The Survival Simulations Series allows teams that meet remotely to test their communications, interpersonal relations, and group problem-solving skills in a safe environment.  Before you invest the time and money to train a new employee, test your applicants for skills like:

• Communication Skills
• Interpersonal Skills
• Team Skills

This test provides the answers you need to make informed hiring and promotion decisions.

Want more information about this test?  Get it now.  Please REQUEST MORE INFO and we’ll reply promptly.

Not the perfect fit?  No problem.  We have many similar tests to choose from.  See alternatives in the TEAMWORK category section of our site.

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If you’re looking for a complete solution to your team development challenges, look no further than the Survival Simulations Series.  These high impact activities efficiently teach the behaviours and skills of successful group problem solving and decision making—in a safe, controlled environment.

The Survival Simulation Series is designed to teach teams how to improve problem solving through learning the interpersonal (people) and rational (task) skills and behaviors that lead to successful teamwork.  Each simulation presents an unfamiliar scenario, such as being stranded in the desert, and asks the team to rank various objects they might need for survival.  The exercises ensure that all team members have the same level of knowledge about the artificial situation (not very much!), so they must rely on their ability to set objectives, analyze alternative strategies, and then evaluate them, choosing a solution that will best meet the objective.  By having team members complete the exercise individually and then as a team, the difference between the individual solutions and the team’s solution can be identified. This becomes a real measure of the group’s ability to perform as a team.

The Survival Simulations Series are:

Versatile

The Survival Simulations Series can be used as an icebreaker at the beginning of a workshop, conference, seminar, or training program, or to establish healthy norms within a new work group. And they can be used with new or established teams to introduce members to the value of synergy or to gauge their synergistic problem-solving skills.

Interactive

Set in unfamiliar locations, our survival simulations allow group members to participate as equals, regardless of rank or position. By starting on an equal footing, participants have the opportunity to participate fully, focus on group processes, and analyze their contributions to the quality of the team’s performance.

Easy to implement

A Leader’s Guide is available for each of the  Survival Simulations. The Guide contains all of the information you’ll need to design and facilitate a successful program, including the experts’ decisions and rationale, scoring instructions, program design options, and tips for discussing the skills and processes that contribute to effective team performance.

Videos are also available for most of the simulations. The videos enable participants to “see” the situation settings and the available items, making the simulations more real for them. They also relieve you of the responsibility of having to be the “survival expert” by presenting the expert’s rank and rationale to participants.

How simulations work

Synergy occurs when the interactive efforts of two or more people have a greater impact than the sum of their independent efforts. Synergistic problem solving is achieved when groups maximize their use of available resources, knowledge, and task skills by exhibiting Constructive (as opposed to Defensive) interaction styles. It is further promoted when members approach problems in a rational, interpersonally supportive manner. The outcome is an effective solution—one that is both accepted by members and of higher quality than their individual solutions. As members work to complete the simulation, they begin to see their own roles in shaping the quality of the team’s performance. This understanding deepens as the simulation is scored and the impact of group processes on performance is discussed. Equipped with these insights, members can decide what they can do to enhance the team’s functioning—and get the results the team needs to succeed back at work.

 

Choose the Survival Simulation that’s right for you

 

Simulation	The Situation	The Challenge	Time
Desert Survival Situation™	It’s a hot August day and your plane has just crash‐landed in the Sonaran Desert in the southwestern United States.	Rank 15 items salvaged from the plane in the order of their importance to your team’s survival.	1.5 to 2.5 hours
Desert II Survival Situation™	Similar situation to the Desert Survival, Desert II requires teams to identify their four greatest problems, the best strategy, the importance of each of the 16 items, and their use.	Identify your four greatest problems and the best strategy for your survival. Then, decide on the criticality of and best use for 16 items salvaged from the crash.	2.5 to 3.5 hours
Bushfire Survival Situation™	Your group is on holiday in the Dandenong Ranges just east of Melbourne, Australia when you suddenly notice a bushfire approaching.	Rank 12 items in the order of their importance to your team’s survival.	1.5 to 2 hours
Reef Survival Situation™	On an excursion from Tahiti to Australia, your yacht strikes a coral reef and begins taking on water.	Rank 12 items salvaged from the yacht in the order of their importance to your team’s survival.	1.5 to 2 hours
Sea Survival Simulation™	You are on a 12 metre sailing yacht in the Caribbean Sea when suddenly, in the middle of the night the vessel begins to sink.	Rank ten survival strategies and then 15 salvaged items in order of their importance for your team’s survival.	2 – 3 hours
Tsunami™ Survival Simulation	Your group is enjoying a beach party on the coast in central Chile when a text message alerts that a tsunami is approaching.	Rank 8 items in the order of their importance to your team’s survival.	1 to 2 hours
Subarctic Survival Situation™	35 kilometres east of your intended destination, your plane crashes in the subarctic region of northern Québec/Newfoundland in early October.	Rank 15 items salvaged from the plane in the order of their importance to your team’s survival.	1.5 to 2.5 hours
Cascades Survival Situation™	On the way back from a weekend retreat, the helicopter carrying you and your group encounters a snow storm and crashes in a small clearing high in the Cascades Mountains.	Rank 12 items salvaged from the crash in the order of their importance to your team’s survival.	1 to 1.5 hours

Additional Survival Simulations Series Components

Leaders’ Guide – Each of the Survival Simulations offers a Leaders’ Guide that contains all the information you’ll need for a successful program. Each Guide includes expert’s decisions and rationale, scoring instructions, program designs, and tips for discussing the interpersonal and ration skills that lead to effective team performance.

Video Enhancements – The survival videos use authentic location footage. They bring the simulation “to life” and increase the level of enthusiasm for the participants. They also assist you in presenting important content in a logical sequence.

Observers’ Guide –  This guide allows an individual, while observing a group, to assess and record the group’s interpersonal and rational skills objectively. This information is provided after the groups discover their survival results. These insights help members assess their individual impact on the team’s performance.

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 Survival Simulation assessments are a registered trademark of Human Synergistics®, Inc.