By the Australian Taxation Office
Integrity lies at the heart of building a high-performing and trusted APS. However, it’s not enough to merely follow the rules; to embed integrity well, it is essential to know how to make ethical and defensible decisions in a range of situations.
To raise awareness about the subtleties of grooming, we teamed up with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to share their latest resource, Villain Academy.
The ATO cleverly combined gamification and behavioural insights techniques to enhance learning outcomes and captivate their people. In Villain Academy, an interactive video game, participants step into the shoes of a “villain” as they attempt to infiltrate the ATO. Realistic scenarios guide them through the stages of grooming, challenging the player to make decisions on whom to target and how to proceed.
By injecting game-like mechanics, the ATO transformed what could be a dry topic into an engaging experience.
Why Villain Academy works so well:
- Novel perspective: By adopting an alternate viewpoint, the game piques curiosity and prevents disengagement among those who feel they have heard similar messaging before.
- Intrinsic motivation: Players are driven by their own curiosity, gaining insights on how to recognise the risks and vulnerabilities related to grooming. They learn how to protect themselves and others from fraud and corruption.
- Comprehensive learning: Villain Academy works hand in hand with a support guide, which provides more detailed information on the many themes covered, it encourages a deeper and balanced view on ethics, potential risks, impacts and consequences. A manager guide is also available to help managers lead discussions and generate conversations with their teams.
Villain Academy isn’t just a game – it’s a strategic tool that empowers ATO employees to navigate integrity challenges.
You can access the support guides and test yourself or your team by playing Villain Academy now.
Also accessible to APS agencies are the ‘ATO Integrity based group-discussion resources for leaders’ which is a valuable learning collection. The resources raise awareness of internal fraud and corruption risks and aim to promote a culture of high organisational integrity. The activities are short, cover a range of topics and only take 10-20 minutes making them easy to include in regular team meetings.
For further information about these resources contact the ATO’s Fraud Prevention and Internal Investigations team.
NOTE:
This course discusses grooming in a fraud and corruption context.
Villain Academy is an ATO learning resource. Scenarios are fictional and developed to raise awareness of fraud and corruption risks. ATO specific hyperlinks referred to in the game and guides will not open for users outside the ATO.