Put the fun into learning … and the learning into fun
It has long been recognised that practical experience is the best way to embed learning. Unfortunately though, this often takes the form of laborious exercises dealing with real life examples that may already be known to the delegates.
But we’ve got news for you. Business games and simulations needn’t be boring to get the job done. In fact, delegates are far more likely to absorb information if the subject matter is new and interesting to them.
To meet this need, we have designed a number of activities, which focus on skills such as communication, commercial awareness, negotiation, project management, forecasting and creativity. Based around some of the key issues in business today, most of the games can be tailored in terms of length or content and can be incorporated into part of a larger training programme.
Mind Your Own Business
How many times have you heard people saying - I could run the company better myself? Well now's their chance! The meeting is split up into groups of company directors. The company could either be their own organisation, or a made up company that shares some of the issues/factors of their own
The directors will be set a task for their company, such as to increase share price; to plan a major change; to buy another company or to market a new product. During the game there will be additional input depending on their decisions, they can ask to see certain people and there will be certain wild cards that will come into play no matter what they do.
We can use actors to represent characters (customers, suppliers, shareholders, employees etc) or simply base the game around ‘company information’, which will be cheaper but not as interactive. We generally run this game over the course of ‘a year’ with there being a final result for the group
At the end of the game, each team presents their strategy and (if appropriate) the results so far and this leads into a discussion on what went well / not so well and a debrief on the learning from the day and surrounding theory
The Apprenticeship
Here at Pearlcatchers, we are already missing the last series of ‘The Apprentice’ – what we found most interesting was how the pressure and competition resulted in the candidates making some really basic business errors.
Our new event / business simulation - The Apprenticeship - gives you the chance to put your current and potential managers to the test by setting them one or more of our range of business challenges. Our charismatic CEO will call candidates into ‘the boardroom’ to get them to review their performance and (unlike Sir Alan) provide constructive feedback on how they can improve as individuals and as teams.
Each challenge would last from 2 to 6 hours and can be combined to incorporate a range of different challenges over one, two or even three days. As with all our business simulations, you have the option to incorporate relevant Master classes to give tips on the skills required for each challenge and / or more detailed feedback and review sessions. To add the aspect of competition, candidates are split into teams – each of whom has to elect a project manager and perform better than the other team.
Throughout each challenge they will use a range of skills, from creativity to leadership, from planning to negotiation and from budgeting to risk management. Example challenges include:
Choose one of a selection of (weird and wonderful) new products and then design an advertising campaign, including a poster and TV ad
Design and produce a charity calendar, which you then have to sell to ‘buyers’ from key retail outlets
Purchase / obtain items from a set list for the cheapest price
Stage a fund raising event
Den of Dragons
Many businesses today are trying to encourage greater ‘entrepreneurial spirit’ amonth their management teams. There is no greater test of an entrepreneur than their ability to create a product / service, research the market, create a business plan and back this up with financial / market data. To help develop skills, identify high flyers and embed learning, Pearlcatchers have created The Den of Dragons – a brand new event that does just that.
Delegates are split into small teams each of which have to create either a new product or a new concept / improvement etc for their company. They then need to design the product and show how it will work in practice. Having produced a prototype, they need to research the market, do their sums and prepare a business plan. Finally, they need to pitch their idea to our panel of ‘Dragons’ who will question them in detail on:
What is their product / How it works
Who is target market
How are they going to sell it
Financial data / forecasts
After the pitch (however successful or otherwise), the teams will be given detailed feedback and (if required) a master class on one or more aspects of the challenge. They will then have the chance to revise their product and / or their pitch before making a final attempt to win the backing of the Dragons – or at least escape their den unscathed!
Blood on the Carpet
Time to play hard ball, as you negotiate to stay in business
This is the negotiation game guaranteed to put all your persuasion techniques to the test. Three teams (or sets of three) representing separate businesses are all given different briefing documents. To achieve their objectives they will have to negotiate separately with the other businesses. Any combination of two businesses could be successful and one team will be left out in the cold, so be careful if you like to play hard ball!
Movers and Shakers
Ever felt like breaking free of the corporate reins and setting up on your own? Well you might think again after you’ve played ‘Movers and Shakers’! Movers and Shakers is a business simulation game where teams experience a year in the life of an organisation and have to make commercial decisions on all aspects of the business, finance, marketing, logistics and operations.
At the end of each quarter, the teams have the opportunity to review their performance and change their tactics for the next quarter. As well as developing business and commercial skills, this game helps to increase awareness of different roles across the business.
Movers and Shakers is also unique in that it offers the option of a complementary evening event, where guests get to try out some of the more practical skills required in nightclubs, such as cocktail waiter, podium dancer or bouncer …
Trouble at Mill
How many times have you watched one of the TV consultants advice for an ailing company and said ‘I could have told you that!” Well now’s your chance to put your money where your mouth is and prove it!
Based on the TV programme 'Troubleshooter' with Sir John Harvey Jones, Trouble at Mill gives you the opportunity to become a consultant for a day.
Teams are asked to investigate and resolve the issues of a struggling business. As an introduction, they will be asked to sit in on a ‘board meeting’ at which they will be introduced to the directors and when some of the key issues will quickly become apparent. To engage the audience, this ‘sketch’ is generally humorous with several eccentric and stereotypical characters.
