Ultimate Leadership Workshop III

The Expedition Leaders

The Series of Ultimate Leadership Workshop finally came to the end. We conducted our final workshop today. We started at approximately eight thirty in the morning to set up the material, tools and room layout for the day. As we were about done with the room layout, we were requested to move the venue to another room as the room that we had set up in were assigned for a math exam. So, we quickly got all the things together and with the help of the participants went to the correct room to reset for the workshop.

Collaborative Working Environments

Then, we got started with the workshop at about ten minutes after nine. I began with introducing the theme for today's workshop which was, "The Search for The Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine". And our destination was the historical town of Barkerville in the Cariboo Mountains where it was actually famous for gold mining and prospecting for the precious metal. The actual town still existed until today but it is preserved as a designated historical site that is opened to visitors. The goal of the participants was to find the gold mine and mine for gold in a simulated exercise that would take them through a twenty day expedition.

Experiential Learning Exercise

The journey to the mine would not be simple as there will be challenges, such as weather, terrain conditions, and unexpected natural disasters.

The participants were grouped into teams of fives or sixes. And we had enough students to form five teams in the simulated expedition that would take them through twenty days, to and back from the lost Dutchman's gold mine. In this exercise, the participants will learn to collaborate, strategize, plan and work as a team to realize their goal.

Planning the Expedition

Other than just fun and participation, the students learned to negotiate, forecast and budget, manage, and executing their plans. This particular experiential learning exercise has been used in many of my team building and collaborative activities to successfully simulate real life collaborative working environments. Before I brought the exercise to a conclusion I engaged the students in a thirty minute brainstorming session which was an opportunity for the students to share their thoughts and to discuss about the skills they have learned and practiced.

Team Work

Conducting brainstorming session right after a high energy and exciting activity like the search for the Dutchman's gold mine, is a powerful learning method for students to review their own decision making process and the results that they have accomplished from their actions. Overall, these activities have been a great opportunity to encouraged student participation, and to learn about collaboration and leadership.