Decode

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Examine what helps or hinders an individual from stepping up to organize group-wide cooperation under perceived competitive pressure.

Use it when: Use during leadership, communication, or cross-team collaboration workshops to show how default assumptions of competition block shared problem solving.

Skip it when: Skip when the team has real interpersonal distrust, when participants need psychological safety before competitive exercises, or when the group has fewer than 8 people.

Group arrangement: 2 to 4 small teams of 4 to 6 people each

Timing: Thiagi source specifies 30 minutes total (15 minutes for the activity, 15 minutes for debrief).

Materials and tools

• 1 printed copy of Handout 1 (Standard Instruction Sheet) for each participant
• Exactly 1 printed copy of Handout 2 (Secret Instruction Sheet) placed inside one packet
• 1 printed copy of Handout 3 (Cryptogram) for each participant
• 1 copy of Handout 4 (Answer Sheet) for the facilitator only
• Blank scratch paper or index cards (1 per person)
• Pens or pencils (1 per person)
• Countdown timer
• Audible chime or whistle
• Flip chart and markers for debrief capture

Before participants arrive

1. Divide the room into separate team tables (4 to 6 people per table).
2. Prepare instruction packets face down for each table. In exactly one table packet, replace a standard instruction sheet with Handout 2 (Secret Instruction Sheet). Do not mark which packet contains it.
3. Keep cryptogram sheets face down in separate piles at each table until instructed.

Say this to open

In this exercise, you will work in teams to solve an encrypted puzzle. Each team that decodes the cryptogram completely within 2 minutes earns 200 points. If it takes between 2 and 3 minutes, your team earns 50 points. Before you see the puzzle, each of you will study an instruction sheet silently for 2 minutes to prepare. You may take notes on scratch paper, but do not write on the instruction sheets.

How to run it

1. Study Cryptogram Clues 4 minutes

   Deliver opening script. Give each person a face-down instruction sheet (one person gets the secret sheet). Start a 2-minute timer. Participants read silently and write notes on scratch paper. At the 2-minute signal, announce time and collect all instruction sheets.

2. Launch Puzzle Solving 3 minutes

   Explain the consultant rule: at any time, a team may send one representative to the facilitator, who will reveal the plain text for any one chosen word. Hand out face-down cryptograms. Tell everyone to turn them over, start the 2-minute countdown timer, and observe the secret leader's actions.

3. Score and Reveal Secret Mechanic 5 minutes

   If a team finishes under 2 minutes, verify against Handout 4 and award 200 points. If not, add 1 final minute. At the 3-minute mark, call stop. Read the decoded solution aloud. Reveal the core design: one person received secret instructions outlining a cooperative strategy (coordinating word reveals across teams). Invite that person to identify themselves if comfortable, or read the secret sheet aloud.

4. Debrief Leadership and Assumptions 18 minutes

   Facilitate a structured whole-room reflection focusing on perceived competition, communication across silos, and the hurdles of taking charge. Chart key takeaways on the flip chart.

Debrief questions

• To the secret leader: What made it easy or difficult to persuade your team and other teams to adopt a cooperative approach?
• To the group: What assumptions did you make about whether teams were competing against each other, and where did those assumptions come from?
• What specific workplace conditions make people hold back when they possess an effective strategy that crosses team boundaries?

Finished output: Completed cryptograms and a charted list of systemic obstacles that prevent cross-team collaboration.

Remote

Set up breakout rooms for each team. Privately direct-message the Secret Instruction text to one randomly chosen participant during the reading phase. Use an online shared document or whiteboard displaying the cryptogram. The facilitator stays in the main room; one runner from any breakout may pop into the main room to request one decoded word.

Hybrid

Keep in-person and remote participants on distinct teams so runners operate cleanly. Post digital cryptogram sheets for remote teams while handing paper to in-person tables. The facilitator serves remote runners via a dedicated breakout channel and in-person runners at the facilitator desk.

Access and participation choices

• Provide high-contrast, large-print cryptogram handouts for participants with visual impairments.
• Any participant who prefers not to be the secret leader may quietly exchange their sheet with the facilitator before the timer begins, without explanation.
• Participants may contribute to puzzle solving, note-taking, or running to the facilitator, depending on comfort.

If the session gets stuck

The secret leader remains completely silent and tries to solve the cryptogram alone with their own team.

Allow the round to run its course. This outcome is common and provides the central data point for debriefing why competent individuals hesitate to assert leadership across groups.

Teams solve the puzzle on their own within two minutes using letter frequency analysis before the secret leader can intervene.

Congratulate the team on their speed, reveal the secret card text anyway, and center the debrief on why organic cooperation was bypassed.

Terms used here

• Cryptogram: A short piece of text encrypted with a simple substitution cipher where each letter stands for a different letter.