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Done this level

Picture credit: gnackgnackgnack

Picture credit: gnackgnackgnack

Should we get video game designers to shape the organizations of the future? I think our businesses might be more effective  and robust if we did.

This is not so crazy as it sounds, professional games designers know how to plan a resilient environment and define suitable roles. They also know a lot about sustaining player engagement, which is an eternal problem for most organizations – in the form of employee motivation.

I began thinking seriously about this idea after speaking with a fellow delegate at a conference last week. He described a phenomenon whereby younger staff members carry forward their game player generation attitude into the workplace. More specifically, that they look at their career as a game and seek advancement whenever they feel that they have ‘done this level.’ Such an attitude is understandable but not always compatible with the way that the world of work is currently organized.

But that’s what got me thinking about changing the way that we build the enterprise, rather than simply expecting the next generation to change their mindset; which was the old way of building command and control organizations.

If we design our enterprise as if it is a multi-user game with open interfaces to other similar games, we will take a major step towards properly joined-up management for a joined-up world.

We would build effectiveness, resilience and purpose into the organization. Because if we don’t, the game won’t work and nobody will play it.

Once again, the world of play holds useful lessons for the world of work. I often look to the toy cupboard for inspiration as anyone who has seen my live presentations will testify.

Here are a few questions for you to consider:

  • Which video/ computer game is the best inspiration for your organization?
  • What characters/ roles can you identify that are absent?
  • Is it possible to move from level to level or are there just lots of dead ends and secret chambers to trap the unwary?

I suspect that once you start looking at your organization as a game structure, you will gain very valuable insight.

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  • Don Lawn

    Excellent point Colin!

    I think that one of the important aspects of tye “game” approach would be to recognise the self-interest aspect of individuals in organisations.
    The Australian Public Service, and probably most Public Services, are almost completely crippled because the self-interest aspect completely overshadows the “lets get the job done” aspect. This is probably because the self-interest aspect is completely ignored in the definition of PS business units, processes, etc. Thus it exists oustide the rules, and flourishes like a black market.

    Any model that treats the individual relistically, recognising individual motives such as promotion, renumeration, pride, approval seeking, power and contorl, etc. is bound to do a better job than the current approaches.

    Don

  • Adrian Apthorp
  • Adrian Apthorp

    I was of course referring to VPEC-T.

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