# Serial Selection

Five small teams evaluate separate subsets of leadership principles, select the most useful item from their subset, and present it. Participants then vote across the resulting top five and commit individually to implementing one principle.

**Time:** 25 minutes. Source specifies 20 to 30 minutes; standard run planned for 25 minutes.
**People:** 5 to 25. Five small teams of 1 to 5 people, followed by independent individual work and whole-room polling.

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Compare and prioritize leadership principles through successive team and individual filtering.
**Use it when:** Use during leadership development or team norming when participants need to digest a large list of management ideas and identify immediately actionable practices.
**Skip it when:** Skip when the group has fewer than 5 participants, when the goal is freeform problem solving rather than text evaluation, or when teams need to draft their own custom principles from scratch.

## Materials and tools

- 5 team handouts (each containing 4 assigned principles from the master list of 20)
- 1 master handout of all 20 principles per participant
- 1 countdown timer
- 1 whistle or chime
- Pens or pencils (1 per participant)

## Before participants arrive

1. Print 1 copy of the full 20 Leadership Principles master list for every participant.
2. Print and cut the 5 subset slips: Team 1 (principles 1-4), Team 2 (5-8), Team 3 (9-12), Team 4 (13-16), and Team 5 (17-20). Prepare exactly 1 shared slip per team to encourage shared focus.

## Say this to open

There are dozens of leadership rules, and trying to focus on all of them at once leads to inaction. We have divided 20 core leadership principles across five teams. Your team has four principles. Your job is to read your four, discuss them, and agree on the single most useful principle in your set, along with a brief explanation of why. You have 3 minutes.

## How to run it

### 1. Divide into five teams and review subsets (4 minutes)

Divide participants into exactly five teams (1 to 5 members each). Hand each team their single subset slip containing four principles. Deliver the opening script and start the countdown timer. Give time checks at 2 minutes, 1 minute, and 30 seconds.

### 2. Hear team recommendations (6 minutes)

Signal time with a whistle or chime. Call on each of the five teams in order. Each team takes 1 minute to read their four assigned principles, announce the single principle they selected as most useful, and give one concrete reason for their choice. Write the numbers of the five winning principles visibly on a board.

### 3. Distribute master lists and vote on the top five (5 minutes)

Hand every participant a copy of the complete master list of 20 principles. Ask them to locate and circle the five team-selected numbers. Give participants 1 minute to review those five silently and choose the single most useful one among them. Call out each of the five candidates and take a show of hands. Announce the principle with the highest vote count.

### 4. Select personal implementation action (5 minutes)

Instruct participants to review the entire list of 20 principles independently. Ask everyone to pick one principle to implement in their own routine this week and write a short action note on their sheet. For example, if someone chooses principle 9 ('Lead by example'), they might write: 'Arrive 5 minutes before meetings and stop checking email during presentations.' Passing on public sharing is fully permitted.

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

Facilitate a brief group reflection using the debrief questions. Collect 2 to 3 volunteer responses for each question within the allotted time.


## Debrief questions

- What made your team pick its chosen principle over the other three in your subset?
- Why did the overall top-voted principle stand out compared to the other four finalists?
- What obstacle might make your personal selected principle difficult to practice this week?

**Finished output:** A group ranking that narrows 20 principles down to a top 5 and an overall group favorite, plus an individual implementation commitment noted on each participant's handout.

## Remote

Pre-assign participants into 5 breakout rooms. Paste the 4 assigned principles into each room's private chat or shared document. Give teams 3 minutes to choose their favorite. Return everyone to the main room and have a spokesperson from each breakout share their pick. Paste all 20 principles into a shared document or chat, launch a quick 5-option poll for the finalists, and give everyone 2 minutes to post their personal implementation action in chat or keep it in private notes.

## Hybrid

Create 5 mixed or separate co-located and remote groups. Ensure remote teams access their 4 principles via a shared slide deck or chat while in-person teams use paper slips. Have both remote and room spokespersons present. Conduct the 5-way vote using a digital polling tool or simultaneous chat entries and hand raises.

