Hello SimDevGroup Community-
We'd like to wish you a happy 2013! We all think its going to be a great year here. May your year be productive, fun, challenging, and rewarding. Let us know if we can help you learn about business simulations or leadership simulations.
Happy 2013!
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Friday, December 14, 2012
Engineering, Sales, Marketing Aligned With Business Simulations
Hello SimDevGroup Community-
First, we apologize for the long lapse in posts. We just finished up over 50 deliveries in 2 months. Its nice to be home :).
Tip: Using A Business Simulation To Achieve Sales, Engineering, and Marketing Alignment
Tip 1: Work from the finish line backwards- Write down three clear objectives of what participants need to know that would help create departmental alignment. This could be product research method, customer requirements, or barriers to entry (just a few examples). A good idea to start is to brain storm as much as you can and then reduce it down to the top three.
Tip 2: From the top three objectives, write down three activities that would help participants live a day in the other capacity's shoes. For example: Marketing- Gather customer requirements, government regulations, and corporate objectives and deliver a product within those requirements (yikes! We know!). The goal here is to begin to draft out a day in the life of each functions shoes.
Tip 3: When drafting a training course, add a lot of real life examples. Preferably, add speakers to come in and talk about the experiences. Then align your business simulation around those real life experiences (or future realities).
The ultimate goal is to align with reality (or future reality) while providing a real life set of experiences that align with your program's training objectives.
Its nice to be back and we hope this helps.
First, we apologize for the long lapse in posts. We just finished up over 50 deliveries in 2 months. Its nice to be home :).
Tip: Using A Business Simulation To Achieve Sales, Engineering, and Marketing Alignment
Tip 1: Work from the finish line backwards- Write down three clear objectives of what participants need to know that would help create departmental alignment. This could be product research method, customer requirements, or barriers to entry (just a few examples). A good idea to start is to brain storm as much as you can and then reduce it down to the top three.
Tip 2: From the top three objectives, write down three activities that would help participants live a day in the other capacity's shoes. For example: Marketing- Gather customer requirements, government regulations, and corporate objectives and deliver a product within those requirements (yikes! We know!). The goal here is to begin to draft out a day in the life of each functions shoes.
Tip 3: When drafting a training course, add a lot of real life examples. Preferably, add speakers to come in and talk about the experiences. Then align your business simulation around those real life experiences (or future realities).
The ultimate goal is to align with reality (or future reality) while providing a real life set of experiences that align with your program's training objectives.
Its nice to be back and we hope this helps.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
3 Tips to Measuring Qualitative Activities in a Business Simulation
Hello SimDevGroup Community-
One the hardest things about creating a leadership development simulation is the qualitative nature of leadership. This makes most people ask, "How do I measure qualitative activities and the impact on business results within my business simulation strategy?" Its a great question which has a very complicated answer. But, we're going to try to simplify this and give you some things to think about.
3 Tips to Measuring Qualitative Activities within a Business Training Simulation:
Tip 1: Write Down The Impact on Business- If you want to teach the leadership development skill, it should have an impact on the business. Write down the top 3 places the leadership activity impacts the business. For example: Employee Engagement, Profitability, Ability to Hire, etc.
Tip 3: Create an Equation That Shows the Impact- If a team demonstrates effective leadership within the business simulation or serious game, have it impact the business in a consistent way. This will require that you create an equation to get this done. We'd tell you what this is, but we don't know what you're trying to impact or measure.
Tip 3: Keep Up The Consistency- It is important to keep the impact(s) consistent. Thus, if leadership impacts the business in one way within one of the outcomes, it must have the same impact elsewhere. If its not consistent, the simulation business game will loose credibility.
We hope this helps. Creating quantitative outcomes from a qualitative action is tough to accomplish within a business simulation. We hope these basic tips help.
Have a great day!
One the hardest things about creating a leadership development simulation is the qualitative nature of leadership. This makes most people ask, "How do I measure qualitative activities and the impact on business results within my business simulation strategy?" Its a great question which has a very complicated answer. But, we're going to try to simplify this and give you some things to think about.
3 Tips to Measuring Qualitative Activities within a Business Training Simulation:
Tip 1: Write Down The Impact on Business- If you want to teach the leadership development skill, it should have an impact on the business. Write down the top 3 places the leadership activity impacts the business. For example: Employee Engagement, Profitability, Ability to Hire, etc.
Tip 3: Create an Equation That Shows the Impact- If a team demonstrates effective leadership within the business simulation or serious game, have it impact the business in a consistent way. This will require that you create an equation to get this done. We'd tell you what this is, but we don't know what you're trying to impact or measure.
Tip 3: Keep Up The Consistency- It is important to keep the impact(s) consistent. Thus, if leadership impacts the business in one way within one of the outcomes, it must have the same impact elsewhere. If its not consistent, the simulation business game will loose credibility.
