Valley Crossing

Valley crossing is a cartoon which has a plethora of management lessons within it. This blog analyses the learnings from the simulation of this cartoon performed in the class under the guidance of Prof. Prasad.

Task: To cross a valley which is two steps wide and hence can not be crossed by a single person.

This task was simulated in the class with the students trying to cross the valley and the class was analysing the processes involved and their implications.











                     

There are total 9 steps which are classified as Risky, Half Risky and Safe as shown in the table. So, there are 3 out of 27 steps are risky and the goal of any organization should be to eliminate them.




And the takeaways are...

1. Innovate rather than Improve
                                                                           

Innovation is a need of time and it separates the great organizations from the good ones. It means not only increasing your productivity but also reducing costs. For example, use of a pole in valley crossing exercise.



2. Synchronization

    Synchronization is all about matching the perfect timing. In the valley crossing example, due to synchronization the team members could ensure that the gap between them would be maintained equal to width of the valley. Similarly for managers it is important to let their team know the time frame in which a certain task has to be completed and accordingly when related activities should be completed by employees.

  

    3. Load Balancing 
   

      In the activity two people shared the load of the person who was at risk. In an organization it is important that all employees are on equal footing and share the responsibility for the optimum performance of the company. This would ensure that pride and ego issues do not creep up.
 

   4. Effective Communication

 

    An effective communication produces significant results whereas lack of it can lead to damaging consequences. Hence an organization must focus on fostering an environment for efficient communication. In our valley crossing activity if there would have not been a proper communication, it would have led to loss of life.

   5.Simulation                                                                 

   

    Simulation is an important method to make the employees of an organization aware about the actual job. This is especially helpful in cases of work which is perceived as hazardous.It eliminates the fear  out of   the minds of employees thus increasing the perfection.

 

  

6. Build Trust

As seen from the valley crossing activity, trust is one of the most important factors. Each person is at a risky position while crossing the valley, but he depends on the ability of the other two. This is what is required in building the great organizations - the pillars of which are people who trust each other.