Building a Team and Solving Conflict at a Computer Screen
If you were a leader, how much time should you devote to team building and how much to operational details? How do your decisions affect those of your team? John Red knows the answers, but he won't tell you unless you play with him. John Red is a role-playing, story-driven game on team dynamics developed by SDA Bocconi's Learning Lab. Its goals: to experience team dynamics in a complex scenario, to learn how to face and solve conflicts, to understand how personalities affect group decisions.
John Red is a web-based management simulation. It's playful and easy to use. Sitting in front of his computer or his mobile device, each participant plays the role of a team leader who has to face a number of dilemmas in a scenario involving the process of developing new products. The simulation consists of four phases, each one about a dynamic between group members and forcing the leader to take decisions. The leaders have to answer questions and provide reasons for their choices. How do they intend to set up the team? How do they solve conflicts within the group? Which management style is preferable to overcome a stressful situation? And finally, what can they learn from this experience? At the end of the game each player is given a score. Results are discussed during a debriefing.
"Through experiential learning", says Learning Lab Director Leonardo Caporarello, "John Red teaches how to set up a team; to face conflicts; to understand when it's the time to take action; and finally, to learn from your own mistakes". The goal is to balance rational and emotional. "Experience teaches us that the team leaders don't invest enough time in the team building phase. There's a tendency to jump into operational details and deal right away with deadlines. The second common mistake is to focus on conflict when you're under stress: if you do, you lose sight of the ultimate goal".
A variation of the simulation, called John Green, has been used recently in the Mediolanum Team Management, a large training project of SDA Bocconi and Mediolanum Corporate University, the innovation laboratory of the Milanese bank. It aims to create a culture of teamwork and increase cross-functional communication. "Teamwork enhances your ability to face changes, promotes proactivity directed toward the team and it's essential for continuous learning", says Lamberto Mencarelli, Director of Human Resources Training at Banca Mediolanum. "Good team building and proper conflict management make the difference. If you manage it well, the conflict releases huge resources".