B U S I N E S S I N S I G H T S F R O M U N C E X E C U T I V E D E V E L O P M E N T
WHITE PAPERS
FEATURED:
VOLUME 5
Developing Leaders in a
VUCA Environment
Got Game? The Use of
Gaming in Learning and
Development
Building A Resilient
Organizational Culture
The Big Data Talent Gap
BONUS SECTION!
Reprinted from the best
selling book “One Page
Talent Management”
A message from the
President of Executive Development
at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School
Consistently ranked one of the world’s best business schools, UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School is known for experiential learning and teamwork, superior teaching, innovative research, and a collaborative
to developing socially responsible, results-driven leaders distinguishes our programs. We educate people at every stage of their careers and prepare them to lead successfully in the global business
At UNC Executive Development, we are committed to providing new, impactful learning experiences to help our partners successfully manage and develop their employee talent.
Greetings again from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. We have had a productive year in executive development, and I am excited to share with you that our efforts were reflected in the annual Financial Times ranking of executive education providers. UNC Kenan-Flagler was ranked 8th in the world for custom executive education and
4th among U.S. institutions. We also ranked highly in many
individual categories, notably 2nd in the world for value, 1st
among our U.S.-based competitors. We are very pleased to be recognized by our partners for the value we bring to their organizations through their talent development efforts. In addition to this news, I am also happy to share with you the latest volume of ideas@work, our white paper journal dedicated to exploring critical issues and best practices in talent management.
Two of our papers focus on today’s volatile and constantly changing business environment. Developing Leaders in a VUCA Environment provides talent managers with ideas, guidance, and examples on how to address the shift needed in leadership development to adapt to the new normal, while Building a Resilient Organizational Culture focuses on how to cultivate and nurture a culture of resilience at all levels of the organization.
This volume also features a chapter from what’s been called the “talent management bible” - Marc Effron’s and Miriam Ort’s “One Page Talent Management”. This practical, science-based guide to accelerating talent growth has become a best seller in talent management circles, and the chapter we’ve included outlines the barriers to building talent and the philosophy for successful talent development based on simplicity, accountability, and transparency.
The other two white papers included in this volume examine new trends in talent development. Got Game? The Use of Gaming in Learning and Development takes a serious look at how gaming technology can be used to develop organizational talent. The Big Data Talent Gap explores the talent implications of the big data revolution.
I hope that this journal provides value to you and that you find some useful, actionable ideas within it that you can apply in your own organization. All of our white papers, research projects, and webinars are available in the resource library on our website (www.uncexec.com).
As always, thank you for your support of UNC Executive Development.
Susan Cates
V U
C A
Developing Leaders in a VUCA Environment
page 4
Got Game? The Use of Gaming in Learning and Development
page 14
Building A Resilient Organizational Culture
page 22
The Big Data Talent Gap
page 32
One Page Talent Management
page 42
Inside this issue
Developing Leaders in a
VUCA Environment
Kirk Lawrence Program Director
UNC Executive Development
Introduction
In “The World Is Flat”, Thomas Friedman notes that the rate of change today is much different than in the past. “Whenever civilization has gone through one of these disruptive, dislocating technical revolutions—like Gutenberg’s introduction of the printing press—the whole world has changed in profound ways,” he writes. “But there is something different about the flattening of the world that is going to be qualitatively different from other such profound changes: the speed and breadth with which it is taking hold….This flattening process is happening at warp speed and directly or indirectly touching a lot more people on the planet at once. The faster and broader this transition to a new era, the more likely is the potential of disruption.”
“To put it another way, the experiences of high-tech companies in the last few decades who failed to navigate the rapid changes brought about in their marketplace by these types of forces may be a warning to all the businesses, institutions and nation states that are now facing these inevitable, even predictable, changes but lack the leadership, flexibility and imagination to adapt— not because they are not smart or aware, but because the speed of change is simply overwhelming them.”
This rapid flattening, as Friedman calls it, is creating a new environment that strategic business leaders are increasingly calling a “VUCA” environment. Coined in the late 1990’s, the military-derived acronym stands for the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity—terms that reflect an increasingly unstable and rapidly changing business world. This new VUCA environment will require HR and talent management professionals to change the focus and methods of leadership development.
Promise
This white paper:
• Discusses the history of VUCA and how it applies to
business strategy and development.
• Explores how VUCA is relevant to leadership
development.
• Discusses the “VUCA Prime,” which flips the acronym
to focus on vision, understanding, clarity, and agility.
• Offers suggestions on what HR and talent managers
must do to change their leadership development approach to foster leadership vision, understanding, clarity, and agility.
D E V E L O P I N G L E A D E R S I N A V U C A E N V I R O N M E N T
The Origins of VUCA
The notion of VUCA was introduced by the U.S. Army War College to describe the more volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous, multilateral world which resulted from the end of the Cold War (Kinsinger & Walch, 2012). The acronym itself was not created until the late 1990s, and it was not until the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, that notion and acronym really took hold. VUCA was subsequently adopted by strategic business leaders to describe the chaotic, turbulent, and rapidly changing business environment that has become the “new normal.”
By all accounts, the chaotic “new normal” in business is real. The financial crisis of 2008-2009, for example, rendered many business models obsolete, as
organizations throughout the world were plunged into turbulent environments similar to those faced by the military. At the same time, rapid changes marched forward as technological developments like social media exploded, the world’s population continued to simultaneously grow and age, and global disasters disrupted lives, economies, and businesses.
In 2010, Unilever, one of the world’s largest consumer goods companies, pledged to double the size of their business in the next 10 years while reducing its environmental footprint and increasing its social impact. Sustainability became a central component of their new business model, one based on VUCA principles. When asked by Forbes contributor Avi Dan why they changed their business model, Keith Weed, chief marketing and communication officer for Unilever, responded:
“ We look at the world through a lens, which we call VUCA, which stands for ‘Volatile, Unstable, Complex, and Ambiguous.’ So you can say, ‘It’s a very tough world,’ or you can say, ‘It’s a world that’s changing fast, and we can help consumers navigate through it.’ Two-and-a-half billion more people will be added to the planet between now and 2050, of which 2 billion will be added in developing countries. The digital revolution, the shift in consumer spending, all this suggests that companies have to reinvent the way they do business.” (Dan, 2012.)
To meet that VUCA challenge, Unilever has also changed its leadership development model.
Source: Sullivan, 2012 January.
