Leadership Games: Experiential Learning for Organisation Development

Citation

Coghlan, D. (2000), "Leadership Games: Experiential Learning for Organisation Development", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 21 No. 1, pp. 62-64. https://doi.org/10.1108/lodj.2000.21.1.62.4

Leadership Games is a book of experiential exercises for leadership development. There are 25 exercises grouped around four themes: risking innovation, fostering collaboration, managing conflict and using diversity. These experiential activities are clearly presented in terms of their purposes, how to set them up, instructions for use, markers for success, questions for consideration and debriefing.

As the use of experiential exercises can be an issue of controversy, Kaagan’s theory chapters are important. He argues for an approach to leadership development that is less didactic and more experiential. He discusses key issues of preparation for using the exercises, what to do during them and how to debrief. He provides a useful account of a relationship with a client as to how the contract for using these exercises was negotiated and implemented. Interestingly, in this chapter he describes how he explained to the client how these exercises are not “games”. Yet the publisher calls this book Leadership Games!The valid argument for less didactic leadership development not withstanding, there is an issue around the use of experiential exercises which must deal with the perception and experience that these are “games” and are associated with forced learning. Therefore, it is important that the exercises in this book are supplemented with the author’s theory of experiential learning and instructions of how to use them.