This session runs in 3 distinct parts:

• The Lead-in - including the Introduction and the exercise briefing
• The conflict simulation
• The Closure - including the reflections, debrief, summary and QnA

I’ve indicated the timings in the diagram above.

The Lead In

Introduction

In this section the facilitators will elicit from the group, situations in which they’ve faced conflict on their teams. From their own experience, facilitators will also introduce how they’ve seen conflict manifest itself on their teams.

Exercise Briefing

The facilitators will then introduce the simulation. This is an activity that invariably brings personal values and conflict to the forefront. The group is asked to make decisions that for some may be sensitive. The activity is deliberately “non-software-development”, to ensure that participants can focus on the behavioural aspects of meeting facilitation, constructive dialogue and participation than on the specifics of software development.

The Simulation

The simulation is based on the popular game of “Earthquake”. The workshop group is asked to take the role of a team of tour organisers who’ve taken a group to an ancient site on an exotic island. Six members of the group have gone down a narrow passage into a tomb. There’s been a mild earthquake, potentially dangerous for the group trapped below. No one’s hurt but the only entrance passage has collapsed and water is running into the tomb. There’s a possibility that ancient structure could give way or that someone may drown. A rescue team is on its way. They have given the organisers one instruction - they are to list the names of the trapped individuals in the order in which they’ll be pulled out so there’ll be no confusion and wasted time at the time of rescue. It may take some time to get each person out. There may not be sufficient time to rescue everyone. The organisers have the name of each tour member but only sketchy information beyond that.

(The participants will receive a deck of cards. Each card represents what we know about a particular group member. Here’s a sample ).

The challenge

The challenge (which we discuss after the activity, not before) is to come to a consensus when perspectives on an issue and the accompanying values are very different. Participants will find that in order to accomplish the task, they must be able to agree on a method for making the decision. We’ve often seen groups side-stepping the process because they feel they shouldn’t be making this kind of a decision at all! “How do we decide who lives or not?”. Others try random techniques — “lets draw names from a hat…” Some teams take it on themselves to make “responsible decisions”. Others try devising criteria to make the decision. These are all valuable to the discussion that follows, to know of ways in which different individuals and groups respond to conflict.

The Closure

There are 3 parts to the closure

Reflections

At this point all participants will spend a couple of minutes reflecting on the exercise and the ensuing discussion. They will look back at their own behaviours and actions that might have aided or hindered the group in its attempt to reach consensus. During the activity, each group will have one or more observers as well. The observers will also consolidate their notes on aiding and hindering behaviours. Post this, the teams will get together at a flip chart or whiteboard and consolidate their thoughts and any conclusions they reach as a consequence of their discussion.

Debrief

The facilitators will ask each team to call out the top two items that they discovered as a result of the team reflection/ discussion. This will happen in a round-robin format, so that every team can call out some thoughts/ tips. We’ll perhaps use stickies so that we can consolidate all other thoughts and put out either a blog post or an email for all the participants to benefit from the thinking of each group. (We’ll figure this part out if this talk gets selected).

Summary

Finally, the facilitators will call out some techniques they’ve used, some behaviour and facilitation patterns they’ve found useful in such situations and some books and resources that can help people discover the skills of interest based negotiation, effective collaboration techniques and tools that can help make dealing with conflict easier. Lastly, the facilitators will leave some time for QnA.

(P.S. We’ve run this session quite a few times within our own organisation, so we’re happy to answer any questions you may have about what usually goes on in this kind of workshop. Just let us know if you like us to clarify anything)