Escape Room: A Good Test of your Root Cause Analysis Team

Until 5 of us who regularly work together tackled an escape room as our ‘fun holiday gathering’ I hadn’t realized the parallels with doing a root cause analysis or tackling  other complex issues, from hazard analyses to recalls. The sum can be greater than the whole of its parts when there are good synergies. And I will be the first to admit that, despite being the only one to have ever done an escape room (and I’ve done many), I was the weak link in our group! Seeing how the team worked together- the unique skills and ways of thinking—it clearly demonstrates why a team approach to food safety is needed. 

When Fred Shank interviewed me for my first job at IFT he asked if I preferred to work alone or in a group. Obviously, I had to extol the benefits of group work, but I honestly hated group projects in college and grad school. It was at IFT, working on big picture issues, that I began to see the power of teams—as long as they were good teams, meaning not only did everyone pull their own weight, but their perspectives and knowledge complemented each other. 

Let me tell you about the escape room. It was a carnival theme. Being the only one who’d done escape rooms, I explained to the others what to look for—I could see things around the room that we would clearly need to win the ‘golden ticket’, but I wasn’t sure what to do with them. I just knew they fit together somehow. The team sprang into action. Tressie saw that buttons could be pushed, revealing a pattern that Don unlocked. Amy played a game that yielded a card with writing- it looked like Arabic to me. Gretchen instantly saw the numbers (this amazed all of us. She just saw it. I could have looked at that card for an hour, continuing to think it was Arabic. I never would have seen the numbers!). 

Yes, we needed a few clues. But ultimately, we solved the puzzles and won the golden ticket with over 5 minutes to spare. With a 43% escape rate, we felt good about that. I’m certain that if we each had an hour alone in the escape room, none of us would have gotten out.  

Going back to the card that I swear I never in a million years would have been able to decipher: this was the unlock for me. I’ve often said Gretchen is the yin to my yang. Yes, we are both food safety/ produce people. But our brains work differently. And that’s why we make a great team. Add in Don, a scientist but more on the regulatory and processing sides, and then Amy and Tressie who are not scientists but are equally as excellent in their respective spaces, and it was the winning combination. 

When a food safety issue occurs, especially in fresh produce, it’s often like an escape room. There’s not just 1 lock to figure out- there are multiple things going on, some which have dependencies, some of which are red herrings or lead you on wild goose chases. To figure things out before ‘times up’, you don’t just need people; you need the right blend of people. People who can make unique and complementary contributions. One, two, even five similar food safety people may get stuck in an echo chamber. Pull in the ranch manager, people from the harvest crew, the maintenance team, the sanitation supervisor, operations, even procurement. This is what gives a more complete view of things, and more robust analysis of the situation. Other team members know things you don’t know. It should not be a matter of pride- no matter how long I’d look at that card, I’d never see the numbers.  

I hear concerns about resources. People are busy, production must continue, and food safety shouldn’t ‘bother’ the other teams. If there was a food safety failure, the food safety team (alone) should figure it out. This is short sighted. Our escape room used about 4.5 man hours (5 of us, ~55 min each). I doubt any of us alone could have escaped (so infinite time, with little success to show). But I’ll also share that the room was small. If 20 of us crammed in there, we would have been distracted by bumping into each other. Being thoughtful about who is on the team, what they bring to the situation, and how they work together is critical. 

In all seriousness, an escape room is a great way to see the problem-solving skills of an interdisciplinary team and may help inform how company teams assemble to solve food safety issues. If you’re looking for a fun and useful teambuilding activity, I highly recommend it.