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Exercises/Divergent Ideation/Mandela Strategies
Ideation Warm-Up · Divergent Ideation

Mandela Strategies

Mandela Strategies is an ideation warm-up exercise for divergent ideation: it helps participants open up more possible ideas before choosing a direction.

5 to 15 minutesTIME
Pairs, Small group (4-8)GROUP SIZE
ActiveENERGY
In personSETTING
High cognitive loadCOGNITIVE LOAD
Strengthens Participation Architecture This divergent ideation exercise strengthens Participation Architecture, one of the eight Gathering Effectiveness pillars.

How to run it

  1. Take 10 minutes to read the Madela Strategies in the article below
  2. In your People Science teams discuss
  3. How does this apply to your work today?■ Does this affect how you perceive your work and the challenges you face?■ What projects have you been on in the past where these strategies would have helped?■ Most importantly, use this conversation to deepen the relationships of the people in each group
  4. Logistics Printed copy of the below Mandela Strategies for each person Cool Possibilities/Options Role play.
  5. Have one person in a people science group lead the discussion as if he/she were Mandela.
  6. asking questions and giving advice Make the exercise two rounds based on the discussion/each person"s response to questions, try to match.
  7. people who have similar answers in different groups.
  8. to person B from Group 7, match them up to re-answer or go deeper on the Mandela strategies.
  9. Capture summary of each person"s response.
  10. 30 minutes, change, discussion, Mandela, small groups, strategies Source KWWS // 0DQGHOD s Five Strategies from Davos As global leaders met for the penul...
Live facilitator

Run this exercise live

The facilitator console stays in this browser. Its QR handoff is a short-lived participant snapshot containing only public exercise instructions, phase, prompt, and timer state.

Prompts to use +

Take 10 minutes to read the Madela Strategies in the article below

In your People Science teams discuss

How does this apply to your work today?■ Does this affect how you perceive your work and the challenges you face?■ What projects have you been on in the past where these strategies would have helped?■ Most importantly, use this conversation to deepen the relationships of the people in each group

Logistics Printed copy of the below Mandela Strategies for each person Cool Possibilities/Options Role play.

Have one person in a people science group lead the discussion as if he/she were Mandela.

asking questions and giving advice Make the exercise two rounds based on the discussion/each person"s response to questions, try to match.

Run this with your AI assistant +

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

Adapt this exercise for my exact room. Exercise: Mandela Strategies. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: Take 10 minutes to read the Madela Strategies in the article below; In your People Science teams discuss; How does this apply to your work today?■ Does this affect how you perceive your work and the challenges you face?■ What projects have you been on in the past where these strategies would have helped?■ Most importantly, use this conversation to deepen the relationships of the people in each group; Logistics Printed copy of the below Mandela Strategies for each person Cool Possibilities/Options Role play.. Return a concise facilitator script with timing, wording, safety notes, and remote/in-person adjustments.

Origin unverified

  • Where we observed it: The strongest current observations come from Relationship Makers Handbook; aggregators are listed as additional observations, not origin proof. (1 source observed, including Relationship Makers Handbook.)
  • What that means: we track where an exercise has been observed in public sources. We do not claim to know who created it, or how popular it is.
  • No efficacy claims: appearing in this library is not a claim that the exercise is proven effective. Facilitator judgment and context decide whether it works for a given room.
  • Corrections: if you have evidence of an earlier or more accurate source, read our methodology and trust boundary and tell us.

Pairs well with