Gamestorming 2.0

Chapter 6. Gamestorming for Culture Change

Let’s say you’re excited about gamestorming. You’re at least interested and curious, or you wouldn’t be reading this book. And maybe you’re thinking, “This is all very interesting, but I don’t think it would work here.” Or maybe you’re wondering just how you could make it work for you, about whether you could introduce it at work, and how you might do that. Gamestorming is a natural culture-shifting activity. Indeed, it can be a Trojan horse for a host of cultural shifts. The better you understand the cultural aspects of gamestorming, the more successfully you can use it to change your culture.

What Is Culture?

Our working definition for culture is this: “Culture is the way we do things around here.” Every organization, division, department, satellite office, depot, warehouse, factory, retail store—in fact, every group of people that spends time doing anything together will develop, over time, a way that they do those things. That’s what we mean when we talk about culture. Culture is all around you, all the time.

Why Is Culture Important?

We swim in culture like fish swim in water. It gets so you don’t notice it. The longer you’ve been in a culture, the harder it can be to see it clearly. And that can actually be dangerous. By its very nature, culture helps you focus on the things that are important and reduce or eliminate distractions. To improve focus and productivity, cultures ignore things that don’t matter to them. When the world ...