contributions, illuminate how teamwork helped, and offer specific prescriptions for improving collaboration moving forward. Immersive simulations like these are excellent ways to truly dive in and experience what does and doesn’t work for your team first-hand.
Keep Learning with HRDQ
We have even more to offer! Take a look at our complete collection of the Team Adventure Series for more simulations that will put your team to the test. And check out our other team-building activities for work to help your people develop the skills they need to succeed.
