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In my years working with L&D and Talent leaders, two questions seem to come up time and again: How can we build training faster, and how can we make it more affordable? These core drivers have led ETU on our mission to develop efficient simulation-based training, without losing any of its effectiveness.
We’re constantly evolving our learning simulation platform to meet the needs of today's businesses, offering a blend of flexibility and customization. Our goal is to empower organizations to adjust content to match their unique style, culture, and language, ensuring every training session is relevant and engaging for teams. As a step in this evolution, we’ve created a set of “ready-to-deploy” simulations, which templatize some of the best parts of our custom sims, allowing for a fast, efficient development process.
Priority topic #1: Leadership
After consulting with our customer-facing teams and gathering feedback from ETU’s customers, it became clear that leadership development was one of the most popular topics used in simulations right now. This led us to choose a set of key leadership skills to develop within our first read-to-deploy simulations. We began by researching current leadership trends and identifying common deficiencies in leadership skills, outlining 15 key focus areas, including problem-solving, decision-making, coaching, feedback, change management, team building, and collaboration.
Our first “ready-to-deploy” set of leadership simulations targets intermediate-level learners, including aspiring leaders, new managers, and experienced new-hire managers. Leveraging our internal expertise, we tailored solutions designed to resonate broadly while addressing essential skills for today's workforce.
Emphasizing a holistic approach, we integrated critical competencies like emotional intelligence, empathetic leadership, active listening, and empowering others. These skills enhance decision-making and problem-solving abilities, bolster risk and stress management, and contribute to fostering an inclusive organizational culture.
Like all ETU simulations, our new suite of leadership simulations immerses learners in realistic scenarios where they take the lead, fostering critical thinking and decision-making skills within a safe learning environment.
Tailoring the content
Tailoring one of our leadership simulations involves four key steps:
- Define your goals and align them with the business case.
- Tailor the script to match your unique voice, organizational culture, and technology infrastructure.
- Select media options such as avatars, voices, and backgrounds.
- Identify and outline critical metrics relevant to your organization.
Let’s take a look at each of the four recommended steps in more detail:
1. Defining your goals
Aligning training initiatives with business goals and outcomes is crucial, and is always the first step in our work with customers regardless of the level of customization they want. By aligning simulations with specific business needs, organizations can ensure that learning initiatives develop essential competencies and drive tangible business results.
This approach optimizes resource allocation, focusing training efforts where they can most effectively address operational challenges or capitalize on market opportunities. Ultimately, integrating ETU simulations into training strategies empowers organizations to foster a culture of continuous learning and achievement, directly contributing to long-term success and competitiveness.
After all, it’s not just about learning; it’s about learning that drives results.
2. Making it yours
Below is an example of adjustments (highlighted in yellow) made to character names, technology, and common terminology in a simulation script. Using our ready-to-deploy templates, you can effortlessly revise training scripts to incorporate these preferences, enhancing familiarity and engagement for your employees.
Original script:
Anton: Hmm, great question. What about setting up specific communication channels in Slack for each client project? I can work closely with Cara and the project management team to integrate Slack channels and ensure they run smoothly. Does that sound like a good plan?
Updated script:
Jack: Hmm, great question. What about setting up specific communication channels in Teams for each customer engagement? I can work closely with Alma and the team to integrate Teams channels and ensure they run smoothly. Does that sound like a good plan?
3. Collaborating on media options
Once you've tailored the script to fit your preferences, ETU’s experienced media development team collaborates with you on media choices. The visual and sensory elements of the simulation are refined, ensuring every detail matches your vision perfectly. In this collaborative phase, the story comes alive, turning ideas into an engaging, interactive experience that captivates and educates your audience.
What makes our ETU simulation design process stand out is the unwavering support from our expert instructional design team. They’re side by side with our clients every step of the way, offering professional insights and valuable guidance. This partnership lays the groundwork for creating a learning experience that meets its goals and genuinely reflects your company's values and aspirations.
4. Integrating the metrics that matter
The final step in tailoring your ready-to-deploy program is defining the most meaningful metrics for your organization. At ETU, we prioritize providing you with the necessary data to inform critical decisions for your business. By establishing these metrics, our team can offer straightforward and verifiable insights to support your decision-making processes effectively.
ETU simulations evaluate learners' performance through immersive, real-world scenarios, generating comprehensive analytics that uncover gaps and trends, track progress, identify high achievers, and much more. This capability empowers your business to:
- Bridge skill gaps
- Foster the growth of effective employees
- Enhance engagement and productivity
- Lower operating costs
- Mitigate risks
- Increase revenue
Benefits of Ready-to-Deploy simulations
ETU’s new suite of leadership simulations offer a unique blend, combining the efficiency of ready-made content with the personalized touch of bespoke solutions. Our top priority of efficiency in the design process has been realized, because these new leadership simulations can be built in half the time it would take for a fully bespoke simulation. This accelerated process significantly reduces the time and resources required to develop effective training programs, allowing you to deploy impactful learning solutions swiftly.
This flexibility means you can seamlessly integrate ready–to-deploy simulations into your existing training programs or utilize them as standalone solutions. Additionally, the expedited customization process means receiving actionable data faster, empowering you to make informed, data-driven decisions promptly. This agile approach enhances the efficiency of your training initiatives and enables you to adapt quickly to evolving organizational needs and market demands.
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