Lloyds Banking Group – Immersive Data

Beyond analysing data

Data is Lloyds Banking Group’s (LBG) most valuable asset and the organisation is on a mission to become the most data literate bank in the world. We’d previously worked with LBG on other initiatives about data such as Data City and Descape which were aimed at a broad audience across the whole organisation and more at beginners.

This time, LBG had a different focus. The organisation had identified storytelling with data as a key area of improvement for those who work with data, aimed at data practitioners and non-practitioners alike.

Together we created Around the World in 80(ish) Days. It’s a collaborative team game in which colleagues use data to design and present a global trip proposal to a virtual panel of stakeholder funders.

Since its launch in the summer of 2024, the game has already achieved:

• An average rating of 9 out of 10
• A net promoter score of 67
• Incredibly positive feedback about how informative and interactive the game is.
• And it’s been shortlisted for a Learning Technologies Award in the ‘Best technology-based learning game’ category.

“It’s a brilliant product, and arguably the most innovative ever deployed at Lloyds. We are pioneering a new concept and approach here. The complexity, scale, duration and unique nature of the game are truly innovative. It’s a first!”

The solution – a seriously good data game

LBG had already delivered successful face-to-face workshops which brought together groups of 18-24 learners to learn about data storytelling. These workshops received glowing reviews but weren’t easy or cost-effective to scale across the entire organisation.

To build on the success of the workshops, we worked with LBG to create an online game, self-facilitated by teams of four-to-six players. It offers a motivating challenge for learners, whatever their experience and level of expertise in working with data.

The game’s topic is far removed from the daily intricacies of data in banking, so even less data-savvy players can get stuck in without deep knowledge of data in finance. Players use data to design and present an “Around the World” expedition to a virtual panel of stakeholders, using data to secure funding. Over three rounds, they explore key topics such as:

• Identifying key stakeholders
• Analysing data to support decision making
• Learning about common data biases
• Recognising common errors in data collection.
• Using data visualisation and common mistakes in visualisation
• Data-driven storytelling to stakeholders

The game offers a hands-on practical experience throughout for players to practise principles of data storytelling that they can then take back to their work lives. They have to decide together how to best spend their time and money budgets on data sets. They get stuck into cleaning the data – for example, having to correct where weights have been wrongly converted between units.

They even build their own data visualisation dashboard, selecting appropriate charts and graphs to highlight data supporting their choices of transport, time of travel, and route. Finally they present their proposal to the stakeholders, structuring their argument with the data they’ve sourced and cleaned, before finding out if they’ve secured funding – or if they will remain grounded.

Making data storytelling into a team affair

LBG wanted the game to be a social experience, so that mixed ability groups could learn from each other and get new perspectives on working with data. To achieve this, we created the game so that it’s played over a Microsoft Teams call without the need for a networked setup.

By creating teams of mixed ability groups, those with less experience could learn from the data practitioners. But the practitioners’ assumptions could be questioned and challenged too, giving them new perspectives on how they might tell stories with data.

It’s not a short experience, clocking in at around 60-90 minutes per playthrough. Yet this length gives players the chance to think through the principles they need to learn and apply, as well as create an opportunity for team-building.

How it’s going so far

The game was initially rolled out as a pilot before being shared with wider audiences at LBG. In this pilot, learners have completed self-assessments before and after playing the game. These have shown an increase in data literacy for players as measured by the Dreyfus model of skill acquisition.

It’s also achieved…

• An average rating of 9 out of 10
• A net promoter score of 67

And garnered plenty of positive comments from learners. They’ve shared their key takeaways, such as…

• “Importance of working within a team and sticking to the goals chosen at the start.”
• “Importance of data cleansing.”
• “There are always trade-offs to be made, and it’s important to keep in mind the reasons behind making certain choices.”

They’ve also shared how much they enjoyed playing the game:

• “I’ve completed the game; it is so much fun and very informative. Great interactive challenge. I’m a newbie in Data and totally achievable – I got funded!”
• “Thank you for a wonderful learning experience!”
• “Very interactive and fun.”
• “The game made you think and discuss with colleagues, got you thinking out loud.”
• “Great game (and not just because my team got sponsored)! It was a strong learning offering, requiring you to build data literacy from numerous angles (e.g. in testing your ability to interpret data, query which data was relevant etc).”
• “Really loved this format – so intuitive and engaging.”
• “Really great fun and cool implementation.”
• “Super insightful and a fun way to learn as a team.”

Our takeaways – achieving social learning online

This was another project that we put paper prototyping to good use to make sure that everything came together correctly, from the data sets used, to the information that should be used in the final stakeholder presentation. It also helped us iron out any wrinkles in the way the game was played and ensure that players would understand their objectives.

We also had to make the game a collaborative one without networking it. We got around this by having each player log into their own instance and using PINs to sync progress and make sure they all had access to the same information and previous team decisions. Each player also gets personalised follow-ups on data principles, with recommendations for masterclasses on topics they could learn more about.

When it comes specifically to remote social learning, this particular project taught us a few things:

• Don’t fear the seat time: the game we created takes between 60-90 minutes to play – which sounds like a lot when it comes to eLearning. But giving the learners time to dig into the game allows them to think through and apply the principles they need to learn, as well as create an opportunity to build relationships through the social aspect.
• Give team members a defined role: in a video call, it can be easy for participants to fade into the background, or feel awkward about speaking up. With the team leader role and assigning other members to specific jobs throughout the game, everyone gets stuck in.
• Puzzles and problem-solving work well: there was a mixture of data practitioners and non-practitioners in the audience. By framing the learning around the “around the world” trip, everyone could get involved with problem solving without necessarily understanding the day-do-day nitty gritty of working with data in the banking context.