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World is becoming more and more complex. Things change faster. The future

is uncertain. Navigating uncharted territories becomes a necessary skill for all

managers. Successful strategies can be created and implemented only through

effective collaboration within organization and between different stakeholders.

Strategy development, risk management and teamwork cannot be learned

passively. They require engagement. With simulation games you can engage

your audience, communicate complex realities and learn from mistakes without

costs.

The Lords of the Valley game combines challenges of solving complex

problems with the fascinating dynamics of human relationships. This game

engages, teaches and entertains perfectly, all at the same time.

Great fun included!

Lords of the Valley is a role-playing simulation board game that takes place

in the valley of the river exposed to unexpected droughts and floods.

Participants take roles of people living in this valley making decisions on behalf

of different organizations. They try to achieve their goals, facing many

challenges arising from the decisions of other players and the unpredictability

of the environment. Game environment and the roles work as a metaphor of

a complex organization or an organization working with multiple stakeholders.

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Players’ emotional engagement is guaranteed by game mechanics. Lords

of the Valley combines engaging simulation with a joy of social interactions.

The game is a field laboratory of solving organizational problems in

a complex environment. The players have the opportunity to experience the

dynamic impacts of their decisions and to test various strategic assumptions

related to sustainable business operations.

Open and uncertain environment created in the game requires all participants

to develop and implement strategies for their teams.

In the course of the game these strategies need to adapt to changing

conditions in the environments as well as other teams’ actions. Leadership

becomes critical to reach important goals.

All teams in the game are highly interdependent. They have to collaborate to

achieve their goals. The game facilitates learning about both in-group

and between-groups collaboration. Players experience the challenges

of group decision making.

All managers face complexity and uncertainty. Methods and solutions based

on fragmented understanding no longer work. Systems thinking can greatly

help with overcoming those obstacles – and the game provides plenty

of opportunities to practice this approach.

The game creates a safe environment where it is possible to make mistakes

without bearing the costs of these mistakes. Because game reality

is experienced as something that feels real, more information is retained,

learning is faster, and an intuition is gained about how to make real decisions.

The experience is directly transferable to real life situations.

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“I participated in the game and found it to be engaging, fun, and surprisingly

useful to understand, given a relatively brief period of time, some of

the collaboration challenges that individuals and organizations confront

in working together in policy contexts.”

“The game was dynamic and innovative, and participants were effectively

encouraged to engage more. The game stimulates its participants to think through

their activities in a complex environment, not only during the game, but

especially in their own life, and during strategic decision process in their

institutions. We strongly recommend to launch the game in various institutions

and for multidisciplinary target groups. The form is easy to understand and can

bring enormous positive results in terms of sustainable development of any

important case.”

“As an economist you hardly get to see the real social interactions that take place,

unless you are in experimental and/or behavioral economics. Playing this game

gave me an opportunity to see various interactions and learn the human

dimension side which is an important part.”

“This game helps you learn how to negotiate without emotions.”

“You really learn from the game just how important social interactions are to

making decisions, small and big, and sometimes you learn that your

preconceived notions are greatly misinformed.”

“I’ve learned that it’s all about setting a common goal and thinking of long term

benefits.”

“You had to interact with other stakeholders to obtain a fuller view of the system

because no one player knew everything, but you also had very little time each

round. It was challenging and fun to play, and the debriefing afterward gave us

all a chance to discuss what had occurred and relate the game to the real world.

I am excited to try to find ways to incorporate what I learned into my own

research endeavors.”

“Now I understand that I should be looking at larger picture.”

“The game could also be used in communication and business courses to

illustrate how important information sharing is in group situations. Employers

could use this as a team building and cooperation workshop for their business.

In my opinion, the possibilities are endless for LOTV!”

“I’ve learned how to create risk management strategies in uncertain situations.”

“When you communicate effectively, you can avoid mistakes during

the decision-making process.”

“I have learned that when it comes to complex problems solving, looking beyond

your profit really pays back.”

“Game lets you learn from your mistakes without bearing ‘real’ consequences.”

The game has been successfully applied many times in Hungary, Poland,

Belgium, Spain, Netherlands, Germany and Austria.

It has been used for business improving the quality of communication

and collaboration in many organizations: public and private.

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23rd June 2014

10am – 5pm

Goethe-Institut

812 Seventh Street, NW

Washington, DC 20001-3718

Please register at:

http://www.goetheinstitutwashington.eventbrite.com/

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We link theory and practice by applying diverse range of systems methods.

Our goal is to develop new flexible and innovative tools to foster practice

which respects both scientific analysis and public discourse.

We use systems science as well as knowledge management tools and

methods to functionally integrate the diversity of perspectives from

business, government, NGOs and concerned citizens.

We present our experiences in the workshops and trainings that we

organize. Often these courses provide the impulse for the participants to

undertake action in their own environment.

The Goethe-Institut Washington organizes and supports cultural events

that present German culture abroad and that further intercultural exchange.

The Goethe-Institut Washington is responsible for providing cultural

programs and pedagogical and language services to the District of

Columbia and to the states of Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and

Delaware.

A special, wider-ranging focus of our work involves projects using the

electronic media (internet, radio, and television) for audiences in the USA,

Canada, Mexico, and Cuba. We organize and provide advice about

electronic media projects in the areas of cultural programming, language

services, and information on behalf of the Goethe-Institut locations in

these countries.

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