Description

The Yomi or “Play to Win” workshop is a team-building experience designed to help you define your business, product, growth, and team strategy. It focuses on identifying market opportunities and finding your competitive edge in a more engaging and fun way—while getting the whole team involved.

The workshop requires a minimum of 4 hours, but it’s even recommended to run it over two days to give teams more time to reflect and have deeper discussions.

This workshop is based on the book Yomi: Play to Win by Ro Fernandez, where she explains the full methodology.

The process is simple and highly interactive. Teams are divided into 2 to 4 groups, with each team ideally having at least 2 members (the more, the better!). Each participant receives a card representing their role in the game—like an avatar. Some might even get the secret Yomi card… who knows!

Then the game begins.

The first step is analyzing the environment—political forces, technology trends, innovation in the industry, and more. Once that’s done, teams begin defining their strategy.

The discussion is guided by 5 steps, each represented by a card with prompts to spark thinking and collaboration. When a team rolls the dice and enters the “winning circle,” they step away to finalize their strategy and prepare to pitch it to future “investors.”

But be warned: some players holding Yomi cards may have left your team and could be sharing your strategy with others. So, you’ll need to improve it fast.

The workshop ends with everyone becoming an investor. Each person must decide which company they believe will be the most successful—based on strategy, vision, and real-world constraints.

🗓 Yomi: Play to Win – Strategy Workshop Agenda

Duration: min 4 hours but recommended time between 6 to 8 hours (can be expanded to 2 days for deeper discussions)
Ideal for: Cross-functional teams (min. 2 people per team, 2–4 teams total)

🔹 Welcome & Introduction (15 min)

• Brief overview of the workshop

• Introduction to the Yomi: Play to Win methodology

• Share objectives and outcomes

🔹 Team Formation & Role Assignment (15 min)

• Divide into 2–4 teams

• Distribute role cards (including potential secret Yomi cards 👀)

• Set the tone: collaboration, creativity, and competition

🔹 Step 1: Environment Analysis (45 min)

• Discuss the current landscape:

  • Political forces

  • Technology and innovation

  • Industry trends & customer behavior and more.

🔹 Step 2–5: Strategy Development Rounds (90 min)

• Follow each of the five strategy cards

  • Define vision and ambition

  • Identify strengths, constraints, and differentiators

• Teams roll the dice to advance and unlock the “Winning Circle”

🔹 Winning Circle Strategy Finalization (30 min)

• Teams that enter the Winning Circle leave the main group

• Finalize strategy and prepare pitch

• Reminder: Yomi card holders may switch sides and reveal insights 👀

🔹 Pitch Presentations (30 min)

• Each team presents their strategy to the “investors”

• Focus on clarity, vision, and how constraints were handled

🔹 Investment Round & Debrief (30 min)

• Everyone becomes an investor

• Review strategies and vote on the team with the most promising plan

• Debrief: reflections, key insights, and next steps