Culture Competence

An adventure game reimagined the workshop activities within a quest narrative, positioning the learner as a mountaineer who must set out from their Basecamp to explore five mountain peaks, each associated with an aspect of self-competence or social competence that has an impact on culture. Learners are challenged to develop their Basecamp into a joyful, enriching environment by scaling each peak, solving challenges and puzzles along the way. Each challenge provides an opportunity to find out more about how they can personally contribute to the company culture by further understanding their own values and responses, and by communicating and building stronger relationships with fellow travellers.

With a relatively small budget and significant technical constraints, creating a game-like learning experience, including incorporating a social element, and connecting the game into a virtual blend that led to online workshops seemed a big ask.

The game-like learning experience: a multi-level rewards system, with rewards directly linked to progress and achievements, along with random rewards that recognise exploration and curiosity, creates an authentic gameplay experience. Incidental rewards: Easter eggs are placed at points throughout the game. Their purpose is simply to reward curiosity and willingness to explore

The virtual blend: a ‘mountaineer’s diary’ or workbook allows the learner to capture their thoughts and reflections during the game.  and can be downloaded and used as a basis for continuing culture competence training. They use their diary later in the virtual workshops, and in conversations with mentors and managers forming a bridge between this learning experience and their ongoing cultural learning journey.

With the WEF identifying skills like critical thinking, problem-solving and flexibility as essential skills needed in the near future, the learning experience shows how this can be achieved with a truly global approach that connects people worldwide.