Complex Adaptive Systems Training: GroupMind

100 hands on a Ouija-board laser control can still blast and asteroid and clear it from your path!

Imagine trying to drive to work with 99 of your co-workers all steering from the back seat at the same time. "Not in MY CAR!" you protest. Well, Groupmind gives you a chance to experience the challenge without ruining your new sport-utility vehicle.

100 pilots, each equipped with a laptop computer and a joystick, must work together to fly a spacecraft through a course of hoops, while also dealing with flying asteroids, treacherous caverns, a space junkyard and some squirrelly surprises. All the pilots see the same view from the ship's flight deck projected on a large screen.

Each individual can choose between performing two tasks: navigating the ship or targeting and shooting the lasers. It's a complex world and success depends on the team working together somehow, but without any leader conducting the show or organizing the group.

Even complex navigational tasks like weaving between plasma jets in a binary star system were possible.

Groupmind has proven to be a blast for those who play, but there is a serious side to the game as well. Firsthand teamed up with Chaos Theory experts, The BIOS Group, to create Groupmind as an example of adaptive behavior in a complex system with decentralized control. Thus this activity has important relevance for managers in large organizations who lead projects and groups that are diverse and decentralized.

The benefits of the game are enhanced with a customized debriefing session after the exercise where participants analyze and share their experiences. Discussions focus on conflicts which arise from the challenges and obstacles within the environment which force fluid, adaptive behavior.

Groupmind took it's maiden corporate voyage in March 1999. Firsthand offers Groupmind to companies and organizations seeking to enhance team collaboration and productivity through an engaging and unique experience. Firsthand also offers organizations the option to customize the Groupmind activity to meet your specific training or presentation needs.