Example: Unilever
VUCA and Leadership Development
This new VUCA environment, as Friedman notes, is taxing even the most able of leaders who may find their skills growing obsolete as quickly as their organizations change in this volatile, unpredictable landscape. Leadership agility and adaptability are now required skills if organizations are to succeed in this VUCA world. As Horney, Pasmore, and O’Shea, authors of “Leadership Agility: A Business Imperative for a VUCA World” note, to succeed,
“leaders must make continuous shifts in people, process, technology, and structure. This requires flexibility and quickness in decision making.” (Horney, Pasmore, O’Shea, 2010). (For additional insights on a new approach for developing leadership agility, refer to the UNC Executive Development white paper: Leadership Agility: Using
Improv to Build Critical Skills.)
The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) concurs. A recent BCG study concluded that organizations today must shift their business models—and their leadership skills—to become “adaptive firms.” Adaptive firms can adjust and learn better, faster, and more economically than their
peers, giving them an “adaptive advantage.” Adaptive firms, the study notes, include Apple, Google, 3M, Target, and Amazon.
A report by the Center for Creative Leadership (Petrie, 2011) also notes that today’s VUCA business environment requires leaders to possess more complex and adaptive thinking abilities. It also notes that the methods used to develop these new skill requirements (like on-the-job training, coaching, and mentoring) have not changed much, and as a result, leaders are not developing fast enough or in the right ways to keep up with the “new normal” for business.
HR and talent management professionals must position their organizations to succeed in today’s turbulent business environment by developing agile leaders. Applying the VUCA model as a framework to re-tool leadership development models may enable HR and talent management professionals to identify and foster the leaders their organizations need now and in the future.
D E V E L O P I N G L E A D E R S I N A V U C A E N V I R O N M E N T
VUCA Defined
V
The “V” in the VUCA acronym stands for volatility. It
means the nature, speed, volume, and magnitude of change that is not in a predictable pattern (Sullivan, 2012 January 16). Volatility is turbulence, a pheno- menon that is occurring more frequently than in the past. The BCG study found that half of the most turbulent financial quarters during the past 30 years have occurred since 2002. The study also concluded that financial turbulence has increased in intensity and persists longer than in the past. (Sullivan, 2012 October 22). Other drivers of turbulence in business today include digitization, connectivity, trade
liberalization, global competition, and business model innovation (Reeves & Love, 2012).
U
The “U” in the VUCA acronym stands for uncertainty,or the lack of predictability in issues and events (Kinsinger & Walch, 2012). These volatile times make it difficult for leaders to use past issues and events as predictors of future outcomes, making forecasting extremely difficult and decision-making challenging (Sullivan, 2012 January 16).
C
The “C” in VUCA stands for complexity. As HRthought leader John Sullivan notes (2012 January 16), there are often numerous and difficult-to-understand causes and mitigating factors (both inside and outside the organization) involved in a problem. This layer of complexity, added to the turbulence of change and the absence of past predictors, adds to the difficulty of decision making. It also leads to confusion, which can cause ambiguity, the last letter in the acronym.
A
Ambiguity is the lack of clarity about the meaningof an event (Caron, 2009), or, as Sullivan writes, the “causes and the ‘who, what, where, how, and why’ behind the things that are happening (that) are unclear and hard to ascertain.” (2012 January 16). Col. Eric G. Kail defines ambiguity in the VUCA model as the “inability to accurately conceptualize threats and opportunities before they become lethal.” (Kail, 2010 December 3). A symptom of organizational ambiguity, according to Kail, is the frustration that results when compartmentalized accomplishments fail to add up to a comprehensive or enduring success.
The VUCA Prime
The VUCA model identifies the internal and external conditions affecting organizations today. The VUCA Prime was developed by Bob Johansen, distinguished fellow at the Institute for the Future and the author of “Leaders Make the Future: Ten New Leadership Skills for an Uncertain World”. Johansen proposes that the best VUCA leaders are characterized by vision, understanding, clarity, and agility - the “flips” to the VUCA model.
The VUCA Prime can be seen as the continuum of skills leaders can develop to help make sense of leading in a VUCA world. HR and talent management professionals can use the VUCA Prime as a “skills and abilities” blueprint when creating leadership development plans. In the VUCA Prime, volatility can be countered with
vision because vision is even more vital in turbulent
times. Leaders with a clear vision of where they want their organizations to be in three to five years can better weather volatile environmental changes such as economic downturns or new competition in their markets, for example, by making business decisions to counter the turbulence while keeping the organization’s vision in mind.
Uncertainty can be countered with understanding, the
ability of a leader to stop, look, and listen. To be effective in a VUCA environment, leaders must learn to look and listen beyond their functional areas of expertise to make sense of the volatility and to lead with vision. This requires leaders to communicate with all levels of employees in their organization, and to develop and demonstrate teamwork and collaboration skills.
Complexity can be countered with clarity, the delibera-
tive process to make sense of the chaos. In a VUCA world, chaos comes swift and hard. Leaders, who can quickly and clearly tune into all of the minutiae associated with the chaos, can make better, more informed business decisions.
Finally, ambiguity can be countered with the ability to
communicate across the organization and to move quickly to apply solutions (Kinsinger and Walch, 2012). Vision, understanding, clarity, and agility are not mutually exclusive in the VUCA prime. Rather, they are intertwined elements that help managers become stronger VUCA leaders.
VUCA leaders must have foresight to see where they are going but must also remain flexible about how they get there (Apollo Research Institute staff, 2012). They must be self-aware about their strengths and weaknesses as leaders, adaptable, open to change, and, according to the Center for Creative Leadership, knowledgeable about their organization beyond their function (Management Education Group staff, 2011). Finally, they must work collaboratively and be excellent communicators to thrive in a complex VUCA environment (Kail, 2010 December 3). Above all, VUCA learners must be able to learn fast because change is constant.
These skills and abilities are a far cry from the more function-specific skills and abilities leaders needed in the past to succeed. HR and talent management professionals must refocus their leadership development efforts to hone these more strategic, complex critical-thinking skills.
VUCA Prime
V
ision
U
nderstanding
C
larity
D E V E L O P I N G L E A D E R S I N A V U C A E N V I R O N M E N T
Steps Talent Managers Can Take
Nick Petrie, senior faculty member at the Center for Creative Leadership writes in a 2011 study, Future Trends
in Leadership Development, that there is a growing belief
among senior leaders that the more traditional leadership development methods such as on-the-job training, job assignments, coaching, and mentoring, are falling short in helping them develop the capabilities they need to succeed in a VUCA environment. These methods are often at odds with the leadership demands in a VUCA world, where knowledge across the organization and the speed
of learning outpace these slower and more job-specific learning methods.
