BUSINESS TRAINING GAMES
ACTIVITIES & SIMULATIONS
IDEAS AND TRAINING
Business Training Games, Activities & Simulations
WHY GAMES AND ACTIVITIES WORK!
Engage participants and drive home vital learning points with Games and activities. Whether it’s repairing communication breakdowns, supervising under pressure, or finding an effective way to work as a team, our games reflect real on-the-job challenges. Used alone or in tandem with Assessments, they provide an open, comfortable forum to practice skills before taking them back to the workplace.
Experiential
Immerse participants in activities like planning, building,
and role-playing, lowering inhibitions and unleashing creativity.
Relevant
Universal workplace dilemmas and focus on key skill sets relate
to real-world training needs.
Results-oriented
Group discussions and action planning put learning into practical, ready-to-use terms.
For more training activities Click Here!
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Business Training Games, Activities & Business Simulations
Business Training Games, Activities and Business Simulations
22 Training Events for Developing Team Leaders - 3 Ring Binder
For many team leaders, leadership can seem like an intangible, unattainable skill — one that's best left to those at the top of the organization. But in reality, leadership takes place at many different levels, from strategic directors to team and project leaders. And the common denominator is a set of key recognizable skills that any leader can learn, practice, and develop.
22 Training Events for Developing Team Leaders — a series of exercises, simulations, games, and case studies — addresses the skills at the heart of improving the way team leaders guide their teams.
Uses for 22 Training Events
22 Training Events for Developing Team Leaders is flexible and may be adapted to meet your participants' specific training needs. Build the activities into any team leadership program, tie together several events for a mini training session, or use selected activities as stand-alone exercises.
This thought-provoking collection provides skill development in such critical areas as:
Initiating
Controlling
Evaluating
Delegating
Decision-Making
Communicating
Motivating
Product Contents
Activity index
Activity summaries
Time checklist (activities listed by time requirements)
Purpose statements (learning objectives)
Step-by-step facilitator guidelines
Reproducible participant materials
Task sheets (Debriefing questions)
Appendix for each activity (tips on when to use it and how
to help ensure its success, as well as pitfalls to watch out for)
Activities include:
How Good a Leader Are You?
Leadership Stick-Up
The New Team Leader
Leadership Style
Leadership in Your Own Organization
Front Page
Moving Day
Lights, Camera, Action!
Alaska!
The Rice Race
Business Consultants, Ltd.
Who Was at Fault?
The Do-It Yourself Builder
Feedback
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions!
Motivation in Practice
Influence Style
Problems with People
The Delegator
Delegate That Task
Crisis Plan
Reorganization
Item# PDDC-HRDQ0274AB
You may purchase 22 Training Events Activity Binder for $145.00.
Activity Collection - Purchase $145.00 (Item#PDDC-HRDQ2102E1SK)
Problem solving and decision making are two of the most challenging and complex, yet vitally important skills required of individuals and teams in organizations. New from well-known authors Dave Francis and Mike Woodcock, 25 Problem-Solving & Decision-Making Activities provides the tools to enhance these skills, using a variety of self-analysis assessments, survey instruments, structured experiences, and teaching resources.
Theory
Rooted in experiential principles and linked to real-world situations, the activity collection is based upon a systematic, 8-step method of problem solving and decision making known as TOSIDPAR:
Tuning in
Objective setting
Success measures
Information collection
Decision making
Planning
Action
Reviewing to improve
Uses for 25 Problem-Solving & Decision-Making Activities
The activities can be run independently or in a sequence, but are most beneficial as part of a more comprehensive training program.
What to Order/Product Contents
25 Problem-Solving & Decision-Making Activities includes:
Administrative guidelines
Background information about problem-solving and decision-making skill development
Description of an 8-step problem-solving and decision-making approach
Activity matrix
Learning objectives for each activity
Review questions for each activity
Reproducible participant materials
Convenient binder format
Item# PDDC-HRDQ1018AB
You may purchase 22 Training Events Activity Binder for $145.00.
Activity Collection - Purchase $145.00 (Item#PDDC-HRDQ1220AB)
Inject "Impro Energy" into your next training session with 58½ Ways to Improvise in Training. Defined as a current that runs between participants, you'll recognize it when you see participants who are clearly "in the moment," alert to whatever is going on in the here and now. At its best, "Impro Energy" creates Flow, when the quality of the learning experience is high and seemingly effortless.
58½ Ways to Improvise in Training is more than just simply a collection of icebreakers. The activities are designed to be useful on a number of different levels. You'll find that physical activities not only warm up the limbs, they also break down barriers between participants. Some activities build skills - often by increasing ways for participants to express themselves. And by using the questions provided in the debriefing section, you can always create a link between the activity and the learning experience on a metaphorical level.
The activities are quick (generally under 30 minutes each) and the well-organized binder makes facilitation a cinch. The activities are categorized by learning objective, and include detailed administrative guidelines, debriefing questions, and ideas for variation and development.
Whether you are running a training session, workshop, or meeting, 58½ Ways to Improvise in Training will create an environment of imagination and energy, laughter and commitment. There's no better way to engage participants in the learning process!
Item# PDDC-HRDQ1018AB
You may purchase 58½ Ways to Improvise in Training Activity Binder for $145.00.
All Play 2TM
The newest learning template from LearningWare is called AllPlay 2, the most engaging group assessment game ever! Featuring wireless keypads for each team, AllPlay 2 is a multi-player gameshow featuring multiple choice questions for everyone to answer. Even the gameshow host can use one to facilitate the game! Up to six teams can compete, and teams can have multiple members, with each player using a keypad to answer questions. Results are recorded by keypad, and team points accumulate based on how many people on a team answer questions correctly. Contestants think it's a game, but you know it's a test!
