Using game-based techniques to make crisis exercises more realistic, engaging and memorable, and to learn more from them.
Many exercises end up as a slide presentation and a discussion. Real incidents are different: time is short, information is incomplete, and every decision changes what happens next. Game-based techniques bring those conditions into the room in a safe setting, so teams practise deciding and communicating under pressure, not just describing what the plan says.
This is not about turning a crisis into entertainment. A serious game has clear objectives, a realistic scenario and a proper debrief. Its aim is the same as any exercise in your programme: to prove that plans, people and arrangements work, as ISO 22301 expects from an exercise programme, and to find out what to improve.
Games add realism and engagement. They do not replace technical recovery tests such as failing over a system or evacuating a building.
These can be used alone or combined, depending on your objectives, the people involved and the time available.
Release scenario updates as timed injects, cards or messages, add uncertainty and limit what each team knows, so discussion becomes decision-making.
Run a live crisis team with role-players acting as the media, regulators, customers, suppliers and senior management, who react to what the team says and does.
Use a simulated news feed, social media, email and phone injects delivered through a platform, which suits remote and hybrid teams and several locations at once.
Let the team’s choices change what happens next, so a slow decision or an unclear message has visible consequences.
Give teams the same scenario in parallel and compare their decisions and timelines at the debrief, so they learn from each other’s choices.
Use quick, timed problem-solving challenges to warm up teams, build working relationships and practise communication before a longer exercise.
These are the points ADVOX focuses on when designing and facilitating a simulation.
Decide what you want to prove or practise first, then choose the game techniques that serve it. Never the other way round.
Base scenarios on threats that matter to your organisation and region, using your own plans, roles, systems and terminology.
If people spend more time on the rules than on the decisions, the game is getting in the way.
A facilitator and control cell manage pace, release injects, play outside parties and keep the exercise on its objectives.
Agree up front that the aim is learning, not blame, so people take decisions honestly and mistakes are discussed openly.
Capture decisions and timelines as the exercise runs, hold a debrief straight afterwards, and track the agreed actions to completion.
Keep the tone serious enough that people treat the decisions as real, especially for scenarios involving harm to people.
If you score teams, make sure the scoring rewards sound decisions and clear communication, not speed or risk-taking for its own sake.
Check that the format suits participants from different cultures and, where needed, is delivered in both English and Arabic.
Test any platform beforehand, have a low-tech backup, and protect scenario material that reveals real weaknesses.
A simulation is most valuable when it is part of a planned exercise programme and feeds improvements back into your arrangements.
Plan simulations alongside tabletop, walkthrough and technical tests, building from simple to complex over the year.
Use simulations to practise escalation, decision-making and messages to staff, customers, regulators and the media. See also mass communication software.
Give new crisis team members a safe first experience, and refresh experienced ones with new scenarios.
Turn debrief findings into actions, update plans and contact lists, and repeat the scenario later to check the fix.
ADVOX can help you design, facilitate and review crisis simulations that fit your organisation and your exercise programme. This page is general information about approaches and does not recommend any product or supplier.
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