A coaching game on the power of the contact with diversity

I am a fan of intercultural gamification, but so far I had mostly used games I learned from others. Until I felt the need to create my own. Let me introduce you to it.

I practice Linguistic Empathy and I expect you to do the same. Please bear with me if my English is not perfect.

I called it with the name of the latest project of Expatclic, What Expats Can Do. It is a project that focuses on how the experience in contact with diversity can be poured into the world with a message of hope. It starts from the assumption that diversity changes us, makes us better, teaches us things the world needs so much right now.

But how can we understand what skills this contact has given us, what have we actually gained, how have we changed by living abroad or by working and living in other ways in contact with diversity?

The purpose of my game is precisely this: to help you become aware of the capital accumulated in your experiences with diversity. And it does not stop there, because the final part also includes the drafting of an action plan to channel what comes to light during the game in a personal, professional or social project (or all of the three).

I have put everything into this game: my experience of 30 years of life abroad, what I learned with intercultural training, with the beautiful intercultural gamification workshop with George Simons, my experience as a coach.

From the latter I took the main tools of the game: listening, sharing, honest feedback and structuring. The game is based on the exchange of experiences in contact with diversity. A deck of cards at the center of each group of participants stimulates each individual to remember his most salient moments and to tell them. The group listens empathically, and prepares to give feedback. It will be on the basis of this that the participant will reflect and decide whether and how to use the skills, wealth and lessons learned in contact with diversity.

The stories are interspersed with “wildcard” activities, of the most varied. Their theme is always the comparison with what is different, the act of leaving our comfort zone. They are all short and fun activities that invite participants to relax and test themselves in a playful way.

As you can imagine, knowing me, I particularly enjoyed working on them. I consider them the real strong point of the game, a proven system to encourage concentration on the central theme.

The game is very versatile, and can be used in all situations where it is important to reflect on the effects of contact with diversity. For example in corporate teams, associative groups, classes, expatriate groups but also individual coaching clients. I had tested it, in its beta version, with a large group of expats at the Expatclic retreat in Milan last July, and it had been a great success.

I was getting ready to officially launch it these days, but Coronavirus has taken over our lives. It does not matter. I’m glad to introduce you to it online, sharing what’s behind it. I hope to be able to use it soon, to continue to spread the message that is so dear to me at this stage of my life: diversity is not a threat, it is a wealth. Let’s use it to improve the world.

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