A People of Influence Simulation

Lion Cage

A sophisticated, challenging, high-energy and tactile team-based activity
The Challenge

Most leaders are confident they know how they come across. Their intentions are good, they work hard and they believe their behaviour matches their values. Very few have had that belief tested by the people on the other side of it.

Organisations carry the same blind spot at scale. The values on the wall describe who we say we are. The behaviour in the room describes who we actually are. The gap between the two is where culture really lives, and it is almost never discussed out loud.

The Insight

Lion Cage closes that gap in a single session. It scores teams on what they achieve and, separately, on how they achieved it, as judged by everyone else in the room. For many participants it is the first time their impact on others has been measured rather than assumed, and it lands while the behaviour is still fresh.

The Simulation

Lion Cage is built around one deceptively simple tension: teams have to hit a hard commercial target and win the genuine endorsement of their rivals. Chase the number alone and the room votes them down. Play nice and miss the number, and they are out anyway.

It is challenging, tactile and genuinely fun, and it scales from a single team to a conference hall of hundreds.

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Culture-shaping
Every choice in the room feeds the culture of the room.
Values-led
Teams are scored on their behaviour, by their peers.
Immersive
Tactile, on your feet and impossible to sit out.
Fast paced
A hard clock and a hard target, from the first minute.

The look and feel of a room running Lion Cage.

The Set Up

You have seen Shark Tank. Maybe Dragon's Den. Welcome to Lion Cage.

Each team runs a start up, and has to show their entrepreneurial process to qualify for the prestigious Lion Cage Business Accelerator. First they have to demonstrate they can hit a fiscal target. Second they have to demonstrate they work well with others, and that one is decided by the other teams: they need an 85% yes vote to get through.

Balancing results and relationships turns out to be very difficult indeed.

Why a simulation?

A simulation creates learning by shining a light on the real decisions and behaviours of everyone in the room. Rather than telling participants the messages, we let them experience them first. The insight comes during the activity and in the debrief that follows: experiential learning at its most dynamic.

It also transforms the energy of the room, filling it with laughter and bustling activity. It is consistently the highlight of any conference or offsite, and the shared reference point teams come back to for months afterwards.

What It Draws Out

The messages we draw out in the debrief

01
Perception vs reality
When our impact on others is directly measured, by voting on the Lion Cage values and behaviours, it can be a genuine surprise to find our behaviour read in a negative light despite our best intentions. What we intend and how it lands on others do not always match.
02
Results vs relationships
In an environment of perceived scarcity it is tempting to assume that negotiation has to be win-lose rather than win-win. Lion Cage explicitly tests the balance between getting a result and how we treat people on the way to it. Ultimately there should not be a trade-off.
03
Behaviour and culture
No one communicates in a vacuum. Our behaviour is shaped by the culture of the group, and the culture of the group is shaped by the behaviour we choose. That makes everyone in the room a culture change agent, whether they intend to be or not.

Lion Cage does not teach one fixed lesson. The scenario stays the same, and the debrief is tuned to what matters most to your group, whether that is values and behaviours, trust, culture change or your own organisation's language.

What you achieve vs how you achieve it Espoused values vs lived values Self awareness vs others' perception of you Personal brand and reputation Strategic thinking in complex circumstances Working with others in times of uncertainty Building Trust
Format & Delivery

Shaped around your group

A typical run of Lion Cage takes around three hours, and flexes to fit your agenda:

25 min
Brief
Assemble into teams, learn the rules and plan.
80 min
Experience
Build the start up, chase the target and face the vote.
15 min
Break
A chance to refuel before the debrief.
60 min
Debrief
Draw out the behaviours and the lessons that matter to your group.
Duration
About 3 hours
Delivery
In person, on your feet
Best for
Team offsites, leadership cohorts and conferences
Two ways to work with us

People of Influence is the consultancy through which Michelle Rushton and Shaun Kenny deliver leadership programs, team offsites and impactful conferences.

Contact People of Influence →

Leadership Engine is our proprietary platform for measuring and improving leadership effectiveness with diagnostics, dashboards and behavioural nudges.

Visit Leadership Engine →