With energizing music, engaging sound effects, and eye-popping graphics, AllPlay is exciting, but don't let the fun fool you. It's designed from the ground up with learning in mind:
• Info screens for each question let you train while you play.
• Everyone is playing, so everyone is involved.
• You get immediate feedback after every question.
• After a game, you can analyze how each Player performed.
AllPlay is an easy-to-use template or "shell" which allows you to build games based on your own content. You can customize team names, question display order, point values, game sounds. You can even include media in your questions and Info screens incorporating pictures, audio clips, and video sequences. The game itself can be played in either of two modes. In Instructor-led Mode, a host guides the contestants through the game in a classroom setting. In Self-Administered Mode, the game runs by itself, allowing students to compete against one another without a gameshow host at all. No matter how you play it, AllPlay is the most engaging group assessment game ever!
System Requirements:
Pentium 2 or Macintosh PowerPC or better
Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP/ME or Macintosh OS
64 MB RAM; 20 MB hard drive
Color monitor & video card set to thousands of colors and 800x600 resolution
Sound Blaster compatible sound card if you want to hear sounds
LCD panel, projection system, or large screen TV (if working in a classroom setting)
Investment*
Please contact us about licensing configurations, multiple copy discounts and site licenses. Educational pricing for K-12 schools, Federal Government pricing available.
*GSA pricing available via Contract #GS 02F 0122N. Educational pricing for K-12 schools, other government & non-profit pricing also available.
Call 253-759-6639 for details.
Call for pricing and details - 253-759-6639.
Board Game - Purchase $199.00 (Item#PDDC-TTCCG)
Add Excitement to Your Training Programs
If your training programs lack interest and participant involvement, you may be sending the wrong message. Enhance your training programs with a more active, engaging and stimulating approach. Use "Challenge...a board game" to impart , reinforce and evaluate knowledge about your training topic.
Easily Implemented, Facilitated
"Challenge...a board game" is an easily facilitated, generic board game that can be used to enhance the learning of a variety of specific subjects in an involving, interactive way. "Customer Service" and "Sales Training" are currently available, with more to follow. You can easily customize the game to teach content or techniques unique to your organization.
"Challenge... a board game" can be played by up to 5 participants or teams. You can incorporate Challenge at any stage of your orientation session to provide a review, follow-up or reinforcement of the content that has been covered. And, the game format creates interest, involvement and healthy competition while it imparts information.
Challenge provides simple instructions and step-by-step guidance in setting up and conducting the game. It requires minimal supervision and can be structured to be conducted entirely by the participants. Building on Challenge's 150 standard Question Cards ("Customer Service" or "Sales Training") you can create additional questions about your organization, using the blank cards provided, to create a custom feel to your game.
Why Challenge Is Right For You:
- Easily implemented, facilitated (no expensive facilitator or expert required)
- Easy to use (simple instructions and step-by-step guidance)
- Cost effective (costs less than a film series or video)
- Tests knowledge and understanding of facts about your content
- Repeated use lowers the per-person training cost
- Highly interactive Non-threatening Minimal supervision
- Flexible (can be used by any group or industry)
- Enjoyable
- Entertaining
- Unpredictable
- Fun
- Improves retention
- Competitive
- Promotes discussion
- Comprehensive
Contents:
- Game board and box Game pieces
- Game question cards Program announcements
- Game rules and regulations Facilitator instructions
- Blank game cards to print out your own questions
Investment: $199.00
Challenge game board, facilitator's guide, games pieces, and your choice of one subject card deck: "Customer Service" or "Sales Training"
Additional Question Cards:
PDDC-TTC08557 -- 150 Subject Question Cards on "Customer Service" ......$50.00
PDDC-TTC08558 -- 150 Subject Question Cards on "Sales Training" .....$50.00
Purchase $199.00 (Customer Service)
You may purchase The Challenge Game - Customer Service for $199.00.
You may purchase Additional Questions Cards for The Challenge Game - Customer Service for $50.00.
You may purchase The Challenge Game - Sales Training for $199.00.
You may purchase Additional Questions Cards for The Challenge Game - Sales Training for $50.00.
You may purchase 150 Blank Customizable Cards for The Challenge Game - Sales Training for $50.00.
Business Simulation - Purchase $83.00 (Item#PDDC-HRDQ2102E1SK)
Objective - To facilitate the orientation of new employees
Intended For - Newly hired or transferred employees
Time Required - 1 hour
Product Format - Business Simulation
New employees generally arrive at an organization brimming with enthusiasm, energy, and a deep desire to prove themselves. What supervisors and colleagues do to reinforce and channel those positive feelings can make all the difference in the world between nurturing a long-term, highly productive member of the organization, and contributing to the early departure of an unhappy, possibly disillusioned employee.
Overview
One of the actions that supervisors and trainers can take to capitalize on the eagerness of new employees and to help facilitate their socialization into the organization is to provide them with learning tools to ease their introduction. Chart Your Start: The New Employee's Role in Orientation is a business simulation designed to be one of those tools. By having participants prioritize a list of vital acclimation actions, the simulation familiarizes new employees with actions they can take to become productive in their new environments as quickly as possible.
An important feature of this simulation is that it puts new employees at least partially in control of their own orientation experience. This yields two benefits. First, by giving new employees some control over their learning experience, it helps to lower their anxiety and build confidence – keys to getting new employees off to a positive start. Secondly, by taking some responsibility for their own orientation, new employees are practicing initiative and self-direction – both of which are crucial for success in today's workplace.
Development
Several recent trends are bringing the issues of employee orientation to the attention of people throughout organizations, including recruiters, trainers, supervisors, and team leaders:
After years of static, or decreasing employment, organizations are once again adding new members to their ranks.
As organizations move from full-term, permanent staffing strategies to short-term, contractual ones, there is higher velocity of workers moving in and out of organizations.
With the decentralization and outsourcing of many key human resources functions, organizations are increasingly asking line managers and team leaders to take primary or sole responsibility for orienting new employees.
