Nerd Alert!
Disclaimer….this methodology may be out of scope of what you may have considered for leadership development in adventure based activities….in addition…. I am not a true gamer. I was such an outcast in high school that the science club one shoved me in a locker and I was even turned down for a date by a girl who played French Horn…
I digressed from the start…
The past few years I have been using a self-modified version of Dungeuns and Dragons to teach leadership, decision making, communication, and expedition planning. Without going into the technical aspect, I have seen tremendous success in all of these areas.
Most adventure participants have a fairly decent grasp on their technical disciplines. Its when we bring a team together in place them in diverse and situations we see how well they can work together and communicate to successfuly resolve the situation.
In the simulations I have participants build on a multude of skills they either pocess, or the skills of their character. Since we have introduced Emergenetics into our Expedition Leadership coaching and workshops, we are not only able to see how thenparticipants prefer to act (through their character) but also to act OPPOSITE of their profile through their character. This provides them with a safe enviroment to test the waters of a preference or skill they do not pocess. For example, someone who scores with preferences of structure and analysis will ease into the technical aspects of the game. Hit Points, Armor Class, Skill Test, etc are easy for them. Developing a back story for their character, nearly impossible for some.
For nearly five years now we have been using this as another approach to build leaders as well as bringing teams together. While I may not have all the discipline of a game master (the guy who guides the game, acts as a referee, and essentially works to facilitate the adventure), I’m doing well enough to get teaching points across and facilitate the development of the participants….helping them transfer knowledge and skills from catacombs to camps.
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Adventure IQ 