The first time I heard of online gaming at work was during an episode of The Office. One of the characters was transferred to another branch where online gaming was a regular routine. His inability to wrap his head around the concept was comical at the time, but this growing trend in the real world is less of a laughing matter.
IBM recently released two studies on how gaming skills acquired from popular games like World of Warcraft and Everquest can help workers become better corporate leaders. So the question is should corporations include online gaming into their schedule?
“Online games demonstrate many of the same characteristics that organizations are starting to encounter in accomplishing work in a globally distributed organizations,” says Eric Lesser, associate partner of IBM and Human Capital Management Lead, IBM’s Institute for Business Value.
Much like team-building exercises, the object of these games is to build unity, camaraderie and cooperation among workers.
However, in a time where offices can be all over the world, organizing a team-building day can be a lot more difficult compared to all logging onto a game at the same time.
According to Lesser, the findings show there are four key sets of behaviours in online gaming that are relevant to organizations — visioning, evaluating, collaborating, and executing.
However, what if you simply have no interest in gaming or aren’t very good at it, where does that leave you?
“There are certainly other opportunities for individuals to develop the leadership behaviours identified above, both inside and outside of the workplace,” says Lesser.