Clearly, the potential number of people requiring orientation is increasing while the definition of who is responsible for orienting new employees is expanding. We perceived the need for a learning resource that was general enough to meet the needs of a diverse audience and be appropriate for use in a variety of organizational settings. Chart Your Start: The New Employee's Role in Orientation is our response to that need.
PDDC-HRDQ's BizSim Business Simulation Series
Chart Your Start is easy enough to be administered by a wide range of people, including supervisors, line managers, and team leaders. Employees can even self-administer the simulation. All of PDDC-HRDQ's Business Simulations are presented in a similar format. Once you become familiar with this simulation, you will need only minimal time to become comfortable with other simulations in the series.
Chart Your Start Starter Kit (Item#PDDC-HRDQ2102E1SK) $83.00
Chart Your Start Single (Item#PDDC-HRDQ) $8.00
Chart Your Start Participant Guide 5-Pack (Item#PDDC-HRDQ2102E1S05) $40.00
Chart Your Start Facilitator Guide (Item#PDDC-HRDQ2102E1FG) $43.00
You may purchase Chart Your Start Starter Kit for $83.00.
You may purchase Chart Your Start Single for $8.00.
You may purchase Chart Your Start Participant Guide 5-Pack for $40.00.
You may purchase Chart Your Start Facilitator Guide for $43.00.
Game - Purchase $225.00 (Item#PDDC-HRDQ1301E1KT)
Objective - Teach teams the concept and the value of cooperative competition
Intended For - Teams or individuals who work with and compete with others
Time Required - 1-1/2 to 3 hours
Each Game Trains - 8 teams of 2 - 6 players each
Product Format - Game
Is it really possible to practice the strategies of competition and cooperation at the same time? Yes! Around the world, production teams, research and development groups, and marketing teams all are benefiting from the power of cooperative-competition. Discover for yourself this fresh approach to individual, team, and organizational development with Common Currency: The Cooperative Competition Game.
Overview
What is cooperative-competition? When teams act with a competitive spirit that motivates them to put forth their best efforts while cooperating on the achievement of similar goals, you’ve got cooperative-competition. And it can give your organization an edge over the competition. Common Currency uses the concept of cooperative-competition among teams to stress the importance of group interdependence. To win this game, each group must rely on collaboration with others to exchange information and resources. Thus, teams gain an understanding of the beneficial nature of competitiveness as they strive to do their best, while maintaining good working relationships with other groups.
All group interactions involve both task (outcome) and relationship (process) skills. Common Currency is an excellent tool to address all aspects of teamwork and strategic planning, including leadership development, open communication, conflict resolution, principled negotiation, problem solving, managing change, and decision making.
How the game works
Teams representing fictional countries must cooperate in trading coins and information while competing for the most valuable combination of coins.
Participants will:
Learn the basic principles of cooperative-competition.
Discover how cooperative-competition helps teams and individuals achieve the greatest results.
Develop the team and interpersonal skills that drive cooperative-competition.
Understand how cooperative-competition benefits the entire organization.
Change Variation Game
The concept of change and how it affects the process of cooperative competition can be illustrated clearly with this variation. The basic game instructions remain the same; however, teams must deal with changes in some of the original information. The new Information Cards affect coin combinations, bonus points, and the total number of coins allowed in the final collection. At this time, the change variation is included with the basic Common Currency game at no charge.
When to use Common Currency
This game is a flexible, team-based activity that utilizes a wealth of interpersonal and group-process skills. We especially like using it as part of negotiating and strategic planning workshops. But it’s ideal for a wide array of training topics. The Facilitator Guide includes debriefs for training in team building, communication, negotiating, strategic planning, decision making, problem solving, resource sharing, and more. Also included is a separate change module, which demonstrates the value of cooperative-competition in times of change.
Development of the Game
The idea for Common Currency came about as the author was exploring the effects of competition on team building. She discovered that very few people were aware of the beneficial nature of competition within a collaborative environment, so she decided to create a game that would demonstrate those benefits.
The challenge was to create a game that utilized the spirit of cooperative competition while remaining flexible enough to meet a variety of training needs. The most important issue during development was the use of limited resources to create a heightened sense of competition, while utilizing a process that would require teams to collaborate with each other. This was accomplished in two ways: first, by providing an unequal distribution of coins, with a decreasing amount of coins as the values increased; and second, by formulating several data "bits" about the coins in the form of Information Cards, which players would need to access to determine game strategies. The cards were made in duplicate to incorporate the risk of negotiating for information that was already known.
To further limit these resources, the coins and cards were to be randomly distributed in small portions to each participating group. Therefore, teams would have diverse assortments of coin values and pieces of information. In an attempt to gain the most valuable coin collection, participants would need to cooperate within their own team as well as negotiate with other groups for information and coins. The resulting interactions would establish the basis for the debriefing topics.
What to Order
Order one Complete Game for up to 8 teams of 2-6 players each. For additional groups or players, order additional game kits. The Complete Game includes: color coins, information cards, identification flags and envelopes, scoring sheets, Facilitator Guide, and sturdy tote box.
Purchase $225.00
You may purchase Common Currency: The Cooperative Competition Game for $225.00.
Game - Purchase $435.00 (Item#PDDC-NLHRDQ)
Objective - To help individuals and teams improve communication
Intended For - For individuals at any level of the organization
Product Format - Game
What to Order -
Order one Complete Game (#PDDC-NLHRDQ) for up to 3 groups/teams of 4-8 participants each.
If you have more than 3 groups/teams, you will need to order extra game parts for each additional team (#PDDC-HRDQ0140E1GP).
Tackle the most challenging communication problems in today’s organizations with Communication Derailed — a realistic, absorbing game for all organizational levels. This game demonstrates the profound impact of poor communication — then teaches the skills needed to get communication back on track.
