New York, NY, November 13, 2012 –(PR.com)– Simon Associates Management Consultants (SAMC), a firm dedicated to helping organizations of all kinds to turn changing times into positive results, has spotted a growing trend among many businesses: playing games to spark innovation.
Founded in 2002, SAMC has seen a 30 percent increase, year over year, in the number of clients that are now engaging in “Innovation Games®” to find new solutions to problems or for that matter, to find new markets.
“Our minds are very resistant to change – that’s just how humans are wired, and games are a great way to break through this wiring,” said Andy Simon, partner at SAMC. “And with change occurring more rapidly in our world today, we’re finding many organizations are stuck in ruts, and are reaching out to us to help pull them out. We’ve noticed this trend across a variety of verticals from hospitals and insurance companies to established manufacturers, start-ups and school systems. It’s even happening in civic engagement and communities.”
Simon Associates Management Consultants are certified Innovation Games® practitioners and have used these successfully to move companies and other organizations forward in ways many have never imagined. The games are structured to encourage groups to reimage how they think about things, compromise and generate new solutions. In most cases, at the end of the exercise, the group arrives at creative solutions by seeing, feeling and thinking about the organization – its challenges and opportunities – differently.
Recently, Simon showed an example of the Innovation Games® in action at the Meaningful Play Conference, hosted by Michigan State University. The conference focused on the very important role games can play in business and communities.
Simon, in addition to Steve Dodds of the Every Voice Engaged organization (www.everyvoiceengaged.org) and Carrie Heeter, a professor at Michigan State University, discussed the success of a specific type of Innovation Games® called “Budget Games” used by the City of San Jose, CA last January. San Jose city officials brought community leaders together to help “Build a Better Budget” and used the games as a basis for helping to shape spending priorities for the city.
“Playing games helps eliminate the threat of a negative dialogue with other stakeholders in the budget process,” explained Simon. “This eliminates the fear of presenting ideas since often people reject new ways of thinking. Innovation Games® creates a non-threatening atmosphere. The games we use force us to see new patterns and solutions. It encourages collaboration and that’s just what happened for the City of San Jose.”
The Budget Games exercise was used to educate citizens, gain more input from them, and establish actionable quantitative and qualitative feedback for city officials. In order to accomplish these goals, it was critical to obtain a high level of diversity of city residents and leaders.
Ultimately, certain levels of consensus were reached and the group found solutions that would help all parties involved. Elected officials understood citizen input and could make more informed decisions during the formal budget process.
To see more about the City of San Jose story, check out the Meaningful Games presentation posted on www.simonassociates.net.
About SAMC
New York-based Simon Associates Management Consultants (SAMC) serves clients in a wide range of industries from manufacturing, OEMs, customer care, hospitals, and other healthcare institutions to colleges and service industry companies, among others.
One of the keys to SAMC’s success is helping the leadership at companies to “see, feel, and think” in new ways. For more information, go to: www.simonassociates.net. You also can follow SAMC on Twitter (@andisamc) or Facebook (www.facebook.com/simonassociatesmanagementconsultants).
Contact Information:
Simon Associates Management Consultants
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