HR and talent management professionals must reframe leadership development activities to accommodate the faster-paced VUCA world and to focus less on behavioral competencies and more on complex thinking abilities and mindsets. Leadership development should be focused on learning agility, self-awareness, comfort with ambiguity, and strategic thinking (Petrie, 2011). To do so, HR and talent managers may want to begin at the selection process. Fast-food giant McDonald’s was a frontrunner in adapting VUCA and VUCA Prime
principles in its leadership development programs. In 2001, the company launched a new leadership development program for high-potential Regional Manager candidates. The company realized that there was a need for a specialized leadership development program for this position because the expectations and challenges for the role had changed significantly over the previous decade. These expectations and challenges included heightened competition, the increased challenge of a growing market share, increased job autonomy as the organization became more decentralized, and the increased expectation for regional managers to act strategically as well as tactically.
The new leadership development program included the following goals:
1. To help participants take a critical look at themselves and their current management
capabilities and to develop a personal learning plan that could help them increase the likelihood of success in a regional manager role.
2. To provide participants with action-learning assignments that would help them increase
their understanding of the business while also contributing to the development of practical solutions to address significant business issues they worked on.
3. To give participants the opportunity to build relationships with peers from across the
organization.
4. To demonstrate the power of action learning as a model to accelerate the development
of leaders.
The goals of this program acknowledge some key VUCA Prime skills and abilities, including self-awareness, knowledge of the business beyond the functional area, innovative and critical-thinking skills, collaboration, and the importance of rapid learning within the organization.
Source: Intagliata & Small, 2005.
Step 1: Hire Agile Leaders.
Horney, Pasmore, and O’Shea (2011) recommend that HR and talent management professionals assess agility and complex thinking skills during the selection process by using a structured interview format designed to evoke from the examples of past agility on the job.
Some sample questions they recommend include:
• Give an example of when you performed well in a
work environment that featured rapid change and/or ambiguity. Did you enjoy this environment? What did you learn?
• Give an example of when your ability to be decisive
was put to the test—when you had to convey a sense of urgency in decision making. What was the situation, what factors did you consider when making the decision, and what was the outcome?
• How do you determine when you need to gather more
information before making a decision versus making a decision based on the information you have at hand? Give recent examples of when you made a quick decision based on the information you had immediately available and a situation where you opted to collect more information before making a decision. Which decision-making style was more comfortable for you and why?
• Give an example of when you modified your personal
style to achieve an important work objective. What was the situation, how did you change your approach, and what was the outcome?
HR and talent management professionals can formulate other questions that can assess a candidate’s strategic thinking skills, self-awareness, openness to change, ability to collaborate and communicate across functions, and other skills required in a VUCA environment. The key is to attract leaders into the organization who already have these skills and abilities.
Step 2: Develop Existing Leaders to
Be Agile Leaders.
On-the-job training, job assignments, coaching, and mentoring will still have a place in the training and development of employees, but to develop VUCA leaders, HR and talent development professionals must focus on programs that help develop agility, adaptability, innovation, collaboration, communication, openness to change, and other, higher-order critical thinking skills. And they need to deliver those programs faster (via social media and other technology) to keep up with the pace of change. (For additional insights on using technology to deliver L&D programs, refer to the UNC Executive Development white paper: Wired to Learn: How New
Technologies are Changing L&D Delivery.)
Horney, Pasmore, and O’Shea recommend that HR and talent management professionals engage in scenario planning about possible futures when developing leadership programs. Scenario planning about futures involves projecting possible situations and deciding how the organization would or would not react. Scenario planning can help identify the knowledge, skills, and
D E V E L O P I N G L E A D E R S I N A V U C A E N V I R O N M E N T
other attributes leaders may need in future business environments.
Leadership development programs based on VUCA principles can also include scenario training where participants can anticipate possible future challenges and devise possible solutions. This can make leaders more confident when they actually encounter a new situation. Scenario training should be conducted frequently so that reactions become part of the leader’s “muscle memory.” (Sullivan, 2012 January 16).
Simulations are also powerful learning tools when developing VUCA leaders because they give participants a chance to practice skills in a safe, non-threatening environment. Simulations can range from classroom role plays, to day-in-the-life assessment centers, to virtual simulations. Simulations can also help leaders assess their strengths and weaknesses, making them
more aware of their own skills and gaps (Lanik & Eurick, 2012). Simulations are appealing across generations, but they have particular appeal to younger high potentials. This generation has learned many of the desired VUCA leadership skills by playing video games.
To develop collaboration and to encourage thinking outside the box, HR and talent managers should also consider the use of job rotation to help leaders think beyond their functional areas.
HR and talent development professionals who can foster adaptability, innovation, and agility in their leaders will realize tangible rewards. The Adaptive Advantage Index developed by BCG measures how well organizations adapt to turbulence. They calculated the adaptability scores for 2,500 companies in the United States over a 30-year period and found that the ability to adapt creates value over the short and long-term (Reeves & Love, 2012).
In 2010, Supply Chain Quarterly staff reported that consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble (P&G) was revising its supply chain to reflect changes it expects in a VUCA world. Global Product Supply Officer R. Keith Harrison reported on the steps the company was taking to ensure that the company’s supply chain could accommodate the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity of today’s business worlds. “VUCA is the reality for the foreseeable future, and it affects how we think about supply chains and design,” he told attendees at the 2010 Supply Chain and Logistics conference (Supply Chain Quarterly staff, 2010).
P&G has applied the VUCA concept beyond its supply chain. During a visit with students at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management, P&G CEO Bob McDonald discussed values-based leadership in an increasingly VUCA world. During the speech, he shared his ten rules of successful leadership, among them:
Rule #7: Ineffective strategies, systems, and cultures are bigger barriers
to achievement than the talents of people. Recruiting and training are top
priorities.
Rule # 9: Organizations must renew themselves. Only nine of the original
Fortune 50 companies are still on the list today. The majority of successful companies don’t realize that the world is changing around them. What differentiates those who succeed from those who don’t is the ability to learn.
Source: Knight, 2011.
Apollo Research Institute staff (2012 March). The VUCA world: From building for strength to building for resiliency. Apollo Research Institute. Retrieved from http:// apolloresearchinstitute.com/sites/ default/ files/future-of-work-report-the-vuca-world. pdf.
Caron, D. (2009 February 08). It’s a VUCA world. CIPS. Retrieved from http://www. slideshare.net/dcaron/its-a-vuca-world-cips-cio-march-5-2009-draft.
Dan, A. (2012 October 14). In a VUCA world, Unilever bets on “sustainable living” as a transformative business model. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/ sites/avidan/2012/10/14/in-a-vuca-world- unilever-bets-on-sustainable-living-as-a-transformative-business-model/. Forum staff (2010). Speed in a VUCA world: How leaders of the future will execute strategy. Forum. Retrieved from http://www. forum.com/downloads/transcripts/vuca-interview-2010-final.pdf.
