Every Worker, A Game Designer – Part 4 of Every Job, A Game

Dignan, in the book, Game Frame, that these posts have been based on, talks about the process for designing a game. They are:
1) choosing an activity, or mastery focus area
2) creating the player profiles, or motivational description of the players
3) choosing the interim and ultimate objectives of the game
4) choosing the mental, physical and social skills to be learned and improved in game play
5) choosing the resistance, balancing between boring & demoralizing
6) choosing the resources

7) defining the skill cycles, or the rounds in which actions are  taken and feedback obtained

8) choosing the interim and ultimate outcomes which provide feedback

9) play, test and polish to refine the game

Dignan cites David Cook of Spry Fox as proposing that “Any activity can be turned into a game: 1) if the activity can be learned, 2) if the player can be measured, and 3) if the play can be rewarded or punished in a timely fashion. You read this and immediately get the possibility that “all is a game” if you want to see it that way.

It occurred to me in looking at these design elements that much of this design has already been done for me in my job and organization, and that a game of sorts is to understand how it has and is being designed on an ongoing basis. Additionally, it occurred to me that there is an internal game which coincides with the external game of my work that I have the power to design and play to personal and organizational benefit. In fact, the more than my personal game can coincide and integrate with the organizational game, the more potential benefit there is for both of us. I might also find that these games are not integratable which is also an important signal to be acted upon.

Dignan says that “Achieving this requires examining the structure of our own activities and experiences in more depth than ever before. This process of observation and inquiry is the precursor to design. Indeed, to reshape the world around us—our workplace, our schools, our homes—we must become behavioral game designers.” In gaining confidence as a game designer, I recognize my role in creating good games not only for myself but for my team, my organization, my industry and my customers so that we collectively can heal the world.

May we all be better game designers and players ongoing. :-)

Building Blocks of the Game Frame - Part 3 of Every Job, A Game

In my first post in this series I suggested that we, and our work, can benefit from cultivation of a more gameful approach to work. In this post, I want to expand on this approach and its implications.

In his book, Game Frame, Aaron Dignan, talks about the the Game Frame, the building blocks that make up any game. Game designer considers these and so should we as we redesign our work as a game.

These building blocks are:

1) activities, or mastery focus areas,

2) player profile, or trait-based player descriptions with motivational clues,

3) objectives, or short and long term goals towards which effort is directed,

4) skills, or special mental, physical & social abilities necessary to win a game,

5) resistance, or forces of opposition (chance, puzzles, novelty, levels & competition) which create tension and interest in any game,

6) resources, or spaces & supplies we acquire and use to win a game,

7) actions, or move available to us in a game,

8) feedback, the game’s response to a player’s actions,

9) the blackbox, or the rules engine containing information about interplay between actions and feedback in the game, and

10) outcomes, or positive & negative results occurring while in pursuit of game objective

At first, I found this list overwhelming, but on further meditation, realized that all this has been going on within and around me my entire life and I have been good at playing most every game I have found myself in. I had not been savvy enough to see it in the context of a game though. I further get that seeing all this as a game: 1) lowers my blood pressure & frustration level, 2) improves my focus & persistence and 3) allows me to win more of the games I create, and even those others create for me. (Remember my prior post on games we play: Win The Game You Are Playing, Even If You Lose The Game Others Are Playing.)

When I assume that all these elements are part of the game, I am less caught off guard and frustrated by them. I pay more attention to how I need to learn and adapt. I do so more quickly, thus creating a competitive advantage for my self and my team. Truly my work becomes a game and I an ever more skillful player. That said, PLAY ON!!!

A Gameful Mindset CanTransform Your Job - Part 2 of Every Job, A Game

Continuing my Work as Games riff, I was really struck in my reading of Dignan’s, Game Frame, by the characteristics which make games irresistible. Games:

1) demand participation, a thing we all know we want/need more of at work,

2) can be played again and again, without a loss of enthusiasm yet with increased learning,

3) are understood through play, not work, you hear that, not work,

4) can happen anywhere, and I don’t know about you but work happens everywhere for me,

5) give us purpose, and I find more and more of this in my work as I age,

6) allow us to solve problems, that thing I personally live for,

7) give us control, that thing I am trying to live less for but which I still enjoy having,

8) show us progress, especially needful in the “grind”,

9) prompt risk taking, that thing we need to get more comfortable with,

10) let us face our fears, that thing we need to face more and indulge less

11) give us glory, that thing we love, if not live for, and no you don’t have to admit it,

12) shift time, as in “time flies when you are having fun”,

13) bring us together, and what else is work if not “getting together” for better or worse,

14) facilitate transferable development, a too little recognized phenomenon, and

15) represent what could be, that think we are all interested in creating.

