Engaging Millennials with Online Business Simulations
Corporate education leaders tasked with developing future managers must understand important characteristics about this group, particularly Millenials. Online business simulations can provide an answer.
A significant percentage of leaders-in-training are Millennials. This subset of the workforce grew up with highly visual, rapidly changing technology. They only know a world in which information can be found and shared immediately.
Millennials generally don’t refer to their managers as content experts in the way their predecessors did. Instead, they ask Google or seek out the newest app. A steady stream of online content has created a group of continuous learners which is a great characteristic. If these future leaders don’t look to their managers for guidance, where will they learn the details of their organization’s operations?
Most Millennials grew up with highly coordinated schedules of team sports and summer camps. As a result, they are generally great collaborators, “play well with others,” and seek groups to align themselves with. Participating in an online business simulation offers a similar experience.
Training with Millennials in Mind
The characteristics of the next business leaders are serious considerations when planning leadership development programs. These are team players with an affinity for visual learning and technology. They expect instant access to information. Consequently, this is not likely a group that will respond well to lecture-based seminars or text-only instruction. They want their learning accessible anytime, anywhere. Equally important, they want it to be immersive and hands-on, to be immediately applicable. They want to be engaged and inspired.
One solution that addresses all those issues is online business simulations. Simulations mirror the realities of your operations. Therefore, they provide a safe, visual, high tech means of teaching decision-making skills. Additionally, they teach critical KPIs, and important business lessons.
Online business simulations can be used as part of a larger program for in-person learning or as self-paced instruction for remote learners. In any type of setting, the benefits, particularly to younger managers are significant.
Our simulations include design logic that engages participants and makes it easy for them to interact with the technology, the facilitator and each other. We can include Virtual Managers that serve as coaches offering recommendations to participants in specific business areas and around critical decisions. Role-based simulations force collaboration, team communication and help to break down silos with exclusive reports and data for each participant.
Intuitive Design
Virtual Managers (AI)
Role-based Teamplay