the research

You might be thinking: this sounds interesting, but does it actually work?

Good question. Here's what the evidence says.

Experienced learning sticks. Passive learning doesn't.

When you learn something by doing it - rather than hearing about it, reading about it, or watching someone else do it - your brain processes it differently. Research suggests that novel, engaging experiences trigger the brain's reward systems and emotional memory in ways that passive learning simply doesn't. The experience becomes something you carry with you, not just something you once knew.

This is why a lecture about conflict resolution doesn't change how you handle conflict. And why working through a high-pressure scenario - even a fictional one - does.

Source: Brown, S. & Vaughan, C. (2009). Play: How it shapes the brain, opens the imagination, and invigorates the soul.

Safe to fail means willing to try.

Most leaders never get to practise the hard stuff before it counts. They learn on the job, in real situations, with real consequences. That's a high-stakes way to develop a skill.

Simulation-based learning creates a space where getting it wrong doesn't cost anything - which means people are willing to actually try things, push their edges, and see what happens. That's where real learning lives.

Source: Salas, E., Wildman, J., & Piccolo, R. (2009). Using simulation-based training to enhance management education. Academy of Management Learning & Education.

Uncertainty is a leadership skill. You can train it.

Leadership in practice is rarely linear. The situations that matter most - the ones where your character actually shows - are the ones with incomplete information, competing priorities, and no obvious right answer.

Research on playfulness and creativity suggests that people who regularly engage with novel, uncertain situations develop greater adaptability over time. Immersive, scenario-based learning puts leaders in exactly those conditions. Not to stress them out, but to build the kind of adaptability and creative problem-solving that makes the difference when things get genuinely hard.

Source: Lieberman, J. N. (1977). Playfulness: Its relationship to imagination and creativity.

Stepping into different roles builds real emotional intelligence.

When you navigate a difficult scenario - even a fictional one - you practise empathy, decision-making, and strategic thinking in conditions that mirror real leadership moments. You see how you actually respond under pressure, not just how you think you would.

That gap between the two is usually where the most useful learning lives.

Sources: Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional Intelligence
Kolb, D.A. (1984). Experiential Learning: Experience as the source of learning and development

High engagement means higher retention.

When people are genuinely engaged in what they're doing - challenged, invested, a little uncertain about what comes next - they retain what they learn at a much higher rate than in passive training environments.

This isn't a theory. It's one of the most consistently replicated findings in learning research. The design of every Leadership Treehouse session is built around it.

Source: Hamari, J., Koivisto, J., & Sarsa, H. (2014). Does gamification work? – A literature review of empirical studies on gamification. Proceedings of the 47th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

Insight through reflection

Experience alone isn't enough. Without structured reflection - the chance to look at what just happened and connect it to what you do at work - learning stays at the level of a good story.

Every Leadership Treehouse session ends with a guided debrief for exactly this reason. It's not an add-on. It's where the work happens.

Source: Mezirow, J. (1991). Transformative Dimensions of Adult Learning.

our case studies

See how this plays out in practice. Each case study covers the scenario, the design approach, the insights participants had, and their feedback.

the verdant tome

A case study of our shortest quest yet - the Quest for the Verdant Tome.

Played with members of The Wild Ones in August 2025.

the bank heist

A case study of one of our Power Quests - The Bank Heist.

Played with members of DX Legal in September 2025.

the devil in weatherall

A case study of one of our half day role play workshops.

A collab with Hawkes Bay Chamber of Commerce.

the frozen village

A case study of one of our custom adventures for a team in Melbourne.

Played with board members of Entrepreneurs Organisation Melbourne.

Download here