Checkmate! How a board game can aid employee-leader discussions

By Annie Waite, Global Editor of the Internal Comms Hub, Melcrum

A former colleague of mine and fellow Melcrum blogger, Alex Manchester, sent me a link earlier this week to an amusing bit of news reported across the pond in Australia.

It tells the story of an ex-Virgin Blue employee, Torsten Koerting, who recently resigned from the airline having been denied a promotion. To show his dissatisfaction over his situation, Koerting designed a board game using Virgin Blue branding, that criticises his former company's decision-making process.

The "NextGen Decision" game (below), a modified version of "Snakes and Ladders" was attached to a farewell email to his colleagues. In the email, Koerting compares the difficulty in reaching the end of the game to making decisions in real-life at his former company.

Between the start and finish, action cards provide instructions that appear to be modelled on business decision processes. Actions include: "CEO on holiday - go one step back", "We are perceived as a hyperactive child with a personality disorder - decide if you go three steps forward or back". Others take aim at workplace bureaucracy, lengthy meetings, disinterested managers and as Koerting portrays them, pointless project requirements.

It's all quite a giggle for a "Friday funny", but what company benefits can be gained from it? In the news article, the reporter says that Koerting took ideas from colleagues to create some of the action points, so chances are, he's not the only disgruntled employee - the difference is, he spoke up about it.

If I were one of the managers or communications staff at the company, depending on the circumstances, I might use this example as a chance to have transparent discussions with employees about the issues brought up in the game. Or make sure that there were mechanisms in place for staff to air their concerns/irritations in a fair, open environment without fear of reprisal.

I'm not sure what "decision" (ho, ho) has been made at the company about what to do regarding the issues Koerting raised, but surely the worst thing to do would be to ignore it?

What would you do?

Comments

[Torsten J. Koerting]

Hi Annie,

interesting reflecting on that topic and interesting questions you raise there.

Please find some more on this here:
http://www.torstenkoerting.com/blog/2008/12/04/the-disgruntled-ex-staffer-that-was-playing-games-part-0/

the start of a story in 4 chapters.

Cheers
Torsten