1. Workforce Leadership Project
Prosperity Prize Scenario – Industry Simulation 1
Welcome
[As participants enter the room…]
FACILITATOR 1 & 2 hand to each participant an envelope containing the briefing letter
and a nametag with role assignment.
FACILITATOR 3 passes out and collects sign-in sheet.
FACILITATOR 1:
Thank you for coming to our community planning session. As you know, we need help
from all quarters, and you [assign role] are a critical partner.
Here is your briefing material, please find a seat and sign-in.
We will get started in a minute.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
BRIEFING BEGINS
[Facilitator 1 & 2 are at the front of the room.]
FACILITATOR 1:
Thank you for coming to this important briefing.
I am [facilitator 1 name], Prosperity Foundation Program Manager and lead staff on
Springfield’s P-Prize Project. My colleague is [facilitator 2 name], Mayor Simpson’s
Make-It-Happen specialist and lead staff on the P Prize Project. [Facilitator 2] has
been working with us at the Foundation to make sure citizens and business and
community leaders have the opportunity to contribute to Prosperity Prize planning
and implementation.
First let me say what an honor it is for the Prosperity Foundation to help you
reimagine and rebuild prosperity in the City of Springfield. As a native of the city, I
have watched as we grasped at one straw after another, never managing to channel
sufficient resources into what were otherwise sound strategies for a better future. It is
my hope and life’s ambition to make sure the P Prize fills that gap. As you may know,
Springfield emerged as a finalist during the Foundation’s last Board meeting, but it
was the serious commitment of the Mayor, City Council, Chambers and Business
Associations, and citizens from across the region to drawing on our manufacturing
heritage to support the emergence of new industry in the region, building on the
recent success of Greenforce, and its wildly successful clean-fuel commercial engine.
In this, the first of our community engagement sessions, we plan to solicit your input -
to inform our initial strategic approach.

2. Workforce Leadership Project
Prosperity Prize Scenario – Industry Simulation 2
Most of you are from the City of Springfield, Lincoln County or surrounding area. We
called you here for one of three reasons:
1. You were nominated by your neighbors, colleagues, and peers as “people in the
know” about the content of our work – you might have industry knowledge,
data expertise, or experience in workforce development, cornerstones of the P
Prize approach.
2. You have demonstrated your capacity to organize communities around
important work in your businesses, agencies, or organizations.
3. You are an operations person – you know how to get things done, measure
progress toward big goals, and improve processes along the way.
Today, we need your help. You will be divided into teams and asked to begin working
on a five-minute briefing for City Leaders on next steps for the Prosperity Project.
But first, for those of you who missed either yesterday’s press conference or this
morning’s newscast on your commute here, we have KWRK’s Alison Gash live in
downtown Springfield.
[Facilitator 2 name], Do we have Alison?
FACILITATOR 2 responds and plays video.
FACILITATOR 1:
In 20 minutes we will be linked to City Hall, where the Mayor, City Officials and
Prosperity Foundation Trustees will want to hear from you. We will need each of your
teams to provide a 5-minute briefing that addresses the following questions:
1. What are the most important goals we should aspire to in order to move us toward
regional prosperity – buoyed by a strong manufacturing industry - by 2016?
2. What are the most essential industry/jobs/workforce strategies we should employ
and why? What policies would need to shift in order to implement these strategies?
3. What are the most critical community-wide engagement approaches strategies we
need to employ?
Remember, you were asked here to share your experience and expertise. We invite you
to be bold, courageous, and take a long view. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
and City leaders and Prosperity Foundation Trustees are looking to you to help realize
it.
Questions
FACILITATOR 1:
Oh, I see a question from the audience?

3. Workforce Leadership Project
Prosperity Prize Scenario – Industry Simulation 3
FACILITATOR 3 (he/she is a plant) asks the following questions and FACILITATOR 1
responds.
Q: Is there anyone else we can contact right now for help?
A: No, city leaders seek your input (and cell phones don’t work in this room).
Q: Can we leave the room?
A: No, we need your full attention on this task.
Q: Can we break into smaller groups to work?
A: You will notice that you have numbers on your nametags. In the event that we had a
significant turnout, and we do, we assigned each of you a number, and each number a
place in the room to work. Please break up into your assigned groups to get started.
After that, you may organize yourselves in any way you see fit.
Okay, we need to begin. You have 20 minutes. [Facilitator 2] and I will be making sure
you have what you need and are available to help if you get stuck. [Facilitator 3], as a
volunteer from the audience, has offered to help us document this session, so he will
also be available to assist.
Again, in 20 minutes, we will be linked to the City Council session where City leaders
and prosperity foundation officials await your input. Each group will have five
minutes to present.
[Let participants work for 20 minutes.]
FACILITATOR 2:
I have the Prosperity Team by satellite, are we ready to report back?
FACILITATOR 1:
Yes we are.
FACILITATOR 2:
Looks like we are now ready for the briefing. Unfortunately we only have a one-way
satellite link. We won’t be getting a live feed from them but they will receive live feed
from us.
I’d like to ask the first group to present their plan (5 minutes).
[Have each group present.]
After the Report-outs
FACILITATOR 1:
Round of applause. Thanks for this. It is clear that the Springfielders are in good hands
– or are they?
Let’s step out of our roles for a moment and consider what just happened.

4. Workforce Leadership Project
Prosperity Prize Scenario – Industry Simulation 4
We would like to hear from you about the experience you just went through, unpack it
a bit.
[Asks the following questions allowing the audience to respond before moving to
the next question.]
On Leadership:
- How did leaders in your groups emerge?
- In what ways did they demonstrate leadership?
- Did the role of “leader” shift in your group? Why? When? What kinds of roles
did different leaders play?
On Decisions:
- How did you make decisions? What processes did you use? What did you do
about information? (limitations)
On Policy, Challenges, Changes:
- What policy issues emerged that are similar to those you work with at home?
- What challenges would you run into if Springfield were your community and
you were charged with taking your group’s recommendations forward?
- How would you solve them?
- What would you have done differently if you had to do it over again?
In your role as Business Service Representatives, how might you use leadership
to improve outcomes in your community?
End of Activity