Designing Business Simulation Programmes
Business simulations can appear remarkably flexible.
The same simulation can support a graduate development programme, help non-financial managers understand finance, develop commercial acumen or provide a realistic environment in which senior leaders can explore strategy or decision making.
The simulation, however, is only part of the programme. What enables much of this flexibility is the programme design.
The real challenge is therefore designing a learning experience that helps participants think differently by the time they leave than they did when they arrived.
That's where programme design begins.
Start with the learning, not the simulation.
If the simulation were to form the core of the programme, it might make sense to start by choosing a simulation. However, we've found it works better to start somewhere else. Before thinking about simulations, we first try to understand what the programme is trying to achieve. Three questions normally shape the discussion.
What are the aims of the programme?
What should participants experience?
What are the commercial issues that the simulation should reflect?
The questions are connected and as we explore one, it can change another. Programme design is therefore usually an iterative process rather than a linear one.
What do participants need to experience?
This is often the question that can shape a programme the most. In addition to running their simulated business, there is an almost infinite range of potential experiences you might want to give participants. For example:
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Giving and receiving feedback on behaviour
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Negotiating contracts with customers
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A merger and integration
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Giving a press briefing
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Collaborating with competitors
Reflecting the client's commercial world
The programme also provides the opportunity to reflect the commercial issues that matter to the organisation. These might be issues that are specific to the business or industry wide. For example:
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Regulatory pressure
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Legislation changes
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Sustainability within the supply chain
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Foreign exchange shock
The ‘what we want participants to experience’ and ‘reflecting the commercial world’ can be combined or may remain independent – it depends on the nature of the issues. Either way, there are a series of mechanisms that we can look at to make these happen. This includes adjusting the simulation itself, introducing role-plays, scenarios, reviews, or other mechanisms.
Choosing the right simulation
Only once we've understood the learning objectives and the experiences we want participants to have do we decide how the simulation should support them.
In most cases an existing simulation provides the best starting point. It can usually be tailored to reflect the client's commercial world and integrated with other activities.
Occasionally the commercial dynamics are fundamentally different and in those situations, developing a bespoke simulation becomes the better option. The decision isn't driven by the industry. It's driven by the commercial experiences the programme needs to create.
Explore: Building a simulation feels just like playing one →
A programme is a connected system
And just as organisations are connected systems, successful learning programmes are too. The simulation is usually the largest component, but it's rarely the whole programme. Supporting activities, facilitation and structured reflection all matter individually. They also all interconnect. That's why we've spent fifty years continually refining not just our simulations, but the programmes that are built with them.
Where next?
Good programme design creates the conditions for learning. The next challenge is creating an environment that feels commercially authentic →