WILMINGTON, DE, UNITED STATES, October 13, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Even before the pandemic forced many employees to work from home-based locations, understanding the value of collaboration was becoming a hot topic requested from training delivery managers. Departments were becoming increasingly silo’d operations with little awareness of what each other was doing let alone the impact one group’s decisions had on another.

The Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated the problem. With employees forced to quickly establish work-from-home solutions compounded by a range of new stresses (kids now schooling at home, health concerns about virus exposure and new ways of managing the most mundane tasks like grocery shopping), collaboration among team members nearly vanished.

Prior to the pandemic, “U.S. workers spent an average of 43% of their workweeks collaborating either virtually or in person.” During 2020, the number fell to 27% meaning a 37% drop in time spent collaborating and a significant increase the amount of time working completely alone.

Collaboration boosts innovation, engagement, quality of work and more

Researchers have long understood that several key business areas benefit from effective collaboration among employees. These include: speed and quality of work, innovation and creativity, employee engagement, measures of growth and profitability. Across nearly every industry, each of these areas suffered during the pandemic. A lack of effective collaboration includes an erosion of trust and decreased communication among team members negatively impacting innovation, productivity and morale.

Now that some employees are returning to in-person work environments, how will teams reunite and re-engage? How can trust and motivation be restored? What can be done to break down the walls that have isolated team members?

We believe the solution lies in providing hands-on experiential training that mimics employees’ on-the-job dilemmas, demonstrates the significance of breaking down silos, and provides an opportunity for participants to “walk a mile” in another’s shoes, revealing the value of collaboration across business units.

Our answer: role-based simulations.

In any business simulation, participants are asked to assume management and control of a particular business. Typically, employees gather in teams to review the business’s situation, overall market and pending decisions. A skilled facilitator may assist in assuring that each player offers input to the team so that all can engage and learn.

In a role-based simulation, each participant is assigned a specific area to manage. This might include Production, R&D, HR, Marketing, Business Development, Innovation, Finance, and more. Each role has exclusive access to reporting data for use in supporting sound decision making.
“Teams learn quickly that the key to success is collaboration among players,” noted Bryan Rimmer, CEO, “just as it is in the real world.”
If the Director of Production fails to share critical data about the business’s capacity with the Director of Business Development, for example, contracts may be committed to that cannot be fulfilled. Similarly, across each department. Teams that fail to communicate well and collaborate effectively often experience rogue decision making and subsequent failure – powerful lessons they take back to their real-world roles.

Post-event, participants of role-based simulations note they previously, “had no idea how critical a role the Marketing Dept played,” or that they, “didn’t understand how intertwined the company’s business units are.” Participation in these true-to-life, simulated experiences translates to immediate application – the whole point of corporate training events.

Global Simulation Provider

IndustryMasters has been developing and delivering advanced business simulations for more than a decade and role-based sims for the past three years. Our off-the-shelf products can be modified or fully customized to meet learners’ needs.

With a global footprint, we serve businesses of all sizes and offer remote-based, virtual deliveries. Simulations focused on a range of specific industries or business problems, including change management, supply chain issues, project management and more, are available for immediate deployment.

Sources:
“How companies can reinvigorate collaboration post-COVID,” Fortune, March 21, 2021 by Diane Hoskins retrieved from https://fortune.com/2021/03/21/collaboration-remote-work-from-home-covid/.
“7 Strategies for Promoting Collaboration in a Crisis,” Harvard Business Review, July 8, 2020, by Heidi K. Gardner and Ivan Matviak retrieved from https://hbr.org/2020/07/7-strategies-for-promoting-collaboration-in-a-crisis
“The effects of remote work on collaboration among information workers,” Nature Human Behavior, September 9, 2021, by Yang, Holtz, et al, retrieved from https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-021-01196-4

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