A New Learning Game

It is Super Bowl Sunday, so there is one game that is likely on most people's minds today... it will take place in Detroit (or in the living room or bar where you watch, where you will have interest in the game inside the game - depending on how much money you have wagered on bizarre and unusual events like the last digits of the score in any given quarter.)

But today, I am inventing a new game, spurred by a the joy post on the Deep Fun blog.

In that post, my friend Bernie talked about googling the word joy to see where it would lead him.

So I decided to try this myself. The word I chose? Gratitude. 19,100,000 entries (I won't look at them all) :)

Here is what I found in 15 minutes of "playing":

The How Grateful Are You Quiz
Quotes on Gratitude and more quotes and a few more.
Operation Gratitude - Sending Care Packages to Troops
The Abounding River Board Game
Gratitude Theory - Researchers find the health virtues of gratitude
Gratitude Journals and more and more.
A Day Without Rain Blog - I love this one. I found it on a link from Curt Rosengren's Occupational Adventure Blog (here is his post)


All of this comes from clicking on and reading the things listed in the first 30 search results from Google (as of today). I didn't click on everything - I let my interest, intuition and serendipity guide me.

While this was a very useful and enlightening 15 minutes (and I am appropriately grateful for it), it allows me to explore the constructs and uses of this new game.

How to Play this Game as an Individual

• Pick a topic of interest and Google that word, spending 30 minutes (or whatever time you want) to read, research and enjoy this topic.
• Spend 10 minutes per day doing this for your topic of choice, working towards building your expertise over a longer time period.
• Make it a daily exercise in expanding your knowledge by playing the game on a different topic or keyword everyday.
• Put your lessons learned, favorite links, etc. in your journal or blog. (At this moment I'm thinking about making this a part of my blogging process... we'll see!)

How to Play this Game as a Leader

• Working on building a group vision or mission or doing strategic planning? Encourage people to google the appropriate term and bring their insights to the first/next meeting.
• Encourage people to play the game on an individual or team strength or area for development.
• As a learning leader, play using one of the ways suggested above for yourself, and share what you are learning while playing with others.

How to Use this Game as a Trainer/Facilitator of Learning

• Use as pre-work for a workshop. Give people the instructions and encourage them to preview a topic of upcoming training as a way to prepare them for the session mentally. This could include a specific action item (bring two ideas, sites, etc. to the session - we will discuss at the beginning of the workshop), or just be open ended.
• During longer training sessions, or sessions that are part of a longer process, encourage people to play in the evenings (between days of the session) or in the interim between sessions if they are spread out.
• Use it during the workshop if internet access is available. Make it a team game where teams find new ideas and thoughts and team teach them back to the rest of the group.
• Use as a workshop follow-up suggestion. If you have gotten people excited about what they have learned, suggesting this game (perhaps with a way to collect the ideas they find with the rest of the group), could help them build confidence and integrate what they have learned/are learning into their work.

Recognize too that as a leader or traininer you might be able to have people search your intranets too as a way to modify or perpahps make the game more relevant.

I'm confident I will expand my thoughts on this new game in the coming days and weeks. I welcome your comments and ideas.