The Benefits of Business Acumen Simulations
Without a business acumen lens, employees are unable to see or understand the impact their work has on the larger enterprise.
Business acumen training solutions encourage an ownership mindset at all levels by giving employees a practical understanding of how each decision they make can impact the business and their future.
Developing business acumen in your people has an almost immediate effect your your business’ bottom line.
Simulations to Build Business Acumen Competency
Table of Contents
Executive Challenge™
A Unique Laboratory for Senior Leaders
Executive Challenge is a laboratory for senior leaders, helping them better understand complex organizational dynamics and recognize their own leadership blind spots. In this simulation, senior leaders are tasked with running a business in a fast-paced, competitive marketplace: from forming a strategy to making critical personnel decisions, setting operational capacities, and designing effective sales campaigns. Executive Challenge encourages self-awareness and reinforces cross-functional collaboration, operational excellence, and strategic thinking.
Objectives:
- Translate high-level strategy into sustainable business results
- Anticipate the impact of operational decisions across the enterprise
- Recognize personal leadership blind spots that prevent effective execution
- Practice executive-level influence and presentation skills
Audience:
- Senior Director and VP-level leaders
- Participants in senior-level LDPs
- Intact cross-functional teams at the VP+ level
Format:
- Facilitated 8-hour experience (shortened formats available)
- In-person or virtual classroom
- Ideal capstone for leadership programs
- The perfect kickoff to in-person or virtual offsites
Enterprise Challenge™
A Development Experience for Emerging Leaders
Enterprise Challenge is an immersive leadership development experience for rising and aspiring leaders in your organization. In this team-based competition, participants practice cross-functional collaboration and decision-making skills under pressure.
Participants are placed on cross-functional teams, compete with others in a dynamic marketplace, take calculated business risks, react to unexpected events, and – through targeted debriefs and reflection – learn how to utilize their leadership style to execute strategy under pressure.
Objectives:
- Communicate and collaborate effectively across functional silos to influence outcomes
- Make decisions under conditions of ambiguity and uncertainty
- Identify differences in leadership styles in self and others
- Practice persuasion and presentation skills
Audience:
- Participants in early- to mid-career LDPs
- Rising managers and directors
- High-performing managers and team leaders
Format:
- Facilitated 8-hour experience (shortened formats available)
- In-person or virtual classroom
- Ideal capstone for leadership programs
Business Challenge™
Understanding Business through Competition
Put your nonfinancial managers in the driverʼs seat of business. Let them balance variables and feel the pressure of making economic tradeoffs. They will put their skills to the test and learn from their successes and failures. Through facilitated debriefs and an immersive learn-by-doing environment, nonfinancial managers will more confidently understand financial data and make decisions that drive business value.
Objectives:
- Use the language of business and finance to communicate cross-functionally
- Connect day-to-day decisions to three key business value drivers: growth, profitability, and risk
- Understand the connection between company strategy and financial performance indicators
Audience:
- Individual contributors, managers, and new directors without a financial background
- Participants in cross-functional leadership development programs
- Nonfinancial managers in function-specific programs
Format:
- Facilitated 8-hour experience (shortened formats available)
- In-person or virtual classroom
- Ideal capstone for leadership programs
Finance Challenge™
Finance for Nonfinancial Senior Leaders
Expand your leaders’ business horizons. Let them make difficult long-term investment decisions and feel the pressure of making economic tradeoffs as they learn from their successes and failures in a safe, simulated business environment. Through expertly facilitated debriefs, your leaders will feel more confident making investment decisions, utilizing financial ratios like ROIC (Return on Invested Capital), and evaluating strategic options that drive long-term business value.
Objectives:
- Use the language of finance and advanced financial performance metrics to plan and evaluate investments
- Predict the impact of operational decisions on growth, profits, working capital, risk, and long-term value creation
- Understand the connections between financial performance metrics, company strategy, and competitive market dynamics
Audience:
- Senior Director and VP-level leaders
- Participants in senior-level LDPs
- Intact cross-functional teams at the VP+ level
Format:
- Facilitated 8-hour experience (shortened formats available)
- In-person or virtual classroom
- Ideal capstone for leadership programs
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