1The Challenge
What was the challenge?
Fidelity engaged The Thought Bulb for a two-day leadership intervention built around a newly formed group — senior directors from different geographies who had recently come together as a team, with L2 leaders joining for the second leg of the journey.
Day 1 had brought the senior directors together for the first time, building early trust and familiarity. Day 2 needed to go further: widening the room to include L2 leaders (35-50 people in total) at an external venue, while pushing the group from simply getting comfortable with each other toward actively practising the collaboration, negotiation, and collective ownership a senior leadership team needs when navigating ambiguity and disruption together.
2Our Solution
What solution did we design?
The Thought Bulb designed the Cricket Auction — a fast-paced strategic simulation where leadership units pooled resources, negotiated, and built their squad through live bidding in direct competition with the other groups in the room.
The format was chosen deliberately to mirror the real trade-offs senior leaders face: limited resources, competing priorities, and the constant tension between individual wins and collective success. Rather than a standalone game, it was built as the second chapter of the leadership story Day 1 had opened — with Day 1's highlight reel woven into the session to connect both days into one continuous journey.
3How We Did It
How was the programme delivered?
The 60-minute Day 2 session was facilitated by lead facilitator Nitin Sharma, with additional facilitators brought in to support the larger group size. The venue was set up with a projector and LED screen for the live auction board, along with microphone and audio support to keep energy high across a bigger room.
Teams were given a budget and had to bid strategically on players — quick negotiation and prioritisation under time pressure, with every bidding decision surfacing how each team weighed short-term wins against long-term squad strength. The session opened with a screening of Day 1's highlight video to anchor the group in its shared journey, and closed with a facilitated debrief on leadership and decision-making — drawing direct lines from the auction dynamics to how the team makes decisions in the business.
4Key Outcomes
What were the results?
The Cricket Auction gave Fidelity's senior leaders a live, low-stakes arena to practise the behaviours the engagement was built around — collaborating rather than competing, navigating uncertainty with agility, and choosing collective success over individual wins.
- Leadership alignment: The debrief surfaced honest conversation on what it means to align toward a common outcome within a still-forming leadership group.
- Trust under pressure: Different leadership styles emerged clearly under the time pressure of the auction — providing a shared reference point for the group to reflect on.
- Continuous journey: Following on from Day 1, it gave the newly formed Senior Leadership Team — now including L2 leaders — a second, deeper shared experience to build from.
