Organizational culture coaching with a role-playing game

Gamify interdisciplinarity and collaborative decision-making to train new talent

Home » Case studies

Sector

Education and organisational culture

Summary

Analysis of decision-making processes
Analysis of competencies and leadership in organizations
Definition of a collaborative purpose
Process design to define possible interactions
Game design

The need

Academic preparation that trains young talents with respect to organizational culture is quite rare.
However, upon graduation young people begin on their career journey in larger or smaller organizations and will share decisions and processes with people who bring at the table other competences to develop complex projects.

Specialized education often unintentionally fuels disciplinary biases that produce division among people who must one day work together in common organizations.
This approach has a negative impact on business life, produces issues in collaboration, and limits the ability to innovate.

The insight

How, then, to train collaboration among different competencies and produce organizational culture? This research question fueled our project. How is it possible to stimulate others to look at the world through the eyes of others? How can a group of young talents be led to reframing the roles they will be able to assume in organizations?

We have found an answer in role-playing games. Indeed, in gaming there are moments of fun where players enjoy the challenge of experiencing new conditions and simulating the lives of others. A challenge, however, is necessary.

The solution

Unlocking innovation through role-playing that stimulates organizational culture

We developed a team challenge inspired by the role-playing game of Dungeons and Dragons. Each participant plays a defined character, with roles, decision-making profiles, known explicit objectives and secret implicit objectives in the same organization.

Each role was defined based on the most common roles found in manufacturing companies and design companies, formulating a typical catalogue of different decision-making approaches and responsibilities due to different competences.

Prepare new talent for interdisciplinarity and collaboration in organizations

The challenge of this project was to find an engaging and educational gimmick to prepare new talents for the challenges of innovation in a world of increased complexity understanding the power of organizational culture.

Experiencing how different cooperation and synergy skills produce more effective solutions in organizations

The game was developed as a deck of character cards in a business challenge where the purpose of the match is to reach the best possible deal between two organizations : a manufacturing company and a design company.

Will the different characters be able to withstand the opposing personality pushes and manage the hidden decision objectives in a way that creates shared value?