Crossing Valleys, Building Trusts - A Transition from 6,2,1 to 9,0,0

Here comes another cartoon as a case study for learning management lessons. It is an anonymous cartoon; its author states that it is not created by him and does not know who made it, but only used as a prop for creative learning. The picture is not simple because it invokes thinking and allows the management students to open up their thought process.

A picture speaks more than a 1000 words they say. Well, a video speaks even more. So, I will first share a video made by our senior batch (IM18) of when they went through this exercise in their POM class. Yes! These activities have been a legacy for Prof. Mandi and NITIE. 

              

Valley Crossing is an exciting simulation used to illustrate the concepts of effective team work and strategy. I will now share that cartoon to begin explaining what the exercise is all about.

The task appears fairly straight forward (it actually isn't). Three co-workers with the help of a plank need to crossover from one side to another of a bottomless pit. The width is greater than one standard walking step and less than two steps (this is a crucial dimension that makes the task feasible).

Following image depicts the strategy employed to accomplish the task:

Description of the key used:

Safe: Both legs on the ground

Half Risky: One leg on the ground and the other over the pit

Risky: Both legs over the pit

It is clear that there are in total 6 safe positions, 2 half risky and 1 risky position. And here the title gets justified. The role of a perfect manager is to make this activity in full safe mode i.e. 9 safe positions and no risky or half risky states.

As shown in the cartoon, it was a deep valley and three people have to cross the valley from left side of the valley to right side.  There is a fixed distance between two edges (left to right) of the valley. The distance between two edges of the valley when it was measured was little more than single step for one person to cross the valley, but less than two steps. Effectively, the distance between two edges of the valley is something like more than one step but less than two steps.  

Key Lessons learnt from the exercise

Trust

A key enabler of success in such exercises is the trust between the participants. In organizations, where teams are much bigger, and tasks much more complex, the TRUST between team members and the between various teams becomes a key deciding factor towards success.

Communication

Whenever there are teams involved in accomplishing a task the importance of communication is implicit. The effectiveness of communication between the various stakeholders defines the levels of success that are achieved. Measuring and continuously enhancing communication channels and processes is a key focus area for businesses today.

Support systems and strategies

An important focus area for organization, that this exercise very effectively illustrated, is the importance of robust support systems and strategies.

Process Enablers

Tasks and roles - Three people take variety of roles as they cross the valley. They change their roles in tandem with given accuracy.

Equal Task - Overall, each of the three persons were undertaking equal and similar work without any variation.  However, important point to be noted is that all though same and equal work is being done by the three people, the sequence of the same work varies among the same three persons. This variation in distribution of work has its own implications for the individuals.

“Excellence is a combination of three words - Effective Grand Surprise. Three people crossing the valley satisfy the three words Effective Grand Surprise.”

Epilogue:

This was one of the most memorable classes of my first module here at NITIE. The prime reason being the potential lessons that were embedded in an exercise are so basic. It is evident that when unmystified, management is learnt not through jargons and power point presentations but through such practical and engaging exercises.