I have written in previous posts about how HR services have been influenced and advanced through the incorporation of ideas that grew up outside of the HR field (examples of such influences being customer relationship management, supply-chain management, and business intelligence). Those looking for the next source of big ideas to shape HR and human capital management (HCM) need to keep an eye on the field known as "serious games."

Serious Games Day at IBM

Last week IBM hosted "Serious Games Day" at its software executive briefing center in Research Triangle Park, NC. I came away from the event with an appreciation for the accelerating sophistication of serious games and with a few insights about their increasing relevance to strategic human capital management.

I'll describe some of the games demonstrated at the event, but first I want to zero in on a few of the most salient "take aways" for those in the field of HCM. A sign that it is time for those in the HCM field to take "serious games" seriously is the increasing activity around putting rigorously derived competency content into games (call them "business simulations" if it is more palatable to your management).

The concept of "serious games" predates computer gaming and isn’t limited to experiences delivered only thorough software. However, most serious games development efforts are software-based and built with third-party game development engines. There is much variation in the types of serious games, but they have broad commonalities. Most games offer some type of built-in narrative - a problem to solve, a set of scenarios, or other built-in storyline. However, some are more like true simulations, in that they may provide an environment and some base-line business rules and constraints, but allow users to create their own narrative. Some games have more of the characteristics associated with "play," while others are designed to recreate non-game, real-world business events or processes. While the most sophisticated of these environments aren't Web-based (as in browser-based), some are quite well integrated with web 2.0 features (chat, social networking integration, Voip, etc.).

While serious games are distinguished from games for play, there is a fuzzy line between the two. A point brought up by both panelists and attendees at the IBM event was not to let serious purposes diminish the fun, competition, and visual appeal that make the gaming medium engaging for users.

Serious about Competencies

The topic of competencies wasn’t on the day’s agenda, but there were some related discussions among panelists and attendees. One of the panelists, Stephen Mahaley, Director of Learning Technology at Duke Corporate Education, which provides outcomes-oriented custom education corporations globally, noted that some of his company’s serious game projects incorporated the client’s existing competency rubrics. That led to discussion among the panelists and audience members, including a representative from Cisco Systems, about how some companies have begun initiatives aimed at analyzing the skills and traits of top-performing individuals, particularly those nearing retirement. Rather than merely capturing such information within some static medium, companies were using the analyses as the basis for the learning objectives and competencies going into serious games. The hope is that as baby-boomers retire, their knowhow can be captured in a lively and engaging medium that will facilitate the transfer of core business competencies to a next generation of workers.

Can Games Make Competencies Work for Business?

I’ll get back to serious games day, but here I’ll offer a few of my own thoughts about competencies and serious games. The advantages of connecting competency management with business simulations and serious games are only just beginning to be realized. Competency management is one of those talent management functions that is at once is regarded as critical, but problematic. This has led more than a few observers to wonder if competency management is worth the trouble. This 2007 post by Jason Corsello highlights some of the problems: "Where should [competencies] be stored and how should they be maintained? Who owns competencies? HR? business leaders? both?" These are simple questions that are hard to answer. From what I've seen, companies often work with expensive consultants to develop competency models, but after some initial training of managers and employees on the model, competencies are ignored until it is time for appraisals or time to create a new position.

My point is that when competency models are implemented, employees and managers usually receive some training, then the model is largely disregarded until performance appraisal time -- which might not be the most risk-free occasion for either supervisor or employee to discuss the competency model. Consider also how the introduction of a competency model is commonly perceived. For those on the receiving end of a consultant-produced competency model, the reaction often is that they are being held to something produced by someone who has never spent a single day in the role being performed (even if the model is validated with performance data for that role). Here’s where I believe serious games and simulations may be helpful. If well conceived, these serious games can give an employer the opportunity to introduce, rehearse, and refine competency models with stakeholders in an engaging, constructive, transparent, and risk-free way.

Applications of Serious Games

Now, back to the serious games day. A wide variety of serious games were discussed and demonstrated. "Any process that can be articulated can be depicted," according to serious games day panelist Jim Wexler, Vice President, BrandGames, a New York-based developer of serious games. Game demo highlights included:

• IBM used the occasion to introduce the latest version of its Innov8 game, which teaches players about the application of business process management in the optimization of supply chains and other business processes.
• BrandGames showed a "shootem-up" robot game created for the Japanese pharmaceutical Daiichi-Sanko that was designed to reinforce sales reps' knowledge of Type 2 diabetes and of the cholesterol drug Welchol that Daiichi-Sanko was re-purposing for Type 2 diabetes treatment.
• Amar Patel, Manager of Medical Simulation Center, WakeMed, brought to the event a very sophisticated anthropomorphic baby that WakeMed uses in medical training. The baby cries, breathes, has a pulse and provides other vital signs, has a realistic bone structure, and other features to deliver a realistic, but risk-free training experience for medical personnel.
• Raleigh, NC's Virtual Heroes, Inc., demonstrated the much-anticipated "Zero Hour" game, which it is helping to develop under a grant to George Washington University by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The game, which will be available for download for a cost of $14.95, allows emergency responders to learn and practice medical triage and emergency handling skills in situations based on DHS "National Planning Scenarios."

While the above games vary significantly, each in its own way involves imparting a complex set of knowledge and skills relevant to performance of consequential real-world activities. It is worth noting that in the case of the WakeMed and "Zero Hour" simulations, the games start with skills and best practices defined by relevant medical associations and communities of practice. Panelists throughout the day also emphasized the capabilities of games in generating very detailed score data.

These "games" are expensive to develop, but the costs are coming down. Essentially all of these simulation/learning/assessment game environments are now built with third-party gaming engines. In addition, a group I have begun to work with, LETSI.org, is beginning work on making the inputs to and outputs from these learning environments a bit more standardized, which should also help expand the availability of this technology to a broader range of employers.