conflict · negotiation · offline
The Orange.folder
Both teams want the orange. Nobody asks what for — and that one missing question is the whole lesson.
// kit v2: a stage-ready HTML deck (presenter drawer, run-of-show timer, built-in QR codes) · poker-spec print-and-cut cards with backs and blanks · an A3 activity poster · manuals in A4 and US Letter with bookmarks · three license tiers (CC BY free / single event / organization).
The classic positions-versus-interests negotiation, rebuilt as a complete workshop folder: confidential brief cards (juicer, baker), an eight-minute deadline that punishes silence, a reveal that prices every agreement, and a pre/post measure showing each team how its negotiation process actually behaved.
The props are poker-spec print cards (63.5 × 88.9 mm, bleed and cut guides included) — two confidential briefs and a facilitator card — sized so one sheet covers both tables. A real orange makes the reveal physical; any stand-in object works when oranges are out of season.
the run sheet
// this is the guide file, word for word — read it here, run from it here. the .md at the bottom of the page is the same text, offline.
Folder:
the-orange· Category: conflict · 2 parties of 2–4 · 20 min · offline · print props · assessment-typeLicense: CC BY 4.0
Two teams, one orange, one hidden fact each: the juicers need the flesh, the bakers need the peel. Teams that negotiate positions split the orange; teams that ask about interests both walk away whole. The debrief shows which one your room did — and where that pattern shows up in every handover, budget fight and vendor call.
Objectives
By the end of the activity, participants will have:
- Felt the difference between positions ("I need the orange") and interests ("I need the juice").
- Experienced that information is the currency of agreement — the hidden facts only surface if someone asks.
- Practiced one question: "what do you need it for?"
Setup
Space: two tables, far enough apart that teams can't overhear each other.
Materials:
| Item | Source |
|---|---|
| 1 × orange (or any object) | real prop preferred — a real orange makes the reveal physical |
| 1 × juicer team card | the-orange-prop-cards.pdf (card 1) — confidential |
| 1 × baker team card | the-orange-prop-cards.pdf (card 2) — confidential |
| 1 × facilitator card | the-orange-prop-cards.pdf (card 3) — for you |
The hidden facts: juicers need the flesh for fresh juice (peel useless to them); bakers need the peel for a cake (flesh useless to them). Each card states its own fact only. Neither team knows the other's.
Rules — say them out loud: "One orange. Each team holds a confidential brief. You have eight minutes to reach a written agreement. No agreement by the deadline: neither team gets anything."
Minute-by-minute script
| Time | Phase | Facilitator does | Participants do |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0–3 | Frame + briefs | Hand out confidential cards. State rules and deadline | Read briefs, plan openers |
| 3–11 | Negotiation (8 min) | Float. Answer process questions only ("can we ask them anything?" — yes). Do not hint at the hidden facts | Exchange offers, discover or fail to discover interests |
| 11–14 | The reveal | "Juicers: show your card. Bakers: show yours." Read both aloud | Surprise (or vindication) |
| 14–17 | Score the agreements | Agreements on the table: who split, who split well, who integrated | Compare outcomes |
| 17–20 | Bridge to debrief | "Keep your agreement slips — the debrief starts from what you wrote." | Transition |
Then run the debrief — see the-orange-debrief.md.
Known failure modes & rescues
- Both teams anchor on "half each" in minute one. The classic. Rescue: none during negotiation — the premature split is the debrief's centerpiece. Announce nothing.
- A team lies about its brief. Someone claims to need the whole orange "for reasons." Rescue: briefs are confidential, but lying about them is legal in this game — note it for the debrief, where trust becomes the question.
- Silence — nobody opens. Rescue: at minute 5, announce to both tables: "three minutes of questions are allowed that must be answered honestly." It usually unlocks the discovery.
Variations
- The vendor version: briefs become "vendor needs payment in 30 days" and "client needs delivery in 30 days" — the same hidden-complement structure in work clothes.
- Three-party orange: add a shipping team that needs the box. Multi-party interest mapping, noticeably harder.
- No deadline: remove the 8-minute clock. Watch how long teams take to ask the question they never asked.
Props in this folder
the-orange-prop-cards.pdf— poker print-ready: juicer brief, baker brief, facilitator cardthe-orange-guide.md— this run sheetthe-orange-debrief.md— 8 debrief questions, 3 failure modesthe-orange-assessment.json— pre/post measure presetthe-orange-paper-form.pdf— the A4 answer sheet: the measure as a print-and-fill formthe-orange-workbook.pdf— participant workbook: the idea in plain words, guided items, notes and action pagesthe-orange-slide-deck.pdf— the slide deck for teaching or projectingthe-orange-slide-deck.html— the same deck for any browser, speaker notes on Nthe-orange-license.md— what you may do with all of this, in plain languagethe-orange-activity-poster.pdf— The whole activity on one wall (A3): meta, run of show, debrief questions, watch-outs.the-orange-start-here.md— one page, thirty seconds, then print and goSKILL.md— machine-readable manifest for AI agentsthe-orange-run-sheet.pdf— the print edition: this run sheet + the debrief sheet, bound as one A4 PDF
Agent version
Every file in this folder has a stable public URL — an AI agent can fetch the props, the debrief and this run sheet with three curl commands (see SKILL.md). The negotiation itself needs the cards, an orange, and two tables that cannot overhear each other.
the debrief sheet
// the debrief questions, in full — the .md version prints on one page for the room.
