This game teaches us how to win through conformity

KAMI teaches us how to set-up a consistent cultural habit.

KAMI is another visually colorful yet simple game. The trick is to change the colors to all one color. Pick a color and a space, and all adjacent spaces of that same color will change to the new color. We can use this to consider how to manage change in our organizations.

The Rule for change is to change to something familiar.

KAMI forces us to learn to look ahead of the game to ask:

• “To what color do I need to move individual pockets?”
• “How do I connect like colors to make the most change?”

Let’s say that you have the following three habits among your teams. While they are not totally different, they are not exactly the same:

• Team A: Monthly report delivered in the FIRST week.
• Team B: Monthly report delivered in the SECOND week.
• Team C: Monthly report delivered on the LAST DAY of the month.

As the Big Boss, you want:

Monthly Report on my desk on the SIXTH DAY of the month (or the next Monday in case of a weekend).

That sounds reasonable to ask, but eventually difficult to put into practice. KAMI teaches us to ask all to align to one common theme.

“Team C, please delay your reports to the FIRST week, to align with Team A.”

“Team B, please deliver your reports earlier in the FIRST week, to align with Team A.”

Give your teams a few tries to align. Provide feedback as necessary. Once all teams are aligned together, you may then ask:

“All Teams, please align to the specific date of the SIXTH DAY to deliver your reports to my desk.”

This strategy Wins by creating common ground.

This method focuses your change story on alignment and consistency rather than right or wrong. Aligning to one standard gives everyone a common goal, and aligning to an existing habit makes it easier for some.

This method also allows you to stay with the aligned standard if you decide.  You may find that a consistent standard is just as good as YOUR consistent standard.

Rule book

KAMI web site: www.stateofplaygames.com/kami/

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