The Leadership Game

• Presenters: Yves Hanoulle & Els Ryssen
• Type: Game
• Duration: 180 minutes
• Audience: This workshop is for everybody who wants to learn how leadership can influence his projects or life. Even those who aren't leaders in the game will learn how they can feel about different kinds of leadership. It can be useful to users, project managers, developers, testers: anyone on the project.

Abstract

What do you at expect from a leader?

• That he goes away?
• That she takes you strong and firmly by the hand?
• That he enforces the team spirit?

In this three-hour game, together with you, we try to find an answer to these questions. By experiencing this situation on our playground, we hope to give you a better insight in:

• The differences in result.
• Personal taste
• Group dynamic effects

We will give special attention to the link between these three themes and the daily practice of project teams. For this, after the game, we will explain three models,linking them to books, for those who want to learn more.

Expected benefits of participating

This session lets you see what influence the leaderships style has on your team. It lets you reflect on the leadership style you wish to use or/and wants to get.

What does the session organizer hope to learn?

For us reorganizing this session, will bring us one session closer in the integration between the two worlds we both live in.

Process and timetable

Introduction 20 min

First round: strong visionary leaders 30 min
The team gets the order to make a project. The two leaders direct strongly and take all the decisions.
Feedback: 10 min
break: 10 min

second round: without a leader 20 min
In this assignment the (same) group has to build another project, but no leader is appointed. The organizers make sure no-one will take leadership.
Feedback: 10 min

Third round: process leaders 30 min
Again a (detailed) project has to be made. This time we have two leaders who will guide the process, not the product. The leaders will get a cheat sheet with tips to look for. The organizers help him, when he would go for the product. Feedback: 10 min

General feedback: 40 min.
First we ask the leaders to share their experiences. After that we ask the observers to tell us what they have seen. And finally the other participants can take the word.

We selected these 3 kinds of leaderships because these are the most extreme cases. A real situational leader would use the 2 leadership styles in different situations. By playing it so extremely it becomes a lot clearer for the participants.