Overview
Communication lies at the heart of organizational work. Our information systems, our personnel systems, our tracking systems - in fact almost all organizational systems - are dependent on effective communication. With the advent of team-based and flatter organizations, communication has become even more important than it was before. But sorting out how communication impacts organizations can be difficult. Communication is so pervasive in organizational work that we often overlook it as a source of problems. In Communication Derailed, participants will discover the powerful impact of both ineffective and effective communication in contemporary organizations.
The communication problems that your participants are experiencing may vary. In Communication Derailed, we have developed activities around three of the most well documented communication problems in contemporary organizations.
Development
Many people have received training in basic interpersonal communication skills, including how to listen, how to give and receive feedback, and how to ask questions. Typical communication training experiences, however, fail to address contemporary communication problems. These basic communication skills have taken on a new dimension as organizational life has become more complicated, more information dependent, and more global. Through current research and our own experience with organizations, we have found that the importance of communication has increased as organizations have increased in complexity. As organizations have become more diffuse, communication has become the glue that holds them together.
In developing this training tool, what we really wanted was a way to show participants how their individual communication behaviors can profoundly impact organizational success. So, our first step was to design a learning experience that vividly demonstrates the effects of poor communication. Although instrument-based training can be experiential, we felt that an interactive game would provide a more intense experience. We needed to start the learning process with an eye-opening demonstration of the effects of bad communication behavior; because before you can show people a better way, they have to realize that the old way is flawed. Thus, in Communication Derailed, participants are purposely led into poor communication with damaging communication roles and less than ideal communication situations. You will find that most participants have had experiences similar to what they experience in the game, and the emotions and thoughts related to those experiences come out in the game.
But just demonstrating poor communication and its effects does not improve communication. So we designed Communication Derailed to allow participants to improve their communication behavior within the game and in doing so achieve success. Participants are given guidance in handling the unique communication problems arising in contemporary organizations. Once they understand how their communication can improve the situation, they have a chance to practice effective communication. This led us to a "poor communication - learning - effective communication" format for the game. Participants experience bad communication, learn how to communicate better, and then practice good communication. It is an entire learning experience. In the end, participants will be able to see how poor communication behavior damages organizations, and what they can personally do to get communication back on track.
Conducting the Game
The binder is set up so that each module is self-contained. The General Guidelines section provides the overall framework for the game, theoretical background, and general setup guidelines. The other tabbed sections are devoted to the modules, each with its own Facilitator Guidelines, Participant Materials, and Transparency Masters.
The modules can be run independently or in a series. The following chart details the content, number of participants, and time required for each module.
Module |
How
Communication
Gets Derailed |
Number
of Participants |
Time
Needed |
| Team |
Individual
problematic
communication behavior
coupled with varied
interpretations of the task |
Up to 3 teams of
4 - 7 participants |
2 hours
minimum |
| Lateral |
Conflicting
needs,
expectations, and
communication norms
break down among groups
and management |
2 or 4 teams
with 4 - 6 participants
per team |
2 hours
minimum |
Organizational
Stress |
Improper methods,
timing, and content
of information
intensifies as stress
increases |
Up to 3 teams of
5 - 7 participants |
2 hours
minimum |
In each module, participants work in groups to design and/or construct a toy out of malleable toy pieces. The duration of each module is about two to three hours. Each module follows the same general framework, which consists of five parts: poor communication, midpoint debrief, effective communication, final debrief, and action planning.
Poor Communication. Participants are given a task and are led to communicate poorly through situation parameters and/or specific role sheets.
Midpoint Debrief. After participants reach the point where they have effectively stopped making any progress (usually about fifteen minutes), the action is halted, and the facilitator conducts a mid-point debrief. In the mid-point debrief, participants are asked to analyze why communication was so poor in the first half of the module. Then they are given effective communication norms and told how they might apply those norms to their game situation.
Effective Communication. The action resumes with the same task, but participants are asked now to practice and respond to effective communication norms. Participants then complete the task.
Final Debrief. The facilitator debriefs the entire activity and asks those playing roles to share the contents of their role sheets with the rest of the group.
Action Planning. Finally, participants complete detailed action planning to apply what they have experienced and learned to their own work situations.
Each part of the module takes participants a step closer to communicating effectively within their own organization. The "poor communication - debrief - effective communication" format was chosen so that participants would have the opportunity to witness and relate to poor communication typical of current organizations, but also be trained in the skills to change that poor communication to effective communication.
The Communication Derailed Binder contains:
Facilitator Guidelines. This section includes the theoretical background and step-by-step administration guidelines. As you witness the participants' behavior in the poor and effective communication parts of the game, you may take note of how it relates to the research on contemporary communication in organizations. When you debrief the module, you may refer to the theoretical background section for more information. The step-by-step administration guidelines section details how to administer the module. It includes instructions about what to say, information on what participants receive, facilitator tips, and an outline of the steps. It also provides alternate instructions for introducing the game depending on whether you are running the module as a stand alone or in sequence with the other modules.
Reproducible Participant Materials. All participant materials in the binder are reproducible. A list of materials for each (including the number of photocopies to make of each page) is found behind the Participant Materials tab.
Reproducible Transparency Masters. Transparencies are used to guide the participants through the mid-point debrief.
What to Order
Order one Complete Game (#PDDC-NLHRDQ) for up to 3 groups/teams of 4-8 participants each. If you have more than 3 groups/teams, you will need to order extra game parts for each additional team (#PDDC-HRDQ0140E1GP).
Purchase $435.00
Extra Game Parts For One Team/$42 (#PDDC-HRDQ0140E1GP)
You may purchase Communication Derailed for $435.00.
You may purchase Communication Derailed Binder Only for $286.00.
You may purchase Communication Derailed Extra Game Parts for $42.00.
