Cave Rescue

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Examine team decision-making, criteria selection, and communication when prioritizing under incomplete information and time pressure.

Use it when: Use when a team needs to examine how members negotiate trade-offs, voice assumptions, and respond together to sudden deadline changes.

Skip it when: Skip when groups are sensitive to disaster premises or life-and-death dilemmas. Skip if the goal is actual emergency triage or rescue operations training.

Group arrangement: Individual ranking followed by small teams of 4 to 6 (groups of 3 or 7 permitted when participant totals require it)

Timing: 60 minutes total, matching source pacing: 10 minutes individual, 20 minutes group work with a surprise inject at minute 10, and 30 minutes debrief.

Materials and tools

• One printed Cave Rescue Brief and Volunteer Sheet per participant
• One printed Ranking Worksheet per participant
• One additional printed Ranking Worksheet per group for collective results
• One pen or pencil per participant
• One visible countdown timer

Before participants arrive

1. Print one Cave Rescue Brief and Volunteer Sheet and one Ranking Worksheet per participant.
2. Print one extra Ranking Worksheet per group labeled Committee Final.
3. Arrange tables and chairs to seat small groups of 4 to 6 people.
4. Test the countdown timer and audio or visual alert for the surprise announcement.

Say this to open

You serve on a research management committee. An experiment in a remote cave has met rising water and rockfall. Six volunteers are trapped. Review the project records on your sheet, choose your own rescue sequence individually, and write your reasons. You have 10 minutes working alone.

How to run it

1. Introduce scenario and rank individually 10 minutes

   Distribute the brief and individual ranking sheets. Speak the opening script. State clearly that this is an exercise in group process with no single official solution. Participants read and complete positions 1 through 6 in silence on their individual sheets, writing a concrete reason for each rank based strictly on the provided facts.

2. Begin group deliberation 10 minutes

   Divide the room into teams of 4 to 6. If totals leave an odd remainder, form groups of 3 or 7. Hand each team one Committee Final ranking sheet. Instruct teams to compare individual lists and negotiate an agreed sequence from 1 to 6. Remind them to seek shared rationale rather than taking a quick vote.

3. Deliver early arrival inject and complete ranking 10 minutes

   At minute 10 of group work, ring a chime and announce loudly: Rescue gear has arrived early. You have exactly 2 minutes to select your first evacuee. After 2 minutes, call time and check that every group has recorded person number 1 on their sheet. Give groups the remaining 8 minutes to complete positions 2 through 6.

4. Reflect in small groups 10 minutes

   Keep participants at their tables. Ask each team to review their internal process before the whole-room debrief. Prompt them to identify the main criteria they used, who influenced the final sequence, and how their communication shifted during the two-minute surprise deadline.

5. Debrief as a full group 20 minutes

   Reconvene the full room. Invite two or three groups to state their first evacuee and their reasoning. Then facilitate a broader discussion using the debrief questions. Focus on how participants handled missing data, emotional pressure, and disagreements.

Debrief questions

• What specific facts or criteria did your group rely on to choose the first person out?
• How did the sudden two-minute deadline change your team's communication and decision-making style?
• Did everyone in your group feel their perspective was considered, and how did you resolve strong disagreements?
• Where do you see similar patterns of incomplete information or shifting deadlines in your everyday work?

Finished output: A completed individual ranking worksheet per participant and one consensus sequence worksheet per team.

Remote

Distribute digital copies of the brief and worksheet via chat or email. Keep participants muted in the main room for 10 minutes to complete individual rankings. Move participants into breakout rooms of 4 to 6. At minute 10 of breakout work, broadcast an announcement banner and audio alert giving the 2-minute deadline to select person number 1. After 20 minutes total breakout time, return everyone to the main room for the debrief.

Hybrid

Form separate all-remote breakouts and all-in-person tables rather than mixed tables. Remote groups record decisions on a shared online document, while in-person groups write on paper. Display in-person and remote group choices on a shared screen during the full-room debrief.

Access and participation choices

• Participants may record rankings in writing, digitally, or orally through a designated peer recorder.
• Any participant may observe group discussions or pass during sharing rounds without giving a justification.

If the session gets stuck

A group deadlocks during the two-minute surprise deadline and cannot agree on person number 1.

Remind them that failing to choose forfeits their decision to chance; instruct them to run a rapid majority vote if consensus fails within 30 seconds.

One participant dominates discussion and overrides quieter peers.

Intervene briefly at the table and ask each member in circle order to state their individual first pick and one supporting reason.

Terms used here

• Inject: An unannounced scenario update introduced mid-exercise to test how a team handles unexpected changes.