Horney, N., Pasmore, B. & O’Shea, T. (2010). Leadership agility: A business imperative for a VUCA world. People & Strategy, 33, 4.
Intagliata, J. & Small, D. (2005). McDonald’s Corporation: A Customized Leadership Development Program Targeted to Prepare Future Regional Managers. Best Practice Champions in Organization Development and Change (Eds. Lou Carter, Dave Ulrich, Marshall Goldsmith and Jim Bolt), Jossey Bass.
Kingsinger, P. & Walch, K. (2012 July 9). Living and leading in a VUCA world. Thunderbird University. Retrieved from http://knowledgenetwork.thunderbird.edu/ research/2012/07/09/kinsinger-walch-vuca/. Kail, E. (2010 December 3). Leading effectively in a VUCA environment: C is for complexity. HBR Blog Network. Retrieved from http://blogs.hbr.org/frontline- leadership/2010/12/leading-effectively-in-a-vuca.html.
Kail, E. (2011 January 6). Leading effectively in a VUCA environment: A is for ambiguity. HBR Blog Network. Retrieved from http:// blogs.hbr.org/frontline-leadership/2011/01/ leading-effectively-in-a-vuca-1.html.
Kavanaugh, S. & Strecker, G. (2012 September 20). Leading learning in VUCA times: How does a volatile uncertain complex ambiguous context impact strategy? Chief Learning Officer. Retrieved from http://www. slideshare.net/humancapitalmedia/920-clo-arielgroupfinalslidesv2.
Knight, B. (2011 September 7). P&G CEO Bob McDonald on values-based leadership. Owenbloggers.com. Retrieved from http:// www.owenbloggers.com/2011/09/07/ pg-ceo-bob-mcdonald-on-value-based-leadership/.
Lanik, M. & Eurich, T. (2012 June 28). Simulate leadership for success. Chief Learning Officer. Retrieved from http:// clomedia.com/articles/view/simulate-leadership-for-success/print:1. Management Education Group staff (2011 November 1). It’s a VUCA World. Management Education Groups, Inc. Retrieved from http:// managementeducationgroup.com/2011/11/ its-a-vuca-world/.
Petrie, N. (2011 December). Future Trends in Leadership Development. Greensboro, NC: Center for Creative Leadership.
Reeves, M. & Love, C. (2012 August 21). The most adaptive companies 2012. Bcg. perspectives. Retrieved from https://www. bcgperspectives.com/content/articles/ corporate_strategy_portfolio_ management_ future_of_strategy_most_adaptive_ companies_2012/.
Sullivan, J. (2012 January 16). VUCA: The new normal for talent management and workforce planning. Ere.net. Retrieved from http://www.ere.net/2012/01/16/vuca-the- new-normal-for-talent-management-and-workforce-planning/.
Sullivan, J. (2012 October 22). Talent strategies for a turbulent VUCA world— shifting to an adaptive approach. Ere. net. Retrieved from http://www.ere. net/2012/10/22/talent-strategies-for-a- turbulent-vuca-world-shifting-to-an-adaptive-approach.
Supply Chain Quarterly staff (2010 December 20). P&G readies its supply chain for a “VUCA” world. Supply Chain Quarterly. Retrieved from http://www. supplychainquarterly.com/news/20101220 procter_and_gamble_revises_supply_chain/. WisdomatWork staff (n.d.). Navigation skills for thriving in “VUCA” times. Wisdom at Work. Retrieved from http://www.
wisdomatwork.com/about/thriving-in-vuca-Conclusion
The volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity inherent in today’s business world is the “new normal”, and it is profoundly changing not only how organizations do business, but how business leaders lead. The skills and abilities leaders once needed to help their organizations thrive are no longer sufficient. Today, more strategic,
V U
C A
complex critical-thinking skills are required of business leaders. HR and talent management professionals can help their organizations succeed in today’s VUCA environment by developing leaders who can counter volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity with vision, understanding, clarity, and agility.
Step 3: Foster an Organizational
Culture that Rewards VUCA Prime
Behaviors and Retains Agile Employees.
To survive in a VUCA world, organizations must do more than hire and develop agile leaders; they must create an organizational culture that rewards the desired behavior. HR and talent management professionals can play an integral role in developing a VUCA culture by rewarding innovation, agile behavior, and calculated risk-taking. Performance management systems should reflect VUCA Prime values and attributes.
Rewards for desired behaviors could include different incentives including job perks, additional compensation, promotions, and preferred work assignments. A key to the best rewards systems in a VUCA environment is to not be rigid and to offer successful leaders rewards that appeal to them the most—in other words, be adaptable and agile. The organizational culture that promotes and rewards agile leaders will begin to perpetuate itself and attract and retain the type of innovative and agile talent that businesses today are seeking. It will also provide businesses a competitive advantage in our ever-changing global marketplace—which is the ultimate VUCA environment.
To learn more, visit www.edi.uncexec.com.
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Got Game?
The Use of Gaming in
Learning and Development
Kip Kelly Director
G A M I N G I N L E A R N I N G A N D D E V E L O P M E N T
Introduction
The first patented video game, the “Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device,” is celebrating its 65th birthday this year (Gettler, n.d.). This may come as a surprise to many, because people usually place the birth of video games in the 1970s or 1980s, when coin-operated video games became a mainstay in arcades, and the first game consoles appeared in American homes.
Video games—and the people who play them—have changed dramatically since 1948. Generations of gamers have grown up and entered the workplace, and video games have made the same transition, extending their influence into companies around the globe. Many organizations are increasingly using gaming technology in their learning and development programs to help build the next generation of business leaders.
Promise
This white paper:
• Explores the popularity of video games and the
characteristics of the people who play them.
• Reviews different types of games and defines some
video game terminology.
• Discusses how serious games can be used to
develop organizational talent.
• Provides examples of companies using serious
games to develop skills and behaviors.
• Examines the future of serious games in learning
and development.
Games Are Big Business
Video games today are ubiquitous. Just about every electronic device with a screen–TVs, PCs, tablets, and smart phones–have games installed and ready to play, and people are taking advantage of their accessibility. A recent study by the NPD Group, a market tracking
Gaming Terms Defined
Game: A competitive activity that involves skill, chance, or endurance.
Video game: A game played by electronically manipulating images produced by a computer program on a television screen or display.
Simulation game: A game that attempts to
represent real or hypothetical processes, mechanisms, or systems.
Serious game: Computer or video games designed for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment; often designed for the purpose of education and/or solving a problem.
