Effectiveness of employee simulation games

It has been known for a long time that learning through experience is an extremely effective way of acquiring knowledge. Not only by children, but also by adults. Trainers are well aware of this, which is why workshops or simulation games are becoming increasingly common in training offers. During practical classes, participants can face problems that reflect real situations they may encounter in the work environment. What other advantages do simulation games have for employees?

Benefits of using simulation games in the learning process:

• Opportunity to verify the acquired theoretical knowledge in practice.
• Great preparation for real work by participating in a simulated process.
• Opportunity to reveal certain competence gaps among game participants.
• With the opportunity to play specific roles in the game, participants can better understand their co-workers (who occupy positions other than those in the game on a daily basis).
• Ability to give employees a high level of decision-making regarding the processes simulated in the game, so that they better understand their superiors.
• Chance to test their skills (e.g., decision-making process) in stressful situations.
• Confirmed increase in motivation of game participants due to the attractive form of presenting the discussed issues.
• Possibility to integrate employees and establish new work (development of social competence).
• It’ a way to achieve the expected growth of the company and maximize the use of human potential (among other things, by revealing the qualities of the participants in the game that have not been discovered before).

Why do employees engage in simulation games?

Developers of simulation games strive to recreate real-world processes as accurately as possible, including interpersonal interactions or conflicts of interest, which are not uncommon in real work life.

In well-constructed games, the conditions are created to force participants to behave in certain ways. In order to make the conditions in the game resemble a real work environment, certain attributes are used, such as blocks, office supplies, instruments for making measurements or calculations. The behavior of individual participants at each stage of the game is analyzed and conclusions are drawn from them, which most often match situations encountered in the company on a daily basis.

Employees are optimistic about participating in the game because they have the opportunity to “get into” a completely different role. The prospect of playing the role of CEO for a direct production employee can be exciting. It works the other way as well. Managers play the role of machine operators. This allows all employees to better understand the interests of the “other side.”

Simulation games as a complementary method of training

In summary, simulation games are a great complement to theoretical training or online training. In Opexity’s offer you can find 5 simulation games that engage employees and allow you to learn about the:

• 5 steps of the 5S method in practice.
• Principles of the Kanban system and how to reduce inventory levels in production.
• Ability to identify process waste.
• One Piece Flow system and opportunities for process optimization.
• Continuous improvement tools and the Kaizen approach in practice.

NOTE: When you buy an Opexity training subscription for companies, you get a package of simulation games in electronic form for free!