We hope this helps. Creating quantitative outcomes from a qualitative action is tough to accomplish within a business simulation. We hope these basic tips help.
Have a great day!
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Top 3 Skills For Creating a Business Simulation or Serious Game
Hello SimDevGroup Community-
Interested in creating a custom business simulation for your training and development program? Great! We have 3 skills required to create a great business simulation or serious game.
3 Skills For Creating a Business Simulation or Serious Game:
Skill 1: Understanding of the business simulation experience- For a simulation designer to succeed, they must really understand that it's their job to create an experience for the participants. Because the business simulation or serious game cannot teach on its own, it needs an experience to do so. Thus, it is important for the designer to have a good understanding of what creates an experience.
Skill 2: Be collaborative- When designing a serious game or business simulation, the designer is going to have to solicit advice from many sources. In result, it is very important for the designer to be of a collaborative nature. If the simulation designer cannot be collaborative, it will be very difficult to gather the information needed to make a great business simulation experience.
Skill 3: Understanding of many design trades, but master of none- Well, maybe one is ok. The simulation designer will have to understand the importance of overall design and design balance. If the simulation designer is well versed in a one or a few, the simulation will feel this way. It will be unbalanced and hard to use.
Of course, this is just an overview of the many skills that are required. We just feel these are the critical skills necessary to succeed in designing a successful business simulation or designing a serious game. Its a tough thing to keep these skills in balance, but will pay dividends of balanced successfully.
We hope this helps when designing a business simulation or serious game.
Interested in creating a custom business simulation for your training and development program? Great! We have 3 skills required to create a great business simulation or serious game.
3 Skills For Creating a Business Simulation or Serious Game:
Skill 1: Understanding of the business simulation experience- For a simulation designer to succeed, they must really understand that it's their job to create an experience for the participants. Because the business simulation or serious game cannot teach on its own, it needs an experience to do so. Thus, it is important for the designer to have a good understanding of what creates an experience.
Skill 2: Be collaborative- When designing a serious game or business simulation, the designer is going to have to solicit advice from many sources. In result, it is very important for the designer to be of a collaborative nature. If the simulation designer cannot be collaborative, it will be very difficult to gather the information needed to make a great business simulation experience.
Skill 3: Understanding of many design trades, but master of none- Well, maybe one is ok. The simulation designer will have to understand the importance of overall design and design balance. If the simulation designer is well versed in a one or a few, the simulation will feel this way. It will be unbalanced and hard to use.
Of course, this is just an overview of the many skills that are required. We just feel these are the critical skills necessary to succeed in designing a successful business simulation or designing a serious game. Its a tough thing to keep these skills in balance, but will pay dividends of balanced successfully.
We hope this helps when designing a business simulation or serious game.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Business Simulations: Top 3 Tips and Tricks to Starting
Hello SimDevGroup Community-
The question of the day is, "What are some tips and tricks to getting started with Business Simulations or Leadership Development Simulations?" We can help with this:
Top 3 Tips to Using Business Simulations or Leadership Development Simulations
Business Simulation Tip 1: Start out small- If you're using a business simulation vendor, don't cave to creating a big simulation (unless you agree its absolutely required). Actually, this even applies if your instructional designers are creating one. Chances are that a bite sized business or leadership simulation will take you a great distance. The trick is to really look at what the end goals are and ensure the simulation is re-enforcing this.
Business Simulation Tip 2: Start at the end- The best results of a business simulation comes from looking at your end goals and mapping the decisions and outcomes of the simulation to your end goals. We know this sounds reversed, but it is almost always best to start with the goals and work backwards.
Business Simulation Tip 3: Start with someone you trust- This applies to both in-house development and outside development. You really need to trust the person who is creating the solution because by nature, business simulations are very complex and will require a broad set of skills. Ensure you trust your partner or you will be uncertain and surprised at the end of the development process.
We know, this is a quick post, but we're in our peak roll out season. We promise, we'll add more soon.
Have a great rest of the week!
The question of the day is, "What are some tips and tricks to getting started with Business Simulations or Leadership Development Simulations?" We can help with this:
Top 3 Tips to Using Business Simulations or Leadership Development Simulations
Business Simulation Tip 1: Start out small- If you're using a business simulation vendor, don't cave to creating a big simulation (unless you agree its absolutely required). Actually, this even applies if your instructional designers are creating one. Chances are that a bite sized business or leadership simulation will take you a great distance. The trick is to really look at what the end goals are and ensure the simulation is re-enforcing this.
Business Simulation Tip 2: Start at the end- The best results of a business simulation comes from looking at your end goals and mapping the decisions and outcomes of the simulation to your end goals. We know this sounds reversed, but it is almost always best to start with the goals and work backwards.
Business Simulation Tip 3: Start with someone you trust- This applies to both in-house development and outside development. You really need to trust the person who is creating the solution because by nature, business simulations are very complex and will require a broad set of skills. Ensure you trust your partner or you will be uncertain and surprised at the end of the development process.
