Sign in Get started ARCHIVE SUBSCRIBE The Game of Life Irene Brambilla Follow May 5 · 5 min read A different approach to company transformation. Written by Pieter Spinder and Myrna Hoed, reviewed by Alison Ruffoni We are Pieter Spinder and Myrna Hoed of Innovaness, a transformational change agency that creates tailormade innovation and learning journeys. ‘How to get fear out of companies and put love back in’ is our main focus in the Game of Life (GoL). Based on the belief that happy people make successful companies and in times of crisis we need to see what the people in the organization need for their personal leadership, in order for a company to create the necessary innovation to move to a better future. The Game of Life is a prototype that has been running at mondora since September 2020. The program is based on five major themes of life: Love, Fear, Freedom, Anger, and Fun, which have a place in a two-year unfolding journey. The program components are open for the employees to opt-in and discover. The process is an experience of being alive and the transformation journey we are all in together. Surprises and personal growth help to take leadership and energize the process. There are some basic principles that we work with that substantiate the GoL journey. Emerging practice: the unfolding of the participants’ needs allows us to shape the next step of the program so that it is effective in the long-term. Embodied learning: learning with all the senses allows for deeper development and growth. Recognition and attention: a personal approach that allows us to hear every participant’s ideas and shift barriers into possibilities. No Bullshit approach: say what you do, do what you say, and move with transparency and trust. Co-creation and Fun: because if it makes you smile, you want to be part of it in some way! :) Many companies are constantly working on innovation. On finding the right strategy or a new direction; to grow, to expand, to be better at what they do, or even just to survive changing times. In working with and teaching innovation for many years we have discovered the vital importance of the personal story. Real innovation is a transformation, not a change. The Electric Light Did Not Come from Continuous Improvement of Candles — Oren Harari It is finding a new pathway rather than doing something in a better way. And to find a new pathway for an organization, it is important to know where the people in the company are heading, just as much as being a living example of where you think it should go. When we look at the theory of Systems Thinking, change starts on a personal level (individual), which then comes to life in the community (group) and that will innovate the system (the company). So to lead a journey of innovation we need to start with the individual. To see what people’s skill-sets and mindsets are, and more importantly what their needs and experiences are. Their personal story on why they do what they do is important because, in the end, it is not ‘the company’ that decides where to go, but the people in the organization. To innovate we need to work with a balance of Head, Heart and Hands. This means that the practical doing and the mind’s ideas and philosophies should be equally balanced by following the heart and trusting your gut. Neither one of these three characteristics can bring on innovation by itself, but together in a natural balance, they empower each other. This relates to the personal story we work on, in our innovation programs, as each co-worker influences the innovation process. May it be on a creative level, a managing level, execution level, an output level, customer level, or otherwise. In our theory of Emotional Energy Learning, we develop the human skills needed to learn how to use emotions as a force of positive impact in work and innovation. As people, we are all emotion and feeling-driven. We do things because we like to, because it feels good, because we feel the need to hide our insecurities or because we compete with our colleagues, etc. In our education systems, we learn about hard skills, how to do something, but there is less focus on Human skills, how to be someone. And it is the being that gives employees results that make a difference (in communication, trust, confrontation, etc.). For the Game of Life in mondora, six months ago, we started by giving a surprise book entitled ‘From fear to Freedom’, to each of the 70 mondora employees. For each member, there was a paragraph selected that could fit their personal interest and inspire them. This gave people an eye-opener, discussion points, a challenge to read, a gift, and a personal note. This was followed by a personal call to all the company employees to hear about their needs and experiences. Out of this, some themes became prominent: social needs in times of remote working during covid, work-life balance and the art of saying no, personal communication and teamwork, and a longing for fun. So we created the ‘Chocolate Connection Challenge’, sending each employee a chocolate letter (the first letter of their name) and asking them to create a fun team video about connection using the letters, with the aim of creating togetherness, communication, creativity, and a fun competition. The winners received a prize and began a ‘Poem-it-forward challenge’ online. Also, we organized a creation webinar about ‘Sisterhood & Brotherhood at Mondora’, to talk about company values and one’s personal starting points to work with this company. We started a #GameOfLife-thread in Slack with inspiration and weekly virtual coffee breaks that lead to great conversations. All of these activities encourage us to learn from each other in good and bad times, creating openness and trust and addressing emotional energy learning within the mondora community. In the coming months, we have more virtual, physical, connecting and confronting propositions and exercises for the teams to create the journey of GoL in an impactful way. Starting with the SuperMarketDate-idea, a fun activity where we meet with friends and strangers in the supermarket for an exchange, exercise, or challenge in a funny way. Pieter Spinder & Myrna Hoed You may also like… Maintaining a sense of community while working remotely Written by Irene Brambilla, reviewed by Alison Ruffoni bcalmbcorp.com B Corp Coaching Sustainability Community Community Engagement WRITTEN BY Irene Brambilla Follow B Calm and B Corp Follow we build software to create benefit! More From Medium We all have a superhero inside Hans Be Working 9 to 5 Troy Bourguet Business Systems Analysts Estimates. 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