The article will guide the training fraternity regarding some brainstorming management inventions inside the classrooms which can be included in the pedagogy for better motivation and retention of the trainees during training period as well as on job.
It has become highly necessary for a modern day teacher to add some management tuning to the traditional approach of teaching. The curriculum needs to be more industry oriented and there should be some fun learning so that the disciples have a feel good factor at heart.
I have mentioned few brainstorming activities which can be done inside the classrooms:
Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
Brainstorming Activity No.1: My Infamous Credentials
Time: Few minutes to 1/2 hour
Purpose: Articulate personal profiles in a fun atmosphere
Participants: All disciples
Materials needed: Decks of cards & few picture cards
Instructions: Cards represent different walks of life; i.e. Jack is childhood, Queen is teenage, King is youth, Ace is current. As each person draws a card, they must present one story about the corresponding period of their life.
Expected outcome: As in a team understanding each other, a requisite, therefore, through this activity team uncovers common interests and gets open to each other.
Activity No.2: Plan before you Shrink?
Purpose
This is a penultimate exercise that helps trainees to quickly come up with an action plan to deal with a sudden crisis. In today’s ever-changing world, crisis management is quite pivotal. Risk prediction and risk management are amongst few important managerial decisions to be taken by the top shots of the companies. This exercise turns crisis management into a fun game, providing a fun and educational environment to both learn and unlearn about these important management norms.
Objective
Respond to a given critical situation chosen by the other group and formulate a blueprint to combat it.
What You Require
- A bunch of A4 papers.
Setup
- Segregate the delegates into two dynamic groups.
- Explain that each group is the Crisis Management team in a company that is assigned to devise a plan for any future intervention required to handle a potential crisis.
Time -10mins.
- Ask each group to nominate an individual as a brand orator.
- Ask the brand orator of each group to quickly introduce their group members.
Time- 5 mins.
- Ask each group to work on their own and identify an event that can lead to a crisis. Ask them to write this on an A4 paper.
- Game Rules:
- This must be a clearly identified event, easily articulated by the other group. Don’t choose a topic which is too technical as it limits the arena of the exercise.
- Think of important, serious likely crisis, especially those that you think the company is not prepared for.
- Illustrations:
- There has been a sudden fire and the office has burnt down over night.
- It is discovered that there has been serious worker abuse in factories of a major supplier that manufactures many of your products, etc.
- Ask groups to exchange their A4 sheets which include the description of the crisis.
- Each group should assume that the crisis has just occurred and they are the team in charge of responding to it. The company management has given them extra powers so they can be quite imaginative in their approach. The planning and timing of their response is critical.
- Allocate 15 minutes for groups to come up with a plan.
- Bring back everyone together and ask each team to present their own stance. Ask the other team to provide feedback and follow with a quick analysis and advice as necessary.
- Allocate 15 minutes for each group’s presentation and analysis.
- Follow with a discussion. Time – 15 mins.
Timing
Suggested total time for the activity: 1.5hrs. (Approx.).
Discussion
How well did you respond to the crisis? Did you think the crisis identified by the other group was real, likely and serious? Did you have any resource limitations? What did you think of the other group’s crisis management? What did you learn from the approach taken by the other group in response to a crisis? What were the most important lessons learned in this exercise?
Creative Activity No.3: Man from Ad Globe
Purpose
In this exercise, learners get to practice making anATL (TV/Internet/Print) advertisement. The goal is for the learners to think creatively and smartly with given resources and come up with an effective ad for a new product launch.
The exercise is useful for practicing art, marketing skills, management skills and creativity skills.
Goal Setting
Make a TV ad using your favourite model for a new product launch. Prepare a script and a storyboard.
What Exactly You Require
- Blank cards.
- A3 papers for story boarding.
- Coloured pens.
Instructions:
- Divide the learners to groups of 3 or 4.
- Ask each group to consider a product. You have several options.
- Ask each group to select a favourite actor. Don’t explain anything else about the exercise at this point of time.
- Ask them to write the name of their favourite actors on their cards so their decision is fixed.
- Ask each group to brainstorm on creating the ad using their selected favourite actor.
- Here is what each group needs to consider:
- The ad should represent the product as if it is newly launched.
- The marketing department has assigned their team to the task of creating the ad for the new product that is about to be released to the market. They will need to supply their overall design to the production team in a PR company so they implement it.
- The ad is made for TV and cannot be longer than 2 minutes.
- The ad must utilise the actor based on their specific personality, brand and their previous work. This is imposed by the actor in the contract to keep their image consistent.
- You have been given a generous budget by the marketing department. However, the budget is not unlimited or irrational, so coming up with something that leads to most expensive TV moments in history is not acceptable.
- Target an appropriate rating for the ad based on your product and marketing strategy (Universal, Parental Guidance, Adult Only, etc.)
- Ask groups to produce the following:
- A draft script.
- A rough storyboard which captures the essence of the ad.
- Allocate 30 minutes depending on your specific focus.
- After the allocated time, bring everyone back together.
- Ask groups to present their ideas, storyboard and ads to other groups.
- Continue until all groups have presented their cases.
- Allocate 10 minutes for each group’s presentation and analysis.
- Follow with a discussion.
Timing
Explaining the Exercise: 5 minutes
Activity: 2 min selecting models + 30 mins.Ad design + 10 mins.group presentations = 42 minutes
Group Feedback: 10 minutes
Discussion
How did your ad design go? Was it easy or tough? Did you have the right actor in mind or did you think that it would have been better with another actor given your specific product? If you could choose another actor, who would you choose? What did you think of the ads other groups made? What were their strengths and weaknesses? How effective was their advert? What creative elements would you like to borrow from and incorporate into your own ad design?
Go ahead!
Do Not Miss Reading:
3 Must Read Management Theories for Modern Managers
Certified Recruitment Professional: An Alternate Career Option for HR Aspirants
