L&Q Are Playing Games...
At L&Q, they believe that playing Cultural games is a good way of introducing yourself and your culture to others.
“We know there are some wonderful benefits to playing games, which include being strategic, tactful, competitive, artistic and focused – which of course increases our ability to achieve more in life! But our network thinks it is a lot more than that: like when we were growing up, we had to learn new things, going back to basics.
We believe that challenging each other in a playful safe way can help to lift confidence and build relationships; it Provides a space where people can unleash and showcase their skills to others, which helps with their development and is useful for career progression.”
So, as part of inclusion week, L&Q played various games from around the world. One of the games they tried is called Oware, which is a version of Mancala, an African board game that is played worldwide. There are in fact hundreds of versions of this played throughout Africa. Among others explored were Chinese Checkers, Scrabble, Dominoes and Pachisi – a well known game from India.
Organisations can reap the benefits from this kind of activity as games are great icebreakers. L&Q found that the games were great for reducing tension, creating a friendly atmosphere, as well as inducing more creativity and it drives innovation. It can also boost problem solving capacity and lead to greater productivity.
Overall cultural understanding can eliminate cultural stereotypes, making people mindful of unconscious bias and increasing both staff and customer satisfaction.
Some of the feedback received: “It was great, I made new connections” “I look forward to winning next time”.