Created Economy Game

Create Economy is a game where team members will have to replicate an economy or some mini-aspect of a larger society. The purpose of the activity is to bring everyone together and embark on a common goal of making things work, practicing project management and tackling problems to find a solution.

In the book Weslandia by Paul Fleischman, the young boy Wes creates his own language, culture, and economy one summer. A new startup created a small economy and ended up having a great deal of fun as well as learning about what motivated other team members.

Members of the team will need to get together, collaborate and get into an agreement of what the rules will look like. Gather your team and establish the rules you will follow, leaving enough wiggle room to experience problems that require group agreement to resolve as the system is put into action.

For example, team members will need to come up with ideas on how their mini society will live, what they’ll sell or manufacture, how it’s going to be marketed and how the income received will be distributed among the members and what projects it’ll be invested to keep the economy growing and healthy.

By creating a “mini” society, this group activity for adults naturally creates problems and challenges that force them to work together. Some team members will reveal themselves to be rule-abiders and others as creative rule-benders.

The team will quickly learn how others work, solve, and think outside of the typical work-related realm. This will bring new understanding to work-related projects that need solutions.

Momento de Reflexión

• What was the most difficult part of the task and why?
• What did you notice about the teamwork process and the establishment of the rules or norms of the new mini society?
• How does the team make decisions to define how to carry out the construction of the mini society? Are everyone’s ideas taken into account or do the ideas of the majority prevail?
• Did anyone feel excluded from the mini-society? How did they solve it?
• How did you resolve the conflicts that arose with the new norms and rules?
• Ask them what they would do differently if they repeated the exercise.

The topics of this publication: interactions, integration, collaboration, teamwork, adaptation, foster relationships, adaptability skills, cooperation, communication, strategy, planning, creativity, critical thinking