At our Lab at Purdue, we teach the multiple skills of complex collaboration with simulation games.
Every organization is facing complex, wicked challenges. We are unprepared. Traditional management practices do not work well. We do not yet have the skills or the light weight collaborative processes we need to do deep, shared, strategic thinking quickly.
Customized strategy games have proven an effective way to introduce these skills. The games are designed just slightly away from the reality facing the team. If the game is too closely associated to the team’s current situation, participants have difficulty separating themselves from their day-to-day roles.
At the same time, if the simulation game is too far detached from their current situation, participants have difficulty emotionally engaging in the role play.
For example, to address the challenges of opioids in our community, we have developed a game around maternal morbidity. To introduce the skills to a pharmaceutical company, we designed a game focused on a medical device manufacturer.
We developed our first game, Midville, to enable neighborhood leaders in Flint see how they could address the complex challenges of their neighborhoods.
