Business Training Games Thrive on Creative Thinking

Designing Digitally

10/30/2017

Business Training Games Thrive on Creative Thinking

Many of the issues and problems that are dealt with in corporations today stem from a lack of creative solutions. Everyday frustrations can kill productivity and lower morale. Sales may be lackluster or the workload seems overwhelming.

Coming up with fresh, new ideas sounds harder than it is. Creativity can be cultivated. Business training games can be the answer to the difficulties many employees are facing.

How business training games can help

There is a method that involves gamifying the process of brainstorming ideas for solutions. It uses a training game to kick creative problem solving into high gear. Here’s the process:

  • Choose an issue to discuss. Agree on one specific problem that will be focused on during the session.
  • Build a team. The team should be made up of one to six members.
  • Set a time limit. A good guide is to limit a brainstorming session to no more than twenty minutes.
  • Share ideas and discuss. During the allotted time, team members should share ideas for solutions to the chosen issue. As the ideas are discussed, the members should try to build off of each other’s suggestions.
  • Evaluate and assess. When the time limit has been reached, try to rank the ideas in terms of how much impact they will have on the given problem.
  • Make an action-plan. Choose the first couple top-ranked ideas and form a plan of action around them.

Creativity flows as ideas are shared and discussed. The question that might be asked at this point is, “Where does the gamification come in?” At the end of the process, points are awarded to those who came up with the top-ranked ideas. Adding the elements of competition, fun, and reward breathes new life into a sometimes dreaded problem-solving process.

Advantages of the process

There are several advantages to this type of business training game:

  • Shortened meeting times. Setting a time limit ensures that the session won’t take an exorbitant amount of time. Most people have spent long amounts of time in a meeting that was dragging on far longer than it needed to. This process eliminates that!
  • Identify new talent. Sometimes this process can bring an employee to the forefront whose skills may have been overlooked before. The strengths of some people may rise to the top when they are working under the pressure of a time limit.    
  • Everyone’s ideas are heard. Each member of the team is expected to participate during the session. This ensures that everyone has an equal chance to express their thoughts and opinions.

Encouraged creativity

The time constraints that are a part of this type of training game forces players to use creativity in order to participate. Repeated use of these methods can actually train the brain to begin to think creatively on its own.

As in many areas of life and work, practice makes perfect. While perfect isn’t a realistic option, the sentiment is that the more time spent doing an action, the more natural it will become.