A Game Can Teach

People love playing, and it has long been proven that we learn more easily through games. In an effort to increase its efficiency, the business sector that offers trainings, has started to use new game models. Business simulations and serious games shorten the way to finding the right solutions. They allow you to test a certain strategy in a safe environment, to realize what your strengths and weaknesses are, and to see the big picture of your work environment.

Risk Is Not Unavoidable

Companies will employ more and more game strategies in order to motivate their employees to work more efficiently. The trend of gamification to become part of the training programs aims to take the main game characteristics, such as action, design and challenge, and through entertainment to reach the core of the problem. In a real environment, very often the management is not prone to making risky decisions in order to prevent financial loss, but games are an opportunity to test different options without suffering damages. Based on that, it is easier to create market behaviour scenarios. All this can happen with the participation and under the “control” of trainers. Games provoke us to get out of our comfort zone; they are also the fastest way to gain experience. Participants of such trainings immediately begin to apply in practice what they have learned through the game models,  Tsvetelina Teneva and Svetlan Stanoev, co-founders of The Business Institute assure us.

Straight to the Point

The Business Institute is an organization that supports the development of specific business skills through training solutions based on business simulations and game models. The focus is put on the practical and the useful, and the trainers look for efficient ways to influence the knowledge, skills and attitudes of the workshop participants. The methods that are used have to be very engaging. And the sooner the participants free themselves from their restraints and start to boldly experiment within the game, the sooner they will see actual results from their efforts. The right combination of game options and the skillful management of the whole training process leads to fast accumulation of knowledge, skills and experience, and the actual practical results are soon to follow.

A Suit that Fits

A variety of gaming tools is used in trainings. The good knowledge of the particular business of a company and of the problems and obstacles that it wants to overcome, is a prerequisite for the use of a specific training solution. “We can’t tailor a suit without taking the client’s measurements”, says Tsvetelina Teneva. That is why trainers must become well acquainted with the business of their client who is looking for a “trampoline” to higher results. In the toolbox, there are online simulations, LEGO Serious Play, business canvases. And according to the needs, different combinations can be used. Gaming methods help participants put the pieces of the “puzzle” together and develop their road map to higher results on their own. The group plays as a team and the task can aim to find the solution to a particular business case. In online simulations, there are indicators that measure the effectiveness of the effort. As a whole, a competitive environment is created, and the competitive spirit in everyone is unleashed, points Svetlan Stanoev.

No Prejudice

There is a prejudice that games are just for entertainment, that it is a waste of time. The main strategy of trainers to go beyond the “iron curtain” of doubts is by working with clients who are willing to experiment and look for novelty. The one who takes the risk to be the first will also be the first to benefit from it, and then followers will appear, who will also want to achieve high results in their work. Among those who have decided to test the innovative approach offered by The Business Institute are Vivacom, Carlsberg Bulgaria, HL-TopMix in Sliven. “A business simulation on teamwork and leadership was part of VIVACOM’s management program in 2016 and 2017. We achieved very good results because the level of interactivity and creativeness allowed for the easy transfer of theoretical knowledge to the everyday management practice of the participants in the simulation”, the mobile operator shares.

In theory, gamification is a tool that facilitates the use of knew knowledge and skills at a high degree of motivation. Learning time is shortened and the effectiveness of what has been learned is increased when applied in our everyday work. Competition is becoming stronger. In order to get ahead, more and more innovative solution of “the tortoise and the hare” type will be needed. The gaming methods are an opportunity to find the right approach in the increasingly complex market environment.