Fun & Games - and Business Insight

Computerworld - The players gaze intently at the screens in front of them, trying desperately to gain an edge over the competition. Unlike at the local arcade, where baggy jeans and baseball caps dominate, these players are clad in business attire. And rather than playing fantasy video games filled with space aliens and asteroids, these players are maneuvering through real-life work situations they encounter each day.

Welcome to the world of business simulation–maps, board games and computer activities that help IT workers step out of their day-to-day jobs to gain a better understanding of corporate goals and challenges and see where they fit into the big picture.

IT executives who use simulation tools say they can be especially helpful in getting employees to better align their work with business strategies, particularly if they're new strategies. And as businesses place greater emphasis on IT project returns, simulation tools not only help employees reshape their thinking toward more cost-effective work, but also motivate them to come up with new revenue-generating ideas.

Tom Crawford, director of e-learning at Maumee, Ohio-based Root Learning Inc., likens the use of business simulation tools to the experience of "the kid who stays up until 3 or 4 a.m. playing the newest video game." Root Learning teamed with New York-based Towers Perrin to develop a simulation game for IT and other managers at Ameren Corp., a gas and electric utility company in St. Louis.

Often, IT workers understand their own jobs well but don't know the intricacies of the business at large, so simulation tools that can help them visualize the company from a macro perspective can be valuable, says Sue Goldberg, president of Northeast Training Group Inc., an IT training facility in Chestnut Hill, Mass. Simulation training is just one of the pieces of corporate education, she says. It should be followed up with additional training, mentoring and coaching, including classroom training.

"I think it gives people a basic understanding of what the business is," says Goldberg.

Your Move

In January, Ameren held three one-day classes to teach 120 managers, including a few from IT and the CIO, about shareholder value and how it fits in with their day-to-day work. The sessions started with small group discussions about the changing dynamics in the business world and in the utility industry in particular.

Participants pored over maps resembling childhood board games such as Chutes and Ladders and Candyland. The maps illustrated various factors that have affected the company, such as deregulation, and successful and unsuccessful moves Ameren has made over the years, explains Matt Herzberg, director of organizational development at the $3.5 billion utility.