Each team will then be provided with background information, such as press cuttings, financial reports and video footage. There will also be opportunities to interview management, employees and customers. During the game there will be additional input depending on their decisions, they can ask to see certain people and there will be certain wild cards that will come into play no matter what they do.
To add a little spice, each team can be from competing firms of consultants carrying out an initial investigation phase Teams then have to present their proposals back to the board and the winning team get to see the results of their proposals as we get to fast forward to clock to one year in the future and see what is happening at a board meeting of the future.
As well as introducing participants to the skill of internal consulting, this game will also increase awareness of where in an organisation’s knowledge might be hidden.
Corporately Clueless
Big Bucks Unlimited has been a successful manufacturing company for over 50 years – until now. Sales figures are in freefall, staff turnover is climbing and the shareholders are getting very fidgety. The board cannot understand it – they have an excellent product, quality processes and a state of the art manufacturing plant – what could possibly be going wrong?
The Chairman remembers reading an article about employee culture and motivation and the effect they can have on productivity. At the time he dismissed it – after all, why wouldn’t the staff be motivated working for such a successful company – but now in desperation he has decided to bring in a team of consultants to analyze the culture of the organization.
So that’s your task … to analyze the culture of Big Bucks Unlimited and to decide
“Who Killed the Motivation?”
Corporately Clueless is part training session and part game. The teams are introduced to the Cultural Web - a tool to identify and /or design the culture of an organisation. The Cultural firstly identifies the areas that contribute to creating a culture, such as organisation structure, processes, stories / myths and traditions. It then details how to pull all this information to form a cohesive picture.
Each team is provided with information about a business, including organisation structure, HR policies and the opportunity to contact various members of staff. However, not everyone will be available in person and you will also be limited on how many face-to-face interviews you can hold – so chose carefully.
At the end of the session you have to decide which person (or persons) are responsible for Big Bucks’ problems. Was it: Natalie Notional in Marketing, Edward Egghead in IT, Beryl Bulldog the Chairman’s PA or Dotty Daydream in Customer Service Or perhaps it was Ollie Oldtimer or Norman Niceguy at the manufacturing plant.
You have to decide whodunit and how …
An optional extra to Culturally Clueless is to then get delegates to use the Cultural Web to think about the kind of culture they would like to have in their organization in the future – and then take practical steps to get to that position
Dramatic Deeds
Dramatic Deeds is our brand for forum theatre - a new and powerful development activity that uses drama to embed learning. It is an improvised play that addresses specific issues that are pertinent to the needs of the client.
Dramatic Deeds provides a safe environment to try out new ideas, tackle sensitive subjects and share knowledge. It allows participants the rare benefit of hindsight with the ability to rewind the action and try again. A debrief and review session ensures that participants can translate the experience into practical value and relate to their own organisation.
We will write a tailored sketch that reflects some of the issues or challenges facing the organisation and / or learning experiences you wish to impart. The situation will be humorous and focussed on a situation that all can relate to, so as not to feel threatened. The humour in the situation will come both from the characters themselves (some stereo-types etc) and a few funny lines. However, the key points of the exercise will still be clear with the humour serving to maintain interest and make the points more memorable.
The sketch will last approximately 15 minutes and the situation ends with a stalemate situation. The facilitator then asks the delegates to split into groups to discuss what went wrong, what the potential end result might be and how this would impact the company (and ultimately its employees) and how the situation could have been handled better
We will already have prepared some ideas for the replay sketch based on what you want the learning to be, but will reconvene at the end of these breakout sessions to check whether there are any other points that need to be included in the replay (during which time the delegates will have a coffee break)
We will then run the replay with the entire audience and facilitate a short debriefing session to pick out what they have learned from the experience and possibly how this links to the new organisational strategy / culture in relation to customers
Forum Theatre works particularly well when trying to change culture or attitudes. As it is completely tailored to each individual client, we can write the script to link into the key topics being discussed throughout the rest of the conference.
Recent examples of Dramatic Deeds sketches include:
Dodgy Furniture Store – challenging perceptions of customer care
Family Affairs – teamwork and communication in a working class family
Opportunity Knocks – diversity and equal opportunities for college leavers
Fit for Business – handling resistance to change in an estate agency
Avago Antiques – changing culture from traditional to modern
Love Letters
Silo working is a key issue today and Pearlcatchers specialise in helping teams to work across boundaries. One particularly useful activity is the Love Letters Workshop – an interactive team activity, based on the work of Richard Pascale, a practitioner of ‘chaos management’ and author of ‘The Art of Japanese Management’ and ‘Managing on the Edge’.
The Love Letters workshop is an innovative approach to process improvement and breaking down departmental silos. Starting initially in departmental teams, the structure allows interaction between teams to resolve issues that cause productivity problems in different areas of the business.
This highly facilitated session allows teams/departments to identify the major cause of problems in their area, refine these down to specific requests to other areas, which are then ‘posted’ to that area. Each team then investigates the ‘love letters’ they have received and attempt to develop resolution strategies. The teams are then brought back together for a group discussion on a selection of the issues and to agree how they will work together in the future.
Strong facilitation is required, together with training material to guide the teams to a successful conclusion. Love Letters is an excellent tool both for breaking down departmental silos and identifying underlying issues and root causes.