Escape Room as a Powerful Conversation Starter

The Challenge

How can we kick off the conversation about safety and the role of leadership in an engaging way?

Safety is an extremely important topic, especially for companies dealing with hazardous materials or equipment. Eneco is a prime example. While managers who are further removed from the operational side do (indirectly) impact the safety of technicians, the subject was not high on their agenda. Frisse Blikken’s Game Studio changed that, helping Eneco address this issue with a customized escape room.

With around 5 million active energy contracts and more than 3,000 employees, Eneco is one of the largest energy suppliers in the Netherlands.

Our Fresh Perspective

Activating Managers

Eneco was clearly not looking for a conventional method to reignite the safety conversation. The goal was to not only inform Eneco’s managers about their role in safety but also to motivate them to actively fulfill this role. Knowledge and time are crucial for safe work practices, and an escape room perfectly combines these factors.

Phones in the Blender

During Eneco’s leadership day, 25 groups took on the challenge of safely connecting three wind turbines within an hour. As if that wasn’t challenging enough, there was a clear risk involved. All participants had to hand in their mobile phones before entering the escape room. This was a logical decision, as phones are valuable but also the biggest disruptors of attention and concentration. The phones were placed in one of three blenders. If a player committed a safety violation, one of the blenders would start whirring. As you can imagine, safety became significantly more important.

Clear Importance and Role

The escape room effectively reopened the conversation about safety within Eneco in a way that left a lasting impact on the managers. The importance of safe working practices and their role in it is now clearer than ever. It is now up to the managers to continue the conversation within their teams.