The Divide the Loot Exercise

As the name suggests, ‘Divide the Loot’ is one of the conflict resolution activities designed to measure a person’s trust, generosity, and collaboration abilities. The activity also suits groups or teams but should not necessarily be divided into two.

Every player is given a specific amount of money, usually fake and not real, with the idea of creating a conflict scenario. Every player is then asked to put some money back into the group pot without revealing to anyone how much they are willing to contribute.

After every player has contributed, the facilitator takes the pot, calculates the total, and then asks every player to negotiate how the ‘loot’ should be divided among each individual.

The conflict resolution activity aims to determine how an individual would contribute to a common goal and how the most successful teams should divide the results from that collaborative participation without feeling that they deserve more than any other member.

The two most important skills any individual should possess include resolving conflict and building trust with others. Even if we are not born with these conflict resolution skills, they can be learned.

Moment of Reflection

• How difficult was it to decide how much money to contribute to the fund? What criteria and reasoning did you use to decide the amount of money to contribute?
• How difficult was it to decide how to distribute the loot money and why? What criteria do you think should have been implemented in the distribution of loot and why?
• Was it difficult to reach an agreement to share the loot? Do you think there should be a direct relationship between what one contributes and what one should receive in return? Can this logic be applied in all situations of everyday life?
• How could the effort of collaboration and contribution be measured if it cannot be quantified?
• Teamwork requires different roles and tasks (and they are all important), how do you think the result of success should be distributed?

The topics of this publication: interactions, negotiation, argumentation, make agreements, cooperation, collaboration, teamwork, adaptation, adaptability skills, reflection, critical thinking, foster relationships, trust