908 Using Games to Develop Cross-Functional Teams in Distributed Workforces
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM Thursday, March 29
Games and Gamification
Salon 14
Many companies depend on geographically dispersed workforces to succeed. Yet managers who lead global teams are up against stiff challenges. Forming successful work groups is difficult enough when people share the same office, but when team members come from different cultural, linguistic, and functional backgrounds, misunderstandings can arise more easily. Without a plan to help distributed teams work well together, accountability can become problematic and cooperation can deteriorate into distrust.
In this case study session, you will discover how Autodesk is improving the performance of global teams by giving them coaching and coordination practice inside a game. You will learn how vicarious learning, coaching, and reflective practice inside an MMORPG can be used to cultivate skills and sensibilities for building trust and accountability across time zones and cultures. You’ll explore how immersive simulations parallel the essential communication and coordination challenges of real-world situations, enabling your team members to learn from mistakes in psychological safety. You’ll learn how to craft the reflective practice and action learning experiments that develop world-class team skills.
In this session, you will learn:
- What makes a good program design for developing competency in team skills, and what matters most for developing these skills across different geographies, cultures, and functions
- How games can be effective in building team skills, and which game platform characteristics are most effective for role-based coordination practice
- What outcomes this game-based method is producing in clinical care, EPC, and public sector operational environments
- What evidence is most relevant to demonstrate the success of this approach to stakeholders
Audience:
Intermediate to advanced designers, developers, managers, directors, and senior leaders (VP, CLO, executive, etc.).
Technology discussed in this session:
Videoconferencing (Zoom), MMORPGs (WoW), VoIP communications, instant messaging collaboration and social media (Discord), mobile integrated LMS, VoIP data capture, and sentiment analysis.
Phillip Crockford
CEO
V-Teamwork
Phillip Crockford is the CEO of V-Teamwork. He has more than 30 years’ experience in management, and in coaching people in building trust and accountability, boosting productivity, and improving performance. His interventions have produced millions of dollars in annual savings for clients. Phillip has coached management teams to accelerate delivery of infrastructure projects worth more than $2 billion, realigned executive teams on successful strategies, and reduced critical cycle times by up to 50 percent. His clients have included Autodesk, Rio Tinto, Queensland Health, the US Army, and the Canadian men’s ski team. Phillip has served on the board of the International Coach Federation (Australasia).
Danny Ryan
Director, Technical Training
Autodesk
Danny Ryan is a director of technical training and development at Autodesk, focusing on both the horizontal development of engineers as they add new technical skills and vertical development where learners grow their technical leadership skills. Danny is an electronic engineer who has worked at Philips (NL), DEC, and Cypress Semiconductor before coming to Autodesk. He made the transition from engineering and engineering management to learning and development about 10 years ago. Danny has implemented several major programs, including a six-week engineering boot camp and a virtual leadership development pilot.