Podcast Summary: Elevating Consulting Through Play

With more than 20 years of experience in business transformation and a background in developing Implement's German organization, Nina offers a practical perspective on how games can help consultants create meaningful learning experiences, encourage difficult conversations, and translate insights into real-world business impact.

Throughout the conversation, Nina and Leif explore how games can become a powerful part of a consultant's toolbox, going beyond engagement to create experiences that help people challenge their thinking, practice decision-making, and anchor learning.

From Consultant-Led to Client-Owned Transformation

One of Implement's core principles is that consultants should ultimately empower their clients to own the transformation.

Nina describes this through a bicycle metaphor: at the beginning of a project, the consultant is in the front, helping to steer. Over time, the client moves into the front position while the consultant provides support from behind. Eventually, the consultant leaves the bicycle and the client continues independently.

This philosophy also shapes how Nina uses games. Games are not simply activities delivered by the consultant. They are tools that help clients experience situations, develop their own insights, and build the confidence to continue applying them independently.

Games as a Consulting Tool, Not a Standalone Activity

Nina does not see a game as a separate intervention. Instead, she designs an overall learning or transformation journey and considers games alongside the other tools available to her.

Games can be used in many different ways, from full simulations to simple quizzes, competitions, or energizers.

The important question is not whether a game should be included because it is fun, but whether it supports the client's needs and the desired learning or behavioral change.

Moving Beyond Engagement

While Nina sees engagement as a natural benefit of games, she emphasizes that this is not the main reason she uses them.

Games allow participants to:

• Apply knowledge rather than simply receive it
• Experience the consequences of their decisions
• Explore dilemmas where there is no obvious answer
• Practice new ways of thinking and behaving
• Anchor learning through an experience involving multiple senses

The experience makes learning more memorable and gives participants something concrete to reflect on afterwards.

Creating a Safe Space for Difficult Conversations

One of the most powerful benefits Nina sees in games is the ability to discuss uncomfortable situations more easily.

A simulation creates some distance from reality. Participants can discuss why a fictional character behaved in a certain way or why a particular decision was made without immediately feeling that they are being challenged about their own behavior.

This creates a lower entry barrier for difficult conversations and allows the facilitator to gradually connect the discussion back to the participants' own business reality.

Learning Through Mistakes and Uncertainty

Nina encourages participants not to spend too much time trying to make the perfect decision.

In real business situations, people rarely have complete information, and decisions often have to be made with uncertainty.

A simulation provides a safe environment where participants can make mistakes, use resources poorly, change direction, and experience the consequences without real-world risk.

Rather than protecting participants from making mistakes, the game gives them an opportunity to learn from them.

Seeing the People Behind the Change

Games can also reveal behavioral patterns that are easy to overlook in traditional discussions.

Nina describes how using characters such as Anna and Mark changed her own perspective as a facilitator. Earlier in her career, she often focused heavily on the loudest and most resistant people in a group.

The simulation helped her recognize how much attention can be given to a small number of resistant people while overlooking the much larger group that is already ready to engage with the change.

The game makes these dynamics visible and gives participants something concrete to discuss.

The Facilitator Still Makes the Difference

Nina emphasizes that using a game does not make the facilitator's role less important.

In fact, technology-based games require strong preparation. Facilitators need to test the technology, understand the participant experience, prepare for technical problems, and have a plan if something does not work as expected.

They also need to manage the energy of the room. Once participants enter a competitive mindset, they may stop listening carefully to instructions, making it important to ensure that everyone is properly set up before starting.

The facilitator's role is ultimately to guide the experience and make sure the right conversations happen.

Connecting the Game to Business Reality

Playing the game is only part of the learning journey.

Nina stresses the importance of allowing enough time to translate the experience back into the client's actual business environment.

The simulation may be close to reality, but it is never exactly the participant's reality. The facilitator therefore needs to create the bridge between what happened in the game and what it means for the participants' work.

Game → Reflection → Business Reality → Action

This translation is what turns an engaging experience into meaningful learning and transformation.

Measuring Impact Through Conversation and Behavior

Nina does not measure the impact of the game as an isolated activity. Instead, she looks at the overall learning journey and considers the game as one component within it.

Formal feedback is one indicator, and participants often specifically mention the game when explaining what helped them understand something.

However, Nina's most important measure is what happens during the session.

For her, success is not simply participants applauding or saying that they enjoyed the game. The real sign of impact is when the experience triggers the right conversations and causes participants to question, reflect, and consider what they should do differently in their own reality.

Conclusion

Nina's experience demonstrates that games can be much more than an engaging addition to corporate training. When deliberately integrated into a broader consulting journey, they can help participants experience change, explore difficult dilemmas, make decisions, learn from mistakes, and have conversations that might otherwise be difficult to start.

The conversation highlights an important principle for consultants and facilitators: the power of a game does not come from the game alone. It comes from how the experience is designed, facilitated, reflected upon, and connected back to real business challenges.

For Nina, games are therefore not simply about playing. They are a way to create experiences that make learning stick and help people move from insight to action.