When it comes to effective Leadership, the job is filled with context-driven issues. For Simulations, the challenge is not to just make people more comfortable with making decisions but to be comfortable making the tough decisions and solving the tough problems. It is when there is no good answer or when the best answer also has significant negatives associated with it where the real challenge is. Having insight into what the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ tradeoffs are may help to shed a brighter light on the decisions being made and help with better decisions or build resilience to deal with the bad. The Scorecard is essentially a Trade-off Report which provides students with insight into what the positives and negatives are or the costs and benefits associated with their decisions and they can use better judgment.
Another way of thinking about the Scorecard is to view it as a tool for distinguishing the difference between what we fear and what makes us anxious. Theologian Paul Tillich distinguished them in his writings that “Anxiety is amorphous; it doesn’t quite have an object, it’s a state. And so, it’s harder to shake and no empowerment necessarily comes from it.” The job of the Educator is filled with anxiety-provoking circumstances, situations and stakeholders. The challenges are daunting and sometimes overwhelming. The opportunity with Simulations and the Experience Design process is to name the things that we are afraid of and that cause anxiety. As Tillich writes, “Fear is of something, you can name it and face it, and in the facing of it lift your morale, show yourself what’s in you.” The Simulation is around anxiety-provoking Problems of Practice and the Scorecard is an articulation of the specific elements and consequences that we are afraid of and that cause the Anxiety. The Simulations provide a safe space to provoke anxiety and also name potential things that we fear. In this way, participants can face those things and develop mitigating strategies where possible. In addition, by facing the specific elements they fear, the Sims help to break the grip of the anxiety so it reduces its power to paralyze. This has the dual benefit of helping to improve decision making, and maybe even more importantly, enhance wellbeing. Especially during our current circumstances, this kind of experience can help educators to break down generalized anxiety into specific fears and deal with them courageously.