Hello SimDevGroup Community!
Is it really appropriate to use business simulations within corporate training and development programs? Again, great question, but actually, its very hard to say decisively. Some will say absolutely while others say its tricky. Even though we write business simulations and business training exercises that are most commonly used within corporate leadership development program, we say, "Its tricky."
Business Simulations Within Leadership Development Programs:
Why do we say it's tricky. Well, this is because connecting behavior to business results gets challenging at times. This is what we do best and have been doing it for years. That being said, we still find it very tricky at times. Every company has it's own leadership competency model that is used in many ways. Also, business methods vary greatly. This is why each of our simulations have to be custom built. It is simply impractical to assume that pre-made generic business simulations can fit all circumstances.
In our experience, business simulations and business simualtion exercises are a great tools, but it takes devotion from Training and Development to create the connection between behavior and business. But, this can certainly be done and has been done many times successfully.
If you decide to embark on using business simulations within leadership development, just be prepared to think carefully about how and why. Something we're very familiar with and enjoy very much.
Just food for thought and we hope it helps!
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Tips to Building Your Business Simulation Strategy
Hello SimDevGroup Community-
Lately, we've been getting calls with people asking, "What is the best way to build a strategy that includes using a business simulation?" This is a great question and to be honest, we didn't really have any tips to help. So we took the time to create some. We then shared them with some of our partners and in the end, everyone gave us their thumbs up to the following 5 tips:
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Tips to Building Your Business Simulation Strategy:
Hope this helps!
Lately, we've been getting calls with people asking, "What is the best way to build a strategy that includes using a business simulation?" This is a great question and to be honest, we didn't really have any tips to help. So we took the time to create some. We then shared them with some of our partners and in the end, everyone gave us their thumbs up to the following 5 tips:
.
Tips to Building Your Business Simulation Strategy:
- Become one with your corporate strategy- Before you build your simulation strategy for business training, you should know your corporate strategy very well. Talk to your corporate leaders about this.
- Know what drives the the business- Every enterprise has drivers that push the the organization forward in order to achieve it's strategic success. Sometimes its net profits, other times its cash on hand, or it could be just about anything. You'll learn what drives the business by reading your CEO's letter to shareholders in your annual report. At least this is a good place to start.
- Clearly define your training and development goals- You should have a very clear set of desired outcomes from your training and development programs. Take a look at those and ask yourself, "What content really needs an action learning module?" You'll quickly see what does and doesn't. Whatever does, see if a business simulation exercise would help with this.
- Look at your development resources- Whether we like it or not, we're all shackled by what's available. You'll need some good strong engineering and instructional resources. Once you do this inventory, you'll quickly realize if a business simulation is within reach.
- Examine the size of the training program- The training program you are thinking of using a business simulation within should be pretty healthy in size. If its a 1/2 day program, chances are the time and resource commitment might not be worth it. But if its a multi-day leadership development course. Then yes, its definitely worth the time.
Hope this helps!
Friday, May 18, 2012
Why Use A Business Simulation Exercise To Improve Leadership?
Hello SimDevGroup Community-
The question is: Why use a business simulation exercise within leadership development? Well, we thought we'd take one step even further back to ask, "Why build a high potential bench?" Well, we looked to PDI and found a great research summary.
Research: Leadership Simulation Exercise:
A recent study by PDINinthhouse found that organizations with more advanced high-potential strategies are:
Note: all information is take directly from PDINinthhouse's web site and is publicly available.
So, what does this have to do with a Business Simulation Exercise? The thought is that if you can build and engaging leadership training program utilizing a business simulation, you will engage your future leaders, build their leadership skills, their business acumen skills, and help them learn about the business they are about to help drive towards a great future. Also, if you're interested in world class leadership training content, you should certainly talk to PDI. We are strong supporters of their work.
Hope this helps.
The question is: Why use a business simulation exercise within leadership development? Well, we thought we'd take one step even further back to ask, "Why build a high potential bench?" Well, we looked to PDI and found a great research summary.
Research: Leadership Simulation Exercise:
A recent study by PDINinthhouse found that organizations with more advanced high-potential strategies are:
- Almost 12 times as likely to impact business growth and bottom-line results
- Almost twice as likely to be able to address global business needs
- Nearly three times as likely to be satisfied that their high-potential strategy is driving business/talent goals
- More than three times as likely to realize improved retention in key leader roles
- More than twice as likely to realize ready bench strength
Note: all information is take directly from PDINinthhouse's web site and is publicly available.
So, what does this have to do with a Business Simulation Exercise? The thought is that if you can build and engaging leadership training program utilizing a business simulation, you will engage your future leaders, build their leadership skills, their business acumen skills, and help them learn about the business they are about to help drive towards a great future. Also, if you're interested in world class leadership training content, you should certainly talk to PDI. We are strong supporters of their work.
