I used The Hungry Chick Inn today as part of my time management course to see how well they could manage the time available and prioritise the workload. I had two delegates from the maintenance team so it was very “real life” to them and they coped with it very well.

We had discussed the urgent/important matrix earlier in the day and so they used it to sort the tasks into whether they were essential or non essential tasks and then whether they were urgent issues. I gave them the pest control card about half an hour in which upset them slightly!

I would give this 4/5 only because it only took them hour and a half rather than the full time that it said on the front of the brief, however this may be due to them working in a maintenance department and dealing with issues like those in the task all the time. It definitely helped them think about prioritisation which was my main aim.

I used this exercise to great effect when running a Managing People and Performance programme for both experienced and new line managers.

The exercise provoked a lot of thought in the smaller groups - and a diversity of thought when the groups presented their ideas which led to a lively and very productive discussion around methods for managing and improving performance.

The trainer notes gave suggestions which none of the groups had considered and so I added them as discussion topics with a "what if you did ...." - what impact would that have. This also produced a great discussion.

The learnings from the exercise proved very powerful - and the delegates were also able to link their findings to the work we had done on leadership and management style (using, among other things, the Putting on the Style case study on Trainers Library)

I use this activity in Time Management; however I use it to assess not only Time Management but also team work and sometimes Project Management. Delegates love this activity and get really involved with it; the activity promotes some healthy competition and delegates like to see how other teams have done, particularly if they have completed it within the time frame and to budget. This activity is always mentioned in the training feedback in a positive light.

I've used this in a variety of situations and I've found it easy to amend certain elements to suit particular groups. The layout of the material is perfect and very accessible.

Hungry Chick Inn was a fantastic game for our Graduate Management Trainees as the concept was brilliant in addressing issues not only of the obvious topics like financial awareness, teamwork, time management and delegation, but also prompted discussions on the cultural values and business objectives of our company. The post-activity discussions consolidated the learning that you would expect but also took the learning to another level, and for Graduate Trainees this is exactly what you want to achieve from training workshops. A very clever topic for hospitality environments and easy to both plan for and execute, but most importantly is a memorable experience for participants which addresses much bigger issues than you initially think it will.

A fantastic exercise that I use at the end of my time management workshop. Having spent time during the workshop discussing the urgent/important matrix it is interesting to observe the delegates behaviour and how they prioritise and manage their time. Depending on numbers I will often split my delegates into two groups. It is very interesting to see how the two groups work together, and provides additional discussion points in terms of how the two groups went about the task. The additional benefit is the challenge that the groups give to each other in terms of why or how they chose to ignore some tasks or prioritise others, a great benefit from the facilitators point of view!

In addition to the numerous learning outcomes from a time management perspective it also provides the opportunity to discuss effective team working.

I have been using the Hungry Chick Inn exercise for the past two years during public and tailored training events that I run for Project Management. I run about ten a year.

The exercise is very well received by all as it is fun but has some very strong learning objectives outlined in the material. Here are some more I have observed:

I have noted that one of the main areas all the teams seem to be oblivious to is the time element for the completion of exercise and to highlight this very important point I go round to the different groups and ask them how much time they have left to complete the exercise; it certainly brings the point home.

Another point is I am often asked if they can use their laptops to plan the event – I allow them to do this. However I have found that none of the groups who follow this route are able to complete the task because they too engrossed in the inputting of the data. It has shown the delegates that sometimes the computer can be a time robber on smaller time sensitive projects.

Finally one group actually deferred from opening the hotel within the time given, however they did give a very clear time plan of what they would do with the time to ensure when the hotel was opened it would meet the agreed objectives. It was felt by the groups, the trainer and the senior management team (who were observing) that this shows that as a project leader we should have the power to say no when we are asked to do something with an impossible time line –all part of managing upwards - something very difficult for lots of project managers who have to ‘manage’ more senior people.

All in all a very successful tool to test the skills of project management!

We used this as a planning exercise in the middle of a introduction to project management session and it gave the participants the opportunity to test out some of the theoretical ideas about project management, such as how to plan the order of activities and how to consider dependencies. This activity reinforced learning and added to the delegates understanding of the issues involved in successful project management.

The tight budget and timescales make this activity quite challenging and make the priorities that the group set very important. It also highlighted the ease with which projects can get buried under huge amounts of detail and the importance of getting an overall plan before considering individual tasks.

The participants had to work together and also consider splitting into smaller sub-groups to manage the project effectively. I like the activity as participants found it easy to understand and thought-provoking.