Red Beads Experiment

RED BEADS EXPERIMENT

This is an excellent game for demonstrating the fundamentals of process thinking and improvement, and how this impacts daily work. It includes key elements and concepts that support six sigma initiatives. Based on the original work of Dr Edwards Deming this exercise is a foundation knowledge piece for any organisation aspiring to sustainable performance improvement.

Red Beads creates more effective leaders and workers. It demonstrates the good, bad and ugly of the way we work together and how we focus on results. In the game you set up a company and run it for 30 minutes. Experience quickly shows how over and under reaction by managers and employees causes significant errors, increases costs and dramatically reduces the performance of an organisation – even though people were doing their best (or were they?).

The Red Beads Experiment can be played by eight or more people plus a facilitator. It simulates a work process complete with defects, and the different roles that we play in a work process. This can be used with groups of 50 - 100 people or more when set up as a piece of theatre.

Issues raised by the Red Beads experiment include:

• over and under reaction by managers and teams and the impact on results, people and customers
• problems with the use of measures and targets and individual reward or incentive schemes
• the importance of measurement and the way data is displayed for decision making
• the role of managers and others in the workplace in making decisions that focus on improving work processes
• When run by a dynamic facilitator it can also provide some insight to patterns of behaviour in an organisation.
  

The instructions provide complete set up and running scripts, suggestions for better ways of working and questions to focus conversation and learning along with potential answers to commonly asked questions

Instructions include how to involve people in starting and running the game and reflecting on the experience and results. You can use it again and again across the organisation and it is a simple and engaging way for people to learn some of the most fundamental management concepts.

Using the learnings from this game can immediately add dollars directly to your bottom line. This Learning Game is used by people in all industries and schools and in a variety of situations. These include:

• training and development programs relating to leadership development, operational performance improvement, customer service and performance measurement
• To in initiate and support Six Sigma and quality improvement programs
• a focus for workplace retreats and team building
• demonstrate principles of process control and improvement and how people and processes interact to produce both poor and improving performance
  

The Red Beads kit contains:

• Bead storage container
• 2 mixing containers
• 50 hole hand crafted paddle
• 500 red plastic beads (10mm diameter)
  
• 2000 white plastic beads (10mm diameter)
• Instruction booklet
  

This Learning Game is a great introduction to the use of the 'Desktop Coach' for Problem Solving and Innovation.