FLIGBY: the Serious Game Harnessing Flow Experience for Leadership Development

This paper discusses a unique serious game which harnesses a psychological state of Flow both as a pedagogical tool and a development target. The FLIGBY game was developed with the intention of teaching learners to understand the concept of Flow and apply this within their leadership practice. In FLIGBY, the player assumes the role of General Manager of a winery in California and must make 150+ complex decisions while managing the winery team and strategic direction to ensure the business’s success. This allows for the assessment of players’ skill level in 29 ‘soft skills’ and provides the rare ability to quantify changes in players’ leadership abilities. Use of the game to develop soft skills is discussed, including an extensive range of feedback provided during the game. Suggestions for future research include further interrogation of the dataset collected as learners progress through the game, along with additional measurement to assess how learners achieve a state of Flow while playing the game. Investigation of the roles of storification and socially constructed realities is also recommended.