Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or your own local model: paste this prompt and your AI will co-facilitate this exercise with you.

Help me prepare and run the exercise below. First ask for my participant count, time, setting, access needs and intended result. Check these against the stated limits. Use the supplied rules and materials. Explain any proposed changes before using them, and label them as adaptations. Do not invent source claims or require personal disclosure. Give me one step at a time when I say start. I manage the people, physical activity and clock; do not claim to observe the room. Ask me what happened before choosing a next step.

Reference revision: cbf1279993694922ab1f0282d24788534a54fdba0e9778e342c1d447578c53e8

# Business in the Style of...

Teams read a short profile of an outside company with an unusual operating model, extract its core traits, and translate that perspective into three concrete actions for their own challenge.

**Time:** 35 minutes. Relationship Makers Handbook suggests 15 to 60 minutes. UWT standardizes on 35 minutes to fit reading, synthesis, and 4 team presentations.
**People:** 4 to 20. Small teams of 3 to 5 people. With 4 to 5 people, run 1 team. With 6 to 10 people, run 2 teams. With 11 to 15 people, run 3 teams. With 16 to 20 people, run 4 teams. Maximum 4 teams total.

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Generate alternative solutions for an organizational challenge by adopting the explicit operational rules of an unrelated company.
**Use it when:** Use when a group faces a persistent operational obstacle and needs concrete structural ideas beyond standard departmental habits.
**Skip it when:** Skip when the core challenge is undefined or when participants cannot dedicate time for silent reading and synthesis.

## Materials and tools

- One printed briefing packet or article per team describing an outside company with a distinctive business model (up to 4 unique profiles)
- One printed Team Assignment Sheet per team
- One blank flip chart or whiteboard section per small team
- Marker pens (2 per team)
- Highlighter pens (2 per team)
- Sticky notes (1 pad per team)

## Before participants arrive

1. Select 1 unique outside company profile per team (up to 4 profiles for 20 people). Pick organizations loosely related to the topic with distinct operating habits.
2. Print copies of the company profiles and the Team Assignment Sheet for each team.
3. Write the central group challenge clearly on the main room board.
4. Set up tables for up to 4 teams, each with flip chart paper, markers, highlighters, and sticky notes.

## Say this to open

We often look at our problems using only the habits of our own workplace. Today we will adopt the operating mindset of an unfamiliar business to find solutions we would normally miss. Each team will receive a short profile of a distinct company. Your job is to read it, find its core operating style, and propose how that company would solve our stated challenge.

## How to run it

### 1. Frame challenge and distribute profiles (4 minutes)

Read the focal challenge aloud. Give one explicit example: 'If our challenge is reducing volunteer drop-off, an airline with open seating might solve it with visible queue boards and boarding priority rather than orientation seminars.' Hand one unique company profile packet and Team Assignment Sheet to each team.

### 2. Individual reading and highlighting (6 minutes)

Participants read their assigned company summary silently. Instruct them to highlight distinct operating traits, decision rules, or novel ways the company handles friction. Passing annotated sheets to adjacent teammates is optional.

### 3. Team translation to internal challenge (12 minutes)

Small teams confer using the assignment sheet. They agree on 2 key traits of their assigned company, then write on their flip chart 3 concrete steps that company would take to solve our challenge. A team member records ideas. Silent writing on sticky notes is supported before speaking.

### 4. Cross-team showcase (8 minutes)

Each team takes up to 2 minutes to introduce their outside company and read their 3 proposed solutions to the room. Post all charts side-by-side. With up to 4 teams, all teams present within this window.

### 5. Debrief and synthesis (5 minutes)

Facilitator leads the room in reviewing common patterns across the posters and identifying practical ideas worth testing.


## Debrief questions

- Which external company approach forced the biggest departure from our usual way of working?
- What is one specific action on these charts that our organization could realistically test this month?
- Which operating constraint did the outside model ignore that we usually treat as unchangeable?

**Finished output:** Flip chart posters from each team listing 3 concrete action steps for the shared challenge, designed through the lens of their assigned outside company.

## Remote

Distribute PDF company profiles into breakout rooms. Use a shared digital whiteboard with template frames matching the Team Assignment Sheet. Teams have 18 minutes in breakouts for individual reading and highlighting (6 minutes) followed by synthesis (12 minutes). Reconvene in the main room for 2-minute presentations.

## Hybrid

Form pure in-person tables and a dedicated virtual breakout room so discussions do not cross audio boundaries. Provide digital links to all profiles so remote and local members use identical texts. Use a single shared digital board for presentation so remote members can view and present alongside in-person teams without camera refocusing.

## Access and participation choices

- Provide concise, plain-text executive summaries of the company profiles alongside standard articles.
- Participants can contribute by writing sticky notes, highlighting text, sketching diagrams, or speaking during the team share without mandatory public speaking.

## If the session gets stuck

**A team gets lost analyzing the outside company's finances instead of extracting its operating habits.**

Remind the team to focus on the prompt: 'How does this company make decisions and treat its users?' Ask them to pick just one core behavior and apply it immediately to our challenge.

**A group claims the assigned company is completely irrelevant and cannot help with the focal challenge.**

Point out that extreme difference is intentional. Ask: 'If this company was forced to run our project tomorrow under their rules, what is the first rule they would impose?'


## Terms used here

- Operating style: The characteristic habits, decision rules, and mechanics an organization uses to deliver its product or service.

## Participant material: Team Assignment Sheet

BUSINESS IN THE STYLE OF...

Assigned Company:
Our Focal Challenge:

Step 1: Read the background article (6 minutes silent read).
As you read, note:
- What catches your attention?
- How does this company make trade-offs or handle operational bottlenecks?
- What is their underlying philosophy or working mechanism?

Step 2: Team Translation (12 minutes)
1. Identify 2 key traits or operating rules of this company.
   Trait A:
   Trait B:

2. Put on their shoes: Imagine this company took over our focal challenge tomorrow.
   Write 3 practical steps they would execute to reach our goal:
   Step 1:
   Step 2:
   Step 3:

Step 3: Prepare a 2-minute share-out highlighting your company's mindset and your 3 steps.

## Sources and adaptation

Observed in Relationship Makers Handbook (pages 92-93) under the title 'Business in the Style of...'.

Retained the core mechanic from Relationship Makers Handbook: assigning loosely related outside companies, reading profiles with active highlighting, translating their operating perspective to the group's current challenge, and posting on white walls. UWT fixed subgroup math to allow teams of 3 to 5 people (up to 4 teams total), adjusted access options to align strictly with provided text materials, and structured a 35-minute facilitator run sheet.

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/business-in-the-style-of/