Mind the Gap
A digital board game aimed at improving workplace culture through participatory decision making.
Project Details
Role:
Researcher, User Interface Design
Duration:
15 weeks
Tools Used: Figma, Miro, Photoshop
Category:
Great Resignation, Game Design, Workplace Culture
Goal
To create a means of convening such that employees and employers are made aware of the widening gap in their communication within their organization.
My Role
During this project, I was a UX Designer and UX Researcher on a team of 3 (with a 12-member class at Parsons)
I was involved with each stage of the process, which included:
-
User Research
-
Interviews
-
Ideations
-
Prototyping
-
Presenting (creating the visual style of the entire team)
On a typical day, 3 out of 5 employees are not content with their work culture.
42%
Onsite
42% of onsite workers are more likely to leave their current position.
28%
Hybrid
28% of hybrid workers are more likely to leave their current position.
So, we asked ourselves, how can we reverse those odds?
OBJECTIVE
Can we improve workplace culture through a game? Here is what we proposed.
A game that imitates how a company would operate, through the magic of roleplaying and narratives to emulate a journey.
A glimpse
Using role playing mechanics, Mind the Gap lets players navigate the game through a prompt based story.
Become a character, and on each turn, vote their choices on each prompt. Here you can collectively see how others vote.
Mediators create game rooms and host a session, and can choose from multiple options to define a particular game.
But how does a board game address this? Let's start at the very beginning.
The Problem
70%
US employees strongly agree that their manager does not involve them in setting their goals at work.
&
70%
U.S. employees strongly agree that at work, their opinions don't count.
"According to a Gallup Study, workers desire substantially more say and influence at their workplaces. However, companies struggle to attract talent while they lose current employees in "the great resignation".
So that leads to companies wasting resources looking for people to hire while trying to avoid being blacklisted as a poor place to work
Our plan of action
Together with the Aspen Institute, we wanted to settle some factors.
Clarify the semantic nuances & ambiguities
Dissect & untangle
the vast problem
Crystallize the actual problem, “80-20” style
Their Business and Society Department works with business executives and scholars to align business decisions and investments with the long-term health of society. Hence the solution we create will help their Ideas Lab develop a toolkit for convening that would enable organizations to see the value of their employees.
Can we turn
30%
Of American workers surveyed by Gallup reported that at work, their opinions really count
to
70%
Of American workers surveyed reported that at work, their opinions really count
To start with, we spoke to front line workers
Meet Alberto.
He is a barista at a local Starbucks.
Of Latin origin, he highlighted the lack of empathy and support that he generally faces on a day-to-day basis.
He was glad that a labor union was formed at Starbucks. That helped him feel noticed
Findings
We asked our participants what it means to not have voice gaps:
"The freedom for anyone who work to express themselves and in doing so create value at work."
Which gave us the three points below:
LOW AGENCY & PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY
Workers feel neither empowered nor safe to voice out feedback
COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWNS
LACK OF COMMUNICATION PLATFORMS
Workers and Decision Makers ineffectively give and elicit feedback from each other
Workers lack means to voice out feedback
And, our ability to form meaningful working experiences depends on three scenarios
Where we are working?
Who we are working with?
How do I work?
We decided to focus on the who we are working with
INSIGHT
Participation
Front-line workers have business intelligence but don't have many opportunities to show this. So, Mind the Gap resolves this by giving opportunities to decide how the game progresses through prompts.
Question Heading for each stage of the narrative.
Prompts presented for with consequences.
RETROSPECT
But this got messy
In the weeks we worked on this project, coordination between 3 team members part of a 12-person class was difficult, to say the least.
To resolve this, we decided to granulate roles, by operating as a design firm. From client and project management to the design team, this started to work smoothly.
This provided us with another insight.
INSIGHT
Roles and Responsibility
Workers love to feel responsible and have roles. Hence in Mind the Gap, players have character profiles, with each person in the game having a specific goal and outcome.
Game Character cards
Each player is presented as their character.
With a few insights in, and a mountain of data from our experts and worker interviews, we began building.
DEVELOPMENT
Information Architecture
Game Elements
TESTING
Workshops
We conducted workshops within the class and learned so much from each other's diverse work experience. Through this variety, however, there were certain factors that were very similar, factors that worked.
RESULTS
Ingredients for Organizational Success
We came up with 4 distinct parts that lead to successful organizing.
Build and earn organizational trust
Break down silos
and communicate
See all Workers as assets, not liabilities
Aim to Lead, not just Manage
INSIGHT
Participation
Participation and decisions go hand in hand. So we created a system for huddles and rewarded this behavior in the game. But like life, this is randomised so you win or lose.
Once done, we presented this to the Aspen Institute
A fictional title to see the future possibilities. There were talks of the benefits this game would bring and strategy of implementation.
Benefits
Increases retention and performance
+
Generates more
Business Intelligence
+
Makes employees feel
more valued
=
Leads to a 100% Increase in employee ideas being heard.
Strategy
The game is introduced to organizations by Aspen Institute.
Aspen hosts games with interested parties
The game and concept evolve as more players play.
Leading to new game narratives, and more companies utilizing this method to foster a better working relationship with their employees. Workers stay longer within companies and work better with this job security.
Key Takeaways
From Client
- Resonated with the novel concept.
- Inspired to explore the next steps. Suggested new plot points for better relatability. Also requested the game files to workshop themselves.
From Self
- More time to conduct usability testing which would lead to a better way to track the story as well as learn how to execute the retrospective stage.
- Access to client through informal means, to receive quick feedback on design directions.
