Business Simulations Running on an iPad

Hello SimDev Community-

As always, we have been very busy with R&D. We love R&D and wish that this is all we could do. Obviously, this isn't a good business model so we squeeze in R&D on a very structured basis. But, one of the projects we've been focusing on is building a business simulation that runs on an iPad. Well, we've done it. It runs great and is a lot of fun to use. Is it better than a traditional platform? No, not necessarily, but it does have the sizzle factor. We've done user testing and its great for 1 person per ipad, but terrible for teams. This probably doesn't come as a major shocker, but worth mentioning.

These simulations take a lot of time to create because it requires they be written in Cocoa (within XCode) which is a very specialized application development environment that is on Mac OS X only. But... running a leadership simulation on an iPad is a lot of fun. We had a good time building it, runs well, but we're just looking for the right fit. This of course, depends on the customer. Thus, if you're really looking to run a simulation on an iPad, let us know, but be ready for some usage tradeoffs. iPads are still single user devices.

Have a great long weekend!

Quanititative Relavance In Modeling Behavior Within Business Simulations

Hello SimDevGroup Community-

How does one go about relating similar or like data and providing incentives to change behavior? Oddly enough, this is usually done in written form by building a story and a set of relevant circumstances. As technical and mathematical as the title of this post may seem, what makes this work for a business simulation is something as simple as a good story. The story really helps connect the quantitative relevancy of the training simulation to the actual real life events the participants are forced to work within on a daily basis.

Why do we bring this up? We want you to understand that you shouldn't worry about the quantitative relevancy model. You should be thinking most about the story, the circumstances, and what you want the participants to learn most. The story really connects participants to the 'why' behind the entire training exercise. Thus, our tip... When you're thinking about creating a custom business simulation, take time to think of the back story of the program. It will be time well spent.

Do Business or Leadership Simulations Have To Be Competitive?

Hello SimDevGroup Community!

Definitely not! In fact, many of our leadership development simulations are not competitive. The primary driver behind why some aren't is very simple: Need for more collaboration.

In many leadership development programs, the topic of cross function or cross division collaboration is a very important competency to build. The problem is that so many leadership development simulations or business training simulations are built with the assumption that teams are going to compete against each other. Does this sound like a very good way for participants to learn effective collaboration? We didn't think so either!

How does a collaborative simulation work exactly? Good question. This is very simple. The participants that are going through the business training simulation program are broken into teams, but not competing teams. Instead, they must work together to accomplish a common goal, but one that not a single team can control on their own. Isn't this really simulating how a company actually works? Of course it does. The groups and participants of the leadership simulation are still scored and evaluated, but in a very different way.

Thus, including a business training simulation within your leadership development program does not require the simulation to be based on a competitive model. Actually, we recommend against it. The trick is to build up the case correctly, group to teams in a logical and applicable way, and foster a collaborative environment and not you vs me environment. This creates a very healthy and energetic environment where participants are learning teamwork, cross collaboration, and effective communication skills.

The result is a very effective, applicable, and engaging leadership development simulation that is easy to facilitate, engaging for participants, and applicable to the business requirements.

We hope this helps!

New! Business Simulation eBooks Section Added! Learn Even More!

Hello SimDevGroup Community!

We are excited to finally announce that we have opened a new section: Business Training Simulation ebooks

This is where we will load up formal ebooks that are free to download and read. We have separated out ebooks from whitepapers. Whitepapers is where we will post more of our research type results and ebooks are geared more towards light and quick reading on specific topics.

Let us know what you think and we hope this helps you learn more about using business simulations within training and development.

Connecting Behavior and Leadership to Learning Objectives is TOUGH!

Hello SimDev Community!

Don't kid yourself, connecting learning objectives to leadership development to behavior to business outcomes within a business training simulation is not an easy thing to do. It takes planning, forward thinking, and creativity to successfully accomplish. We have to be honest, its not something we do alone. We don't try to kid ourselves that we have the answers. We create custom business simulation solutions. With custom solutions comes a very high level of collaboration. The good news is that because its a highly collaborative process, the outcomes are usually very satisfying.

If you are thinking of creating a custom business simulation based on specific behaviors (like leadership competencies), buckle up. There is no one size method fits all. Its a learning adventure that is very well worth doing, but is definitely a process and a learning process to boot. If its well done, it will take a high degree of collaboration, commitment, and creativity. Most of all, it takes a grounded sense of what is truly accomplishable and facsilitatable. The fruits are well worth the labor. You'll wind up with a training support and reinforcement tool like no other. It will sing in harmony with the content you want to deliver and the business objectives you want to reinforce. A business training simulation based on leadership behavior is an endeavor that is well worth the time. We just wanted to let you know it will stretch your learning and development organization in ways you probably never imagined. The good news is that its like a good fitness routine: you'll come out stronger on the other side. We'll be right there with you as your workout buddy and trainer. Leadership development is a tough topic to teach. You think its tough to teach, try to simulate it ;).

Have a great week!

Learn How To Facilitate A Business Training Simualtion

UCXXCR5W6XWY


Hello SimDev Community-

Would you like to learn how to facilitate a business training simulation? Great! It looks like we're probably going to open up enrollment for a small number of participants who wish to learn how to effectively facilitate a business simulation. We're not sure when and where yet, but if you're interested in attending, please let us know soon. This will be 2 days of informal, fun, and useful information.

You will learn the following:
- Manage the technology of a business training simulation
- How to setup for a business training simulation program ahead of time
- How to give insights into the results of a business training simulation
- Manage the participants, technology, and content all in tandem
- How to deal with a business training simulation "crisis"

Of course, we'll post more information when it becomes available. Hopefully, we'll have more information about this training course soon.

Have a great summer-e weekend!

Secret code: UCXXCR5W6XWY

Leadership Development Simulation Training?

Hello SimDev Community!

Are you interested in learning how to build and facilitate your own leadership development or corporate training simulation? We have been getting quite a few requests for train the trainer solutions. We normally host train the trainer sessions for individual companies that are implementing a leadership development simulation or business training simulation. We do these all the time. But we have kicked around the idea of hosting a few companies at one time. In essence, a build your own leadership development simulation training summit. Is this interesting to you?

If you are interested in either a leadership development simulation training course or business training simulation training course, please drop us a form letter. We're going to take a temperature of the interest and decide in the fall if enough people are interested.

Let us know and how a wonder holiday (here in the states).