Case Studies - Purchase $145.00 (Item#PDDC-HRDQ1526AB)
Why spend your valuable time writing case studies? With Compact Cases, we’ve done the work for you! This customizable, reproducible collection features 44 succinct situations and role plays that cover a wide variety of training topics.
Topics include: Leadership, communication, negotiation, management development, team building, change management, conflict, self-managing teamwork, and more!
Overview
By definition, a compact case is a brief description of a typical organizational situation that requires change and improvement. For the purpose of this collection, the cases have been restricted to general problems faced in most organizations. For example, what are the leadership issues in an organization that need desperately to change in order to survive? What are the typical problems of communicating within a work group? How can employees with a variety of needs be motivated to perform their best for the team and the organization?
Compact Cases can help initiate the process of learning how to deal with a variety of organizational processes. By first reading about the situation and then sharing reactions to it, participants become aware of important issues and the various perspectives they already have about them. The value of the case can (and should) be stretched to include ways to improve a situation and action planning that commits participants to do something.
Compact Cases consists of 44 fully reproducible case studies in a 3-ring binder that cover a wide variety of training topics. Each case is a short hypothetical situation or scenario that poses a question or problem that participants must try to address or solve. In doing so, participants learn more about key training concepts. The binder is packaged with a CD-ROM containing all the participant handout materials so you can modify settings, dramatic details, or character names for any case in the collection.
Item# PDDC-HRDQ1526AB
You may purchase Compact Cases Binder & CD-ROM for $145.00.
Activities Binder - Purchase $145.00 (Item#PDDC-HRDQ0708AB)
Encourage your customer service representatives to answer, learn about, and reflect on the key questions that will help them to deliver exceptional service. Customer Service Activities for Training is a collection of 38 activities, assessments, role plays, and action plans that address 5 critical questions:
Who are our customers?
Why are they our customers?
What's my role in the service process?
What makes customers frustrated - or delighted?
What practical steps can I take to improve service?
Generic enough to use with any type of industry and successful with all types of customer service personnel, the exercises are automatically and completely relevant because participants use their own examples and experiences.
Customer Service Activities for Training is perfect for:
Customer service training sessions
Service team meetings
Team interventions to help celebrate a success or learn from a mistake.
Most of the activities are short, typically under 20 minutes. Neatly organized in a 3-ring binder, each activity includes detailed, easy-to-follow instructions, checklists, worksheets, reproducible participant handouts, and discussion points.
Item# PDDC-HRDQ0708AB
You may purchase Customer Service Activities for Training Binder for $145.00.
Business Simulation - Purchase $83.00 (Item#PDDC-HRDQ2103E1SK)
Objective - To help employees learn to work positively with change
Intended For - Any organizational member
Time Required - 1 hour
Product Format - Business Simulation
Clearly, employees need help in coping with organizational change. But realistically, that help can't – and we would argue shouldn't – come from someone else. Dealing With Change is a business simulation that helps employees learn how to assume personal responsibility for their own response to, and participation in, the events that surround organizational change.
Overview
It has been said that of all the corporate reengineering and cultural change projects started each year, 70 percent ultimately fail because of employee resistance (Reynolds, 1994). No wonder there's an abundance of literature prescribing the various methods, strategies, and steps that management can take to minimize this resistance – and to help generate employee commitment.
But is it realistic – or even fair – to assign management sole responsibility for generating enthusiasm and commitment throughout the ranks of the organization? We don't think so. Being human, managers are often just as stressed as employees by the rigors of change and don't always have the same time or the skills necessary to anticipate all of their employees' emotional and professional needs. The result? Too often, employees feel resentful, confused, fearful, or resistant – and the change effort stalls.
Put into practice, the lessons of Dealing With Change yield two benefits:
employees are better able to participate in the change
the change effort is enhanced
Development
In many organizations, employees who work in groups and teams are enjoying more decision-making and problem-solving power than ever before. It seems only fitting, then, that they be put in charge of their own personal and emotional reactions to organizational change.
We also realize that there are plenty of learning tools available that help people lead, support, or contribute to change, but none of these actions are possible unless people first take responsibility for managing their own personal reactions to change. Addressing the concerns of a "typical," mid-level employee overwhelmed by organizational change, Dealing With Change meets a real need in today's organizations. This simulation takes a focused, personal, and proactive approach to managing the emotional side of change.
PDDC-HRDQ's BizSim Business Simulations
Dealing With Change is flexible and generic enough to be used in a variety of training situations. All of PDDC-HRDQ's Business Simulations are presented in a similar format. Once you become familiar with this simulation, you will need only minimal time to become comfortable with other simulations in the series.
Dealing with Change Starter Kit (Item#PDDC-HRDQ2103E1SK) $83.00
Dealing with Change Single (Item#PDDC-HRDQ2103E1S01) $8.00
Dealing with Change Participant Booklet 5-Pack (Item#PDDC-HRDQ2103E1S05) $52.00
Dealing with Change Facilitator Guide (Item#PDDC-HRDQ2103E1FG) $43.00
You may purchase Dealing with Change Starter Kit for $83.00.
You may purchase Dealing with Change Single for $8.00.
You may purchase Dealing with Change Participant Booklet 5-Pack for $40.00.
You may purchase Dealing with Change Facilitator Guide for $43.00.
Deir el-Medina: An Exploration of Team Roles
Objective: To improve teamwork and define team member roles
Audience: Anyone involved in work groups or teams
Time Required: 1 hour
Each Game Trains: A maximum of 18 people or 3 teams of 6 people each
Groups often fail to find the solution to solvable problems because team members do not recognize the importance of their role, or they overlook the information that other members possess. Deir el-Medina is an engaging game designed to identify the various roles each team member plays during work processes and demonstrate how each role contributes to the group’s ability to accomplish goals, solve problems, and achieve success.
