BizBatt has employed the FLL or Field Leadership Lab as an extremely successful means to accelerate the discovery of leader, team and execution issues and then as a useful means for the testing and observation of leader and team actions/reactions to addressing those issues.

What else have you seen work?

1. Okay- I will show you mine first if you show me yours next...here is an effective exercise that sets the foundation for follow on discussions and exercises and a "way of working" together on a go-forward basis...we call it the SCARLET and GOLD Exercise
SITUATION: Teamwork and the bias toward team accomplishment are sometimes contradictory. INTENT: Developmental Objectives: +Reinforce the concept of total team accomplishment +Test the trust required for longer term team success +Identify those things that are hindering trust, and thus cooperation, within the operational construct of the organization +Identify enablers of trust and cooperation
MISSION: Exercise Objectives: +Working within the team, accrue as many total points as possible +Exercise group decision making +Exercise team execution This game will exercise a team’s decision-making capability. It will test their focus on goals, their definition of the definition of success. The object of the game is to accrue as many total points as possible for the team. IMPORTANT CONCEPT: The TEAM is the entirety of the meeting participants, the TEAM will be broken into 4 GROUPS and will be referred to as such. The facilitator should not draw attention to the difference between the TEAM and the GROUP monikers. This will compromise the results of the exercise. This will be briefed to all four groups together. The REAL objective of the game is to accrue as many total team points (Hornet + Prowler + Cobra + Harrier) as possible. This may not (and probably won’t) be obvious to the participants. They will be inclined to earn as many group points as they can, while trying to defeat other groups (NOT REALIZING THAT THEY ARE ALL PART OF THE SAME TEAM). Briefly, their object is to win. Debrief points will be drawn out of this exercise, i.e.-“win, yes-but at what cost?” “What might be a scarlet card in your organization? What might be a gold one?” “You won, but did your team?”
PLAN: The execution of this exercise will be as such: 4 groups Name groups as such: Hornet, Harrier, Cobra, Prowler (or whatever makes sense) Place each group in opposing corners of a room Hornet will interact with Cobra Prowler will interact with Harrier Hornet Prowler SWAP AREA
Harrier Cobra Each group will start the game with 4 scarlet cards and 4 gold cards Each group will be given and envelope Each group will have 3 minutes to internally negotiate their swap The swap is executed in the swap area in the middle of the room with a card in the envelope...trade envelopes. This hides the card. Harrier will swap with Prowler Hornet will swap with Cobra There will be four swap opportunities Points will be associated with each swap, point value is listed below The first three swaps will be blind swaps (no negotiation with the other group), the cards are passed in the envelopes in the swap area The last swap will be a negotiated swap. (first in the swap area and then go back to group to discuss strategy, then make the swap) A scoreboard will be kept up to date for all to see the status of the groups’ points
Point values Give Receive Gold Gold +15 Gold Scarlet -15 Scarlet Gold +25 Scarlet Scarlet -25 Maximum total points possible for each group= +60 (each group give and receive gold 15x4=60) This can only be done if each group gives a gold card each time.
Example Swap # 1 Hornet gives scarlet, Cobra gives gold (Hornet +25/Cobra -15) Prowler gives gold, Harrier gives gold (Prowler +15/Harrier +15) 2 Ho g gold, Co g scarlet Ho -15/Co+25 Pr g Scarlet, Har g gold Pr +25/Har -15 3 Ho g gold, Co g gold Ho +15/Co +15 Pr g gold, Ha g Scarlet Pr -15/Ha +25 4 Ho g Scarlet, Co g Scarlet Ho -25/Co -25 Pr g gold, Ha g gold Pr +15/Ha +15 Hornet Cobra Prowler Harrier

1	+25	-15	+15	+15
2	-15	+25	+25	-15
3	+15	+15	-15	+25
4	-25	-25	+15	+15
T	0	0	+40	+40

Total = 80 of possible 240 Learning (low-hanging fruit from the debrief) points: +Yes, internally, your groups did well, Prowler and Harrier, but how did your colleague groups do? +What is the team? If one part of the company does well, and another sucks wind, who wins and who loses? +Can you identify the scarlet cards in your organization? (lots of facilitation encouraged here) +The gold cards? +What are you going to do differently on Monday AM to erase the scarlet cards in your company? +How will you increase your gold card opportunities?
LOGISTICS: Required equipment: +Flip chart, markers and easel +4 envelopes (manila preferred) +4 sets of cards (1 set= 4 scarlet/red cards, 4 gold/yellow cards)
EXTRAS:

Questions or other ideas and exercises?
SpartanTrainer

2. LESSONS LEARNED SYSTEM
Here is a real-world (unclassified) application of a Lessons Learned System (central repository of debriefs/After Action Reports) that makes so much sense.

