1. “Leadership & Flow” Research
Attachment 2
Research Foci and Approaches
The planned research focuses on identifying and grouping
the kinds of managerial/leadership challenges that
organizations typically face today and in the foreseeable
future.
The expected outcome of the research is to provide
prediction and guidance to individuals and organizations
on how to match skillsets with challenge clusters.
Date: 8 September 2014
Version: v2.0

2. The Research Approach
2
“Leadership & Flow” is a special analysis and evaluation
of practicing managers’ (for example, executive MBA
students) gameplay data gained from the award-winning
leadership simulation game, FLIGBY.
Mixed approach – We are using Quantitative and
Qualitative research methods at the same time:
1. Quantitative part of the research – The program is
based on data gained from FLIGBY online simulation
used as secondary data source;
2. Qualitative part of the research – Open questions
integrated into the simulation as a part of the
gameplay and answered by the participants.
The data generation to support
this research is unique,
innovative and much more
reliable than the data obtained
by an individual filling out a
questionnaire.
The participant is playing an
absorbing game (doesn’t want
stop playing), where his/her
answers to the decision the game
requires to make is not amenable
to manipulation. Thus the
individual and/or the organization
will obtain Metrix about the
player that would be much more
reliable and thus more useful than
information obtained through
standard questionnaires.
Attachment 2 – Research Approach “Leadership & Flow” Research

3. The research sketched on the next 10 slides is preliminary, to
indicate the thinking of the initial research group, intended
to show general directions and to invite critical comments
and suggestions.
3
Ideas and Suggestions are Welcome
Attachment 2 – Research Approach “Leadership & Flow” Research

4. 4
Research Focus
The expected outcome of the research is to provide prediction and guidance to organizations
(the traditional “Approach A”) as well as to individuals (an emerging “Approach B”) on how
to match skillsets with challenge clusters.
“Approach A”
Job enrichment
(A1) , followed
by learning and
development
(A2). Typical,
organization-driven
approach
to learning skills
“Approach B”
The individual
develops
personal skills
(B1), then
searches for
matching work
challenges (B2).
In the Internet
age, this is likely
to become the
dominant route
to skill
acquisition.
Approach “A”
A1
A2
Flow =
Organization
and individual
driven
approaches
have achieved
balance.
B1
B2
Approach “B”
Attachment 2 – Research Approach
(Leadership Skills)
“Leadership & Flow” Research

5. 5
Research Focus (cont’d)
Leadership Skills measured
and categorized based on the
gameplay data (of the ready
to use FLIGBY Metrix)
The Research is based on the integration and
analysis of two data sets: the Challenge
Cluster and the Leadership Skill Cluster.
The latter has been identified from the
literature and has already been built into the
current version of FLIGBY’s Game-play data.
However, the identification of the most
frequently faced business/organizational
challenges do need original research. Our
planned initial approach is to build in an online
questionnaire to be filled out by FLIGBY’S
players.
Emerging Challenge Cluster
to be identified by
Respondents (players)
personal responses
Approach “A”
A1
A2
Flow =
Organization and
individual driven
approaches are in
balance.
B1
B2
Approach
“B”
Attachment 2 – Research Approach “Leadership & Flow” Research

6. Leadership Skills Identified and Already Built Into FLIGBY
6
This are the skills the FLIGBY development team has identified as
factors that influence generation of Flow state.
These 29 skills are named the “Flow Leadership Skillset”. The FLIGBY simulation
game has been designed to test and measure these leadership skills of each
player.
1.
Active
listening
2.
Analytical
skills
3.
Assertive-ness
4.
Balancing
skill
5. Engage-ment
and
trust
6.
Business-oriented
thinking
7.
Commu-nication
8.
Conflict-mana-gement
9.
Delegating
10.
Diplomacy
11.
Emotional
intelli-gence
12.
Empower-ment
13.
Enterpre-nuership
14.
Execution
15.
Feedback
16. Future
orien-tation
17.
Information
gathering
18.
Intuitive
thinking
19.
Involvement
20.
Motivation
21.
Organi-zing
22.
Prioritizing
23.
Timely
decision-making
24.
Applying
personal
strengths
25. Social
system
thinking
26. Social
responsi-bility
27.
Strategic
thinking
28.
Teamwork
29. Time
manage-ment
Check out the full list with definitions: http://www.slideshare.net/zadvecsey/fligby-leadership-skillsetlist20120801v21
Attachment 2 – Research Approach “Leadership & Flow” Research

7. 7
Clustering the 29 Leadership Skills
Our research team recommends the following categorization.
These groups are in line with the widely used Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs). The ECQs
define the competencies needed to build a corporate culture that drives for results, serves
customers, and builds successful teams and coalitions within and outside the organization.
Attachment 2 – Research Approach “Leadership & Flow” Research

8. 8
Clustering the 29 Leadership Skills (cont’d)
Attachment 2 – Research Approach
(7) Information & Decisions
Leadership & Management:
Decision Making &
Problem Solving.
1. Information Gathering;
2. Analyzing Skill;
3. Intuitive Thinking;
4. Quick Decision-making;
5. Entrepreneurship (Risk
taking).
“Leadership & Flow” Research

