Rainforest Game 2nd Edition Complete Kit

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Working within teams is challenging enough. But what happens when cross-functional or virtual teams are asked to collaborate with one another? Rainforest is a hands-on game that allows teams to experience the challenge of working across boundaries – and what it means to work better together.

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$413.25

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Additional information about Rainforest Game 2nd Edition Complete Kit

Today's worker can be situated almost anywhere - in a satellite office, at home, or on-site in a client environment. In fact, the number of U.S. employees who claim to work remotely is four times greater today than in 1995 (Jones 2015). However, as the popularity of a dispersed workforce increases, so does the need to acquire and develop the skills necessary to navigate its unique challenges. Companies need to be equipped to cross geographical boundaries in order to share resources and ideas, to achieve success in today's global economy.

The Rainforest Game is designed to close that knowledge gap by giving individuals an opportunity to experience virtual leadership and collaboration across boundaries in an insightful, realistic hands-on simulation.

Each complete game includes materials for five teams of 3-5 participants working simultaneously.

The kit includes:

1 Facilitator Guide
Thumb Drive with PowerPoint presentation and other digital assets
25 Participant Workbooks
5 puzzle sets (one per team)
1 set of 5 laminated instruction cards (one per team)
1 set of team ID sticker sheets (sufficient for up to 25 participants)

For smaller groups, it is possible to play with four teams of three participants. (It is also possible to run multiple games at the same time; for more participants, order the Extra Game Pack.) All parts except for the participant guides and stickers are reusable.

The Rainforest Game is an insightful, realistic hands-on simulation designed to provide individuals with the opportunity to experience communicating and collaborating across both internal and external boundaries that simulate working in a remote and dispersed team.

As participants work both within and across groups to complete the simulation, they must face their assumptions about intra- and inter-team dynamics. In doing so, participants build awareness of the importance of cooperation, the challenges inherent in inter-team communications, and the significance of creating and sustaining effective partnerships.

How It Works

During game play, participants assume the role of artists - brought together from all over the globe by The Rainforest Collective (an organization promoting endangered rainforest awareness). Their mission is to assemble a mosaic, made of pieces that they and other design studios have created, which is to be displayed at a celebratory art installation for The Rainforest Collective's annual conference. Participants are organized into subgroups, but since no group has all of the required pieces, they must venture across boundaries and work collaboratively to achieve success.

As participants work both within and outside of their assigned group to complete the activity, they face personal assumptions about intra- and inter-team dynamics. In doing so, they build awareness of the challenges inherent in a virtual environment and how to overcome them.

During the debrief discussion, participants are introduced to the four core skills for working effectively across boundaries: reaching out, sharing information, exploring alternatives, and making it happen. Together these skills build lasting and powerful relationships that enable individuals and groups to achieve common goals. An action plan at the close of the workshop allows participants to identify what they will do differently in the future to build partnerships, enhance inter-team communication, and enable greater collaboration across boundaries.

Uses and Applications

Perfect as a stand-alone module or in conjunction with a larger organizational learning process, The Rainforest Game (Second Edition) is highly adaptable and flexible. The facilitator can focus discussion on several additional areas that may be relevant for the organization, including:

Communication
Problem Solving
Teamwork
Innovation
Leadership

What's changed in the new edition of The Rainforest Game?

The scenario in this revised edition has been changed from its original focus on collaboration at work to one that looks at the growing practice of collaboration and leadership in virtual and dispersed teams.
The game now includes more expansive insight into how the simulation experience aids the understanding and development of collaboration, communication, and relationship-building skills within the context of virtual teams.
The extensively reworked and expanded PowerPoint presentation not only provides more insight into the four-phase model for working collaboratively across boundaries, but also provides much more support for novice or inexperienced facilitators.
The debrief discussion now offers more activities to help deepen the learning experience and prepare learners to develop their individual action plans.

Learning Outcomes

Work more effectively across functions, geography, and distance
Work through communication barriers
Creatively solve complex problems
Examine assumptions about how people and functions work together
Apply skills for working across boundaries all while building relationships and achieving common goals