Randömia Balloon Factory is a unique half-day intercultural business simulation created by the partners of GROVEWELL LLC.  Anyone may purchase the instructions for Randömia for only $25.00 from GROVEWELL.  Or GROVEWELL may be engaged to professionally facilitate Randömia. Here's why we say that Randömia is "unique":  Of the two groups created during this simulation, one is instructed only to solve a simple business problem; thus, its members "play themselves," doing whatever they would usually do in real life to solve that problem.  But their approach yields frustrations, not solutions!  For participants in both groups, witnessing the fact that frustration results from what people normally do leads to a powerful ah-ha! about culture's impact on business.

• Experience the frustration and upsetting emotions that result from unresolved cross-cultural value differences;
• Better understand the nature of the differences in four cross-cultural value-sets (details);
• Recognize that in the face of cross-cultural frustration, most people seek resolution by applying their own culture's values and solutions with ever more determination; and recognize why this approach is usually counterproductive;
• Recognize that in the face of cross-cultural frustration, most people explain the problems by making disparaging attributions about their culturally different counterparts; and recognize why this tendency usually works to their disadvantage; 
• Appreciate the wisdom of responding to future differences in cross-cultural values from a descriptive/inquiring perspective rather than from a judgemental mindset.

"During the debrief, there was genuine animosity from the Randömians about this, and it came up several times.  The Richlanders (all Americans) got the message: They had been purely focused on numbers and productivity.  Wow!  Many of the attendees said this had been a really powerful 'ah-ha!' experience. 
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"Just wanted you to know the impact of this little gem of a simulation...."
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"In my role as an internal organizational development consultant in the automotive industry, I have been using Randömia with the manufacturing professionals I support.  As they take their business units global, these professionals are experiencing many of the issues and problems captured by this simulation.  Randömia has encouraged open dialogue about "going global" and has surfaced previously unforeseen challenges associated with working across cultures. 

"Randömia is easy to set-up and can be used with groups of different sizes.  I've adapted the length of both the experience and the debrief to accommodate different group requirements, without losing the key elements.  Randömia is an enjoyable learning option for business teams or older students because it allows for that "ah-ha!" experience that normally cannot be captured in a training room."
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Testimonial from an Authority on Simulations
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"Elegant in its simplicity, clever in its design, Randömia Balloon Factory simulates an interaction between corporate trainers from one country (Richland) and factory workers from another country (Randömia).  The four key cultural concepts that this simulation is modeled on are useful for any global corporation whose employees deal directly with people from other cultures or support employees who do.  The designers take each of these concepts and trace behavioral outcomes, exploring ways to respond appropriately to culturally different others.  Much more material is available in the play of this simulation than can be covered in three hours.  If you have done a thorough needs assessment, this can be handled by focusing on those aspects of the experience that are most relevant to the client."
 

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Additional Information
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To be put into direct contact with a frequent user of Randömia (including with both business professionals and undergraduates), please click here. 

For additional information regarding GROVEWELL's understanding of and approach to global leadership challenges, visit here.

To obtain specific information, or to inquire about engaging GROVEWELL's services, contact info@grovewell.com.
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For more details about the benefits and features of GROVEWELL's wide range of LEADERSHIP PROGRAMS, click on the various options below.

1. Nonverbal behavior:  directness vs. indirectness
2. Verbal communication expectations:  accuracy vs. harmony
3. Ingroup-outgroup distinctions:  equality vs. inequality
4. Leadership style:  assertiveness vs. supportiveness

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Producing a powerful “ah-ha!” experience requires realism in the simulation and transparency about what caused the simulated cross-cultural problem and what, therefore, could have been done to prevent it.  Without realism and transparency, it’s difficult to help participants grasp how, the next time they are in a genuine cross-cultural encounter, they can apply what they learned in the training room.

We believe that a simulation exercise also needs to provide enjoyment.  If the instructions ask people to do things that they find ridiculous or tedious, enjoyment will be muted.  We wanted to create a simulation that erected no barriers to enjoyment, thus allowing people to “throw themselves into role” with little or no self-consciousness.  (We knew we’d managed to do this when, in the middle of a Randömia session with engineers from a Fortune 100 company, the training room telephone rang.  One of the participants walked over and loudly answered, “Randömia Balloon Factory!”)

Finally, simplicity (including brevity) is indispensable if a simulation is going to be transparent and produce memorable “ah-ha!” moments.  Simplicity means that participants are not mentally preoccupied with details.  Thus, they  remain free to become aware of what, at a deeper level, is going on during the simulated activity.  We have three reasons for believing that Randömia Balloon Factory’s distinguishing characteristic is its simplicity:

1. In terms of tangible pieces, this simulation requires only two that are indispensable for its completion: balloons (of two types) and name tags.
2. One of its two groups is given as "private information" only seven cultural rules to enact; only two of these rules require constant enactment.
3. The other group receives no private information at all except to solve the business problem.  Thus, they do whatever they’d actually do in “real-life.”-

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