Here are some of our customers and the different ways that they have incorporated our courses into their development programs because they saw it as a good return on investment in training.

Program:  Emerging Leaders

Participants: High potential employees from around the world.  Over 4000 participants have or will be learning business acumen using our Learning Burst product. 

Implementation: Virtual groups of approximately 30 global participants meet via web classes. They first complete 12 targeted Learning Bursts. This is followed by the their participation in the business simulation as individuals and also as part of a virtual team.  IBM HR staff monitor their progress and facilitate the simulation results during the web classes. This module concludes with each team presenting its simulation results to a virtual board of directors during the final web-based class. 

Program: New Consultant Orientation and Training

Participants: Newly hired consultants, most of whom are recent college graduates majoring in non-business fields (e.g. art, communication, social sciences, engineering).  150+ trained annually.

Implementation: Participants individually complete 21 Learning Bursts and the business simulation over a 6 month period.  This assignment is a part of their New Hire Orientation program that includes an orientation to the company and the development of other skills such as marketing, presentation skills, data research and analysis, and client relations.  The company administers a proficiency examination as a check on participant mastery of the material.

Program:  Leadership Development for New Managers

Participants:  Newly or recently promoted first-line managers

Implementation:  Participants are assigned 9 modules.  They also participate in two webinars led by an ADP facilitator and a finance staff person. The first webinar provides an introduction to the Learning Burst approach and why business acumen is such a critical for ADP managers.  In the interim between the first and second webinars, participants complete the assigned modules and also submit at least one specific example of how they intend to apply the concepts in their work. In the second webinar, participants discuss the key concepts as applied to ADP and also share with each other their plans for applying the concepts.

Program: Emerging Leaders

Participants: Next generation leaders

Implementation: This company has engaged a leadership development consultant who is using 12 targeted Learning Bursts and the Business Simulation to develop business acumen in 7 participants selected for a 4-week leadership development program which is sponsored by the CFO.  All participants work in the same location and are assigned 4 Learning Bursts per week.  At the end of each week, the consultant conducts a 60-90 minute review of the material.  In the fourth session, participants are divided into 2 teams to play the Business Simulation.  The CFO attends each session to help with facilitation and to answer finance and business acumen questions and to ensure the skills learned are aligned with the company's strategy and business results.

Program:  Q595 is a global leadership development consultancy with offices in Germany, the UK, the U.S. and China.  Most of its training programs involve rigorous outdoor activities.  When its clients request business acumen training, Q595 provides them with “Business Acumen:  Your Key to Success.”

Participants:  Recently promoted managers

Implementation:  Q595 uses “Business Acumen:  Your Key to Success” in its leadership program for managers in a European financial services company

Program: "Sales Development"

Participants: Regional and Branch Sales Managers

Implementation:  Regional and branch sales managers who wanted to improve their business acumen completed a selected number of Learning Bursts.  This training helped them to become better business partners by improving their understanding of the financial problems and challenges of existing or potential customers.

Program: Writing Business Information and News

Participants: Employees participating in the company's mentoring program

Implementation: All 21 Learning Bursts and the business simulation are sequentially assigned to the students.  Each week, participants complete 2 Learning Bursts individually and as a group they complete the exercises and quizzes in the workbook.   The mentor (a senior leader in the company) then conducts a discussion on the concepts using real world examples that he has selected from both Canadian and global markets.  In the final week of the course, the students play the business simulation - first individually and then as a team.