Video Games make your team work smarter (honestly)

Over the years many of us have experienced team building exercises as a way to improve collaboration between teams, departments and colleagues, whether this has been everyone sat in a meeting room, at an outdoor activity or these days over a zoom call. Regardless, the objective is and always has been to work more effectively, as well as learning problem-solving techniques and improving communication skills. Video games have always pretty much been synonymous with fun, with no one questioning the value of a long-standing poker or board game night….. However, are these not just socially sanctioned team-building exercises? 

 

Somewhere along the line video gaming got a bad rap, and tends to just be associated with the younger generation sitting away in a dark basement spending hours glued to a flashing screen, but if we take a step back Video gaming incorporates everything we see daily in the workplace:

• Pursuing mutual goals

• Sharing resources

• Task ownership

• Collaborative problem solving

• General communication

• Shared success

 

Playing games with someone allows you to interact and engage with them outside of a working environment and you get to explore and experience that together seeing a different side to them than you would in a professional setting.

 

Studies have been carried out over the past few years that have directly proved productivity in teams that played video games for just 45 minutes was 20% higher than those that engaged in more traditional team-building exercises. What’s more, this was for gamers and novices alike! Game situations often mirror common team structures within a workplace, where everyone has a specific role in achieving a common goal, creating a scenario whereby everyone uses the community collective intelligence to understand not only their role but also everyone else’s.  

 

It is my opinion that these benefits are not just solely based on teams but that there is benefit on an individual level, with plenty of evidence demonstrating improved universally sought-after skills such as literacy, creativity and communication as well as specialised skills such as leadership, budgeting, problem-solving and strategic thinking.

 

What are your thoughts or experiences surrounding this topic?  Has anyone tried this themselves?