In two articles, IBM professors worked through ideas surrounding the connection between the world of online gaming (specifically MMORPGS) and corporate environment leadership. The articles both argue that in a world of an increasingly disperate workforce, leaders of corporations might want to look to what makes leadership work in online gaming in order to adapt to this new dynamic. Beyond that, corporations in general could possibly learn from leadership in online gaming to identify new ways of identifying upcoming leaders. The way that leaders function in online games leads researchers to the belief that given the right tools and environments, more leaders can emerge than do in the current traditional business environment.
In online games, while there might be some clear and constant leaders, there is also the possibility of changing leadership to meet specific goals. While a group might have a long term goal in mind, there may be many steps to get there that all require different leadership skills. In these virtual worlds, members of the group may be leaders for a particular goal and then return to the rest of the group. There's an ability in this method to train new emerging leaders without overwhelming them. They can try out new methods of leading as they get opportunities. It also creates an environment where members are more used to such change.
Additionally, the researchers argue that online games provides an interesting dynamic for leadership and team communication. These virtual worlds are ones where players are used to never meeting in person and building relationships accordingly. Leaders and teams use many methods of communication at once, and in many cases, each for specific reasons. Leaders might provide virtual meeting spaces for players to connect, share ideas, and identify skills. Forums might be used for long term discussion, while at other times, text chat might be used for quick simple communication. This method allows teams to express themselves in targeted and effective ways for each situation. MMORPGs also allow for constant and immediate feedback.
Unlike a traditional work environment, online games provide leaders a unique opportunity to assess their teams through the use of clear skill badging, ranking and other assessments that update in real time. These worlds sometimes even allow a place for team members to show what skills and interests they have above and beyond those that are already measured. This means that leaders have the information they need about their team at any time to know who's best for each task.
Online games also create a space for leaders to need to impart their vision with the members of the team. Though there maybe be predefined goals determined by the game (which does not necessarily translate to a corporate environment), they do need to have the ability to connect short term goals to the long term goals in meaningful ways. Leaders in both worlds should set context for members of the team on multiple levels as well as engage the team in strategy when possible.
While it is pretty clear that corporate environments and virtual worlds are not the same, some lessons might be learned from how leaders in online games are directing their teams and how leaders emerge in this environment of potential chaos to get teams to achieve common goals effectively. Corporations are looking for leaders with abilities to translate risk assessment into action, learn from mistakes, quick planning, creating agile working spaces, deal with changing information and who can impart great vision.
-References-
Virtual Worlds, Real Leaders: Online Games Put the Future of Business Leadership on Display, IBM & Seriosity, 2007.
Leadership in a Distributed World: Lessons from Online Gaming, IBM & Seriosity, 2007.
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