Alternate reality game: An interactive game that uses the real world as a platform, often involving multiple media to tell a story.
MMORPGs: Massively multi-player online role-playing games.
firm, found that 211.5 million—or two-thirds—of Americans play video games (Boorstin, 2012). Americans aren’t just playing the free, preloaded games; they are buying them in droves. According to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), consumers spent $24.75 billion on video games in 2011 (ESA staff, 2012).
Puzzle games, board games, trivia, and card games are the most commonly played games (42 percent), but 25 percent of gamers also play action, sports, strategy, and role-playing games. The ESA also found that 62 percent of gamers play with others, either in-person or online, and most do so for at least an hour a week.
Online simulation (sim) games have also grown in popularity, thanks in large part to the explosion of social media. Facebook, for example, boasts more than 100 sim games, among them Farmville
2, Airport City, and FrontierVille. These popular
an educational component and are sometimes called edutainment games. In Farmville 2, for example, players create and manage their own farms; in Airport City, gamers manage a busy city airport; and in FrontierVille, players “tame the wilderness and build a town.” As video games grow in popularity and sophistication, an increasing number of organizations and government agencies have embraced them to support learning and development efforts. A recent ESA study found that 70 percent of major U.S. employers use interactive software and games for L&D purposes, and nearly eight out of 10 U.S. employers plan on doing so in 2013 (Steinberg, 2012).
Who Plays Video Games?
Video games have changed and matured over the years, and so have users. The average game player today is 30 years old. Sixty-eight percent of gamers are 18 years of age or older, and 37 percent are over the age of 35. Just over half of gamers are men, according to the ESA, but women gamers are gaining fast. Forty-seven percent of all players are women, and women over the age of 18 are one of the industry’s fastest growing demographics. In fact, women now represent a significantly larger portion of the game-playing population (30 percent) than boys age 17 or younger (18 percent). Perhaps the most interesting characteristic of gamers is that the average adult gamer has been playing video games for 14 years. That’s a lot of game time.
What’s in a Game?
There are three types of video games: casual games, advergames, and serious games.
Casual games are intended for entertainment purposes
and can include everything from the solitaire game that comes pre-loaded on most computers to complex multi-player games like Uncharted, Call of Duty: Modern
Warfare 3, and Battlefield 3. These games are available
in a number of formats, including PC, game console, and mobile. Although learning can occur when playing casual games, it is not an intended outcome (Derryberry, 2007).
Advergames are games designed to advertise a product,
organization, or cause (Derryberry, 2007). There are several types of advergames, but the goal is to promote a brand or organization while providing fun and entertainment.
Serious games are video games designed to improve
learning, and players engage in serious games with that understanding (Derryberry, 2007). Also known as immersive learning simulations, digital game-based learning, and gaming simulations, serious games are developed with specific learning outcomes in mind that will result in measurable, sustained changes in performance or behavior. Serious games have been used in emergency services training, military training, and health care settings to positive effect (Derryberry, 2007). According to Sue Bohle, executive director of the Serious Games Association, industry estimates range from $2-10 billion in revenue for serious games, depending on how much simulations and virtual worlds are included in the calculation (Maurer, 2012).
32%
31%
37%
Less than 18 years of age 18-35 years of age 36 years of age and older
Who’s Playing
G A M I N G I N L E A R N I N G A N D D E V E L O P M E N T
Serious Games in Learning
and Development
Serious games can allow players to apply what they have learned in an L&D experience and apply it in a safe, simulated environment. For example, health care professionals can practice a new medical procedure using a serious sim game before introducing it in the workplace. There is also evidence that serious games can develop soft skills like emotional intelligence, communication management, and critical problem solving and collaboration skills (Marinho, 2012).
Some L&D professionals argue that video games can help develop the leadership skills that organizations will need in the future. Tomorrow’s workplace will be global, faster-paced, competitive, and more virtual than ever before. Online games, specifically massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), “offer a glimpse at how leaders develop and operate in environments that are highly distributed, global, hyper-competitive, and virtual.” (IBM & Seriosity staff, 2007).
There have been several studies conducted on learning and serious games, and results are encouraging. A recent study by the Office of Naval Research found that video game players performed 10-20 percent better in perceptual and cognitive ability than non-game players, and that video games helped adults process information faster (Steinberg, 2012). Another study by the Federation of American Scientists found that students remembered
only 10 percent of what they read; 20 percent of what they heard; 30 percent if they used visuals related to what they heard; and 50 percent if they watched someone performing a task while explaining it. Students remembered 90 percent of what they learned, however, if they did the task themselves, even if it was as a simulation (IBM staff, n.d.).
A recent study reported in Personnel Psychology (Sitzmann, 2011) found that trainees using serious simulation games had improved post-training efficacy (20 percent), higher declarative knowledge (11 percent), improved procedural knowledge (14 percent), and better retention (9 percent) than trainees in a non-simulation comparison group. The study also found that trainees in the simulation control group learned more when the game was used as a supplement to other instructional methods, rather than as stand-alone instruction. In contrast, a study by Adams, Mayer, MacNamara, Koenig, and Wainess (2012) found that narrative educational games resulted in poorer learning and took longer to complete than simply showing content on a slide. Ruth Clarke, an instructional design and technical training consultant, gave a possible explanation in a recent American Society for Training & Development article exploring the results of the study. Clarke speculates that the reason for this lack of learning may be because some game features are at odds with the game’s learning objectives. For example, many games time players, requiring them to complete tasks within a certain timeframe.
Gamification Explained
Gamification is the use of gaming techniques, game thinking, and game mechanics to enhance non-game contexts. Gaming techniques like questing, badging, and leader boards have been incorporated into workplace practices such as the onboarding process, career development, and performance evaluations. It should be noted that gamification techniques do not have to be rooted in technology. For example, leader boards can be visual aids posted in a department to motivate and inform workers about departmental goal achievement (such as sales). Gamification practices are particularly appealing to the Millennial generation who have grown up playing games that send them on quests, award them with badges, and post their achievements on leader boards, but the fundamental human need for recognition spans generations. Gamification can help fill that need and increase employee morale, retention, and job satisfaction.
For learning outcomes that are based on critical thinking skills, Clarke argues, timed games that reinforce speed are not a good match (Clarke, 2012). She recommends that HR and talent development professionals stick to serious games that emphasize drill and practice exercises for tasks that require immediate and accurate responses.
