The Collaboration Game is an online and table top business simulation designed to improve how people work together in today’s increasingly complex organisations.

In playing the game, participants experience how their individual and collective success is either reinforced or undermined by the way in which they collaborate. They learn that in order to be successful in the game, and in their business, they must view the organisation from each other’s perspectives, understand the interdependencies, overcome the competing priorities, communicate across functions, collectively resolve issues and make “joined up” decisions.

The game is played in multiples of 8 players with each person responsible for one or more decisions that collectively determine the result. The decisions associated with each role are described by role cards that closely reflect those of their organisation. Value is represented by poker chips which are added or wasted depending on the quality of interaction and decision making between the players. A full round of 8 moves represents one trading quarter in the life of the organisation. When played with two or more teams, the winning team is the one with the most value on the game board at the end of a predetermined number of rounds. Learning during the game is provoked by a series of questions between rounds, concluding with a call to action to improve collaboration in the workplace. The game can be fully adapted to reflect your company’s unique roles, processes and challenges and can be used to practice strategic thinking, decision making, collaboration, and teamwork both online, in group workshops and in large scale conferences.

Whilst collaboration is a challenge for many organizations, it is often magnified for those with geographically or functionally dispersed teams who rarely meet face to face. Yet most learning solutions rely on face to face or classroom activities, and hence don’t replicate the reality for the participants involved. The online edition of the game has been designed to enhance the impact by creating a scalable solution that transforms behavior across an organization and not just with the privileged few who have been on a course. It replicates the same interdependencies and competing priorities as the desk top edition. However, because it is server based, people in different geographic locations, business units and functions can play together remotely, and with multiple games being played, an internal competition can be used to paradoxically increase collaboration!

The online edition can be played simultaneously by participants during a 3 hour facilitated session, or asynchronously over a longer period reflecting the logistical challenges of global organisations such as multiple time zones and conflicting schedules, forcing participants to agree decision making protocols and build trust.