Business Simulations: An Interview with Enspire Learning's Bjorn Billhardt

I thought I'd start a series of short interviews as a way of exploring the landscape of companies creating business simulations and other innovative experiential learning tools.  It's fitting that we start with Enspire Learning, since Enspire has a close relationship with Harvard Business School and was an early creator of eLearning tools that are still used to this day on campus.  The Quantitative Methods course that Enspire created for HBS continues to be a best selling product here at Harvard Business Publishing and literally set the framework by which all future HBS online courses would be designed and built.  Enspire has been a recent recipient of the Brandon Hall Gold Excellence in Learning award.  Here's Enspire Learning CEO Bjorn Billhardt answering a few questions.

How long has Enspire Learning been in business and how did the company begin?

We started Enspire in the summer of 2001 from my two-bedroom apartment in Austin. Without venture funding we had to be frugal and I remember setting up folding tables for new employees in the living room. Our first audio recordings were done from one of the bedroom closets which we padded with cloth. Early on, we were lucky that our clients lived in different cities, because we had no conference room or office space to host them. But from the start we focused on finding the best people. For example, to ensure that we had the right mix of talent, we recruited from top universities and from a wide variety of creative industries to assemble a highly skilled workforce; this workforce has been our biggest competitive advantage.

You describe the mission as "to create exceptional educational experiences for learners around the world.” I like that you specifically list the global focus.  Do you feel that the international focus helps differentiate Enspire?

To be successful, even start-up companies have to think globally – right from the start. We had our first international deployment in Germany in 2004, only three years after we launched and today we have deployed our leadership and financial acumen programs in many international countries such as China, Brazil, Russia, and India. Without thinking globally from the start, any start-up company risks falling behind. Having been born in Germany myself helps ensure that I do not lose track of our opportunities to expand business around the world.

Can you give us a sense of the work that you do?

We have strong simulation-based programs in areas such as leadership development, financial acumen, supply chain management, and other business topics, plus we often custom-develop many solutions for our clients. Even our off-the-shelf simulations are easily customizable to different program needs, industries, and companies. The best overview of our programs and custom development solutions can be found on our website at www.enspire.com where we have lots of demonstrations and videos of how we work.

Are these simulations relevant both for corporate learners and students?

Yes, our simulations have been highly successful in both corporate and academic settings. In addition to deploying our simulations at many Fortune 500 companies, we have also used them at universities such as the University of Texas, MIT, and UCLA.

When are simulations most effective in realizing performance change?

Simulations must be put into context to maximize the learning experience. They must be relevant to the learners’ job roles. For our leadership simulations, we often recommend for participants to complete self-assessments or 360 peer assessments. Effective simulations allow participants to practice new behavior and test their boundaries in environments that replicate real-world challenges without the real-world consequences of failure. This can be done online or in the classroom, but often involves a skilled facilitator that debriefs the experience. Most importantly, simulations need to be designed such that each participant is asked to play an active role. When on a team, participants cannot learn if they are simply passively watching teammates make critical decisions.

Do you have a favorite recent story of how a simulation you developed really helped a customer?

I’d like to tell you about a recent game we completed for the Doorways to Dreams Fund (D2D). D2D has the mission to provide access to financial services for low-income families. They chose Enspire to develop a casual game that teaches smart use of debit and credit cards. The game, Celebrity Calamity, asks players to manage the funds of three consumption-crazy celebrities. The game is focused on being fun, but manages to teach key concepts such as how to avoid credit card finance charges and fees. Celebrity Calamity was tested throughout the game development process and preliminary user results show a 15-30% increase in financial skills confidence.

If someone is interested in adopting business simulations to enhance learning, what advice would you give them as they explore product options?

Choose a simulation that is built to your learning needs and ensure that it is designed to match other activities around the simulation that reinforce the learning. Don’t expect the simulation to facilitate itself. Good facilitators draw lessons out of participant interactions and connect the simulation performance to business strategy or individual performance. Enspire recently published a whitepaper on this topic.

What's on the horizon for Enspire Learning?

We recently launched a new business finance curriculum and simulation, Fluent in Finance. This simulation is unique in its ability to allow for learners to play in a competitive team online and use interactive reference material that reinforces the online game-play. Additionally, we have many other new online programs in our pipeline and look forward to continue developing more innovative games and simulations in 2009 to help companies achieve their learning goals.

For more information:

Enspire Learning
info@enspire.com
(888) 534-3484

Comments

[Denis]

There is a webinar that features the Celebrity Calamity game mentioned above:

Building Better Learning Games: A Free Webinar
Leveraging Game Design and User Testing for Results

Thursday, April 9, 2009
1 - 2:30 p.m. CST

Space is limited.

Register for webinar or follow this link: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/558400490

Learning games have created a huge buzz in the training industry, promising a motivating and fun learning environment. But, do these games lead to better learning?

During this webinar, the Doorways to Dreams Fund (D2D), Enspire Learning, and the Skillpoint Alliance will discuss the development of the learning game, “Celebrity Calamity.” While managing the finances of spendthrift celebrity, this new game teaches consumers the basics of credit and debit cards. The game needed to be effective and fun to overcome the perception that personal finance education can be difficult, scary, and boring. The preliminary results from experience and efficacy testing show:

50-70% improvement in financial knowledge
15-30% confidence increase in key areas
In this webinar, you will learn about casual games and how to leverage games for learning through a case study of D2D’s “Celebrity Calamity.” Specifically, you will:

Learn about casual games and how these games match to specific learning needs;
Understand the role of user testing in the game design process and how it can yield better learning; and
Get game design tricks of the trade.
Space is limited.

Register for webinar or follow this link: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/558400490

Presented by:

Ben Katz, Enspire Learning, Lead Game Developer
Nick Maynard, D2D Fund, Director of Innovation and New Product Development
Kristy Bowden, Skillpoint Alliance, Director of Digital Media Council

[Denis]

See all the business simulation interviews here:
http://saulnier.typepad.com/learning_technology/2009/06/business-simulation-interview-series.html