In this case a MCCLL (Marine Corps Center for Lessons Learned) "newsletter" called a "QUICKLOOK REPORT" to spread the latest lessons learned. As you can tell, the lessons learned below are not terribly technical, groundbreaking or even seemingly profound, but the value in the PUSHING of this information out to those who may use it is key. This reminds the end-users of the resource's existence and that it is continuously updated. It gives credence to the data that has been input, thus inspiring the participation of more contributors and users...it gives depth. In crimson below is the report...very short, it is truncated for illustration's sake:
MARINE CORPS CENTER FOR LESSONS LEARNED (MCCLL) QUICK LOOK
UNCLAS
Among key recommendations highlighted in a MCCLL Quick Look report: . The IRR should have access to the same types of equipment in sufficient
numbers for training purposes that they will employ in theater.
. Driver training should address conditions similar to those encountered in
theater.
. Combat weapons handling, crew served weapons, and Combat Lifesaver
training should be available for all Marines and attached Sailors.
. Mobilizing reserves should receive the same ammunition and logistical
support as active duty units.
. Last minute personnel joins (for both active and reserve units during and
after training) detract from the effectiveness of the training and the
cohesiveness of the unit. Stabilization of the unit should occur prior to
commencing pre-deployment training.
. It is especially important that IRRs filling billets at the battalion
level be assigned to their deployment billets as soon as possible after
arrival at the gaining force command to maximize the benefits of
pre-deployment training events.
UNCLAS
My thought? Perpetuate the mindset of process optimization with your own LLS. Proactively create an LLS, and then creatively, actively PUSH the lessons-learned back to the business keeping them aware, well-honed and read-in to what is working and what is not.
sf, Boom

3. MANAGING A SESSION: TRAINING NOTES
I have found that having a participants' "mission briefing card" prepared and distributed for meetings and training sessions helps to keep the meeting on track and gives it an air of "no-nonsense." If designed properly, it also provides a handy resource for notes and is easily stored in a project folder. The briefing card can easily be constructed via one 8.5x11 cardstock sheet folded in half (like a booklet). Now you automatically have 4 sheets.

Included should be the mission's (meeting/training) objectives, expectations, quick "code of conduct", administrative considerations, session agenda, and a very basic breakdown (with plenty of blank space for notes) of each major component of the meeting. There should also be a place to record DEBRIEF or AFTER ACTION items. This handy and now easily personalized micro-notebook is a perfect take away for training and meetings.

SpartanTrainer

4. SME's
The old saw: "the best way to learn is to teach" is true. Many things for employees (all members of a team) to learn.

Assign SME's (subject matter experts) within the organization. Haveeach SME give a presentation once/quarter at a training event in order to share their knowledge with the rest of the team/organization. Many ways to do this. The important thing is that the SME develop their credibility and presentation skills and knowledge (not necessarily in that order) and that they make the entire group collectively smarter; tighter as a team all the while. The training office need not be the holder of all learning...the training office must make sure that all learn and develop and there are MANY dimensions to develop, other than product or process knowledge.
Checkerboard's $0.02.

5.STORY/Vignette from QUALITY DIGEST October 2007 issue. By Carey Wilson.

On July, 2007, 60 newly hired analysts and associates from the international bank, BNP Paribas, kicked off a five-week leadership course designed to train businesspeople to execute actions with improved discipline and to develop their personal style of empowered leadership. Led by Business Battlefield, a leadership-training and consultancy company made up of former U.S. Marines, the “Analysts and Associates Training Program” or “AATP 2007” teaches leadership by way of military-style field maneuvers

One scenario-driven exercise was the “field leadership lab.” BNPP Green and White teams were given an open-ended problem: “Using only your collective wits and equipment provided by BizBatt and requested by you through your staff planning exercise, you will locate and retrieve material lost in New Jersey’s Wawayanda State Park in 18-20 satellite-
identified areas. Solve any problems you encounter along the way, stay together as a team, and utilize all team members and their skills. And do it faster than your competing AATP (White/Green) company.”

Because the teams were given a limited budget, they were forced to prioritize, improvise, and innovate to create an executable plan. By the end of their orientation conference, both Green and White teams had devised specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound plans.

The next day company leaders assembled their teams and began the mission. Due to the rugged, heavily wooded terrain, radio communication was challenging. Alternative means of communication were required as teams endeavored to work together in a situation where their goals were aligned and urgent: The more efficiently they could accomplish their individual tasks and incorporate them into the team’s execution, the quicker they would get the job done, and the less time they would have to spend hot, tired, and sweaty.

At the end of their field training, each AATP participant had navigated more than four miles of tough terrain while reacting to unpredictable situations. To tie it all together, the Business Battlefield Marines demonstrated the usefulness of debriefing to accelerate learning for all participants, and to highlight the real-world application of the exercise’s lessons.

“Our goal was to help train BNP’s future leaders by identifying and accentuating leadership and teamwork opportunities. Typically, we accomplish this by delivering team decision-making exercises, open-forum discussions, and energetic competitions. And then we debrief the activity to help them close the loop,” explains Matt Daniel, Business Battlefield’s founder and president.

Boom sends.