## Access and participation choices

- Provide large-print master sheets upon request.
- Allow participants to record their personal action silently on their handout without requiring verbal disclosure.
- Offer the choice to speak, chat, or observe during team selection.

## If the session gets stuck

**A team cannot reach consensus on one principle within the 3-minute limit.**

Instruct them to use a quick majority show of hands or flip a coin so they have a single selection ready when reporting begins.

**The room has an uneven number of participants (e.g., 7 or 11 people).**

Form five teams within the stated size of 1 to 5 people. For 7 people, use teams of 2, 2, 1, 1 and 1. For 11, use 3, 2, 2, 2 and 2. Solo participants review the 4 principles and select their preference individually.


## Terms used here

- Textra Game: A Thiagi training format that combines reading written text with structured game mechanics and peer interaction.

## Participant material: 20 Leadership Principles (Master List)

1. Be forward-looking. Focus on the future.
2. Focus on results. Focus on accomplishment, not activities.
3. Identify and focus on the core values.
4. Focus on the big picture. Take a strategic view. Pay attention to the total system.
5. Handle ambiguity and complexity.
6. Be an oxymoron. Pay attention to the yin and the yang. Cultivate an opposable mind capable of reconciling dilemmas and polarities.
7. Know yourself. Be aware of your emotions, values, strengths, weaknesses, and goals.
8. Be authentic. Dare to be different.
9. Lead by example. Walk the talk.
10. Be credible and trustworthy.
11. Show your weaknesses. Expose your vulnerability. Be selective about this.
12. Be tough, persistent, determined, and resilient.
13. Manage yourself. Practice self-discipline.
14. Be an optimist. Look at the bright side of things. Deliver hope.
15. Be courageous. Face reality.
16. Sense other people's emotions and empathize with them. Appeal to emotions.
17. Work effectively with other people. Be a team player. Empower others.
18. Practice servant leadership. Support, serve, and add value to others.
19. Have a powerful vision and communicate it clearly.
20. Be a learner. Keep improving your technical competencies and leadership competencies every day.

## Participant material: Team Subset Strips

Team 1: Principles 1-4
1. Be forward-looking. Focus on the future.
2. Focus on results. Focus on accomplishment, not activities.
3. Identify and focus on the core values.
4. Focus on the big picture. Take a strategic view. Pay attention to the total system.

Team 2: Principles 5-8
5. Handle ambiguity and complexity.
6. Be an oxymoron. Pay attention to the yin and the yang. Cultivate an opposable mind capable of reconciling dilemmas and polarities.
7. Know yourself. Be aware of your emotions, values, strengths, weaknesses, and goals.
8. Be authentic. Dare to be different.

Team 3: Principles 9-12
9. Lead by example. Walk the talk.
10. Be credible and trustworthy.
11. Show your weaknesses. Expose your vulnerability. Be selective about this.
12. Be tough, persistent, determined, and resilient.

Team 4: Principles 13-16
13. Manage yourself. Practice self-discipline.
14. Be an optimist. Look at the bright side of things. Deliver hope.
15. Be courageous. Face reality.
16. Sense other people's emotions and empathize with them. Appeal to emotions.

Team 5: Principles 17-20
17. Work effectively with other people. Be a team player. Empower others.
18. Practice servant leadership. Support, serve, and add value to others.
19. Have a powerful vision and communicate it clearly.
20. Be a learner. Keep improving your technical competencies and leadership competencies every day.

## Sources and adaptation

Observed in Thiagi GameLetter (September 2011), authored by Sivasailam (Thiagi) Thiagarajan and published by The Thiagi Group, Inc.

Retained the exact textra game mechanics, group subdivision into five teams, and original 20 leadership principles from Sivasailam Thiagarajan's 'Serial Selection' in the September 2011 Thiagi GameLetter. Replaced the corrupted legacy issue summary with a runnable 25-minute run sheet, explicit scripts, hybrid/remote adaptations, and practical access choices.

[The Thiagi Group](https://thiagi.net/archive/www/pfp/IE4H/september2011.html)

[The Thiagi Group](http://thiagi.net/archive/www/pfp/IE4H/september2011.html)

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/tgl-september-2011/