On reading this list in Game Frame, I immediately see how a “gameful” approach to work would be transformative for me. I figured, why only play games when I am off work when I could benefit from the enjoyment of such play most all the time, with just a twist of perspective. I think, YES, these are all things that I crave and work for, but if playing a game provides this inherently, what an incentive to play a game, and especially at work where I spend most of my life!

Every Job, A Game; Every Worker, A Gamer - Part 1

I recently read the book, Game Frame by Aaron Dignan, a great read about game design with a nice slant on how one can better enjoy their work if they take a gamer’s approach.

Like anything in life, there are situation and then there are the stories we tell about them, and most of life’s experience is the story we tell regardless of the situation. Seeing work as a game is just a “story” alternative we have, and I have to say that my work is relatively more enjoyable and less stressful seen through the lens of a game, versus a job.

Dignan talks about the games as “structured and challenging systems that makes the process of learning rewarding, enables deep engagement, provides a sense of autonomy, and asks us to be heroes in our own stories.” (Read my post Every Worker, A Hero, for more insight on this last point.) Dignan says that games “force us to face facts, press on, and earn our way into the standings by completing tasks that match and then challenge our level of skill.” Games are good for us in that they teach us, allow us to develop new skills, new information and ultimately to master information and situations. The coolest thing about playing games, is that we are “playing”. You ever notice that, in our language, we rarely "work a game", nor do we "play a job"? No, we play games! :-)

A “gameful” approach to work enables our seeing the “game” in our work, and with it, new opportunities and approaches for learning, engagement and mastery. It also allows us to see many of the difficulties of work more positively as pushing us beyond our comfort zone as a meaningful challenge which purpose is to make us more masterful. It is interesting how at work we hate this pushing but in a game we relish it. Dignan says, “Some people do take low-challenge, low-control situations and turn them into wonderful experiences rich with engagement”, “creating a satisfying and escalating challenge instead of waiting for one to be given to them, and this approach literally changes their lives.” This possibility intrigues me and is one I reach for as I have worked to cultivate more and more of a “gameful” approach to my work allowing me to work less and play more. And we all know that play is healthier than work, and further is its own reward.

I invite you to take a read of this book, or maybe just the blog posts, review and videos about it and its author, and to join me in better enjoying and performing the game of work. I am convinced that our selves, our families, community and the world will all benefit from it.

Every Worker, A Hero!

Work is challenging and we all are the hero in our respective work roles though we rarely think so. For years I have been a fan of Joseph Campbell, the famed mythologist, and his theory of The Hero’s Journey. The Hero’s journey identified a pattern of progressive stages in cultural myths and stories which is fairly applicable to every life, career, job and project. This cycle is seen in epic lives and stories we all know like that of Jesus, Moses, Buddha, Prometheus, Oriris, Luke Skywalker of Star Wars, Frodo of Lord of the Rings, and even ourselves if we observe closely enough.

In the Hero’s Journey, which is divided in to three phases of departure, initiation and return:

1. The hero is leading an ordinary life when circumstances take a turn which call the hero to a quest.

2. Initially the hero is hesitant to accept the quest but alas does not resist.

3. On starting the quest, the hero finds mentors and helpers along the way to advise and assist.

4. As a part of the quest the hero faces ordeals and obstacles. The hero also discovers powers, within and without themselves, some resident and others obtained along the way which enable triumph.

5. By and by, with patient persistence, the hero wins the object of the quest along with the experience and benefit of overcome ordeals and newly discovered and obtained powers.

6. The quest object obtained, the hero is faced with a decision of whether they will return to the ordinary world they lived in before the quest began to bless the community with the experience, powers and questions object they have obtained. And so the cycle starts over again.

With reflection, we could all identify that at any given time, we ourselves are in some stage of this hero cycle in every areas of our lives, careers and jobs.

I have always found this reflection helpful as stories and myth are how human cultures makes sense of chaos whether in the form of success or failure, ease of difficulty, blessing or curse.

