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Breakthrough Game and Collaborative Tools Workshop - CSPS

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Event Details

The Canada School of Public Service (CSPS) and the Archipelago of Design are pleased to announce that registration will soon be open for the the Breakthrough Game and Collaborative Tools Workshop, designed for federal government analysts and managers to experience a world-class "serious game" and explore how we conceive of, and make decisions about, complex challenges.​


Who we are

The Geopolitics and National Security Learning Program is a special initiative created in 2020 by the CSPS to introduce public servants to the latest thinking, practices and tools related to geopolitical and national security issues.​​


Archipelago of Design is a Canadian non-profit promoting design thinking, innovation, and change leadership through consultation, facilitation, toolkits, coaching, and serious games.​​​


What is the Game About

During this workshop, participants:

  • Investigate a complex, fictive crisis set in Canada’s North in 2040 as part of the Breakthrough Exercise, a serious game/role-playing exercise undertaken in small groups
  • Learn about collaborative learning tools and practice applying these tools to the analysis of real-life complex issues
  • Deliberate Canadian interests, values and the nature of public service with colleagues from across the federal government
Day 1 yellow.png Day 1 – Breakthrough Game Participants play the Breakthrough Game, a serious game that immerses small groups of participants in a fictive scenario taking place in Canada’s North in 2040. In this game, participants play the roles of federal investigators who must try to understand and resolve a highly complex problem in an extremely ambiguous environment and with very limited resources.
Brain blue.png Day 2 – Reflection and Applications Participants reflect together on how their groups used sense-making strategies during the Breakthrough Exercise. Experts provide them with tools to help make sense of and tackle complex problems and systems. They then practice using those tools on real-life problems that the Government of Canada is or will need to address over the coming decades.

What you will gain

During this workshop, participants gain:

  • Self-awareness of personal decision-making tendencies, especially in fast-paced and ambiguous situations;
  • Knowledge of sense-making tools and strategies, which can be applied to any complex issue facing the Government of Canada;
  • An understanding of the trade-offs and choices inherent in decision-making, including from a Government of Canada perspective; and​
  • An opportunity to collaborate and network with peers across government.

Official Languages

We are committed to making this workshop as bilingual as possible. Although many of the game materials for the first day of the workshop are in English, and sessions with the larger group are primarily in English, we have a fully bilingual facilitator who gladly takes questions in French. Moreover, if you would like to play the game in French with a bilingual Game Master, let us know and we will do our best to create at least one dedicated French-language group for game play.

Keep in Touch!

This workshop is offered at no cost to participating departments and agencies.

For more information on that workshop, please reach out to nationalsecurityprogram-programmedesecuritenationale@csps-efpc.gc.ca