Gaming Principles and Corporate Culture

How Game Dynamics Can and Will Change Culture, Work, and Life

Whether you are a start up or a fortune 500 company corporate culture is important. Here is some insight from “The E-myth” by Michael Geber, a book that is on almost every top 10 list of books for entrepreneurs and small business:

Work – A Game Worth Playing
At this point, try to look at your business on a different perspective. Try to think that you are simply in search for a game worth playing. Try to engage yourself in that game. A game that has the following rules:

1. Never figure out what you want your people to do and then try to create a game out of it.

2. Never create a game for your people that you yourself are not willing to play.

3. Make sure that there are ways of winning the game without ending it.

4. Change the game tactics from time to time but not the strategy.

5. Never expect the game to be self-sustaining.

6. Play a game that makes sense.

7. The game needs to be fun from time to time.

8. If you can’t think of a good game, steal one.

At the end of this game, you will realize that your business can do more than provide work for others. It can also become a place of community – that place where people find order, meaning and a sense of purpose towards their very own existence.

(link)

This seems to dovetail the new work about Flow as well as the insights from Chip and Dan Heath from Switch on mixing fun & work. You can learn more about Flow at TED talks or Google books

I’m curious if this is a typo:

Never figure out what you want your people to do and then try to create a game out of it.

I could only assume so.

Feel free to drop any tips or suggestions from E-myth in the comments section….Thanks for reading. Also, you may like the TED X talk on Building the Game Layer on Top of the World from the Seth Priebatsch CEO of Scvngr in which he outlines a couple gaming mechanics principles. You might also check out my post on social gaming mechanics or these videos on gaming dynamics.