Luck in an Envelope

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Test collaborative planning and spontaneous problem solving when given an ambiguous assignment with limited time.

Use it when: Offsite retreats or multi-hour team workshops where groups can leave the main room to explore an area or engage with an external environment.

Skip it when: Tight schedules under 75 minutes, campus settings where people cannot leave the building, or when mobility differences make offsite travel inequitable.

Group arrangement: Teams of 3 to 5 participants (at group max of 24, form five teams: four groups of 5 and one group of 4)

Timing: Relationship Makers Handbook suggests 60 to 180 minutes. UWT standardizes an 80-minute schedule: 5 minutes briefing, 45 minutes field execution, 10 minutes return and upload, 20 minutes sharing and debrief.

Materials and tools

• One sealed letter envelope per team containing a printed assignment slip
• Field budget or transit cards if required by the chosen assignments
• One smartphone with a camera per team
• Display screen or digital board to show submitted photos

Before participants arrive

1. Select or draft one specific mini-mission per team using the mission template in participant materials.
2. Seal each mission slip inside an opaque envelope labeled only with a team number.
3. Check that mission locations or actions are accessible to all participants.
4. Set up a group chat, shared album, or folder where teams can submit photos upon return.

Say this to open

Each team gets one sealed envelope. Do not open it until you reach your assigned starting spot. Inside is a short mission and any resources provided for it. Your task is to interpret the prompt, work together to complete it, and take at least two photos documenting what you did. Be back in this room at precisely the return time.

How to run it

1. Brief teams and distribute envelopes 5 minutes

   Form teams of 3 to 5. Hand one sealed envelope to each team. Read the opening script. Instruct groups to disperse to separate starting points before opening their envelope. Set a strict return deadline of 45 minutes from departure.

2. Execute the field assignment 45 minutes

   Teams open their envelopes in their separate spaces, decide how to approach the task, and carry it out. Every team must capture 1 to 3 photos showing their group working on or concluding the prompt. Remind teams by message at the 25-minute mark to plan their transit back.

3. Regroup and upload documentation 10 minutes

   Teams return to the central room. Each team sends their photos to the shared folder or presentation screen. Facilitator compiles one slide or folder view per team.

4. Share outcomes and debrief 20 minutes

   Give each team up to 2 minutes to show their photos, state their prompt, and explain their solution. Run a whole-room debrief using the prepared questions, hearing 3 to 4 cross-team observations.

Debrief questions

• What assumptions did your team make about the prompt when you first read it?
• How did the presence of unknown constraints change how quickly your team made decisions?
• Where did your group spend most of its time: planning the response or executing it?

Finished output: A shared gallery of documented field tasks and team decisions completed within the allotted time.

Remote

For remote sessions, assign each team a virtual breakout room. Instead of physical envelopes, send a password-protected document or direct message containing the prompt once the breakout begins. Prompts must involve web-based discovery, digital creation, or individual neighborhood tasks within walking distance of each person's home. If tasks are done locally, each member uploads their photo to a single team presentation slide, writing one shared caption that ties all pictures together.

Hybrid

Form fully in-person squads and fully remote squads. Do not create mixed squads where one remote member tries to travel with an in-person field group. Remote squads receive digital prompts appropriate for online collaboration, while in-person squads receive envelopes for on-site execution. Both tracks reconvene in the main video room to share photos.

Access and participation choices

• Ensure all assignment locations are wheelchair accessible and do not require strenuous physical exertion.
• Participants may decline photography; teams may photograph objects, locations, or written notes instead of individual faces.
• Any participant may stay in the home base room and serve as logistics support or photo coordinator for their team.

If the session gets stuck

A team returns late and delays the debrief.

Start the sharing round on time with the groups present. Give the late team 30 seconds to share without photo projection.

A team finds their prompt confusing or unworkable in the immediate area.

Advise them that creative reinterpretation is allowed. They should agree on a plausible substitute action that fits the spirit of the card.

Terms used here

• PS groups: People Science groups; an organizational grouping term used in the source text to designate small assigned cohorts.