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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Future
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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
2
Present
Future

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
3
Present
Future

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
5

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
6

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 ?
1
Have you ever noticed. Anybody going
slower than you is an idiot. And anyone
going faster is a maniac.
George Carlin
7

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
8
Outcome
Understanding of the potential slippage
between strategy, processes, systems, and
resource capacity !
1

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
2
9

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 !
2

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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3

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 !
3

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
4
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Effective organization 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 !
4

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
5
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Transformation journey game !
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 !
5

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
6
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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 !
6

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
7
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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 !
7

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
8
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Leadership factory game !
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 !
8

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
9
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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 !
9

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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Present
Future

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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Present
Future

Questions
Learning music by reading about it is like
making love by mail.
Luciano Pavarotti
21
ivo.wenzler@accenture.com

Using simulations and serious games for enabling transformational change

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