How Deir el-Medina works:
Based on factual records from the Egyptian collection and The British Museum in London, Deir el-Medina asks participants to work together to solve a problem based on a realistic scenario. Each team member is given particular facts that can help solve the team’s problem. Success is determined by how well participants perform their roles in the group and process the information each team member possesses.
In group situations, individuals tend to adopt characteristic roles that can be categorized into three different types: Task Roles, Maintenance Roles, and Self-Oriented Roles. Deir el-Medina explores how the dynamics of these roles impact the group.
Deir el-Medina Learning Outcomes:
Identify the various roles each person plays during work processes.
Understand how each role contributes to overall success of the group.
Experience the various task and interpersonal issues that occur when people undertake a project requiring joint problem solving and decision making.
Deir el-Medina is a fun and unique way to emphasize the importance of teamwork and team roles. This game is an excellent standalone activity, or can be played as part of a team-building training program.
The Facilitator Guide contains game overview and introduction; learning goals; facilitator guidelines; training outline; preparation checklist; observer instructions; debrief and discussion questions; training design options; and a CD-ROM containing a Microsoft® PowerPoint® presentation, participant handouts, and overhead transparency masters.
Deir el-Medina Card Game / $103.00 / Code #PDDC-HRDQ0279E1KT
Complete game includes: Facilitator Guide, 3 reusable decks of 26 game cards each, sturdy game box
Extra Set of Card Decks / $50.00 / Code #PDDC-HRDQ0279E1GP2
Three (3) decks of 26 cards, shrink-wrapped
You may purchase Deir el-Medina Card Game for $103.00.
You may purchase Deir el-Medina Card Game Extra Sets for $50.00
Game - Purchase $235.00 (Item#PDDC-HRDQ0590E2KT)
Objective - To demonstrate the core principles of mission, vision, and goal setting
Intended For - Groups and teams at all organizational levels
Time Required - 10 to 15 minutes per activity (2-1/2 to 4 hours for all activities)
Each Game Trains - 4 teams of 4 to 6 people at one time
Do Your Best is a set of activities that demonstrates the key principles of setting direction in an organization, group, or team. The short, five-to-fifteen minute activities provide an active, stimulating means of uncovering the crucial principles of setting mission, vision, and goals.
Overview
Do Your Best contains three modules - one for mission, one for vision, and one for goal setting. Each module contains six to seven activities in which participants use acrylic blocks to build walls. The facilitator can use any or all of the activities depending on time constraints and the particular needs for the training group. Each activity demonstrates a different direction-setting principle and can be run independently of the other activities. Each module, taken as a whole, builds to the point of having participants craft their own direction piece (vision, mission, or set of goals).
Development
The original Do Your Best exercise was developed in 1982 by Dr. Rollin Glaser as an experiential means of teaching well-researched goal-setting principles. The intent was to give participants a hands-on experience that was involving and fun yet demonstrated how goals should be set. The title Do Your Best was chosen as a tongue-in-cheek reminder of how not to set goals.
Over time, as direction setting became a major focus for organizations, it occurred to us that Do Your Best needed to be expanded and updated to include not just goal setting but the entire direction-setting process. After all, goals set in isolation, without the direction provided by missions and visions, could lead an organization or group astray.
The same involving aspects of Do Your Best that make it appropriate for teaching goal setting make it appropriate for teaching mission and vision construction. We found, as did others, that the principles of direction setting were not always exciting or easy to convey to participants. As Albrecht (1994) points out, crafting mission, vision, and goals can be frustrating, difficult, and dry. Our attempts to use standard lecture techniques were met with disengagement and sometimes confusion. We felt that Do Your Best would make the entire direction-setting process entertaining and informative because participants would discover the principles through participation in activities rather than through lecture.
Using acrylic blocks from the original Do Your Best, we developed brief wall-building activities, each of which demonstrated one direction-setting principle. For each module, we created a set of activities that could be used together or separately.
Do Your Best is composed of three modules:
Mission Module: Contains five activities, each demonstrating one of the five mission principles, plus one final activity that involves the group writing its own mission.
Vision Module: Contains five activities, each demonstrating one of the five vision principles, plus one final activity that involves the group writing its own vision.
Goal Setting Module: Contains six activities, each demonstrating one of the six goal-setting principles, plus one final activity that involves the group setting its own goals.
Each Do Your Best! kit contains:
A convenient 3-ring binder/tote
Reproducible participant materials for vision, mission, and goal-setting sections
Complete Facilitator Guide
Instructional transparency masters
4 boxes of 30 acrylic blocks each (1 box per team)
12 laminated "Additional Instructions" sheets
What to Order
Order one Complete Game (#PDDC-HRDQ0590E2KT) for 4 teams of 4-6 players each. For additional teams or players, order an Extra Game Pack (#PDDC-HRDQ0590E2GP1) which includes 1 box of 30 acrylic blocks and laminated game sheets.
Purchase $235.00
Do Your Best Extra Game Pack/$40.00 (#PDDC-HRDQ0590E2GP1)
You may purchase Do Your Best for $235.00.
You may purchase Do Your Best Extra Game Pack for $40.00.
Activities - Purchase $40.00 (Item#PDDC-HRDQ1508AB)
Your participants have just returned from lunch and their eyes are glazing over. Don’t despair — energize them! The icebreakers and energizers in this collection can be used at any point during any type of training session, workshop, or conference. Each activity is accompanied by a brief description, standard procedures, variations, and space for recording your ideas. They’re short, quick, sometimes physical, often competitive — and always fun!
Use Energizers To:
Promote readiness for learning. Participants do not learn well when they have low energy. Sluggishness can lead to a lack of attentiveness, and the phenomenon can be contagious with a group. Slouching in chairs, leaning on tables, and other nonverbal behaviors can be subliminally observed and copied by other group members. Energizers gets participants ready to engage your material.
