Pertti Malkki is head of the wellbeing unit at Jamk University of Applied Sciences in Jyväskylä. In this interview Pertti shares his experiences of Topaasia game sessions.
For what need and in what context did you use Topaasia?
I lead a working group of experts and managers preparing and planning the founding of a new rehabilitation institute. We have already been working with this group for some time. We brought the Topaasia game along because, with this working group of about 10 people, we wanted to check whether we are heading in the right direction, what kinds of things we may have missed and where we should put even more emphasis.
What was the Topaasia session like as an experience?I found it excellent. The group's feedback was also very rewarding. We played two separate game sessions within three hours, with a break between the games. We played with the Change Management deck and the General deck. The game forces you, in a good way, into a working rhythm under mild time pressure. In the game, every participant has an equal voice. For us this worked excellently.
What benefit did the session bring?The game's cards were rather good and steered our thinking towards whether we had taken into account everything needed to form the new organisation. When just under 10 people go through the game and prioritise by voting, the end result, through discussion, is a good, well-argued and prioritised list of actions.
Would you recommend it?Yes, after this user experience I can recommend Topaasia. I recommend it especially for situations where a working group or a team is creating or thinking through something new. It can be right at the start, when you want to search for directions, or after a few months of work, when you want to do a mid-point check and reflect in a structured way on whether you are heading in the right direction, as we did. This is a tremendously good way to engage everyone. The game session is completely equal for all. One voice per person, and everyone gets to influence things through many channels. I believe we will also use this with a bigger group in the future.
Thank you Pertti!
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