Experience Is a Brutal Teacher. What Serious Gaming Can Do for You

Every management training worth it teaches you to cooperate, agree on a joint approach, stick to the agreements, and above all, communicate with one another. We all know this, and we think we’re doing it on the regular. But a little serious gaming taught me to know the real me…

About six years ago, I started work at InContext, where they develop business games and simulations. That very same afternoon, a business game was being played with a customer, but they were one player short. Now was my chance to show them what I was made of!

The challenge seemed simple enough. Four teams had to complete their own puzzle, and the only way to exchange puzzle pieces was at a special ‘exchange’ and consultation point. The goal? Complete the puzzle as quickly as possible.

Driven by ambition and a touch of rivalry, I thought…

“Karin, show them what you’re made of! You can prove you’re far from dumb and that you can take on a challenge. Just a bit of hard work and you’ve got it made!”

But in my own team, no matter what I tried, I couldn’t complete the puzzle. Surely I could handle a simple puzzle? Of course, with hindsight, I didn’t have all the pieces I needed to finish my team’s puzzle. That’s what the consultation and exchange point was for!

Everyone had their own ideas about how to improve the exchange process, people shouting and snatching pieces out of one another’s hands. We all wanted to get the puzzle done as quickly as possible. I had a couple of pieces wrenched from my hands. “Hey, why should you get something from me? What do I get back from you?”

All contestants made the same mistake

It became painfully clear that we didn’t have any conflicts of interest. Everyone had a few puzzle pieces the others needed, and we could simply exchange them. Right from the get-go, we’d only been chasing our own goals. All the players made the same mistake. And the players who had tried to be above the struggle in the first five minutes were ignored and dragged into the individual fight. Leadership, communication, cooperation – all went out the window. Our solo performances cost us nearly two hours. The challenge only needed half an hour if we’d made a few process agreements and stuck to them.