LEAF – A Serious Game to Support Learning from Failure in Coaching and Organizational Development

This paper introduces LEAF - a serious game (SG) designed to support learning from failure in coaching and organizational development - by translating a Q-methodology–derived typology of failure-learning orientations into a leveled, coachable game architecture. We first conducted an interpretive phenomenological analysis to build a concourse on business failure and then ran a Q study (32 adult learners; 60 statements) that yielded four types of failure learning. These profiles informed LEAF Level 1 (diagnosis with type-sensitive feedback) and the design of Levels 2 and 3 (guided practice and team-level culture work). Three formative test cycles and a limited release indicated high perceived relevance, highlighted the type-estimation algorithm as a key improvement area, and underscored two boundary conditions: the need to embed the game in a developmental coaching framework and to time play close to salient failure episodes. Conceptually, the study bridges failure research, adult-learning and coaching theory, as well as game design by showing how core game loops and metagame orchestration can operationalize reflection, reappraisal, self-efficacy building, and sensemaking. Practically, we outline how coaches can deploy LEAF for individualized diagnostics, structured debriefs, and team norms around error talk; theoretically, we position the typology as a theory-building scaffold and call for summative trials to test mechanisms, timing, and team-level effects.