- How to assess risk
- Handling complex data
- Assessing return on investment
- Lateral thinking skills
- Attention to detail
- Calculating costs and profits
- Business acumen
1-4 team and 1-10 team version also available
Ideally suited to:
Testing participant's numeracy, accuracy and attitude to risk. And it's fun. Available as three separate options, depending on your group size.
Teams are trying to locate a precious mineral – rubinium. They have a map and some geological data, but a lot of information has been lost and teams must piece together the few clues that exist.
If all else fails they can purchase answers, but this adds to their investment cost and can lower their rate of return!
Having located the reserves of rubinium teams must pick a plot of land, bid for it at auction and if successful, establish a mine. The cost of the plot along with the cost of establishing a mine represents their investment in the project, so they must be careful not to overbid at this stage!
Once they have secured their plot and mine, teams calculate all costs and work out the return on their investment for Year 1. This depends on a number of factors – how much rubinium they can extract – not all the reserves are easy to get at, the extraction and transportation costs, the risk of natural events such as flooding and earthquakes and the price they can get for their rubinium.
It's a risky business! To succeed teams must demonstrate clear thinking, a bit of creativity, accurate calculations and efficient teamwork. Are your teams up for the challenge?!
- Introduce the activity.
- Divide the group into teams and issue each team with a copy of the Team Folder. The folders have all the details teams need including a map of the area.
- Teams have 70 minutes to study the folder, and plan a strategy. During this time, they may come to you to request answers to the clues. Use the Trainer’s reference Form to keep track of their requests and give answers (if necessary). The amounts they spend are added later to their overall investment.
- After 70 minutes there is an auction at which plots of land are sold. There is a minimum reserve price for each plot, but no maximum. There are 26 plots that have reserves of rubinium. Hopefully teams will have worked this out and will not bid for plots without the mineral!
- Hold the auction and continue until each team has obtained a single plot and note the price each plot was sold for.
- When the auction is over, teams work out their profits and returns.
- After 10-15 minutes call a halt and ask each team to read out their return on investment. List these on a flipchart or whiteboard. Announce the winner.
- Lead a debrief referring to guidance supplied to discuss how teams approached the task including whether they were able to get to the nub of the issue, identify the key 'levers' and use their knowledge to make rational decisions.
Full guidance supplied in the Trainer’s Notes.
- Trainer's Notes
- Team Folders
- Maps
- Computer Program
- Trainer's PowerPoint
- Helpful Information
- Breaking News Memo
This activity is for face-to-face classroom use. It is supplied as a hard copy pack and the digital files are supplied via the Northgate Trainerhub.
Our licence offering is designed to provide exceptional value and flexibility for your organisational training needs.
Upon purchase, each Northgate activity includes a five-year licence for repeat use, with up to a maximum number of delegates per training session. The maximum number of delegates permitted for this activity is 156. This grants you the freedom to use the activity repeatedly, with the specified maximum number of delegates, for five years.
All Learning and Development (L&D) professionals based at the same site (or
‘remote hub’) as you are granted access to these resources, including to the digital files on the Trainerhub via your site-specific Trainer Dashboard, fostering a collaborative spirit within your immediate team.
Should you wish to make this activity available to a wider audience within your organisation, additional licences are required. We understand the varying needs of different organisations and aim to provide flexible options to suit your requirements.
For further information on our licence terms, please contact us. We are here to assist you in enhancing your training initiatives and ensuring a seamless and hassle-free licensing
To use with more than 156 or for multiple site licences please contact us for a quote.
