Optimizing Talent Growth using Game Theory for Heroes

Game Theory has evolved significantly since its adoption and has become a field of study in mathematics. Games today adopt and modify these theories to keep players engaged. One game developer, Supercell, created a game called Clash of Clans in 2012. The game’s popularity in 2015 saw a daily revenue of $1.5 million and has exceeded $6.5 billion since its launch.???

Clash of Clans allows players to construct a community, train troops and attack other players in real-time battles. It is a strategy game in which players build up a village, train and upgrade troops and attack the enemies.??

The three main characters (troops) – Barbarians, Archers & Wizards have equivalent super troops and heroes called the Barbarian King, Archer Queen and Grand Warden. Supercell created a winning formula in creating a game strategy that closely mimics real-life organizations.?

Every tech organization is like a village, having to defend itself from cyber attacks. Most importantly, every technology company has employees (players); some players have super skills (super troops) and the occasional hero.??

The hero is someone who is continually undergoing training and constantly levelling up their skills. The levels allow the hero’s ability to grow and the player to master those skills. They are a means of self-improvement and represent growth as a person.??

Organizations have heroes, and most organizations cannot retain their heroes due to standard resource compensation packages and growth options. The typical growth model for talented individuals that have reached the maximum pay package for the pay grade level of that job role is to change jobs or take on a different position. For example, a role as a?team leader, manager or executive.?

Technology companies that use traditional compensation models to reward their heroes are forcing them to choose to play a different role from what they are currently playing to keep getting rewarded. Although not exclusive to technology companies, the same issues are prevalent in other organizations, even in traditional non-tech roles.?

Skill growth for many heroes is vertical, not horizontal, and for some, they are both. Keeping talented people that want to stay and grow in the same role requires adopting a hero pay package. Employees (heroes) should be rewarded for their investment in growing their skills and outperforming in their roles.??

Creating hero pay packages prevents the effects of a talent drain and promotes the growth of that department working towards the goals and purpose of the organization. In addition, organizations don’t end up with a hero who can’t contribute, because the game map has changed. Most of these heroes leave because they can’t use the skills they spent years, even decades mastering, developing and growing on a map that requires different skills they are not interested in obtaining.??

On a new map, many organizational heroes are not engaged or motivated as the game theory for this map is different and requires another hero that is either not them or not who they want to become.??

Optimizing employee engagement for the growth of their heroes requires a better understanding of game theory, and the role of game theory in improving employee engagement can be divided into two parts:?

1) How to use game theory to help improve the company’s ability to achieve its strategic goals through competitive strategy and value creation.?

2) How to use game theory to help improve the company’s ability to retain employees exceeding in their roles while also developing a pipeline or pipeline of very talented employees that are better than they currently are.