Deadline 30 Minutes!™ Time Management DIY Reality Training Activity

The clock is ticking and the reality exercise in full swing

A fast-paced, organisational task - seemingly straightforward but full of pitfalls for the unwary! Essentially, teams prepare pay packets for 12 workers. Each team member is given a brief but each brief varies slightly. They contain slightly different information and offer different hints about the skills required to do the task. Once the briefs are issued the clock is started. Teams have just 30 minutes to prepare the packets. You can if you wish use the optional Countdown Program to display the 'time left'. Either way, the pressure is on!

Five-Year Repeat Use Licence: This Northgate training activity comes with a five-year licence for repeat use with up to 20 participants. A licence is required for each site (or remote hub). To use with larger groups or for multiple site licences please contact us for a quote.

Participants: 4-20 (4 teams of 4-5 per team)
Timing: 30 minutes + debrief
Uses a computer?: Not required

Importantly, information is shared verbally only (and NOT by exchanging briefs). A picture builds up of the number of workers, the number of dockets per worker and the total amount due to each worker. Verbal accuracy is of course paramount. Don’t, for example, confuse workers Tammy Marters and Tommy Masters!

Teams must remember that there’s tax to deduct before the pay packet can be prepared, but at which point is it best to do this? Giving the correct pay is vital, but what coinage do you have available? Remember it must serve all pay packets - so what's the best rule to follow to ensure you have enough of the right coinage to go around? The knack is to work down from the highest denomination - obvious when you think about it but there’s so much to think about! Finally, teams must remember to label the packets fully before the deadline is up! How will you know if they get it right? Easy - there should be just two specific counters (coins) unused after the packets have been filled (and as Trainer, you know what they are). Often teams see the two counters, think they must have made a mistake and stuff them into a pay packet. Not the right approach!

Trainer’s role (full guidance supplied in Trainer’s Notes)

• Introduce the session by saying it is a short activity and adding as much or as little as you choose about the nature of the activity.
• Arrange participants in groups of four or five per team.
• Issue a full set of Team Briefs to each team - giving one brief per person.
• Start the Countdown Program (or announce the start of the clock). Explain teams have 30 minutes to complete the task.
• Issue a set of resources to each team: counters, bags, labels etc.
• Now observe teams in action but do not get involved. Note salient points that will be useful feedback at the Debrief.
• After exactly 30 minutes, stop the session and ask teams to display their prepared pay packets and any left-over counters. The packets are easily checked against the list in the Trainers’ Notes (you need only look at the coins in each seethrough pack). Teams should have just two unused counters at the end.
• Announce any winners. Now lead a Debrief to extract the learning points from the session - guidelines supplied. 
•  

Learning objectives

• the importance of accuracy and clear verbal communication
• the importance of meticulous attention to detail
• to grasp the nature of the task early on and agree objectives
• to organise the task into a series of steps
• to organise the team - allocating roles according to team members' skills
• to monitor time and keep within a tight deadline
• to share information with others in a helpful way

Pack contents

• Trainer's Notes
• Trainer’s PowerPoint
• Countdown Program (optional - internet access required)
• Plastic Tokens (Coins)
• Money Bags
• Post-it Notes (Labels)
• Team Briefs 1-5 (PDF files)
• Team Review (PDF file)