The Federation of American Scientists, however, believes that serious games can have a broader L&D application and can teach higher-order thinking skills such as strategic thinking, interpretive analysis, problem solving, plan formulation and execution, and the ability to adapt to rapid change—skills U.S. employers increasingly look for in workers and new workforce entrants (Steinberg, 2012). A Harvard Business Review study concurs. The study, which focused on the leadership skills taught through the immensely popular video game, World of
Warcraft, concluded that the game gave participants
a sneak peek into tomorrow’s workplace. The game’s environment features fluid workforces, self-organized and collaborative work activities, and decentralized, nonhierarchical leadership; all features that will be prevalent in tomorrow’s business world. The game also allows for risk-taking and teaches participants how to work quickly and efficiently (Marinho, 2012).
MMORPGs can also help develop other desirable
leadership skills. MMORPGs can closely match actual work environments and can be developed in such a way that the skills required to succeed in the game are similar to leadership skills employers want to see developed. These games can bring together millions of gamers who play the game through the use of avatars. Players interact with each other, form relationships, and join guilds (or teams) to collaboratively resolve missions (Melchor, 2012). “MMORPGs mirror the business context more than you would assume,” says Byron Reeve, Ph.D., professor at Stanford University and faculty director of the Stanford Media X Partners Program. “They presage one possible future for business—one that is open, virtual, knowledge-driven, and comprised of a largely volunteer or at least transient workforce.” (IBM & Seriosity staff, 2007). MMORPGs require cooperation and collaboration among many players to achieve a mission, and as such, can help teach such business skills as recruiting, organizing, and motivating and directing others to accomplish a shared goal in a safe environment where risk-taking, critical thinking, and creative problem solving is encouraged (Melchor, 2012).
Innovation Games® creates online and in-person games to help organizations solve problems
across the enterprise – in sales, corporate strategy, product development, and marketing – by using collaborative play to tap into new innovation. They offer games designed to help organizations gain a better understanding of their key stakeholders inside and outside the organization.
Source: Innovation Games, n.d.
Innovation Games
®Organizations Are Serious About Games
Serious games are increasingly being used by large U.S. employers to recruit, improve communication among managers and their staffs, and to train employees and new hires at all levels in their organizations (Derryberry, 2007). The U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S.
Army, Nortel, Cold Stone Creamery, McKinsey & Co., SAS Institute, and Digital Equipment are just a few organizations using serious games in their workplaces (Derryberry, 2007; Maurer, 2012; Steinberg, 2012).
G A M I N G I N L E A R N I N G A N D D E V E L O P M E N T
IBM and Farmers Insurance have used the IBM-developed serious game, INNOV8, to teach the effect of business decisions on their organizations’ ecosystems. INNOV8 is a sim-style serious game where players manipulate their business models to make their cities less congested, their supply chains more effective, and their customers happier (IBM staff, n.d.).
Northrop Grumman has also developed several serious games for use in development and recruitment. The award-winning Quality Tycoon game teaches players the effect that quality and ethical integrity have on business opportunities. Northrop Grumman’s Virtual Jet
Works introduces students to engineering concepts and
is demonstrated at college recruitment fairs (Serious Games Market staff, 2011). Cisco’s The Cisco Mind
Share Game facilitates network certification. Ultimate Team Play is used by the Hilton Garden Inn to teach
employees customer service skills (Steinberg, 2012). And Dublin-based Front Square teamed with Serious Games International to develop Teddy’s Chocco Shop, a game that teaches employees the basics of lean manufacturing (Marinho, 2012).
The U.S. Army was an early adopter of serious games. In fact, they are credited with coining the term “serious game.” The Army first released America’s Army in 2002 and updates the game every three to four months. Game versions include America’s Army: Special Forces and America’s Army: Overmatch. The Army also gained recognition from the Serious Games Market with First
Person Cultural Trainer (FPCT), a 3-D cultural training
simulation. The game places players in an unfamiliar community where they don’t know how members of the community feel about them or who the community leaders are. The game’s goals are to have players move through the community, learn social structures and issues, and then work with the community to affect missions. “FPCT challenges the Army’s junior leaders to understand the consequences, good and bad, of their speech, body language, posture, temperament, and action,” says Ben Jordan, director of TRISA’s Operational Environment Lab, the Army’s lead for the project. “It even replicates physical micro-expressions, which users learn to identify as possible cues for threatening or non-threatening behaviors.” (Roth, 2011).
Generating New Insights
and Solving Problems
Serious games can be an effective method to develop talent in an organization. They can also serve as a valuable information source for employers. Serious games can yield insights that organizations can use to assess performance, identify patterns, and predict behaviors in situations that may occur in the real world. L&D development professionals can use these insights to gain a better understanding of individual and organizational capabilities and to identify potential gaps.
Serious games can also serve as a source for new ideas, helping organizations become more innovative. Organizations are using serious games to tap into the knowledge and experience of the entire organization, and in some cases, beyond the organization to “crowd-source” new ideas. According to information technology research firm, Gartner, Inc., more than half of organizations that manage innovation processes will gamify those processes by 2015.
Organizations can also use serious games to analyze the abundance of data (such as operational, customer, and sales data) that organizations collect from various sources. Serious games can give employees access to real-world, real-time “Big Data” to make decisions and experiment in virtual environments without the risks and consequences that they would face in the “real world”. As players engage and interact in the virtual environment, both the players and the game become more sophisticated. In other words, the system gets “smarter” while the constant stream of new, real-time data continues to change the dynamics of the game. Many organizations are already using serious games to gain new insights and solve real business challenges - and there are some who believe serious games have the potential to solve some of the world’s biggest problems. There are already games designed to fight AIDS, global poverty, water scarcity, and climate change. Many of these games are available online from anywhere in the world, empowering people from all over to come up with creative solutions to our most urgent social problems.
Boinodiris, P. (2011 December 14). Let’s play! Turning serious business issues into games. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes. com/sites/ciocentral/2011/12/14/lets-play-turning-serious-business-issues-into-games/. Boorstin, J. (2012 September 5). Fewer people now playing videogames. CNBC. Retrieved from http://www.cnbc.com/ id/48917308/Fewer_People_Now_Playing_ Videogames.
BusinessWire staff (2012 August 23). Spend on serious games growing steadily. Now a multi-billion dollar industry. BusinessWire. Retrieved from http://www.businesswire. com/news/home/2012823006124/en/ spend-games-growing-steadily-multi-billion-dollar-industry.
Clarke, R. (2012 April 30). Why games don’t teach. American Society for Training and Development. Retrieved from http:// www.astd.org/Publications/Blogs/L-and-D-Blog/2012/04/why-games-dont-teach. aspx?goback=%2Edge_102144_ member_112844552.
Derryberry, A. (2007). Serious games: Online games for learning. Adobe. Retrieved from http://www.adobe.com/products/director/ pdfs/serious_games_wp_11-7.pdf.