Create excitement. You're excited about the content of your training event or conference. That does not mean that your participants are equally stimulated. Learning is exciting to children, but adults sometimes seem not to want the experience. Energizers can generate a positive expectation of upcoming training and conference events.
Overcome the effects of fatigue, drowsiness, and drag. Long days, hot rooms, difficult material - all these can put participants in a kind of mild stupor. Energizers can "wake them up" to go on with the program refreshed.
Develop a sense of shared fun. You can facilitate even the most serious deliberations with comic relief, as long as you keep a proper perspective on the proceedings. An occasional group laugh can make any session more lively.
Sample activities include:
Big Apple - creating the sounds of New York City
Putt Off - a golf-putting competition
Charades - acting out happenings, events, and processes
Imaginary Ball Game - inventing and playing a game without talking
Limericks - composing and sharing silly rhymes
These activities are not "throw-ins," randomly inserted into the proceedings. They are purposeful, and they need to be used strategically. There are three times when using energizers can greatly enhance the impact of training and conferences: just after a meal, after a refreshment break, and when a long session begins to drag. These are the most common times when participants are likely to be "de-energized," or less than optimally ready to go on with the program. You may actually reduce the impact of your session by overusing these activities or by using them at the wrong times.
Item# PDDC-HRDQ1508AB
You may purchase Energizers - Activity Book for $40.00.
Activity Collection - Purchase $145.00 (Item#PDDC-HRDQ0264AB)
The perfect follow-up to any personality-style training, Exploring Personal Styles (EPS) helps participants learn to accept and appreciate their differences. With over 30 activities ranging from light and easy-going to more in-depth, this Jungian-inspired collection generates compelling group discussions and insight into the unique qualities of each personality dimension.
Exploring Personal Styles offers workshop designs ranging from 1 to 5 hours in length plus suggestions to create a longer workshop. EPS is a versatile tool to meet training needs big and small. Extensive guidelines help you choose the activities and the format that are right for your audience.
Uses for Exploring Personal Styles
The Exploring Personal Styles collection is a powerful way to maximize learning about personality styles, particularly when used with the Personal Style Inventory. With a variety of workshop designs, the collection is designed to work within any timeframe and address any level of training need.
Participants will learn:
New ways of approaching and dealing with others
How to capitalize on their own and others' strengths
The real sources of their irritation with others' personalities
How to recognize and curb the temptation to judge or criticize
Product Contents:
Background information including goals of the workshops,
The Listening/Understanding Mode, Jungian typology, and more
Suggested workshop designs (1-hour, 2-hour, 3-hour, 4-hour, and 5-hour)
Guide to Selecting Activities
Pre-workshop preparation guidelines
Quick Reference Guide to the Activities
Purpose statements for each activity
Step-by-step facilitator guidelines
Reproducible participant handouts for discussion during sessions
Listing of 1-hour nonthreatening activities, activities requiring some disclosure,
and those requiring a comfortable, trusting group
Activities include:
Workshop Objectives
Icebreaker 1: Draw a Picture of Your Style
Icebreaker 2: Style Strengths Needed in My Position
Reviewing Scores and Styles
Listening/Understanding/and Explaining/Answering
How People with Different Styles React to Situations
How Managers with Different Styles React to Situations
Strengths and Weaknesses of Different Styles
How the Different Styles Cause Misunderstandings and Conflicts
(Long Version)
How the Different Styles Cause Misunderstandings and Conflicts
(Short Version)
Adapting to the Needs of Different Styles
Using the Strengths of People with Different Styles
Debriefing the Workshop
Comparing Strengths and Weaknesses in Daily Interactions
Using the Strengths of the Other Dimensions
Building a Team by Examining its Strengths and Weaknesses
Seeing Ourselves as Others See Us
Behave Yourself
Picture This
The Many Dimensions of My Job
The Many Sides of My Personality
Mutual Admiration Society
Famous People’s Styles Trivia
A Generic Discussion
A Family Portrait
A Family Affair
Creating the Perfect Team or Department #1
Creating the Perfect Team or Department #2
I Love a Good Mystery
I Wish I Could Be More…
If the Shoe Fits…
Voicing Some Reservations
I Wish I Weren’t So…
Item# PDDC-HRDQ0264AB
You may purchase Exploring Personal Styles Activity Collection for $145.00.
Collection of 40 Tools - Purchase $145.00 (Item#PDDC-HRDQ1222AB)
So you've been asked to facilitate a training session, but you don't know where to start? Reach for The Facilitator's Toolkit! This collection of over 40 tools, discussions, and case studies is the perfect resource for inexperienced facilitators or employees who are being asked to put together or facilitate a training session.
Straightforward and practical, The Facilitator's Toolkit is divided into 3 sections:
Part I: Facilitation
Part I answers the question "What is a Facilitator?" and identifies what facilitators are not. It also discusses the different styles available to facilitators as well as the basic skills necessary for effective facilitation - listening and questioning.
Part II: The Toolkit
The Toolkit contains over 40 techniques and approaches ("Tools") facilitators can use to put together a successful learning experience from start to finish. Part II includes Organizing Tools, Tools for Diagnosis and Discussion, Deciding Tools, Tools for Planning, and Tools to Deal with Problems and Sabotage. With experience, facilitators will be able to choose and adapt the Tools they need to meet their training objectives.
Part III: The Toolkit in Action
See how to put the toolkit into action to prepare for and design workshops in Part III. This section also includes three cases studies as examples of how the toolkit was used successfully.
Item# PDDC-HRDQ1222AB
You may purchase The Facilitator's Toolkit for $145.00.
Activity Collection - Purchase $145.00 (Item#PDDC-HRDQ1715AB)
The statistics are staggering. Recent reports estimate job stress will cost United States industry $300 billion annually, as assessed by absenteeism; diminished productivity; employee turnover; and direct medical, legal, and insurance fees. So why are employees so stressed? How can stress be managed — or even translated into something productive?
