Chaos Communication Cards

The CCC game visualizes variable communication styles, their benefits, problems and efficiency in companies of different sizes.  It is a fun game with a lot of individual learning objectives depending on the facilitation of the game.

What you need

• Download the CCC cards in English (PDF)
• A Time Timer
• Some flip charts & post its

If you want to play the Game yourself, please don’t forget to mention 

• the author of the icons – Smashicons
• the author of the game – agileSuperMel

Game Flow

The Goal is to find the matching pairs of the cards in your hand. There are two cards with the same symbol and the same description (see above). Each person who has the card with the hand icon on it, is the receiver of the information. The other person with the same card (but no hand symbol on it), is the sender of the information. At the end of the game the person with the hand symbol card should have both cards with the same symbol in his hands (or on the floor).

The Game has 3 rounds. In each round you will simulate a different communication structure. Before you begin with each round, make sure the cards are mixed well and everybody has nearly the same amount of cards in their hands. 

Round 1 – Hierarchie

In the first round you will simulate communication within hierarchical structures. That means you have levels of accountabilities, e.g. the CEO (level 1), Team leader (level 2), Team (level 3). How many levels you have depends on how many people are playing the game. I made good experiences with 3 levels when i played with 8 people. 

First discuss who represents which level and visualize this (for example with post its on the shirts). Then make sure, that the people stand in the room, so it is clear who can communicate with whom.

Rules of communication are:

• you are only allowed to speak with your teammates an your teamlead, when you are in the team
• if you are the team lead you are allowed to speak with the team and the CEO, but not allowed to speak with other team leads
• if you are the CEO you are only allowed to speak with the team leads (but not with the team members)

In other words you can just speak with the level under or above you, except you are in a team, then you can speak with your team mates.

Before you begin, ask the players how much time they will need to finish the task and note the estimation on the flip chart. Don’t forget to use the time timer during the game. Observe the players, so you can ask some questions to their behaviour during the game.

Retrospective after Round 1

• Check the time they estimated and they needed. Where they faster or slower? 
• How loud was the communication?
• Where there any people who get bored during the game, because they had nothing to do?
• Where there any  bottlenecks?
• Who felt stressed, who was chilled? Why?
• Which strategies did the teams use to find the pairs?
• How did the team leads acted? Did they more communicate with the CEO or with the team?
• Is this a good communication style for companies? For which size of company would this style be efficient? 

Round 2 – Peer 2 Peer

In the second round you will play the opposite of round 1. Everybody is allowed to speak with each other. There are no hierarchy levels and no bans.

Before you begin, ask the players how much time they will need to finish the task and note the estimation on the flip chart. Don’t forget to use the time timer during the game. Observe the players, so you can ask some questions to their behaviour during the game.

Retrospective after Round 2

For the second retrospective you can use nearly the same questions as in round 1. Don’t forget to check the time they estimated and they needed, again. 

Normally in this round the task will be done faster, but it is more chaotic and loud. So you see, the people are still not happy with the communication styles they simulated and this is the hint for round 3.

Round 3 – choose your style

In the third round ask the players about their experiences about communication in their companies. Which structures and styled do they use to ensure a good information flow? Note these examples on a flip chart and make a quick rating which structure they want to simulate. Maybe they have an idea of the ideal way of communication?

Some possible styles i have seen was a “matrix” communication style or with “middleman between teams”. Don’t forget to ask again for a time estimation

Retrospective after Round 3

You can use again some questions from round 1 or new questions based on your observations. My final question is always if they will communicate with more awareness in their company after the simulation. And most people answer it with yes.

Have fun trying the game and leave me some feedback 🙂

The icons are made by Smashicons from www.flaticon.com