Over 50 years ago, Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM said “Business is a game, the greatest game in the world – if you know how to play it.”
Around the world people come together after work and play. And some of the board games, as Monopoly, are reflections of the business reality and train i.e. the handling of assets and risks. So we asked ourselves, why not use our propensity to play to develop new skills and behaviors in companies?
Business games are a great intervention when starting change projects. Business games are board games that help managers and employees discuss specific situations (i.e. as a merger or a new strategy) and enables them to test how their decisions will impact their employees and therefore the success of their change initiative. They force the participants to use both their intellect as well as their emotional intelligence to be effective. In discussions players are forced to rethink preconceived opinion and can practices new ideas.
The range of topics that are available is large: from project management to process optimization, these Business Games are already widely used around Scandinavia. In addition, Business Games can be customized according to specific company needs. What make these tools so effective it that they are being designed around well-grounded business theories such as Emotional Intelligence (Goleman), Leading Change (Kotter) and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicators (MBTI). Next to that the playful approach supports a higher transfer rate than traditional learning approaches.
Change projects ask for new approaches and Business Games can force people to think out of the box. They start the important process of reframing a culture and processes. To achieve sustainability, this catalytic activity needs to be followed by a reinforcing change architecture that support the transition of the organization. The aim: keep the change energy up for successful change implementations.