All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
~ J.R.R Tolkien (The Fellowship of the Ring)
At Adrian Walsh & Associates we've been involved in training and development for a long time. Our experience tells us that in terms of practical value - that's to say, actually changing individual behaviours - nothing can compete with programs built around the use of Simulation Games.
For a few years they were regarded as very "dated" or 1980s-ish!
But their value and impact is being recognised again by organisations around the world. It's not an exaggeration to say that Simulation Games are the new trendy training "in-thing" in the mid-2000-teens!
What's a Simulation Game? Quite simply, it's an interactive program that immerses participants in a fictional situation - a "simulation". Participants face challenges to which they must respond. When the challenges are "resolved", everyone participates in a comprehensive debriefing.
Because everyone knows that the situation isn't real, it's relatively (but not completely!) unthreatening. Truth and openness invariably prevail. On the other hand the lessons learned are based on actual, real behaviour. And the evidence is clear that people take the lessons learned and apply them back on the job!
Over time we've used lots of different games. Some are physical. Others are intellectual. Some play in just a few minutes. Others can take days.
But we can honestly say that we haven't used any games that can compete for effectiveness with the Search for the Lost Dutchman's Goldmine.
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"Dutchman" is a fast-paced simulation where teams set out on a journey to mine gold in the American Southwest. In the game teams must confront issues around communication, resource management and team dynamics common to the workplace. During debriefing, team behaviours are linked to opportunities to improve collaboration, leadership, teamwork and communications critical to optimising results. Participative, visual and interactive, "Dutchman" produces an excellent learning environment in a high-impact and memorable way.
Benefits include:
Applications include:
It's a high-powered, fast-paced exercise with visual and kinaesthetic aspects making it an ideal tool for learning and organisational development.
Benefits include:
- Plays in two hours, allowing play and debriefing in a morning or afternoon session.
- Effective with groups from about 12 to 500!
- Strong demonstration of the value of cross-functional and interdepartmental team development and process improvement.
- Simple but powerful metaphors about how things really work.
- Powerful debriefings and interactive sessions.
Applications include:
- Team building, innovation and creativity.
- Leadership training and development of effective supervisory skills.
- Communications skills training (with optional links to personality styles, BelBin Team Roles, NLP, etc)
- Continuous quality and service improvement, and energising existing programs.
It's a high-powered, fast-paced exercise with visual and kinaesthetic aspects making it an ideal tool for learning and organisational development.
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VIRTUALLY EVERY TIME WE HAVE PLAYED IT WITH A GROUP
IT HAS BEEN THE HIGHEST-RATED ASPECT OF THE PROGRAM! |