What better way to learn about your company than to step in and run it for a while?
When Harley-Davidson Motor Co., Milwaukee, wanted to teach staff from its dealer network what it was like to run a dealership, they called on PriSim Business War Games (www.prisim.com) to simulate the experience for them. The Libertyville, Ill.-based company customized its Redline war game for Harley-Davidson's department managers, who spent 2.5 days on five different simulations, learning about everything from reading financial statements to managing people. They also simulated the challenges that dealers face all the time, such as people quitting, to help participants understand how their decisions affect not only their customers but the bottom line.
“The goal was to teach the leadership team to spend more time working on the business as opposed to working in the business,” says Flip Short, manager of business operations training at Harley-Davidson.