In our new eBook, The Serious Game of People, Planet and Profit, I put forward my theory that serious games can help us answer the biggest business challenges of our time. That might sound a bit flippant. When leaders are dealing with the seemingly insurmountable issues around people, planet and profit, should we really spend our time at work playing games?
Absolutely. Bespoke, targeted games that simulate everyday work situations offer learning opportunities that would take years to build up on the job, in a couple of days.
The full learning curve of; taking action, receiving feedback, working with a coach, planning, reassessing and restarting can be condensed into a memorable, high impact learning experience. And ProfitAbility’s learning experiences are far from the talk and chalk type!
Other training vs ProfitAbility business simulations
We’ve all been at a training course where people are starting to look at their phones by lunchtime on day one. After all, these are busy people with other priorities. But, the completion rate is high, the training box is ticked, and people move on.
However, I’d bet that scores would be low if you measured the training intervention for effectiveness:
Did the training provoke positive reaction (the degree to which the training is engaging and relevant)?
Did the participants gain relevant learning (the extent to which participants acquire the intended knowledge, skills, attitude, confidence, and commitment)?
Did it prompt behaviour change (how participants apply learning back on the job)?
In short, did you see any results (whether targeted outcomes occur)?
Compare the traditional training experience to that of a recent course one of my colleagues ran (for a senior team of a global business), where one of the participants came back for day two and said: ‘I was dreaming about this last night!’
ProfitAbility’s games provide the structure that binds a tailored, immersive learning experience together. Through a series of rounds, interwoven with feedback based on the decisions and actions people have taken, participants have an opportunity to make different decisions in subsequent rounds of the game.
Why does it work?
1. The simulations we create are close enough to the participants’ daily role to reinforce learning. It’s not real life but it’s scenarios they recognise – with some curve balls thrown in.
2. It’s very tactile. Rather than listening you are also talking, moving, touching. Participants feel the consequences of their actions.
3. It’s competitive and great fun. This keeps engagement high and people are involved to the end.
It’s a very different approach and on day one, people tend to come in with a bit of trepidation. But what we usually find is that by the end of round one, the scepticism has gone, and that participants have had much more fun than they thought they would!
The Serious Game of People, Planet & Profit
Would you consider game-based learning as part of a learning programme to:
Support organisational transformation?
Expand senior leadership thinking around sustainability?
Nurture more inclusive leaders?
Experiment with risk management?
Check out our new e-book that talks through these scenarios and how game-based learning has helped some of our clients to answer their biggest business challenges.