We know, this is a quick post, but we're in our peak roll out season. We promise, we'll add more soon.
Have a great rest of the week!
Thursday, October 4, 2012
HR Magazine/SHRM Article: Business Simulations and Games
Hello SimDevGroup Community-
SHRM's publication HR Magazine published an article about using Business Simulations and Business Games/Serious Games within Corporate Learning and Development. The article was written by Drew Robb and in our opinion, he did an exceptional job. The article is titled, "Let The Games Begin". Simulation Development Group is referenced with real world examples from both Novartis and Caterpillar. The article is well worth reading because the journalist chose to examine what companies are doing in the space of business simulations and business games/serious games with particular focus on outcomes.
Mr. Robb took the time to talk to users (instead of vendors) about their business simulation strategy and results. The article is exceptionally well written, very concise, and packed with real world examples.
You will need a SHRM membership to read the article. It is well worth the time and you should take a break to read it when possible. We're quite proud of our reference in the article. Let us know what you think.
Have a great weekend!
SHRM's publication HR Magazine published an article about using Business Simulations and Business Games/Serious Games within Corporate Learning and Development. The article was written by Drew Robb and in our opinion, he did an exceptional job. The article is titled, "Let The Games Begin". Simulation Development Group is referenced with real world examples from both Novartis and Caterpillar. The article is well worth reading because the journalist chose to examine what companies are doing in the space of business simulations and business games/serious games with particular focus on outcomes.
Mr. Robb took the time to talk to users (instead of vendors) about their business simulation strategy and results. The article is exceptionally well written, very concise, and packed with real world examples.
You will need a SHRM membership to read the article. It is well worth the time and you should take a break to read it when possible. We're quite proud of our reference in the article. Let us know what you think.
Have a great weekend!
Friday, September 28, 2012
Tips: Business Simulation or Business Game/Serious Games
Hello SimDevGroup Community-
Wow! This is a tough one: Should I choose a Business Simulation or a Business Game? Well, to be very honest, we view these as very similar. This leads us to try to define the difference between the two. Without going into too much detail, here are some points of difference:
Business Simulations and Business Games Defined (high level):
- Business Simulations model a specific strategy, process, procedure or goal set
- Business Games probably don't mimic or present much similarity to your business
- Business Simulations clearly mimic your organization
- Business Games don't necessarily model much to do with your business strategy, process, procedure or goal set
- Both Business Simulations and Business Games will try to reinforce the goals and objectives of your training program
Of course, this may suggest that there are huge differences between the two. In some cases, there is. But it is important to remember that when you're creating a business simulation strategy or a serious games/business games strategy, that both tools have certain gaming elements that are present.
Gaming element? What's that? In summary, a gaming element is a situation where participants are put into challenging situations where they are trying to win something that is tough, but attainable. Think of a basic board game. There are certain things you need to do to win, but a competitor might do it better.
Both business simulations and business games have this serious games element. Business Simulations are usually a little more advanced and if customized, will certainly be far more similar to your actual organization and its challenges.
So, which should you choose? Business Simulation or Business Games? We're going to take the wimpy answer here: They're both a good solution, but if you're looking for something a little more serious, a little more advanced, and a little more applicable to your business, then a custom business simulation is probably the right way to go. Of course, there are exceptions :^).
We hope this helps and have a great week!
Wow! This is a tough one: Should I choose a Business Simulation or a Business Game? Well, to be very honest, we view these as very similar. This leads us to try to define the difference between the two. Without going into too much detail, here are some points of difference:
Business Simulations and Business Games Defined (high level):
- Business Simulations model a specific strategy, process, procedure or goal set
- Business Games probably don't mimic or present much similarity to your business
- Business Simulations clearly mimic your organization
- Business Games don't necessarily model much to do with your business strategy, process, procedure or goal set
- Both Business Simulations and Business Games will try to reinforce the goals and objectives of your training program
Of course, this may suggest that there are huge differences between the two. In some cases, there is. But it is important to remember that when you're creating a business simulation strategy or a serious games/business games strategy, that both tools have certain gaming elements that are present.
Gaming element? What's that? In summary, a gaming element is a situation where participants are put into challenging situations where they are trying to win something that is tough, but attainable. Think of a basic board game. There are certain things you need to do to win, but a competitor might do it better.
Both business simulations and business games have this serious games element. Business Simulations are usually a little more advanced and if customized, will certainly be far more similar to your actual organization and its challenges.
So, which should you choose? Business Simulation or Business Games? We're going to take the wimpy answer here: They're both a good solution, but if you're looking for something a little more serious, a little more advanced, and a little more applicable to your business, then a custom business simulation is probably the right way to go. Of course, there are exceptions :^).
We hope this helps and have a great week!
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