Using simulations and serious games for enabling transformational change

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Why should we bother

Using simulations and serious games for enabling transformational change

Dr. Ivo Wenzler


Getting to and benefiting from a transformational change implies a change journey !

Where do we want to be, why do we want to be there, and how do we start u envision the change

How do we get there, what do we need to do, and how to ensure we do not stop u enable the change

How do we make it work, assess our success, and ensure we do not fall back u live the change

On change

If you don't like change, you are going to like irrelevance even less.

Eric Shinseki

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Transformational change journey poses a number of critical questions !

• What is the nature of market dynamics and what are the requirements for success in the future u market

• What are the risks and tradeoffs we face and which strategy will ensure sustainable success u strategy

• Which business capabilities do we need for implementing our strategy and how robust are they u capability

• How do we translate these capabilities into action and actual performance improvement u performance

On change

Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are.

Bertolt Brecht

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Every change journey should also result in tangible and sustainable outcomes !

• Aware of why it is important to change, what needs to change and what are the challenges we expect u understanding

• Able to apply knowledge, skills and behaviors required by change and start working in the new way u capability

• Willing to act on acquired capabilities and translate change into sustainable performance u commitment

On change

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.

Charles Darwin

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Embarking on a change journey is not easy and is accompanied by a variety of challenges !

Expected speed of change

Perception of benefits

Conflicting interests

Stakeholder relationships

Resistance to change

Competing change models

Limits to change

Speed of learning

Effects of communication

On change

Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better.

Sydney Harris

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Serious gaming can address both questions and challenges of transformational change !

• Multi player social interaction games, mostly at a higher level of abstraction of real-life u analogue games

• Multi player interactive narratives using real world social and communication media as a platform u alternate games

• Single or multi player interactions within two dimensional or three dimensional virtual worlds u virtual games

• Dynamic models of end-to-end business processes aimed at transition, workforce, or capacity planning u simulations

The typology of serious gaming

I always wondered why somebody doesn't do something about that. Then I realized I was somebody.

Lily Tomlin

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The role of serious gaming

Learning is a process of discovery and we must each be our own discoverer, others could not do it for you.

Charles Handy

Serious gaming provides environments for knowledge creation and dissemination !

Learning from our actions and actual effects of those actions in real-time u real life

Learning from conceptual and mathematical representations of reality u models

Learning from exploration and play within interactive simulations of reality u gaming

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Different elements of an organization are changing at different speeds !

Challenge

• How to recognize the speed limits at which different elements of organizations can change u recognizing the limits to change

• How to prevent slow elements blocking the flow of the quick ones, and the quick ones tearing up the slow ones with their

constant change u managing the

change by managing the slippage

Why is change difficult ?

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Have you ever noticed. Anybody going slower than you is an idiot. And anyone going faster is a maniac.

George Carlin

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Case International telecom company

Business planning simulation !

Detailed, quantitative, and dynamic simulation model of operational process workflows (end-to-end)

Objectives

• Create insight into performance of the end-to-end sales and operations process under a range of short-term and long-term network rollout and performance improvement scenarios

• Make detailed weekly projections in terms of revenues, costs, workload, and operational capacity requirements up to three years into the future

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Outcome

Understanding of the potential slippage between strategy, processes, systems, and resource capacity !

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We mostly plan change for EGAP but NEGAP is usually the norm !

Challenge

• How to avoid a deliberate and strategic overestimating of benefits and underestimating of costs in order to increase the likelihood of gaining approval and funding u redefining the rules of the game

• How to enable decisions based on a rational weighting of gains, losses, and probabilities rather than on delusional optimism u building the capabilities to plan for uncertainty


For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat and wrong.

Henry L. Mencken

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Case EU Transform program

Smart city simulation !

Detailed, dynamic, web-based, and city specific geospatial simulation model of energy and climate performance

Objectives

• Analyze the city’s energy related context and identify opportunities for reducing emissions and increasing energy efficiency and use of renewables

• Define a portfolio of energy related measures and allocate them to a specific location in the city

• Define different future scenarios and analyze the effects of combined measures on reaching city’s emission and energy efficiency objectives

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Outcome

Increased transparency of options and improved capability to plan for the uncertain future !

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Change often implies many diverse and conflicting stakeholder interests !

Challenge

• How to align stakeholder expectations and minimize conflicts of interests u creating the win-win situation for all

• How to productively engage all of the stakeholders and reduce their resistance to change u minimizing the valley of despair


I don't understand you. You don't understand me. What else do we have in common?

Ashleigh Brilliant

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Change experience game !

An interactive multi-player serious game structured around simplified and symbolic representations of actual processes

Objectives

• Experience and visualize the business transformation to be undertaken

• Highlight the most important requirements for successful organizational change

• Build a shared understanding that the ‘how’ of change is as important as the ‘what’ of change

Case National public transport company 12

Outcome

Increased engagement and reduced resistance to change !

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Change requires relationships that are symbiotic and not parasitic or predatory !

Challenge

• How to create and maintain both internal and external change networks and alliances u delivering success through networking and not combat

• How to encourage self-organizing and emergent behavior on all levels in the organization and an ongoing interplay of competition and cooperation, creation and mutual adaptation u managing the change through co-evolution


Life is relationships; the rest is just details.

Gary Smalley

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Effective organization game !

An interactive multi-player serious game structured around a metaphor of a complex multilayered organization

Objectives

• Highlight the need for achieving a balance between horizontal and vertical responsibilities in an organization

• Highlight the need for cooperation and mutual adaptation throughout the organization

• Test the ability of a team to operate effectively when under pressure to perform in an uncertain and changing environment

Case Multinational financial institution 14

Outcome

Increase and learn to leverage horizontal and vertical alignment to improve organizational performance !

