Lessons From Scrabble: Learning How to Win the Strategic Game
This past Thanksgiving, my eight year-old-son convinced me to play Scrabble. Some members of my family love board games, but me… not so much. I usually just watch. However, with the spirit of the holiday swirling and the smell of pumpkin pie in the kitchen, a game of scrabble at the kitchen table oozed with twinges of Norman Rockwellness and seemed all too appropriate.
[wcm_restrict]I love learning from activities that are not designed as learning events. The parallels that you can draw between a game like scrabble and the game of life are important and timelessly relevant. For instance, I got to go first because I drew the letter with the highest value, G worth 3 points. By going first, and seeking a five-letter word, I’d also receive double the word score. The word I made from the random selection of letters I chose was exquisite: geode. I nearly gave myself a standing ovation for that little creation, which was result of luck, position and a little bit of geology that I learned as a science major at the University of Kentucky 20 years ago.
As the game progressed, I noticed my frustration of planning my next move, only to have a competitor use the position (letter) I chose on the board for their benefit. The roar of the crowd from my inaugural word play didn’t even matter now. Each turn was a new game. I learned quickly that I had to be ready to change my plan. I needed to look for a new word, and scout out a strategic location for the word each time it was my turn. Ultimately, I won the game!
Strategy- the business buzz word of the 21st century. Truly it is not a new concept but one that has gained a lot of press in business literature and education. The development of strategy is crucial to the success of business. However, without consistent surveillance of the environment you’re playing in, even the best strategic plans have little value. In strategic plans, course correction should be anticipated, if not expected and a process of correction can be a part of the plan. Who will make the final decision about change in strategy? Who will communicate the change to the organization? How will the change impact the expected outcome? These are the types of questions that should be considered before filing away the strategic plan and hitting the go button.
My scrabble-loving son taught me another lesson through his approach to the game. He very rarely started planning his next move until it was his turn. Of course this resulted in slow game play, which was frustrating to someone like me who is always thinking 12 steps ahead. However, his thinking was so calculated that his moves were almost always brilliant. And this one stands out: He scans the board for a place to play. After an agonizing full 2 minutes or more, he laid down two U’s and a T, and created the word FUTURE from the other letters that were already on the board. All of the adults sat stunned for several minutes. “How did you see that?” We asked him, incredulously. He responded, “Well, I had these two U’s, and I thought, what can I do with these things, and then I saw (the) future.”
Another lesson from scrabble… If you are willing to take your time, use your resources (even the U’s that seem to have little purpose) and see your world in a different way, you will create a brilliant future! Not a bad days learning from a well-worn game of Scrabble and an 8-year-old aficionado. Maybe I should get in the game more often. It’s definitely the only way to win… and learn.[/wcm_restrict][wcm_nonmember]
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About the Author
Shelli Stinson is the VP of Business Development at WealthBridge Connect. She brings experience from education, sales and marketing as well as project management. Most recently, Shelli was the employee wellness manager at Northern Kentucky University. In this position, she learned how much influence that leadership has on the physical, emotional and mental wellness of employees in the workplace. After graduating from NKU with a Masters degree in Executive Leadership and Organizational Change, she joined WealthBridge Connect. In this new role, she hopes to influence businesses to invest in their employees through comprehensive leadership development initiatives, promoting healthier and more productive workplaces- from the top down and the inside out.
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Not everyone within an organization is a Harvard MBA graduate with a decade or more of business planning experience. Business planners using highly technical terms as a way to impress others with their business planning prowess will often find that they confuse the very people they are trying to communicate with, namely, the organization’s workforce.