The document provides instructions for facilitating a simulation game called "Bridge-building in Derdia" to be played by delegates at a training conference. The game involves dividing participants into two groups - experts and inhabitants of the fictional country of Derdia. The experts have 30 minutes to build a paper bridge with the Derdians, who have a unique cultural behavior involving touching, greeting with shoulder kisses, saying "yes" when meaning "no", and gender-based tool usage. The facilitator is advised to introduce the game professionally to gain buy-in, carefully follow the cultural behaviors of the Derdians during play, and lead a discussion afterwards to convey the key message that developing international experience is important for careers.

1. Internal Memo for all Game Facilitators ©
Dear Facilitator,
enclosed you find a detailed description of the game we will play at
National Trainings. The number of participants should not exceed 30
and as roughly 180 delegates will attend NT, this means we will play it
simultaneously in 6 groups for which we will need your help as a
facilitator. No matter if you have played the game before or not,
please read the following instructions carefully as I have changed
some important details to make things easier for you (those parts that
have been changed from the original game are marked by a *).
You will also find three sections which you might find very helpful:
1) Introduction of the Game: How to get participants excited about
playing
2) Critical success factors: Things that need special attention
3) Discussion Guidelines: What is the game supposed to teach us?
Your feedback is strongly encouraged as it might be very important to
make this game a success! Please, e- mail me at
AIESECly yours,
Thomas Hawighorst
National Trainers Team 1997/98
AIESEC The Netherlands
Session Outline
"Bridge- building in Derdia"
Where: National Trainings, AIESEC The
Netherlands
When: Thursday, September 18 th
, 1997
Duration: Two hours
to m _ n t t @ h o t m a i l . c o m
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2. ©
This handout may not be copied and distributed without prior consent of the
author.
1) Introduction of the Game
One of the main concerns in the introductory part is to present this
game in a way so that delegates are all excited about participating.
Unfortunately, not everyone will be enthusiastic right away, especially
those AIESECers who have a very "professional" approach to doing
their work in AIESEC. These people have high expectations of the
training quality and might reject to play (thereby encouraging others
to do the same). If you can manage to introduce the game in a way
that makes it look professional, then getting these people involved
should be a piece of cake.
Suggestions:
• Avoid the word "game" (because this might sound childish), but
instead say "international cooperation simulation" or even call it
an "assessment center", i.e. an opportunity for delegates to
assess their skills (maybe prepare a slide with a list of skills that
can be tested in this game such as skills in teamworking,
communication, leadership, intercultural awareness, open-
mindedness, etc.)
• Tell delegates that this simulation is used by professional training
agencies in multinational companies to prepare expatriates for
overseas projects.
• When dividing the groups and looking for experts, don't say you
need "15 experts", but "15 consultants" or ask for volunteers with
"international experience and interest in the manage me nt
consultancy business".
I can only assure you that you can easily influence all those
"professional" AIESECers by just choosing your words carefully.
What to do when some delegates still not participate? This is up to
you. Forcing them will hardly work, but asking for his reasons might
give you leverage to persuade him. After all, we are all adults and
should respect each other.
2) The General Flow of The Game
After having the group of roughly 30 delegates equally divided into
"Experts" and "Derdians", you should separate the groups from each
other. There will be at least one more facilitator to support you, so
that one can stay with each group. Give them their instructions
[Handout #1 (for the Derdians) and #2 (for the Experts)] and let them
read it. After that answer all their questions. Experts should then make
a plan of how they will approach this problem and Derdians should
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3. intensively practice their culture for the next 20 minutes. Following
that, a small group of Experts (4-5) enters the Derdian culture to
observe and interact with the Derdians. Subsequently they return to
the other Experts and give report about the situation. Then the whole
Expert group enters Derdia and has exactly 30 minutes to build the
bridge. Your role should be the one of a Derdian in order to enforce
the rules of the culture.
Please, read both handouts before proceeding.
3) The Discussion Afterwards
Just a few notes for I assume that you are experienced enough to
facilitate the discussion...
1. Some delegates take the game with a sense of humor but some
(especially) experts will be very frustrated. Try to get everyone to
talk about those frustrations (not just the ones who have a
tendency to always be the ones talking). Let them describe what
their impression of the other group was. Then finally give them a
complete overview about the Dredian culture and the situation of
the Experts.
