Desert Survival Situation II

The Desert Survival Situation II helps teams to test their communications, interpersonal relations, and group problem-solving skills in a safe environment.

What is the Desert Survival Situation II?

The Desert Survival Situation, one of the original group process simulations, is also one of the most widely used training tools in the world. Developed by Dr. J. Clayton Lafferty, the Desert Survival Situation places participants in the Sonora Desert, on a hot August day, where their plane has just crash landed.

What It’s Best Used For

• Advanced Team-Building Exercises: Transitioning groups beyond standard game-like icebreakers into deep strategic planning, consensus building, and complex decision-making scenarios.
• Cultivating Corporate Team Synergy: Measuring and proving how effectively a group builds on the collective knowledge and diverse skills of its individual members.
• Kick-Offs for Strategic Planning Meetings: Serving as an impactful opening exercise for long-term group meetings or problem-solving sessions to establish clear communication rules upfront.
• Corporate Offsite Gatherings: Acting as an immersive interactive activity for extended team retreats, company offsites, or corporate events.
• Objective Behavioral Style Audits: Combining the core exercise with the optional Group Styles Inventory™ (GSI) to accurately map, rate, and optimize the exact behavioral styles a team uses to resolve friction under pressure.
• Foundational Safety and Survival Instruction: Equipping field-heavy industries or specialized corporate groups with fundamental survival training logic and emergency analysis skills.

How does the Desert Survival Situation II work?

Participants are challenged to identify the major problems that they face, select one basic strategy for survival, and prioritize 16 items based on decisions regarding their best use. Solutions to the Desert II Survival Situation are developed first on an individual basis and then by groups. Scores are generated by comparing individual and team answers to those provided by Alonzo W. Pond, M.A., former chief of the Desert Branch of the Arctic, Desert, Tropic Information Center of the Air Force University at Maxwell Air Force Base and author of several books on survival training. Comparisons between individual and team scores indicate whether teams were able to achieve synergy by fully using and building on the knowledge and skills of their members.

The Desert Survival Situation takes approximately 2½ to 3½ hours to complete, including scoring and debriefing.

Applications

The Desert Survival Situation II can be used as an icebreaker, central activity, pre-test/post-test, or follow-up activity for programs focusing on:

• Building new teams
• Team development
• Problem solving and decision making
• The simulation can also be used as:
• An icebreaker for an extended offsite gathering (particularly one that is being held in a cold climate)
• A kick-off to a group problem-solving meeting
• A tool for basic survival training

COMBINE SIMULATIONS WITH THE GROUP STYLES INVENTORY™

The use of the GSI is optional, but highly recommended.

Significantly enhance the key learnings of the simulation, by using the real time version of the Group Styles Inventory™.  The GSI enables teams to determine the styles they used to solve the problem. The GSI has been proven to be significantly linked to the team’s meeting quality.  We strongly advise the use of the Group Styles Inventory™ (GSI) as part of your team development program. The GSI allows team members to rate their teams’ attitudes and behaviours along the same twelve styles and three clusters as used in the LSI and OCI. The GSI guide provides strategies that elevates the program from a game to a valuable learning experience.

The Desert Survival Situation II assessment is a registered trademark of Human Synergistics®, Inc.