Star Trek - The Learning Challenge LO13300

Scott Simmerman (SquareWheels@compuserve.com)
Fri, 18 Apr 1997 17:57:21 -0400

Well. I decided to let the Enterprise out of the bag and start what I
hope will be an interesting new thread and open discussion. Seems like we
just got commercial approval to develop a series of organizational
learning products on the licensed theme of Star Trek. For a while, I'll
be leading the Voyage of Discovery and trying to define a useful focus for
a simulatio as it relates to LOs.

Plans are to start development of a team-based experiential learning
exercise somewhat along the lines of The Search for The Lost Dutchman's
Gold Mine, my team building game focused on collaboration and
communications.

About 6 months ago, we used "The Borg" as the theme of a most interesting
discussion of systems thinking.

So I thought to open up a "wish list" discussion and generate a bit of
dialog as to how this metaphor of leadership, communications and systems
thinking might be directly linked to executive learning.

So, if you had the leadership of Picard or Kirk, what would your voyage
involve if you wanted to make some key points about what our organization
should do and on what adventure should we engage?

(Note: Ground rules are that thoughts herein are in public domain as
opposed to copyrighted thinking. If you think this may be the
screenwriting opportunity you've been looking for and you've got an
absolutely GREAT idea and want to "protect it" - please do NOT publish it
within the LO since it would make a discussion a legal one.)

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So, we discover that an asteroid will pass close to an inhabited planet
and its passage will cause the equivalent of a 50 megaton atmospheric
explosion. But not everyone agrees that it will be a problem. And
there is a breakdown in the engine room making the ship unable to obtain
the warp speeds necessary to intercept the asteroid. Photon Torpedoes
will only make the explosion worse as smaller parts of the asteroid are
more combustible in the atmosphere. But decisions need to be made about
the impact, the impacts, and the long-term effects.

What interactions, communications and decisions are most critical. And
how does Picard engage the entire crew in the problem solving?
=======================================================

(If you don't like my episode, make up your own!)

-- 
For the FUN of It!

Scott Simmerman Performance Management Company 3 Old Oak Drive, Taylors, SC 29687 (USA) 864-292-8700 fax 292-6222 SquareWheels@compuserve.com visit The Lost Dutchman at http://www.clicknow.com/stagedright/dutchman/

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>