Happy Friday

If you've ever watched any of my talks, you'll see that I love games. Not just video games, but card games, board games, and even role-playing games. Well, especially role-playing games.

If you aren't sure what role-playing games are, you have likely heard of Dungeons and Dragons, which is the most famous game in that family.

In all these games, you create a character and describe what they do and say with other players. The rules help you figure out what happens when there is a risk of failure. The scenarios are endless.

Why am I writing about this? Well, let's imagine that there is a spectrum of these games. On one end, we have Dungeons and Dragons, where you make some high-fantasy character that lives in a magical world full of danger, like something out of Lord of the Rings. On the other end, you make a character who is the vice president of a company at risk of closure, confronting the dysfunction and operational failures that got them there.

This work-related role-playing might feel less like a game. Even though it is completely made up, you will be able to draw many parallels to your career and actual situation. In other words, you will be able to translate your experience and knowledge from one to the other. The role-playing game will let you experience something new, relevant, maybe extreme, and you will be able to bring the experience back with you.

This is the basis of many simulations and activities that show up in various trainings and workshops. We put you into a structured fictional scenario, and you play through it, often as a version of who you are. At the end, you get to reflect on what you experienced and learned.

The scenarios are endless, as is the potential for insight.

One interesting aspect about games like this is the concept of agency.

Agency is the fancier word we use to represent choice and autonomy. Without agency, the game turns into a lecture. This can be a challenge for folks running these games and situations.

Why? Because we all have expectations for what these games or situations will be, and the temptation to influence what happens to get there is difficult to resist. Yet, respecting the agency of the participants is vital. Making meaningful choices is at the heart of how you generate insight and enjoyment.

Now, let me try to bring these threads together. There is likely an area of work where you struggle. You know you aren't your best. It may be in working with folks above you, something that causes your emotions to unbalance you, or where trust has become an obstacle. It could also simply be that you don't understand how people work the way they do.

A simulation or role-playing activity where you and a group of people get to act with agency will let you explore those issues and bring home insight and experience. Becoming someone who makes the choices you usually find perplexing may open up possibilities. Imagine you and a group with a challenging working experience coming out of a simulation saying, "I had no idea how hard that job is!" The beginning of a new relationship is possible.

So, if you know there is an area you need to grow in, consider simulations or these types of games to help you rapidly grow into the person you want to be.

Here's my weekly update for May 16th, 2025...

🗒️ The Ultimate Guide to Effective Horizon Planning

Horizon plans are a lightweight tool to communicate long-term strategic goals.

In this article I will break down how to build, use, and update them so you can communicate more strategically and adapt more quickly.

Click here to read more

Enjoy,

Ryan Latta

PS: If you're curious about trying a really quick simulation out, I wrote up some instructions for a really quick game to help develop insight into context switching and how bad it is for productivity.