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Change is not an event but a continuously evolving and iterative process !

Challenge

• How to overcome a natural resistance to change (since it is only change that enables our development and growth) even when apparently illogical in demanding change when we are most successful u squaring the circle of

change

• How to plan for change and ensure the speed and adaptability instead of focusing on the size and stability u preventing death from equilibrium


If you're in a bad situation, don't worry it'll change. If you're in a good situation, don't worry it'll change.

John A. Simone

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Transformation journey game !

An interactive multi-player serious game structured around a metaphor of a continuously changing organization

Objectives

• Create an insight in what is a ‘high performance’ change capability and how to formulate it within a specific context

• Create insight in what are the most important issues to be considered to ensure adaptability and speed of change

• Develop an understanding on how to best shape a specific change program and communicate about it effectively to reduce resistance to change

Case Multinational chemical company 16

Outcome

Actionable insight into the elements critical for the development of an effective organizational change journey !

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There are a number of competing theories on how to achieve change !

Challenge

• How to cultivate moments of insights since large scale behavior change requires a large scale change in mental maps u shaping reality through expectations

• How to create and sustain repeated, purposeful, and focused attention which is required to hardwire insights for successful change, given the brain’s limited working memory u shaping identity through attention density


In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.

Yogi Berra

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Case National utility network company

Day-in-a-life simulation !

Simulation of actual business process and systems, with participants playing real-life roles and making actual business decisions

Objectives

• Provide focused attention to the new way of working – the change in role specific functions and responsibilities

• Reinforce the capability of employees to work with new processes and systems

• Build confidence in the new way of working and build commitment to act on what has been learned

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Outcome

Actionable knowledge, skills, and behaviors required for translating change into performance improvement !

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Change often creates both psychological and physiological discomfort and stress !

Challenge

• How to ensure that those introducing and promoting change fully understand the impact of change on all stakeholders and are able to act on it u understanding and managing the limits to change

• How to ensure the speed of transferring the work from prefrontal cortex to basal ganglia, which has a much larger storage capacity and requires much less energy to function u changing and hardwiring new habits with speed


Reality is the leading cause of stress amongst those in touch with it.

Lily Tomlin

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Management consulting game !

An interactive multi-player alternate reality game providing the experience of advising a complex organization in change

Objectives

• Learn how to quickly organize the teams and ensure their effectiveness under the increasing pressure from the client

• Understand the impact of change on all organizational stakeholders and the challenges they are facing

• Learn how to quickly develop actionable and effective advice to the organization in change

Case Global consulting company 20

Outcome

Increased understanding on how to operate effectively as a team under pressure in a complex, rapidly changing circumstances !

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There is a paradox in the hart of learning for change, we learn in order not to learn again !

Challenge

• How to determine the timing and balance between learning to acquire habits, learning to change habits, and learning to change the ways in which we change habits u unraveling the learning paradox

• How to develop and maintain the ability to learn faster and better than the competition u using learning as the most sustainable competitive advantage


In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.

Eric Hoffer

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Leadership factory game !

An interactive multi-player serious game structured around a metaphor of a complex engineering organization

Objectives

• Create insight in the current level of leadership competence and behavior

• Create motivation and commitment to develop personal leadership and help define personal development actions

• Provide the opportunity and test the ability of a team to quickly learn and apply new habits

Case National public service organization 22

Outcome

Increased personal leadership competence and the ability to quickly acquire new leadership skills and behaviors !

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Communication as a main vehicle for change is in principle unreliable !

Challenge

• How to ensure that communication is understandable, relevant, timely, measured, and actionable u going beyond the language

• How to inspire and enable the desired change not only through traditional communication interventions, but through structures, processes, and key stakeholder behaviors u communicating by walking the talk


The greatest problem in communication is the illusion that it has been accomplished.

Hubert H. Humphrey

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Teaming game !

3D computer game with participants collaboratively confronting a series of challenges in a virtual environment

Objectives

• Increase awareness of the importance of effective communication and leadership for creating and maintaining a high performing team

• Learn how to ensure that the communication between team members is not only understandable and relevant, but timely and actionable as well

Case Multinational technology company 24

Outcome

Understand the challenges of effective communication and teamwork and the ways in which they can be achieved !

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The benefits

Serious gaming is effective in addressing many challenges of change !

• They enable creation of a holistic view of the required change and the reasons behind it u big picture

• They help exploration of alternative futures within a safe setting and with speed u memories of the future

• They enhance and facilitate communication between different stakeholders u shared intelligence

• They provide experience of the new ways of working and expected benefits from change u confidence in success

When I looked at the qualities of games and how they captivate people's attention, I decided to try the same technology for enhancing well-being.

Deepak Chopra

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Picture is worth one thousand words, a game is worth one thousand pictures.

Richard D. Duke

The benefits

Serious gaming delivers measurable and sustainable performance improvement !

• Compressing the time from learning to impact results in faster performance improvement u we learn faster

• Higher retention of content results in more sustainable performance improvement u we remember more

• Providing simulated realities when it is too costly or hazardous to test solutions in real life and real time u we pay less

• Embracing complexity and experimenting with a number of possible

future realities u we decide better

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Questions

Learning music by reading about it is like making love by mail.

Luciano Pavarotti

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Using simulations and serious games for enabling transformational change

Business

Transcript of Using simulations and serious games for enabling transformational change