Playing games as accelerator to implement IBP

Why do we play games?

Games are as old as humanity. We have played games throughout history, throughout our lives. Even animals play games. And games have evolved over the centuries, became more complicated, more elaborate. Also the way we play games has evolved. From physical games, like card- and board games, we play a lot of games nowadays online via the computer, smartphone or game console.

There are several reasons why we play games:
– Entertainment & fun
– Creativity & Exploration
– Social Interaction
– Skill Development
– Learning & Education
– Tradition
– Bonding & Relationship Building

All very good reasons for playing games, for this blog we will focus more on development reasons.

What is the importance of games

Overall, the importance of playing games extends beyond mere entertainment, influencing various aspects of personal development, social interaction, cultural preservation, and even physical and mental health.

From a development perspective, playing games helps in the development of various skills such as strategic thinking and multitasking. It also makes learning much more fun and engaging, aiding in the acquisition of new knowledge and concepts in an interactive manner. And games often involve overcoming challenges and learning from failures, which can build resilience and patience in players. In a save environment, it is more easy to make mistakes and learn from it compared to real life.

So playing games is important in the development of skills, social interaction, learning new skills and work together as a team, work together towards a common goal and learn valuable lessons in teamwork, cooperation, and communication.

That is why we offer the Integrated Business Planning (IBP) game, for companies to enrol in a virtual environment and work together towards a common goal.

IBP Game

When companies want to move to the next level in their supply chain maturity, once the Demand and Supply balancing is working fine, also the connection with the strategy and financial alignment is a next step. This move to IBP can be taught at different levels:
– Individuals vs Teams
– Teams vs Departments
– Departments vs Company

Different stakeholders, different (personal) goals and ambitions, how do you make sure everyone in the organisation understands and sees the benefits of moving up one level in maturity? To work towards the company goal, a seamless cooperation across departments, teams and individuals is a must. Siloed ways of working should become relics of the past.

One way to make sure everyone starts to understand the strategic intent, the way to move forward is based on theoretical information. Based on presentations by management, team leads, town hall meetings, recorded videos, roadmaps, literature, a mindset can be created that shifts towards the required change. As long as people do not experience do not experience any negative impact (on their span of control, bonus scheme, authorisation), people will (in most cases) play along and follow management in the required change.

But for individuals it is difficult to predict the impact to move to IBP for their duties, their work, their roles and responsibilities. Let alone on a departmental or even company level. And here the IBP Game can add value!

Instead of keeping the proposed change theoretical, the IBP Game makes it tangible, makes it real. By playing the game, a safe environment is created that fosters collaboration, learning, working towards a common goal and learning from mistakes. And besides all the mentioned advantages, it is also fun! Working with colleagues from different departments adds an additional element of belonging to the games, which benefits long after the game has been played.

We offer the IBP Game to bring the future into the now. If you have implemented IBP, what could that look like for your organisation? What changes in roles are needed, what learning can you derive from playing the game? Due to the game setup, collaboration across colleagues and departments is stimulated. With collaboration, the end result of the game will be much better. And playing the game with several teams adds a sense of competition, which enhances the collaboration within the teams. The teams will make different decisions during the game, resulting in different outcomes. An ideal situation for each debrief after the rounds of play, to learn from what went well and what went wrong.

Game Over

The IBP Game is an essential part of our toolkit to support our customers to move to the next level of maturity in their journey to IBP. By playing the game, it starts to become real for the players, the stakeholders. Instead of bombarding your employees with more information, let your employees experience the need to get more mature. This learning by doing adds much more value to the required transformation. And the fun factor should not be underestimated as well.

Implementing IBP by playing the IBP Game adds value and enlarges the successful transformation from the old to the new situation. Without, it could be Game Over!

Get in contact with us if you are curious to see what the impact of the IBP Game can be for your organisation. Please contact me at jan.veerman@planadigm.com or call me at +316 – 5188 4701.