9. Available and Extended Research Data on Leadership Skills
So far 5000 individuals played the game grouped by managers in
business units and MBA programs leading universities.
Login Data – Profile obtained upon the
player’s login (leadership position, industry,
time spent in the simulation (net gaming
time), frequency of replays, etc.
9
The Structure of
Data Generation
Game-Play Data – Scores and trophies
achieved during game-time (immediate
feedback), linked to the story.
Analytical Reports – On each of the
29 skills, generated (via a complex
algorithm) from each player’s
decisions during the game.
*Data that were collected for some purpose other than
the actual study.
Attachment 2 – Research Approach “Leadership & Flow” Research

10. 10
Defining Management/Leadership Challenges
The “FLIGBY Challenge Cluster” definition-process consists of four steps:
The research team defines a list of Leadership Challenges (20+),
based on a comprehensive literature review and on the
management consultancy experiences of the researchers involved
in the Program.
FLIGBY players rate the 20+ challenges based on (1) their level of
confidence to deal with this type of challenges (2) their relevance
in their current workplace. They can add challenge categories if, in
their view, some are missing.
CHALLENGES IS OFF CONCERN
NOW OR EARLIER
(“PAST”)
HANDLING IT HAS
BECOME ROUTINE
(“PRESENT”)
PERHAPS IN THE
FUTURE
(“FUTURE”)
CHALLENGE 1 ✔
CHALLENGE 2 ✔
CHALLENGE 3 ✔
CHALLENGE “N” ✔
OTHER TEXT TEXT TEXT
Step 1
Step 2
Attachment 2 – Research Approach “Leadership & Flow” Research

11. 11
Defining Management/Leadership Challenges (cont’d)
Respondents give quick answers on their personal preferences in three challenge
dimensions:
Current Process
Challenges
Task: Choose a FLIGBY
Simulation Character most
similar to your current challenge
situation.
Primarily
Administrator
Primarily
Professional Expert
Primarily
Manager
Primarily
Entrepreneur
Primarily Leader
Task: Choose your
dominant Role.
AMOL Model*
*AMOL Model =
Absorption Model of
Leadership
1.
2.
3.
4.
Business/Func
tion Head
Senior Manager
First Line Manager
Individual Contributor
Task: Choose your
current Leadership
Level.
“Perspective II.”
“Perspective III.”
“Perspective I.”
Leadership
Pipeline
Professional Roles
Step 3
Attachment 2 – Research Approach “Leadership & Flow” Research

12. 12
Establishing the FLIGBY® Challenge Cluster
The “FLIGBY Challenge Cluster” is created
by matching the Leadership Challenge list
with the three Challenge Dimensions.
Descriptive analysis between
Leadership Challenge List items and the
four AMOL model phases; the six basic
professional roles (manager, leader,
entrepreneur and their combinations)
and the Leadership Pipeline levels.
Step 4
Attachment 2 – Research Approach “Leadership & Flow” Research

13. Matching Skillset with the Challenge Cluster
Conclusions in form of prediction and guidance to individuals and organizations how to match skillsets
13
with challenge clusters
As result of the research data gathering process
(using simulation’s gameplay and survey data) all respondents will have their relevant challenge
list and preferred leadership skills list (without any personal identifiers of course).
FLIGBY
Challenge
Cluster
FLIGBY
Leadership
Skills
Cumulative correlation analysis in order to predict which challenge cluster would result in
maximum Flow opportunities for a Person with a given Skillset. Simultaneously, which skillsets
need to be further enhanced in order to achieve Flow in a given challenge environment.
Attachment 2 – Research Approach “Leadership & Flow” Research

14. Research Extension Opportunities
14
The research outlined on the previous slides is illustrative of the kinds of
projects for which FLIGBY provides an ideal dataset.
FLIGBY’s continuously expanding data base is available to support other types
of research projects, too, such as descriptive analyses of following
combinations:
• How FLIGBY’s predefined skillsets correlate with respondents’
characteristics (by age, time spent in managerial position, industry,
organization’s size, current work location, country of origin);
• How the Challenge Clusters, as defined by the Research, correlate with
respondents’ characteristics (by age, time spent in managerial position,
industry, organization’s size, current work location, country of origin)
.
.
• To be proposed by individual academic partner “A”…
• To be proposed by academic partner “B”…
Attachment 2 – Research Approach “Leadership & Flow” Research

15. Research’ Privacy Policy
15
“Leadership and Flow” Research uses aggregate data only.
At the start of the FLIGBY online simulation, the player’s e-mail
address is used as a login name.
ALEAS Simulations, Inc. (operator of FLIGBY) provides only
aggregate data for research purposes. The Research Database
will not contain information from which to identify the
participants (such as name, email or IP address).
The collection, storage, disclosure and use of personal data by
researchers will comply with all legislation relating to data
protection and meets the highest ethical standards.
Arrangements will put in place by associated researchers to
carefully protect the confidentiality of participants and their
data.
Details that would allow individuals to be identified will not
be published or made available by ALEAS to anybody,
including those involved in the research.
Attachment 2 – Research Approach “Leadership & Flow” Research