Hope this helps.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
5 Tricks To Successful Business Simulation Exercises
Hello SimDevGroup Community-
We often get the question, "How can I be successful at creating business simulation exercises?" Thus, in today's post, we have 5 tips for you that will help you build a successful business simulation exercise solution. Here are our top 5 tips and tricks:
5. Start at the finish line- This means you should start by asking, "What do we want the participants to walk out with?" This will help guarantee that your training and development simulation will be aligned with the goals of the corporate strategy.
4. Kiss! Obviously, we don't want you kissing your business simulation exercise (or participants for that matter), we mean that its incredibly important to keep your training and development simulation simple! There is a great tendency to make business simulation exercises incredibly complex. They don't need to be so keep it simple!
3. Business simulation exercises can be paper or computer based- This sort of goes along with tip 4. What we're saying here is that some of the most effective simulation exercises we've seen within training and development are paper based. They are easy to create and very effective when done right. Just remember tip 1.
2. Align the exercise with your corporate strategy- Don't create a rogue business training simulation. Create a nicely aligned business simulation exercise that fits within the corporate strategy.
1. Avoid the flash! In other words, don't get drawn into a business simulation exercise that is all glitz and no content. This training exercise is designed to reinforce your training content. Don't use it just to look flashy. Participants will see right through it.
Hope this helps and have a great day!
We often get the question, "How can I be successful at creating business simulation exercises?" Thus, in today's post, we have 5 tips for you that will help you build a successful business simulation exercise solution. Here are our top 5 tips and tricks:
5. Start at the finish line- This means you should start by asking, "What do we want the participants to walk out with?" This will help guarantee that your training and development simulation will be aligned with the goals of the corporate strategy.
4. Kiss! Obviously, we don't want you kissing your business simulation exercise (or participants for that matter), we mean that its incredibly important to keep your training and development simulation simple! There is a great tendency to make business simulation exercises incredibly complex. They don't need to be so keep it simple!
3. Business simulation exercises can be paper or computer based- This sort of goes along with tip 4. What we're saying here is that some of the most effective simulation exercises we've seen within training and development are paper based. They are easy to create and very effective when done right. Just remember tip 1.
2. Align the exercise with your corporate strategy- Don't create a rogue business training simulation. Create a nicely aligned business simulation exercise that fits within the corporate strategy.
1. Avoid the flash! In other words, don't get drawn into a business simulation exercise that is all glitz and no content. This training exercise is designed to reinforce your training content. Don't use it just to look flashy. Participants will see right through it.
Hope this helps and have a great day!
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Business Simulations: To Use Or Not? Tips To Decide
Hello SimDevGroup Community-
Let's take a step back today and ask the basic question, "Should I begin to enter into the world of using business simulations within my corporate training and development or leadership development program(s). Well, this is a great question because business simulations are very slick, but aren't always the best tool to use. Here are some tips to decide if using a business simulation training program is a good idea or not.
Tips To Decide: Using Business Simulations
Tip 1: Most importantly, do you have the time to devote to building business simulations? If you are barely getting home in time for dinner as it is, you probably don't. Managing a business simulation is a big task. Count on it taking up about 5+ hours a day during development.
Tip 2: Do you have the technical expertise? If you don't know computer programming or have had little exposure to analytical statistics, you might get very frustrated very quickly.
Tip 3: Think about outsourcing the project: If you answered no to the above tips, but your participants are looking for business training exercises that business simulations create, then you might want to consider outsourcing development. There are many firms (including us) that would be helpful to getting started.
Overall, if you are caught in the perfect storm of needing action learning, but not having the time or expertise to create business simulations, feel free to give us a call. We aren't a sales-e organization and would be happy to help you learn more about getting started.
Hope this helps!
Let's take a step back today and ask the basic question, "Should I begin to enter into the world of using business simulations within my corporate training and development or leadership development program(s). Well, this is a great question because business simulations are very slick, but aren't always the best tool to use. Here are some tips to decide if using a business simulation training program is a good idea or not.
Tips To Decide: Using Business Simulations
Tip 1: Most importantly, do you have the time to devote to building business simulations? If you are barely getting home in time for dinner as it is, you probably don't. Managing a business simulation is a big task. Count on it taking up about 5+ hours a day during development.
Tip 2: Do you have the technical expertise? If you don't know computer programming or have had little exposure to analytical statistics, you might get very frustrated very quickly.
Tip 3: Think about outsourcing the project: If you answered no to the above tips, but your participants are looking for business training exercises that business simulations create, then you might want to consider outsourcing development. There are many firms (including us) that would be helpful to getting started.
Overall, if you are caught in the perfect storm of needing action learning, but not having the time or expertise to create business simulations, feel free to give us a call. We aren't a sales-e organization and would be happy to help you learn more about getting started.
Hope this helps!
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