The Benefits of Business Simulation

Business simulations allow learners to interact with a realistic version of their working environment.

A simulation game combines cooperation, competition and decision-making with feedback and repetition. Combining game elements with simulations, modern technology and media creates a learning solution with many benefits.

This type of group simulation teaches learners about the situation they face while showing them how to work together and learn from others’ experience.

Business simulations place learners in realistic scenarios they will encounter at work. An environment that recreates the real world lets them see the effects of their decisions immediately.

To get the most from a business simulation game, you should:

• Reflect real business challenges in the simulation’s storyline
• Combine physical tasks and technology to create an impact.
• Add a competitive challenge.
• Test throughout development to refine the game
• Use images and videos to improve the learning experience
• Use game data and debriefing to add value to the feedback stage.

A business simulation incorporating these elements can offer the following benefits.

Benefits of Business Simulation for Learners

• Accelerate Performance Through Experiential Learning

Experiential learning has proved more effective than other training approaches in many areas. A simulation lets employees learn by experiencing the consequences of their actions and trying different strategies to see different outcomes.

Studies show that simulations can influence both knowledge of their specific subject matter and broader skills.

• Develop Critical Skills in a Realistic Environment

Research on learners’ critical thinking shows that these skills improve through participation in management simulations.

• Deepen Learning Through Collaboration

Learners themselves consider collaboration with colleagues the most important learning method.

A simulation allows learners to work together to achieve the best results. Learning from a colleague’s approach and industry knowledge is more useful than reading about a technique or fact.

Cooperating and competing with teams you do not usually work with enables knowledge sharing that would otherwise be unlikely.

• Achieve Exceptional Engagement

Combining teamwork, interaction, interactive media and game elements creates a training event that learners want to experience.

When learners want to take the training and even repeat the session, you know it offers something beyond traditional instruction.

Benefits of Simulation for Businesses

• Help Employees Understand the Broader Strategic Picture

Most learners experience only a few roles within an organization. Taking on a different role in a simulation helps them see how they fit into the bigger picture.

Using a simulation to introduce how a company operates gives new employees an overview that a traditional presentation cannot match. Experiencing another department’s role builds empathy for colleagues and their challenges.

Bringing geographically dispersed employees together through a team simulation helps participants understand the problems facing different teams in their company.

• Provide Assessment Data Quantitative

Modern business simulations use technology to integrate the activity into the learning platform. Recording actions and outcomes allows real-time feedback and captures information for later assessment.

Quantitative data can be extracted from learners’ inputs to the simulation. More sessions produce more data for comparison and analysis, making the simulation more valuable over time.

• Provide Assessment Data Qualitative.

A facilitator often helps run the simulation, allowing learning and development teams to collect qualitative data during the session.

Debriefing is an important part of any business simulation and provides valuable learning opportunities for both the organization and participants.

A popular starting point for business simulation debriefing is Sivasailam Thiagarajan’s six-phase model:

1. How do you feel?
2. What happened?
3. What did you learn?
4. How does this relate to the real world?
5. What if…?
6. What next?

Asking learners these questions gives deeper insight into the simulation’s effectiveness and how to improve it.

A mid-game debrief lets learners share ideas and strategies with teammates, facilitators and opposing teams. The simulation can be adjusted while it is running so everyone benefits as much as possible.

Combining feedback with simulation data gives learning and development teams a unique opportunity to compare performance and outcomes across teams and individuals.

Suggested Books:

Applied Simulation: Modeling and Analysis Using Flexsim

The Fifth Discipline (New Edition): The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization

The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook (New Edition): Strategies and Tools for Building a Learning Organization