The military-style roleplay that could save your company and boost strategic planning

It’s not always easy to protect your company from external, and unexpected, pressures. Gaming is a type of roleplaying that prepares firms for potential future challenges.

The past few years in business can be summarised with one word: ‘change’. UK firms have needed to continuously adapt and develop because of a pandemic, the war in Ukraine, hiked energy costs, economic strain, the war on talent – the list goes on. Many experts described this continuous series of unfortunate challenges as a ‘permacrisis’ – a long period of difficulty that seemingly had no end.

Some businesses sank due to this pressure – we said goodbye to Wilko, Arcadia and Debenhams since the pandemic. Yet, like a lotus flower on stagnant water, many businesses started during this period of adversity and some even flourished during this time.

For those long-standing businesses that survived, and are continuing to survive, the permacrisis, the need for an ability to adapt, change, and be agile, were all necessary to their longevity and strength. Strategic planning plays a vital role in survival, similar to how the military work.

There are a wide range of games, with different outcomes, but the general principle is to evaluate strategies, explore scenarios and reveal unexpected weaknesses in a “safe” environment

Chris Paton, CEO and MD at Quirk Solutions

Gaming, a military style role playing exercise to plan for potential threats, is increasingly being used in businesses to best prepare employees for, and ensure businesses withstand, future challenges by having a focus on strategic planning. You wouldn’t go into battle without the right strategic plan.

“Essentially, it is a method of helping teams break open new thinking and be more open to challenge – to flush out unknowns, unintended consequences, biases and false assumptions,” Chris Paton, CEO and MD at Quirk Solutions, a company that facilitates gaming. “There are a wide range of games, with different outcomes, but the general principle is to evaluate strategies, explore scenarios and reveal unexpected weaknesses in a “safe” environment.”

What are the benefits of gaming?
Firstly, what is gaming in relation to business? Drawing from military-like exercises, gaming is a series of activities that plunges a business into a roleplay risk environment to reveal weaknesses, improve decision-making abilities, and better prepare a firm for unexpected challenges.

Typically exercised through workshops, gaming can be a useful tool in helping a business pre-empt potential challenges they might face in the future and come up with preventative strategies.

“Gaming can be a valuable exercise for businesses looking to sharpen their decision-making skills and boost their strategic planning – especially in turbulent times,” says Ben Stocken, CEO of team performance company West Peak, who has led gaming workshops.

“It allows leaders to practise responses to various future scenarios without the risk of real-world repercussions. Exploring different scenarios through role playing allows teams to build their skills at responding to turmoil calmly and effectively by applying the strategic plan to the exercise.”

A main aspect of gaming, through workshops, is being able to identify the weaknesses in your organisation. Only through recognising your shortfalls, can you make amendments to your company and become better placed to deal with external pressures.

Above all, strategic planning gaming comes without any of the risks involved with actually going through the scenarios you’re roleplaying, meaning it’s an extremely effective and low-cost way of protecting your firm.

Just as a company might recognise their pitfalls whilst in an actual catastrophe – many did during the pandemic – strategic planning gaming allows you to recognise your organisational pitfalls in a safe space. A valuable byproduct of gaming is that it builds stronger working relationships.

Paton explains: “Games build common understanding and situational awareness across teams – enhancing cohesion and mutual understanding. For me – this is an aspect of gaming that is often overlooked, the huge benefits to inter-personal relationships and breaking down of barriers; which is particularly important in the changing societal environment we are experiencing right now. More prosaically, games also allow organisations to explore risks and potential consequences of decisions.

“Through strategic planning role play, or (even better where appropriate) real players, leaders and their teams can get inside the heads of all their key stakeholders and communicate with them in a highly effective manner. They get to trial their plans and initiatives against the likely ecosystem they will encounter for real. It is why the military are so committed to using games in advance of any operation – it gives them a chance to rehearse their actions and identify the likely flaws, opportunities and unknowns, to avoid making costly mistakes.”

How can I introduce gaming into my firm?
You can implement gaming at any stage of your business’ journey. And even though many facilitators now exist for your company to utilise, it doesn’t have to cost heaps of money to effectively roleplay scenarios.

But it’s important to not wait until it’s too late. It’s not good enough to start roleplaying when you’re already in a state of crisis. The whole concept of gaming is that you act out potential scenarios whilst your firm is in a good position, so that if something were to happen, you know what to do.

Gaming doesn’t have to be a laborious task, and companies could carry out workshops as infrequently as once a year.

“Organisations that want to implement strategic planning gaming should find facilitators who can research, design and lead sessions effectively,” explains Stocken. Sessions should be held at least annually to keep leadership reflexes sharp. Gaming is warfare training for the business world. There is too much at stake not to test crisis responses before the stakes are real.”

“A well-designed simulation will force leaders to challenge their assumptions, consider trade-offs, and agree on what warning signs to look for in the real world. Having these conversations before disaster actually strikes results in better-informed decisions driven by logic not gut reaction.

“Creating relevant scenarios to game requires understanding the dynamics of the particular industry and mapping out factors that could evolve in different directions. With research and creativity, the crisis simulations can feel like they have been extracted from the leader’s deepest anxieties. This visceral reaction is what drives engagement and learning.”

It’s not good enough to start roleplaying when you’re already in a state of crisis. The whole concept of gaming is that you act out potential scenarios whilst your firm is in a good position, so that if something were to happen, you know what to do

If choosing to facilitate gaming yourself, it’s important to educate your workforce on why they are doing it in the first place and pick the appropriate games for your company.

“The first step is education,” says Paton. “Help teams to understand what strategic planning games are, why they are used, what to expect, before using a game on a live issue. Then – start slowly. Use games as a way to explore some low-risk and low-impact issues. This will build confidence and knowledge. Then you are good to go on some more challenging issues with higher degrees of risk. Finally, recognise that there are lots of game types, so do some research and make sure to select the most appropriate game for the outcomes you are seeking.”

When used correctly, strategic planning gaming can be an important, low-cost way of helping businesses prepare for the future. If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that if firms leave this preparation till it’s too late, this could cost their entire business. Running stress-test workshops has a myriad of potential positive effects, including weeding out weaknesses in the business, strengthening colleague relationships and, most importantly, enabling firms to respond effectively in the face of adversity. Hopefully, the end to the permacrisis is near. However, with this type of preparation, even if it’s not, you’ll be ready.

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