Seeing myself as the hero in my own life, career and job, I continually recognize quests I am called to, mentors and helpers given to aid me, ordeals and obstacles, powers and experience I am given to develop during my quest, and the decision and obligation to continually reinvest the fruit of my quests back into the communities I am a part of.

Seeing this cycle is the path all heroes have tread both humbles and encourages me as I see that as they have triumphed in the their circumstances so can I as I patiently and persistently make good use of every resource and opportunity every quest presents. Reflecting on the hero's journey also lends context and perspective to my present challenges and difficulties and reminds me that this too will pass, both success and learning, and that my job as hero is to be committed to and prepared for every next stage of this cycle.

So, shall I encourage us all to reflect on how we are all heroes on our respective life and career journeys and how the world relies upon and is blessed when we step us to the hero's potential in ourselves.

Everyone A Tool in the Hand of Providence, and especially in Tough Times

Reflecting on how tough times are and how they might get even tougher has me in a more grateful mood than ever for what is still being provided in the midst of this toughness, as well as what I can provide to help those who need provision. In my pondering, it hit me that everyone of us is a tool in the hand of Providence, equipped to provide for others out of our talent, networks, expertise, etc., and that it is in this provision that we sustain our lives.

From this perspective, I realize that Providence is always at work, not necessarily in ways I expect or desire, but at work nonetheless. I see every opportunity to provide as my being handled by Providence to bless someone, and everything and one I am provided as coming from Providence, especially those things that & people who are challenging and unexpected.

It seems to me that if there is any silver lining in tough and scarce times, it is that it calls us to be less independent and more interdependent, less entitled and more grateful, less impulsive and more mindful, less fickle and more resilient, all things that are good for the soul and relationships and which I imagine cycle back to good times in time, and makes for a greater degree of good times even in tough times.

I think that when we are not sufficiently mindful that we are all tools in Providence’s hand, we worry too much about if we will be provided for, and we are too self-absorbed to provide where we have opportunity to. If we had more confidence in this idea, we could worry less, be less self-absorbed, and by extension put more of our time and energy in figuring out how to better provide for one another.

As times get worse and institutions we have grown accustomed to providing for us, like government and corporations are less able to do so, we are going to have to figure out more and more how to provide for each other. Let’s not allow fear (from inside or outside) of this daunting change to twist us in ways that we do not remain open to Providential Innovation.

It is also worth remembering that the best provision is not money, but time, attention, encouragement, referrals, advice, research/insights, all intangible things which when handled and combined well, converts itself into many barterable currencies that sustain us.

Finally, look to provide for others individually and in groups/networks, as well as in volunteer roles as well as for income.

Here's to being the sharpest and most proficient tools Providence wields!

Everyone A Pawn on Someones’ Chess Board

As I continue to enjoy my evolving “big picture, middle age mind”, or so I have read, I relish the analogy of life’s relationships as all occurring on myriad overlapping chessboards. I further note that on every chessboard, both mine and those of all I am in relations with, I am a piece, sometimes queen, a few times king, most times pawn, and when in the zone, knight. :-) This consideration has caused me to meditate more and more on the reality that I, and so we all, am a pawn on every someones’ chessboard that I engage with. Everyone has an agenda for me. I play a role of getting everyone who values me something they want else they do not value me, else they probably do not perceive themselves as even being relationship with me, despite the fact that I might perceive otherwise based on my own chessboards.

Acceptance of this reality helps me to better tolerate being manipulated and used, sometimes even betrayed, by others. With this understanding, I am able to take all this less personally knowing that this is the nature of things. I can even have compassion on the idea that everyone is mostly just moving me around, sacrificing me, advancing me, promoting/demoting me, etc., in order to win some particular chess game they are playing against someone else, or maybe even themselves, or worst yet, me. Additionally, I work to understand what piece I am, queen, knight or pawn, and with this understanding to be the best piece I can be, as I understand I should, in order to help people win their (legitimate) chess games.

This is most challenging when you find yourself simultaneously a black and white piece on a board where 2 people are playing against one another and you want both of them to win. These paradoxical situation definitely require thinking beyond a zero-sum paradigm.

So remember, we are all pawns on someone’s chess board and may we have the grace, wisdom and guilelessness to be the best pawn possible in on every board we are being played in order to manifest the Great Commandment of “love” in the world.

Some good reads that compliments this one I wrote awhile ago are at http://www.delicious.com/cadelarge/wiseworking_games

Happy checkmating to you!