First Aid for Stress provides a starting point to help you better understand stress and identify solutions for individuals, teams, and the organization. The activities offer a variety of ways to recognize and measure stress, change perceptions and behaviors, and lend support in the workplace.
Uses for First Aid for Stress
This activity collection offers a well-rounded approach to stress management that can benefit individuals, teams, and organizations in any industry:
Part I is an extensive discussion about stress, including:
· An introduction of well-known models for understanding stress
· Key causes of stress within organizations and how to identify them
· Possible stress management solutions
· An approach to managing stress in the workplace that is based on an understanding
of stress, the workplace, and the people within it.
Part II consists of 34 activities that:
Measure the ongoing stress of individuals and groups
Provide coping strategies
Explore ways to prevent and avoid the situations that generate stress
Product Contents
In-depth background information on stress management
Purpose statement for each activity
Step-by-step facilitator guidelines
Summary of activities
List of figures and tables
Evaluation of Popular Stress Management Strategies
Reproducible participant materials
CD-ROM containing reproducible handouts
Activities include:
Observing Stressful Behavior
The TFB Model of Stress
Stress Arousal
Job Stress/Satisfaction
Stress Check
Demands and Coping Profile
Stress Management Interviewing
Coping Through Colors
Coping Through Collage
Emotional Reprocessing
Progressive Relaxation
Visual Focusing
Meditating to Manage Stress
Balanced Breathing
The Art of Reframing
The Sweet Smell of Success
Linguistic Imperatives
The Power of Self-Talk
The Mind-Body Stretch
Stress Rehearsal
Comeback Copy
Higher and Lower Self
Relationships and Responsibility
Cafeteria Coping
Team Coping
Overcoming Fear and Anxiety
Overcoming Anger
Coping Networks
Guiding Decisions
Releasing Resentment
Defending Yourself
Making Requests
Refusing Requests
“SMART” Stress Plans
Item# PDDC-HRDQ1715AB
You may purchase First Aid for Stress - Binder and CD-ROM for $145.00.
Game - Purchase $485.00 (Item#PDDC-HRDQ944E1KT)
Objective: To develop five skills needed for effective supervision
Audience: New or intermediate level supervisors
Time Required: 2 hours
Each Game Trains: 5 to 21 participants at one time
Send supervisors on a memorable exploration of supervisory skills with Flight from Savo, HRDQ’s exciting new hands-on adventure game. Supervisors learn first-hand the fundamental supervisory skills:
Guiding the Work
Organizing the Work
Developing Your Staff
Managing Performance
Managing Relations.
How the game works:
The scenario begins with a group of scientists, on an expedition to study volcanoes, barely escaping injury when their vintage World War II aircraft crashes on the remote island of Savo. The only way off the island is to construct a Stearman PT-13D plane from a cache of old parts they discover on the island.
The group member who is elected to be the supervisor guides the construction project using the five supervisory skills. A series of “Setbacks” and “Lucky Breaks” both complicates and facilitates the group’s work, and challenges the supervisor. The simulation ends when the reconstructed plane is deemed airworthy.
Flight from Savo Learning Outcomes:
Learn five fundamental supervisory skills
Practice the five skills in a “live” project
Receive direct feedback on skill strengths and weaknesses
Flight from Savo is geared toward supervisors with minimum to moderate experience, but it can also be used as a refresher for more seasoned supervisors. We recommend using it in conjunction with our best-selling learning instrument, the Supervisory Skills Questionnaire. Based on the same model, the Supervisory Skills Questionnaire pinpoints skill strengths and weaknesses. Flight from Savo then offers supervisors a fun and interactive way to practice, experience, and discuss the key skills.
The complete game includes everything you need to run three simultaneous groups of 5–7 participants each. Extra Game Packs for larger training groups and participant guide refills can be purchased separately as needed.
The comprehensive Facilitator Guide includes step-by-step facilitator guidelines, a copy of the Participant Guide, theoretical background, alternative training designs, frequently asked questions, a mood-setting soundtrack audio CD, a CD-ROM containing reproducible participant and overhead transparency masters, and more.
To Purchase the Complete Flight From Savo Game Kit - $485.00 - (Item#PDDC-HRDQ0944E1KT)
To Purchase the a Extra Flight From Savo Game Kit - $145.00 - (Item#PDDC-HRDQ0944E1GP) Includes: 7 participant guides, 1 set of game parts, 1 deck of "Lucky Break" cards, 1 deck of "Set Back" cards, 1 instruction card, and rubberized table mat.
To Purchase Flight From Savo Participant Guide Refill 5-Pack - $29.00 - (Item#PDDC-HRDQ0944E1S05)
You may purchase Complete Flight From Savo Game Kit for $485.00.
You may purchase the Extra Flight From Savo Game Kit for $145.00.
You may purchase Flight From Savo Game Refill Five Pack for $29.00.
Gameshow Pro 3TM
Gameshow Pro 3, the premier gameshow software, offers trainers and educators ultimate flexibility to customize a fun, interactive, total learning experience.
Why are games so popular? Because they work!
"Just like children, adults enjoy playing games. They like to laugh, and they remember information that is tied to strong emotions. When a game is introduced into a serious classroom environment, participants relax, they get excited, they compete and, most importantly, they remember the event and the information tied to it."
-- Dan Yaman, President of LearningWare, Inc.
Familiar Gameshow Formats
If you want to add exciting, informative, and professional-looking gameshows to your training programs, you'll love Gameshow Pro 3! Review multiple subjects and hundreds of questions with these easy-to-use game "shells." One program lets you create and save an unlimited number of games.
You get these game boards:
Categories
Classroom Feud
Tic-Tac-Toe
Is that Your Final Answer?
Optional game boards:
Wheel of Knowledge
Question Bowl