2. *Then comes the tough part. Very basically, you need to get the
point of the game across, which is the following: At NT delegates
learn all these personal skills which are great for their own personal
development. However, if we only strive for individual development,
then what is AIESEC good for? There has to be leadership, i.e. one
direction in which we go altogether. This direction is the AI Global
Strategy: using eXchange to develop individuals who have an
impact on society. How do you get to this basic message? I suggest
the following sequence of questions. However, there are many other
ways to do this and you might want to do it differently. Also, stay
flexible within a certain discussion frame as delegates might not
necessarily provide the answer you have been waiting for.
• Who of you thinks that in his/her professional life, he or she will
have to do his/her job in an international environment?
• Do you think that something like this could happen to you in real
life? (Note: Mediterranean people touch a lot, African countries
are very proud of their culture (that is why Somalia still is in
this terrible situation), Bulgarians nod their heads when they
mean yes, the Dutch kiss three times, other countries twice,
Germans just shake hands, China and Japan are still very
patriarchal cultures, etc. The game is a real slice of life.)
• Do you think that your career will move ahead without
international experience?
• What do you think are the skills you will need to work successfully
in such an environment? (Maybe write them on a flipchart.)
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4. • Assessing your own skills, do you feel prepared for doing business
on an international scale? Are you really as open- minded as
you thought? (Note: the text doesn't say the Derdians are a
wild, primitive tribe but most Experts will assume this and treat
them like primitive people, i.e. in a way that is perceived as
arrogant. Why do they do so? Because they are not aware that
their subconcious mind has pictured the Derdians this way
before he came to Derdia. Is that open- minded?)
• Where do you learn those skills? In school? (Answer: No, but in
AIESEC. You might want to share some personal experiences
here.)
• Stress how important those skills are by referring to the article
from the International Herald Tribune.
• The point is: you don't learn this in AIESEC, if you don't cooperate
internationally. Organizing Careerweek, Training 2000, or only
doing Finance or Marketing will never get you to discover how
much else there is you didn't know. Get involved into what
AIESEC really stands for. Use your skills to help promote the
true idea of AIESEC. No matter what responsibility you have in
AIESEC. If you are in Finance, then budget more money into
int'l cooperation and less into fancy office material (for
example). If you do Marketing, the promote AIESEC in an int'l
context. Tell students what we really stand for. If you do
Training 2000, why not organize a training on cross- cultural
communication skills? There are tons of more examples...
[I used this game in an ITEP selling training to draw the following conclusions:
1. As the globalization process moves on, doing business internationally is not
any longer a matter of the seize of the company. Almost everyone is doing
business abroad in one way or the other. It is not always successful though
and sometimes costs companies a lot of money. Just read the article that is
enclosed in the end („Why Culture Shock Is Such An Expensive Business“,
International Herald Tribune). In the field of cross- cultural relations AIESEC
can be a real partner. I am cautious with this because in some LCs the
eXchange- process (preparation, reception, re- integration) is not a primary
focus.
2. A lot of companies don’t cooperate with AIESEC even though they have
international trainees. But what if the trainee is experiencing culture shock?
If he is not with AIESEC, then he is neither prepared for this, nor does he
have anybody to help him. In AIESEC, that’s the reason why we have
preparation and reception. A trainee with culture shock is not a fully
functioning trainee and thus of no value to the company. Reason enough to
take an AIESEC trainee.
3. The development of your country’s economy as a whole will largely depend on
international trade. The more of your fellow countrymen are able to do
business internationally (i.e. know how to deal with other cultures), the better
for your economy. If a company from your country is giving you a traineeship,
that means that a student from your country can go abroad as well and make
valuable international experiences. This argument might not sound „down- to-
earth“ but it proves to have quite an effect if the person you are dealing with
has a broader perspective on business and economics.]
4) Critical Success Factors
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5. A few factors can be singled out as extraordinarily important for a
successful outcome of the game:
• The Derdians culture: in order for the Experts to succeed, they
need to recognize a pattern in the behavior of the Derdians. If not
all Derdians stick to the rules and just geek off, then this is
impossible. Practice the rules intensively, take your time. During
the game you better be one of the Derdians and encourage
delegates to follow your behavior.
• Stress on the Experts: the Experts have to be under pressure
when building the bridge. Don't make it too easy for them.
Mention the time they have left. If necessary, tell them to have a
meeting and discuss their further procedure (that is when they
absolutely don't get along with the Dedians' culture).
