Why Your Business Needs a 'War Room' for Strategic Decision-Making

To stay ahead in today’s rapidly changing market, businesses need to be agile and prepared for anything. Anticipating scenarios, creating competitive strategies, uncovering blind spots/weaknesses and navigating tough decisions, is just a ‘day in the life’ of a business owner.?

The challenge is, most business owners don’t have the time to give these areas the preparation and consideration they need. And, having just their own individual point of view on such business scenarios is often a far too narrow perspective to find outcomes that are truly competitive.?

This is why every business needs a 'war room' to ‘war gaming’ their strategic decision-making. This is a practice borrowed from the military which involves collaborating in groups to find solutions and gain a competitive edge. As Steve Jobs said, “Great things in business are never done by one person. They are done by a team of people.” This approach will help businesses become far more competitive, faster and with far less resistance.?

Read on to find out what war gaming is and what activities you can facilitate in your next war room.?

What is War gaming?

War gaming is a simulation activity to establish, test and refine business decisions before implementing them in the real world. It was used in the military to prepare for potential conflicts and develop contingency plans. Today, it's a valuable tool for businesses of all sizes and industries providing an environment to analyse data, brainstorm ideas and develop strategies.

How Can You Implement War Gaming in Your Business?

To implement war gaming in your business, set up a ‘war room’ - a dedicated space for your team to participate in war gaming activities. There are a variety of activities you can facilitate depending on your end goals.?

Here are some examples of activities that are easy to implement but have maximum impact:?

• Tabletop Activity: Team members discuss and role-play scenarios to test their decision-making abilities. Teams develop and implement a response plan through discussing and evaluating potential solutions.?
• Simulation Activity: Using computer models and simulation game software, teams can create virtual environments that mimic real-world situations, such as a product launch, new competitors entering the market or the impact of financial decisions across a business. Team members use this to test strategies and decision-making in a risk-free environment before implementing them in the real-world.
• Red Team/Blue Team Activity: Divide your team into two groups - a "red team" and a "blue team." The red team creates a business threat or challenge and the blue team creates a strategy to defend against it. The teams take turns in playing both roles, allowing the groups to gain a deeper understanding of the other's perspective. This activity helps identify vulnerabilities in a business's strategy and tests the effectiveness of different strategies.
• Live-Action Activity: Physically simulate a scenario, for example with role playing, to test a business's response to a real-world situation to identify areas for improvement. Live-action exercises can also be used to build teamwork and communication skills amongst team members.

Facilitating war rooms to war game strategic-decision making is valuable for business owners looking for a collaborative approach to stay competitive in business. From anticipating business scenarios, creating competitive strategies, uncovering blind spots/weaknesses and navigating tough decisions - it’s an excellent way to gain a balanced and comprehensive viewpoint on scenarios from many intelligent people in your team, whilst empowering the whole team to take some ownership over the outcomes of the business.?

Want more tips on using military principles to make your business more competitive? Check out my podcast Military Mindset for Business.?

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