How Angry Birds can Improve Business Performance

For anyone who hasn't heard of Angry birds (where have you been?), it's the gaming phenomenon that has taken the world by storm.  So strong is the Angry Birds brand that companies like Starbucks are using it to raise their own profile. But how can Angry Birds improve business performance?


Taking some of the principles of game theory and applying them to your business can reap big rewards for little or no investment.  Here are a few ides to get you started:


Angry Birds has a clear achievable goal - kill the pigs and claim your golden eggs
How clear are the goals in your business and what do they mean to your employees and/or volunteers?  If people don't understand them, find no meaning in them or believe they unattainable; you'll never get the best from them.


Angry Birds is easy to understand and play
Is everyone clear about your expectations?  Have you provided the guidelines and resources to enable your staff to easily engage with you and the business?


Failure is not punished, it's an opportunity to learn from mistakes
In Angry Birds, if you dont' complete a round, you get to have another go.  You are encouraged to learn from your failed attempts by making it easy to start the round again, even part way through. The puzzle element of the game promotes creative thinking.  How does your business utilise failures and mistakes?


Angry bird characters have different skills and qualities.  Using them in the right combination solves the puzzle.
Angry Birds promotes team working.  By recognising and learning about individuals' skills and qualities, you learn to make the best use from them.  what are your team members' hidden strengths?


You get unexpected achievements to keep you motivated and interested, encouraging you to complete the game.
This was the inspiration for writing the blog.  As you move through the Angry Birds game, you are rewarded for your perseverance and determination, as well as your successes.  Everyone knows the importance of rewarding performance, but how often does it happen?  Small tokens and gestures with little or no monetary value have an amazing effect.  Try it!

Short Steps (not short cuts) to Making Good Choices

Some decisions are easy, others hard.  Here’s some steps that can help make a few of them a bit easier, rather than leaving them to chance:

1. Keep you eye on the prize.  What is the outcome you want and how do the options fit with it? If you’re not clear about your goal, spend some time to clarify what you want. visualise what you want
2. Use your head and your heart. If you tend to be a rational/logical thinker, allow your intuition to come to the fore and visa versa. 
3. Take your potential decisions into the future.  how does the the future look, feel, sound, taste and smell once they’ve been made? Are there any unintended consequences? How do they align with your desired outcome?
4. Plan the choice you've made.  If there's a big step to take, what would half-way be?  If it's ok, move on, if not, what would half-way to half-way be like - I think you get the idea.
5. Act now.  If you find yourself hesitating, what is holding you back? Is it physical, intellectual or emotional? Imagine for a moment what would you do if you weren’t afraid.  There is no failure only feedback.

Imagine what you want, plan what you imagine, do what you plan 

Are You Tuned In To Change?

A friend of mine turned their tv on this morning, only to be greeted by the dreaded snow storm screen of televisual death. After a brief moment of panic, she remembered that it was her turn for the bis switchover and her digibox simply needed retuning.  Five minutes later, Adrian Chiles' face was smiling happily down on the assembled family and normal service was resumed.


On reflection, my friend thought her reaction to tv failure was hilarious, but also brought home a serious point:  For months the media have been telling everyone the changeover is going to happen, support lines have been set-up, information websites created, advertising campaigns pushing the message out there and what do we do? We ignore it and then panic when it happens!


So how do you manage change?  Do you plan and prepare, let it happen and go with the flow, or ignore it, hoping it will never happen?  It's your choice, but your choice affects not just you but all those around you. Corporal Jones made a career out of shouting "Don't Panic", but it's unlikely to work for you.