ESA staff (2012). Essential facts about the computer and video game industry. Entertainment Software Association. Retrieved from http://www.theesa.com/facts/ pdfs/ESA_EF_2012.pdf.
Farrington, J. (2011 July 11). From the research: Myths worth dispelling: Seriously, the game is up. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 24, 2, 105-110.
Foldit staff (n.d.). The science behind Foldit. foldit. Retrieved from http://fold.it/portal/ info/about.
Gale, M.T. (2011 May 9). Gameplay in higher education: The use of serious games vs. traditional instructional methods in learning. Auburn University. Retrieved from http://etd. auburn.edu/etd/bitstream/handle/10415/ Mark%20Gale%20Dissertation. pdf?sequence=2.
Gettler, J. (n.d.). The first video game? Brookhaven National Laboratory. Retrieved from http://www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/history/ higinbotham4.asp.
Heidingsfelder, A. (2012 September 23). Increase salesforce productivity with Bunchball gamification. Examiner. Retrieved from http://www.examiner.com/review/ increase-sales-productivity-with-bunchball-gamification.
IBM and Seriousity staff (2007). Virtual worlds real leaders: Online games put the future of business leadership on display. Global Innovation Outlook. Retrieved from http://www.ibm.com/ibm/gio/media/pdf/ ibm_gio_gaming_report.pdf. IBM staff (n.d.). Serious games for smarter skills: The future of learning. IBM. Retrieved from http://www.01.ibm.com/software/ solutions/soa/newsletter/oct09/article_ seriousgames.html.
Innovation Games staff (n.d.). The seriously fun way to do work—seriously!. Innovation Games. Retrieved from http:// innovationgames.com/.
Marinho, N. (2012 June 23). Corporations look to serious games for organizational development. e27. Retrieved from http:// www.e27.sg/2012/06/23/corporations-look- to-serious-games-for-organisational-learning-and-development/.
Maurer, A. (2012 October 10). Serious games invade the military, medical and corporate worlds. Tech Journal. Retrieved from http:// www.techjournal.org/2012/10/serious- games-invade-the-military-medical-and-corporate-worlds/.
Melchor, A. (2012 July 03). Computer games for leadership development. Slideshare. Retrieved from http://www.
slideshare.net/budmelchor/computer-gaming-for-leadership-development. Pitts, R. (2012 September 18). Using gamification to motivate Millennials. SHRM Online. Retrieved from http://www.shrm.org/ HRdisciplines/diversity/articles/pages/using-gamification-to-motivate-millennials.aspx. Roth, M. (2011 December 8). TRADOC-sponsored simulation wins Serious Games Challenge. U.S. Army. Retrieved from http:// www.army.mil/article/70550/.
Serious Games Market staff (2011 December 26). Zooming in on 2011 Serious Games Showcase and Challenge. Serious Games Market. Retrieved from http:// seriousgamesmarket.blogspot.com/2012/12/ zooming-in-on-2011-
serious-games.html.
Sitzmann, T. (2011 May 27). A meta-analytic examination of the instructional effectiveness of computer-based simulation games. Personnel Psychology, 64, 2, 489-528. Steinberg, S. (2012 March 13). Video games are tomorrow’s answer to executive training. Fast Company. Retrieved from http://www. fastcompany.com/1824740/video-games-are-tomorrows-answer-executive-training.
Conclusion
Video games have been around for years, growing in popularity and sophistication. Most of today’s workers grew up playing these games, so it comes as no surprise that organizations have started to use gaming technology in new and exciting ways–including talent development. Well-crafted serious games are used to develop and reinforce skills and competencies. They can
be used to safely practice tasks that require rapid and accurate responses, but their potential applications are much broader. Serious games can closely approximate actual working environments, while allowing players an opportunity to safely take risks, develop teamwork skills, creatively problem solve and collaborate, and to experiment and innovate.
FoldIt
Foldit, an online puzzle video game developed by the Center for Game Science at the University of Washington in collaboration with the University’s Department of Biochemistry, encourages players to try to solve one of the hardest computational problems in biology, protein folding. Players try random combinations for folding proteins into different shapes. In 2011, players were credited with helping discover an enzyme involved in the reproduction of AIDS, opening the potential for development of new drugs to fight the disease. Scientists had previously pursued the creation of this enzyme for years but failed to find the right protein structure through other techniques, such as computer simulations. Guided by intuition and reasoning that computers can’t match, the players successfully configured the structure of the enzyme in 10 days.
UNC EXECUTIVE DEVELOPMENT
The Power of Experience.
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B U S I N E S S A N D H U M A N R E S O U R C E S
Lead your
HR organization
into the future.
Lead your
HR organization
into the future.
Lead your
HR organization
into the future.
Now more than ever, senior HR leaders need the knowledge, skills, and experience to respond to emerging trends that are shaping the future of global business. Offered in partnership with the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), UNC’s Business and Human Resources program is designed to equip senior HR leaders with the most up-to-date business knowledge and skills needed to succeed in the rapidly changing business environment today - and tomorrow.
• Earn 29.75 recertification hours
• Meets the HRCI strategic requirements for SPHR®
Building a Resilient
Organizational Culture
Marion White Director
R E S I L I E N C E I N T H E W O R K P L A C E
Introduction
A 2012 Towers Watson study found that in most organizations, only 35 percent of employees said they were engaged. In other words, 65 percent of employees have mentally checked out, causing productivity, innovation, and creativity to plummet. The study also found that 38 percent of employees felt stress and anxiety about the future, and that less than half of the employees surveyed agreed that senior leaders had a sincere interest in their well-being.
While this is never good news for employers, the timing could not be more critical as organizations across the globe continue to struggle to survive. An uncertain economic outlook, the rapid pace of change, and the need to continually adapt has made resilience—the ability to bounce back in the face of a setback—the new priority in leadership development. The good news is that resilience can be taught.
Promise
This white paper:
• Explores why resilience is more important than ever
for organizations to cultivate.
• Explains the difference between wellness programs and building a resilience culture.
• Discusses why resilience should be cultivated, not
just at the senior leadership level, but at all levels in an organization.
• Offers steps HR and talent managers can take to
develop resilient organizational cultures.
• Provides examples of organizations that have
engaged in a resilience initiative and the benefits they realized as a result.
Resilience Is Crucial
Thought leaders are increasingly calling today’s turbulent business world a “VUCA” environment—one that is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. To succeed in this environment, organizations must be more adaptive and agile than ever before—they must be resilient. Organizations that lack resilience, that ability to bounce
back after setbacks, are often stressful places to work, a situation in which far too many employers and employees are well versed.
