Playing the Game

by Paul Haylor, Business Development Centre, Perth College

Have you ever wondered why kids spend so much time playing games? Do you think that as adults we grow out of this valuable activity? Maybe the idea of games makes you think "kid's stuff - not really for me"! But then again, have you ever been envious at the skills and dexterity of your little ones on their Playstation and wondered why they always beat you?

Playing games has some serious implications for the modern trainer. Most adults learn through a mixture of experience (good and bad), watching their colleagues and friends (and their mistakes!) and having a go. Learning is usually seen as the process of interaction with new environments (people, jobs, challenges, technologies etc) and adapting current talents to that situation [by default, if you can't adapt, you haven't learned how to learn].

These days learning has moved so much away from the sage like guru standing in front of a class of doting students waiting with baited breath for the latest management theory or business master class! Time is too short for lengthy periods away from the office and everyday is a valuable learning experience in its own right, if people can see the experience in terms of learning and developing from it. The pressures of deadlines and financial targets make the very nature of training solutions short, sharp and focused on immediate business results. If there is not an immediate return on the bottom line then there is no point to it!

So, what has all this got to do with playing games?

Basically they are fun, fast, interactive and above all, a very clever learning tool if used in the right hands. If you play sport then you will immediately understand the importance of training regularly, team building, maximising skills and talents of all members and healthy competition! In this overly politically correct world of ours, I think that competition is healthy as it reflects the true nature of the commercial environment that we as adults have to work in. There are winners and unfortunately losers too.

Anyway, back to playing games. Two very recent games that we have "played" with have identified knowledge sharing, teamwork, communication, problem solving, creativity and leadership as major skills development opportunities for those involved. Once a skilled facilitator is put in to place the game and the learning into some type of organisational context, both the participants and the employer can see immediate results in behaviours and performance in the workplace.

The first game is based on Monopoly and is targeted to meet the knowledge requirements and business skills for those involved in the hotel and tourism trade. Basically participants buy and sell hotels and revamp their facilities to beat their competition whilst learning more about Scotland, the tourism product. The equivalent of "chance" cards ask questions about Scotland, the leading hotels and Scottish history and, if answered correctly, more funds are made available for upgrading their hotels.

The learning in this is twofold, apart from the fun and social aspects; knowledge of Scotland's Tourism industry is expanded and participants have the simulated opportunity to see the effects of business competition and hotel management. In this game, the facilitator can monitor how the game has been played and put the key outcomes (ie why someone won or why they lost) into the context of the real tourism and hospitality industry.

The second "game" is very state of the art and is basically an escape from a desert island challenge by solving problems as a team. All of this is done in real time on the Internet and a standard game would last about 2 hours. The key part of this game is that it can only be solved if people work together to solve the problems of gathering food, finding resources, navigating around the island, crossing swamps and rivers and fighting off wild animals! The challenges are "live" or "real time" and an appointed team leader has to use all the skills and talents of team members to help solve the problems. All communication is done via a "chat log" online so participants are forced to communicate with each other to get things done. Or alternatively, things go badly wrong if the leader cannot set out the objectives clearly, if team members don't do what they are told or if they fail to use their collective talents to solve the problems.

All of this is done in a safe computerised environment where after a few minutes, people naturally allow their "normal" personality (as possibly distinct from their "work" personality) to surface as they become ensconced in the winning and losing elements of playing a game.

So far we have piloted this game as a diagnostic tool to determine levels of established team effectiveness; to see how effective the team leader is and to how creative/co-operative the team members are. It has the potential to be used to bring together new teams (ie project teams), problem solve with fragmenting teams, train and assess team leaders, put middle and senior managers on the spot, identify creativity and problem solving talents and, to actually get people communicating effectively together across remote working conditions (ie field workers).

So, the relevance of playing games to your bottom line? Well, like any premier league sports team, you need to bring players together and get them working together to achieve common goals (or to win the game). People are generally social creatures and by making learning a social, fun and interactive process, the effects can be more immediate and longer lasting. No one person can have all the skills to solve operational problems so the skilled manager needs to build and harness the combined talents of his or her team to get the best results. Using games based learning can help foster a spirit of co-operation, communication, joint responsibility, problem solving and above all, winning!

So, let the game begin!