• The discussion: let everyone talk and don't interrupt, BUT: if we
don't give them a clear message that they a) understand easily and
b) can relate to for their future work in AIESEC, then this game
didn't achieve any results. Deal convincingly with critical opinions,
don't let people talk over you. That will only work if you are
convinced by the message of the game. Are you..?
GOOD LUCK....and let's kick butts!
Instructions for the Derdians
Flow of the Game
First, you have 20 minutes to read the instructions and learn and
practice your specific behavior. Make sure that you are fully aware of
your cultural behavior. This is a crucial point. After 20 minutes a few
members of the expert team will visit you for some minutes. During
this time you have to use your specific cultural behavior (but do not
talk about it as long as the experts are in the room). After this
preparation time, the experts are coming in again and they have 30
minutes time to finish the project with your help.
You are an inhabitant of the country Derdia. You are awaiting the
arrival of an expert team, which shall teach you to build a bridge over
a nearby river. The bridge has been destroyed by a recent
earthquake. *The people in your country are very well educated in
liberal arts and are also very successful business people.
Handout #1
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6. Unfortunately, there is no real engineering education in your country
and this has to be changed. That is why you want the Experts to teach
you in this field. You want to have the bridge being built because then
you can go easier and quicker across the bay, where all the nice
restaurants are. The bridge will by symbolized by a bridge made with
paper. You do know the instruments (scissors, paper, glue, ruler, pen)
but you do not know the construction techniques.
Rules for the Social Behavior of the Derdians
• Touching
Derdians use to touch each other: When they talk with each other or
even when they pass each other. Not touching each other means: I
don’t like you!
• Greeting*
The traditional greeting procedure is a kiss on the shoulder: The
person, who starts the greeting ceremony, kisses the other on his
shoulder. After this he will be kissed on his shoulder. Ever other form
of kissing will be an insult! If a Derdian is insulted he starts
complaining very loud about it. To give a Derdian the hand for
greeting is also be understood as an insult.
• Yes/No
A Derdian never uses the word „No“. He always says yes, even if he
means no. When a Derdian means no, he still says yes and nods
strongly with his head (this you have to practice very much, because it
might be very difficult to remember during the construction time).
• Work behavior
• There is a specific gender- separation in using tools: scissors are male
tools, but pens and rulers are female. The glue is neutral. Reason for
this is a „taboo“: men would never, never touch a pen or a ruler and
woman would never touch scissors.
• Behavior with foreigners
• Derdians are always nice to foreigners. But the Derdians are very
proud about themselves and their culture. They know, that they
cannot build the bridge without the help of the foreign experts. But
they do not see the culture of the foreigners as superior. They
expect from the foreigners, that they adopt to the „Derdian way of
living“. Because they see their own behavior as a natural one, the
Derdians can’t explain it to the experts (this is a very important
rule! ) A man from Derdia will never agree to talk with a foreign
man, except this foreigner is introduced to him by a woman. It
doesn’t matter if this woman is from Derdia or a foreigner.
Instructions for the Experts
Flow of the Game
First, you have 20 minutes in order to read the instructions and think
carefully about the procedure of building the bridge. After 20 minutes,
4-5 members of your group are allowed to visit the Derdians for 5
Handout #2
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7. minutes. After this, you have another few minutes to analyze this
experience and then the building of the bridge starts for which you
have no more than 30 minutes.
The Setting
Your group is a team of international experts, which has to build a
bridge, which was destroyed in an earthquake in Derdia, a small
country you have never been to before. The bridge will be symbolized
by a paper bridge. The bridge is very important as the Derdians'
access to food is cut off without it*. Since the Derdians are not well
educated in engineering, they now have to learn how to build bridges
on their own. Your future career with your company will largely
depend on the successful outcome of this project.
Construction of the bridge
You are allowed to use the following materials:
•
•
The bridge has to be very stable. At the end of the game, the bridge
has to fit between the two tables. For this, the bridge must be able to
carry at least the weight of the ruler. The bridge is made by pieces of
paper* and should resemble an authentic bridge as much in detail as
possible. Each sheet has to be drawn first with pencil and ruler, after
that it has to be cut with scissors. The construction time in Derdia is
30 minutes. During this time, the bridge has to be finished.
•
• paper
• glue
• ruler
• pencil
• scissor
s
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