| | By Mick James
My first piece of
equipment was an ancient
manual typewriter, and
there was precious little
fun in that, apart from
wondering how many more
little screws and nuts
could fall off before it
stopped working
altogether (it never
did). Then, one day we
were all given shiny new
PCs, and the effects on
office productivity were
immediate. Particularly
on the chap in the corner
who seemed to have gone
into overdrive – eyes
focused on the screen,
his hands a blur of
motion, legs and
shoulders twitching. It
was only when you went
round behind him that you
discovered what was
really happening: he was
playing a game, dodging
space invaders or
piloting a Formula One
car round a race track.
When the history of
Western civilisation
comes to be written, I
suspect the decision to
issue pretty much every
white-collar worker with
a multimedia
entertainment centre as
their main working device
will be viewed as some
sort of turning point.
Games. When they are
not chasing down the porn
or the pirate MP3s, or | |
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| | shooing people off
Facebook, deeply skilled
IT managers are spending
their time trying to stop
people from playing
games. The days when our
secretary could claim –
as she did – that she was
playing Solitaire to
become more proficient
with the mouse are long
gone. Games have no place
in the workplace. And
yet...
I doubt I'll ever get
back the afternoon when
an eight-year old
explained to me – in
exquisite detail – the
rankings and powers of
the various monsters in
Pokemon. But I remember
thinking at the time,
that child has
accumulated a mass of
complex, structured
information at least as
complex as learning the
basis of Latin grammar.
The connection of games
with childhood is no
coincidence, for these
are powerful learning
tools – the problem is
we've stopped learning
anything useful.
So I was intrigued to
hear of a new initiative
to try and unlock the
power of games in a
business context coming
from a consulting firm.
The Consulting Consortium
is a textbook example of
a niche consultancy, | |
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| | offering advice on how to
combine regulatory
compliance with a
commercial edge to
clients in financial
services and other
industries. The problem
is that with new
regulatory initiatives
such as the FSA's
"Treating Customers
Fairly" coming in, even
the reach of the largest
consultancy is inadequate
for the numbers of people
who need to change the
way they work – and fast.
"The FSA has changed
its model," says the
Consulting Consortium's
managing director, Joanne
Smith. "Previously only
the top 5% of firms were
visited, but now there
will be 11,500 TCF visits
in the next three years –
that's a big shift. A lot
of firms who think they
are below the regulatory
radar aren't any more."
The problem is no
smaller for the big
institutions, which need
to get the message out to
thousands of employees
scattered across
different locations.
"TCF will claim some
high profile scalps,"
says Smith.
Enter the computer
game. Computer games have
the capacity be
distributed to and
involve thousands or even | |
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| | millions of people in a
very short space of time
– Microsoft's Solitaire
is probably the most
widely played game in
history (although it's
always wise to keep a
pack of cards handy in
case of computer
failure).
The Consulting
Consortium has been
working on a concept
called Serious Learning.
The concept has already
been used to teach
strategy, diversity and
finance, but now the firm
has developed a game
which embodies the
concepts of TCF.
This not only solves
the distribution problem,
but, Smith believes,
overcomes the drawbacks
of previous e-learning
strategies by involving
users in a much deeper
way.
"Unlike with a
simulation, you can have
a different outcome each
time," says Smith. "You
can change how you win or
lose: these are serious
games where you really do
learn by doing."
Because it's a
computer game, costs are
low and can "touch
everybody's price point",
says Smith, starting from
as little as £1 per user
per year. But the games
can be customised at | |
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| | various levels, such as
replicating the look and
feel of the client
organisation.
"That might sound
superficial but it
actually aids the
learning process," says
Smith. "Or it might be an
in-company process that
we bespoke, or we might
also do some consultancy
with the client."
Trying to extend the
reach of a consultancy
firm – particularly in
the key area of knowledge
transfer – has always
been difficult. I suspect
that if these kinds of
games take off, we might
be at the beginning of an
exciting new era in
business transformation.
In the meantime, with
much of the financial
services industry either
in denial or frozen in
the headlights over
Treating Customers
Fairly, it might be a
good moment to
investigate the
possibilities of play.
"There are lots of
things we have to do as
part of the statutory
requirements," says
Smith. "If you can make
it a game then it becomes
much more exciting." | |
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