Red/Green
WHY AND WHEN TO USE
Red/Green is a communication exercise designed to emphasise the importance of a one
team approach. As organisations grow, so to do their complexity; the number of
employees; the number of teams and number of functions needed. Added to this is the
challenge of distance. Increasingly organisations and their teams are being separated
by geographic location. Sometimes we lose sight that we are ‘one team’ working
towards ‘one goal’. Red/Green can serve as a powerful reminder that as an
organisation we seek win/wins and collaboration. Effective communication and sharing
information is vital to achieve success on an organisational, team and individual level.
Before using this exercise live, we strongly recommend you trial it first. This will give you
an understanding of the likely outputs, the time needed and how you need to frame it. It
is always useful to think about:
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What is your purpose for this intervention?
What are you expecting as an output?
What are you going to do if you get something different?
How will you review the experience and extract the learning from people’s
experience?
What are you, the team and its members going to do with the learning?
Do you and the participants have the skills to review/debrief and give each other
feedback?
Red/Green can be divisive and with some teams it can bring out a high level of
competition and can result in conflict. Conflict is no bad thing, but do consider if you and
the people involved have the knowledge and skills to work through it.
If you would like a facilitated event on communication, team building and development or
conflict management, do get in touch.
PHYSICAL SETTING
Enough space for the two groups to meet separately without overhearing or disrupting
each other. A third, separate, location where team representatives can meet in round 4,
9 and 10.
www.developing‐potential.co.uk 0800 043 5730 PROCESS
1.
Divide the ‘team’ into two sub-groups – Team ‘A’, and Team ‘B’. Seat the groups
apart from each other and ask the teams not to interact with the other during the
exercise except when instructed to do so. Separate rooms are ideal (simulating
remote geographical teams in common business).
2.
Draw a tally chart on a piece of flip that details 10 rounds with separate points
columns for Team ‘A’ and Team ‘B’.. Give members time to study the directions
and scoring and ask if there are any questions.
Tell the group as a whole that the objective is ‘”for the team to score as many
points as possible”. Explain that no one will probably understand clearly how the
game is played until the activity proceeds.
3.
Round 1 begins. Each team is given five minutes to decide on a colour. When
the time is up, each team passes its decision to the facilitator. The scoring is
computed on the Facilitator’s flip chart and the score earned for that round is
presented to the team.
4.
Rounds 2 and 3 are conducted in a similar manner to Round 1, but with three
minutes for discussion in each round. The scoring for each round is entered on a
Principles Tally Sheet and the scores passed back to each team member.
5.
For Round 4, each team sends one representative to a neutral place to negotiate
'for three minutes. Then the representatives return to their teams. After three
minutes, each team passes its decision to the facilitator. The outcome of the
round is doubled and the score is computed and passed to each team member.
6.
Rounds 5 to 8 proceed in the same manner as the first three rounds, with three
minutes for discussion in each. The score is computed after each round and
passed to each team member.
7.
In Round 9, another special round is conducted like Round 4, the outcome is
multiplied by 5. The score is passed to each team member.
8.
Round 10 is conducted in the same way as Round 9, except the outcomes are
multiplied by 10.
9.
The entire' group meets to tally the final score and to discuss who won and why.
The following questions should be considered:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
How do you feel about the other members of your own team?
How could you have achieved a higher score?
What lessons are there for management/teams?
What is required for successful negotiating?
How is this representative of how we communicate within the organisation?
Where else in our organisation do we do this?
What do we need to change?
So what happens next?
www.developing‐potential.co.uk 0800 043 5730 TASK
For ten rounds, your team is required to choose a colour (either ‘red’ or ‘green’ to play.
Depending on what the other team chooses, the following points will be applied to your
choice. The objective is for the team to score the highest amount of points.
Team A chooses
Team B chooses
Points
Awarded
Points
Awarded
A
B
Red
Green
+6
-6
Green
Red
-6
+6
Red
Red
-3
-3
Green
Green
+3
+3
www.developing‐potential.co.uk 0800 043 5730 TASK
For ten rounds, your team is required to choose a colour (either ‘red’ or ‘green’ to play.
Depending on what the other team chooses, the following points will be applied to your
choice. The objective is for the team to score the highest amount of points.
Team A chooses
Team B chooses
Points
Awarded
Points
Awarded
A
B
Red
Green
+6
-6
Green
Red
-6
+6
Red
Red
-3
-3
Green
Green
+3
+3
www.developing‐potential.co.uk 0800 043 5730