Stress lowers employee performance, productivity, morale, and strains workplace relationships. People experiencing excessive stress have difficulty managing emotions, focusing attention, making decisions, and thinking clearly (Spangler, Koesten, Fox and Radel, 2012). Stress is also associated with heart disease, cancer, pain, and depression (Spangler et al, 2012). Stressed employees feel overwhelmed, tired, and disengaged. Resilient employees, on the other hand, experience increased productivity, lower turnover, and have lower health care costs (Lee, 2008). A growing body of research shows that organizations that foster positive attitudes have employees who are more optimistic and creative (Kolski-Andreaco, 2012). Resilient employees are engaged, have improved communication, and are better team players.
5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
How Engagement Affects
Financial Results
Same year operating margin: Study of 50 global companies
Low traditional engagement companies High traditional engagement companies High sustainable engagement companies
Source: Towers Watson normative database 2012.
9.9
14.3
Resilience Requires a Culture Change
To create a culture that fosters resilience, HR and talent management professionals must do more than offer stress management and yoga classes, although these can and do have a beneficial role. It requires the development of an organizational culture that encourages trust, accountability, and flexibility.
Resilient organizational cultures give all employees— from the CEO down—permission to take care of their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs with the understanding that when these needs are tended to, resilience occurs, and the entire organization benefits through increased productivity, job performance, retention, engagement, and physical well-being. The Towers Watson study recommends that employers strive for “sustainable engagement” by creating policies and practices that make it possible for employees to better manage their stress, to live more balanced lives, and to have more autonomy over when and where they get their work done.
Tony Schwartz, CEO of The Energy Project, agrees with the Towers Watson recommendations. “The key factor is a work environment that more fully energizes employees by promoting their physical, emotional, and social well-being. I’d add to that mental and spiritual well-being—or more specifically, the added energy derived from the capacity for absorbed focus and a strong sense of purpose.”
Creating policies and practices that support employees’ ability to manage their energy across all four dimensions makes it possible for employees to better manage their stress, to live more balanced lives, and to have more autonomy over when and where they get their work done.
“For organizations, the challenge is to shift from their traditional focus on getting more out of people, to investing in meeting people’s core needs so they’re freed, fueled, and inspired to bring more of themselves to work, more sustainably,” says Schwartz.
According to Spangler et al, research has found that some people are more resilient than others. These people can bounce back from setbacks faster than others, are more adaptive, and demonstrate a secure emotional attachment to others. They have a good sense of humor, are more action-oriented, have a sense of personal competence, take time for personal replenishment, and can express needs and engage the support of others.
Perhaps most importantly, the authors conclude, research finds that individual resilience is modifiable; it can be learned, giving HR and talent management professionals an opportunity to teach resilience at the individual and organizational levels.
R E S I L I E N C E I N T H E W O R K P L A C E
1. Obtain senior leadership support.
Resilient cultures begin with leaders who understand and support building resilience at the individual and organizational level. To obtain senior leader buy-in, HR and talent management professionals can share research such as the Towers Watson Global Workforce Study and this white paper with top management. They can explain how resilient employees are happier, more productive, and more agile than their less resilient counterparts. Senior leadership support for an organization-wide resilience initiative may be easier to obtain if it is exposed to leadership development opportunities (such
The Energy Project aims to energize people and transform companies by offering a detailed blueprint for fueling a fully engaged workforce. Drawing on the multidisciplinary science of high performance, The Energy Project has developed a set of simple principles and highly actionable practices for more effectively managing energy to drive higher levels of engagement, productivity, and innovation in people, leaders, and organizations.
HR and talent management professionals can find out if they are currently managing their four sources of energy: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual by taking The Energy Project’s 20-question assessment, The Energy Audit. Results will be emailed immediately and will include behaviors that should be addressed to improve performance, effectiveness, and satisfaction, on the job and off. The audit link and results can be shared with team members for comparison and team-building purposes.
© The Energy Project 2013.
About The Energy Project
Steps HR Can Take to Introduce Resilience into Their
Organizations’ Cultures
as stress management classes) that specifically target resilience-building. Developing resilient leaders will help them better grasp and support the benefits of building resilience at all organizational levels.
2. Build safe and secure work
communities.
The workplace is often strained, stressful, and overwhelming. Employees have been taught to check their feelings at the door to focus on their work—to “compartmentalize” their personal and professional
Community leaders should not accept “fine” or “good” for an answer to the first question. Instead, they should encourage community members to answer on a scale of one to 10 emotionally and physically, one being completely exhausted or drained and 10 being completely energized and fueled. The idea is to encourage employees to be honest and open about how they are feeling physically and emotionally—to get it on the table so it can be subsequently cleared.
The next questions, “What was the most important thing you learned last week,” and “What are your goals for this week,” help employees focus and clear their minds. “What are you most grateful for” helps set a positive mood among individuals and eventually the entire group. If community leaders are afraid that asking all of these questions will take up too much time, they should be encouraged to stick with asking employees how they are feeling and what they are most grateful for.
Asking these questions during community meetings not only give employees strength and focus, but builds team cohesiveness by delaying the need for immediate gratification in favor of choices that uphold shared values, serve the collective good, and generate long-term value.
PricewaterhouseCoopers, a leader in the accounting industry, offers newly promoted senior associates a week-long leadership development program known as the PricewaterhouseCoopers Discover program. The program immerses
participants in The Energy Project’s peoplefuel program. The peoplefuel curriculum
teaches employees how to more efficiently manage their four sources of energy; physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. As participants progress through four modules divided by energy source, they learn to recognize the costs of the behaviors that deplete their energy, reduce their emotional resilience, inhibit their focus, and weaken their motivation. This program has helped the company engage their rising stars in ways that promote sustainable growth in the organization, while also investing in employees who will, in turn, invest in the organization.
© The Energy Project 2013.
Example: PricewaterhouseCoopers
selves. As human beings, that is simply an impossibility; employees cannot leave their emotions and personalities at home. By building work communities that are safe and secure, yet also encouraging and stimulating, HR and talent management professionals can also create teams that are more productive, satisfied, and high-performing. It is important to establish safe and secure communities and acknowledge, according to Schwartz, that the “struggle to feel valued is one of the most insidious and least acknowledged issues in organizations.” HR and talent management professionals can challenge the mentality that employees should check their feelings at the door and begin that vital shift of building a resilient organizational culture.
One simple way to create that shift is to implement community meetings (Schwartz, 2013). Each time a community meets—whether it is a team, a smaller working group or an entire division— the community leader should open with a few simple questions:
• How are you feeling?
• What was the most important thing you learned
last week?
• What are your goals for this week?
