Using our Voice of the Business (VotB) process, we identified the most common challenges that leaders faced, and what good and bad looked like in those situations. We also projected the potential reception of the new performance management and promotions processes—what could go wrong and how to mitigate those risks. This discovery process enabled us to develop a tailored learning solution designed to overcome their specific challenges.
The Blueline Difference: A flexible approach to solving the problem
Our initial recommendation was to use a learning visual to introduce the new leader standards, followed by a board-based simulation that would bring together teams of learners to apply the new standards in context. Instead, the client reasoned, a technology solution could simplify the delivery process since it would eliminate the need to coordinate, print, and ship large volumes of materials. In response, our team came up with a new way to execute a digital learning experience that kept the team-based design strategy intact and would have the same impact as the art-based design—if not more memorable in its novelty.
We developed a two-day experience to build the specific skills leaders needed to create high-performing teams in their company’s unique environment. This immersive experience combined a broad range of learning activities to introduce new knowledge and concepts.
Facing real-life scenarios, teams of learners had to make difficult choices that impacted two competing objectives: growing employee engagement and driving business results. The scenarios explored all aspects of the new integrated HR systems and the new leader standards that support them, including the tools and behaviors required to make them come to life.
The team-based training was deployed to over 1,000 leaders throughout North America. Bringing people together in a team-driven environment—whether on-site, virtual, or hybrid—created a unique opportunity to assimilate their diverse perspectives and unique expertise. Learners had the opportunity to discover new concepts, develop their emotional intelligence, and tease out the best possible solutions as a team. Choice-specific feedback enabled learners to fail forward and learn from their mistakes.
Each team tracked their progress relative to the other teams on a live leaderboard, which was strategically positioned for everyone to see. This and other gamification techniques, such as random events and unanticipated long-term outcomes, created high levels of learner engagement, knowledge retention, and application pull-through. Scoring also helped learners stay connected to the right choices and outcomes.
Our ability to combine simulation and gamification techniques to develop social and technical skills has subsequently become a hallmark of Blueline’s ExperienceBUILDER™ digital learning design and delivery platform.
