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Miguel Ángel Ballesteros

Maker, using software to bring great ideas to life. Manager, empowering and developing people to achieve meaningful goals. Father, devoted to family. Lifelong learner, with a passion for generative AI.

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Game 9: Group Landing

Game 9: Group Landing

Objective: Learn to intervene in a disordered group conversation to synthesize, validate, and advance, gaining status as a facilitator leader.

Players and Roles

  • Roles A, B, C (The Noise): Speak at once, change subject, argue.
  • Role D (The Control Tower): Has to land the plane (the group).

Quick Set-up: The Chaos

The group must start arguing heatedly about one of these ridiculous topics.

Discussion Topic Roles (The Noise)
Christmas Dinner A: “Vegan”. B: “Only meat”. C: “Cheap”.
Birthday Gift A: “Clothes”. B: “Experience”. C: “Money in envelope”.
Travel Destination A: “Relax beach”. B: “Adventure mountain”. C: “Urban tourism”.
Project Name A: “Cool English”. B: “Classic Spanish”. C: “Weird acronym”.
Office Color A: “Nuclear white”. B: “Corporate colors”. C: “Wallpaper”.

Mechanics

  1. The group starts arguing about “where we dine” mixing topics (soccer, money, allergies). A scripted chaos.
  2. The Control Tower waits for the moment, raises hand (visual gesture) and says:
    • “Time. (Silence). I’ve heard three options: A, B and C. We discard A for expensive. B and C remain. We vote now. Who wants B?”
  3. The goal is to achieve that the group votes and decides in less than 2 minutes of intervention.

Debriefing (Closing questions)

  • Did you feel fear of interrupting? (It is the main barrier).
  • Did the group feel commanded or relieved? (The good leader relieves, does not oppress).

Pro Tip

Use people’s names when summarizing. “As John was saying…” + “As Mary was saying…”. That validates you as a listener and gives you the right to close.

Train this theory

AI Sparring Partner (The Crowd Simulator)

If you don’t have a human partner, copy and paste this prompt into ChatGPT/Claude to practice alone:

Act as a "Disordered Crowd" of 3 people (A, B, C). We are going to play "Group Landing".
Your goal is to generate noise and chaos so I can practice controlling the frame.

RULES:
1. You simulate 3 voices arguing about a topic (e.g., "Where to have dinner").
   - A: Wants Option 1.
   - B: Wants Option 2.
   - C: Talks about something else (Noise).
2. I will intervene as "Control Tower" to synthesize and force a vote.
   - Ex: "Time. I hear X and Y. We discard Z. Who votes X?"
3. If my intervention is weak or hesitant, IGNORE ME and keep arguing louder.
4. If my intervention is firm, authoritative, and clear, STOP talking and say: "The group obeys. Order restored."

START THE CONVERSATION NOW BY:
1. Simulating the 3 voices arguing heatedly about a random office topic.