Engaging learners and teaching strategy effectively can be a challenge, particularly when it comes to entry-level leaders. When I teach strategy, I utilize board games as a dynamic tool to make learning enjoyable, hands-on, and intuitive. While I have a roster of games that work well for mid- to senior-level leaders, I’ve been on a quest to find a game that hits the sweet spot for entry-level learners. This elusive game should possess an accessible yet potent “winning strategy,” one that isn’t as theoretically abstract as chess, but instead offers a direct, applicable understanding of strategy in a business environment.
I’ve been in search of such a game – one that adheres to my key principles for game selection:
Simplicity and Brevity: Complex games tend to monopolize attention, detracting from their potential as learning tools. Games that take 30 minutes just to understand the rules can be a frustrating and demotivating exercise, especially when they will only be played a handful of times. Ideally, a game should be simple enough to grasp quickly, leaving ample room for discussion, reflection, and replays. My metric for simplicity? A BoardGameGeek rating of less than 2 difficulty, and a playtime under 45 minutes, with an ideal target of 15-20 minutes.
Interactivity: The degree of player interaction is crucial as it promotes engagement and active learning. A game’s interactivity significantly influences the dynamics of the learning experience.
Feedback Mechanisms: Games that provide immediate, clear feedback on player decisions catalyze learning. Immediate feedback helps players understand the ramifications of their decisions, a crucial skill in strategic thinking and decision-making.
Intrinsic Motivation (Fun!): Effective learning requires engaged, motivated participants. Board games can motivate players through competition, cooperation, exploration, or the simple joy of play. Aligning the game’s motivators with your learning group ensures a more effective learning experience.
With these criteria in mind, the game “Kingdomino” stood out as an ideal tool to engage learners in comprehending key strategy concepts, particularly for the non-profit sector. The goal? To understand the principles of ‘Strategy as Goal Setting’ and ‘Strategic Agility.’
In Kingdomino, players aim to construct the most prosperous kingdom, using domino-like tiles depicting different types of terrain. The drafting process and the scoring system impose constraints and create competition, forcing players to think strategically.
Strategy as Goal Setting: This fundamental aspect of strategy is about identifying a destination (where to go) and aligning on charting a path towards it (how to get there). In Kingdomino, the objective is to maximize points by efficiently arranging tiles. Translated into a business context, this mirrors setting clear goals (e.g., program targets, fundraising goals, community impact) and devising a plan to achieve these objectives.
Strategic Agility: In a dynamic world, sticking rigidly to plans can be detrimental. Learners need to understand the necessity of adaptability in response to changing circumstances, such as regulatory changes, funding availability, or actions by other organizations. Kingdomino mirrors this reality, challenging players to adjust their strategies based on the availability of tiles and the actions of other players.
Additionally, Kingdomino offers a platform to discuss the balance between consistency and adaptability in strategy. Having a consistent strategy can help accumulate points, but adaptability to the available tiles can also be advantageous. This reflects the tension in strategic thinking: the consistency required in pursuing strategic goals, while also being adaptable in response to changing circumstances.
Kingdomino also brings to the table a built-in resource disparity, mirroring the real-world challenges that organizations, especially non-profits, face. The coloured tiles represent different types of terrain with varied frequencies of scoring multipliers, highlighting key strategic considerations in identifying ‘where to go’ such as scarcity and value, opportunity cost and risk assessment, and adaptability and flexibility.
One intriguing facet of Kingdomino is the potential for both competition and cooperation among players, arising from the nature of play – there is no specific competition except in selecting resources- but there is an opportunity for co-ordination or co-opertation based on the disparity in tile resources. While each player focusses on building their own kingdom, savvy learners might realize the potential for alliances and cooperative strategies to secure different high-value tiles, mirroring real-world strategic collaborations with maybe competitors.
Kingdomino offers an engaging, hands-on approach to teaching strategy to entry-level leaders. This board game acts as a dynamic tool for conveying key strategic concepts, all while ensuring the learning process is enjoyable and fun. Next time you’re seeking a fresh approach to teaching strategy, consider breaking out a board game – you might be surprised by the insights it can reveal.