8 questions, 3 failure modes, one rule: the agreement slips are the data.
Use with
the-orange-guide.md. Debrief runs 10–15 min after the reveal.
The 8 questions
1. The opener.
"First two minutes: what did your team lead with — a demand, or a question?"
→ Most teams open with a position. The reveal then prices that opener.
2. The question that wasn't asked.
"Both agreements on the table: which team asked 'what do you need it for'? What would that question have been worth?"
→ This is the debrief's center. Ask it to the team that didn't ask.
3. The split.
"Teams that agreed on halves: what made half feel fair? What were you both giving up?"
→ Half is equality, not efficiency. The orange proves they are different things.
4. The reveal moment.
"When both cards went up — what did you feel? Say one word."
→ Surprise, relief, frustration — one word each, fast round. The emotion justifies the lesson better than analysis.
5. The lie.
"If anyone stretched their brief: what did it cost? Did it ever get found out?"
→ Optional question — ask only if a lie happened. Trust is the underlying currency.
6. The daily version.
"Where does a hidden complement hide in your week — two teams fighting over one thing that both could have?"
→ Transfer question. Expect: headcount, budget lines, meeting rooms, release dates, one shared engineer.
7. The one question.
"What is one question you will ask in your next disagreement before you counter?"
→ Commitment question. "What do you need it for?" is the obvious answer — let them find it.
8. The orange.
"Someone eat the orange. Seriously — it closes the exercise better than any summary."
→ Closing question. The room watches interests get literally consumed: flesh to one, peel to the other.
3 known failure modes of the debrief itself
- The splitters feel dumb. Half-half teams believe they failed.
Rescue: reframe — "half is a legitimate deal; it just left value on the table. Name one real deal where you'd accept that."
- The winners lecture. The integrated-deal team explains interest-based negotiation to everyone.
Rescue: redirect to question 2 — the winners get asked what triggered their question, not their theory.
- The debrief stays hypothetical. Everyone agrees "asking is good" and nothing changes.
Rescue: question 7 with names and dates: next disagreement, one question, before the counter.
If you are running the pre/post measure (the-orange-assessment.json), note these observables during the negotiation:
| Observable | Points to |
|---|---|
| A team asks "what do you need it for?" in the first 3 min | Interest exploration |
| Offers go beyond the one orange (juice rights, peel rights) | Integration attempt |
| A team reveals its own brief unprompted | Information sharing |
The report your participants receive is a team-level comparison of process, never a verdict on who negotiated better — keep it that way.
who it's for · what it leaves behind
Who is The Orange activity for?
Trainers and team leads working on negotiation, stakeholder alignment or cross-team conflict — anywhere two sides fight over one thing. It runs on two teams of 2–4, needs two tables out of earshot, and lands hardest in rooms that argue about shared resources: headcount, budget, roadmaps.
What results does it produce?
Written agreement slips stay on the table — splits, integrations or walks — and the reveal prices each one against what was actually possible. A pre/post team-level delta from the assessment preset measures interest exploration, information sharing and integrative thinking. It measures process, not who negotiated better.
Can my AI agent use this folder?
Yes. Every folder ships a SKILL.md skill file: frontmatter for matching, plus runnable prep commands — fetch the props, pull the debrief, build the live pre/post measure with formlm-cli. The three-step workflow (discover, install, run) lives on the skills page, every folder ships a one-command zip bundle, and the machine index is skills.json.
Is it really free?
Yes — CC BY 4.0, no account, no email wall inside a folder. Download it, run it, copy it, rebrand it for your own workshop. Attribution keeps everything free.
make it live
The folder's paper pre/post measure is built for rooms with nothing but markers. If you want the digital version — the same 6 items as a live form, each participant's before/after delta computed automatically — two ways:
for AI agents
$ formlm-cli smart generate --input "Pre/post measure for The Orange negotiation exercise: 6 Likert items on interest exploration, information sharing and integrative thinking — the same 6 items before and after the activity, so each participant's delta is computed automatically"
Step 4 of the agent workflow: npm install -g @formlm/cli, log in once, and the prep above runs itself. The form and its data live in your own workspace.
— or, with a mouse —
Open the free pre/post training quiz template on FormLM
and paste the 6 items from the-orange-assessment.json — the template already runs the before/after comparison and scores it.
// optional, not required — the paper version in this folder is complete on its own. free account on their side.
put it on the wall
The folder ships a single-file HTML deck that presents full-screen from one laptop. To run the activity on the room's big screen — submissions land on the wall in real time, the countdown and the spotlight stay in your hands, and the whole room joins with one scan — the scan-and-project companion is QRCard-AI:
See the trainer live-screen mode on QRCard-AI — one QR code on the wall, participants join and follow from their own seats.
// optional, not required — the deck in this folder already runs full-screen on a single laptop.
take this folder with you
// every file downloads as a plain file. no account, no email wall inside a folder.