How long has ExperiencePoint been in business and how did the company begin?
ExperiencePoint is a lot of fun - we create space for clients to play and learn. Our origins are quite humble and seem nearly cliche in our industry. My biz partner James Chisholm and I met in business school and bonded while battling on the same InduStrat team (our decisive victory definitely fueled our confidence in our simulation savviness!) Our shared passion for gaming and business education eventually led to the creation of ExperiencePoint back in 1997. Completely self-financed, we depended greatly on the combination of the kindness of others and raw perseverance to get our fledgling company off the ground. In the past decade we've developed a suite of change leadership games, an extensive client base including the UN, US Steel, GE, Nokia, and the US Military, a network of international distributors and delivery partners, and a powerful simulation development engine that enables rapid, inexpensive customization. All of this has been made possible by a dedicated and talented team of EPers. I'm confident there isn't a finer group of professionals in our industry.
You describe the mission as “Provide business people with perfect practice to elevate their performance from ordinary to extraordinary.” I like the focus on performance. Can you elaborate on “perfect practice”?
It comes from a Vince Lombardi quote, "Practice doesn't make perfect. Only 'perfect practice' makes perfect." The genesis of its specific meaning for ExperiencePoint and how it informs what we do however has several sources. Check out the HBR article "The Making of an Expert" and recent books from Malcolm Gladwell (Outliers) and Geoff Colvin (Talent is Overrated). The examples cited in each work are different but the punch-line is the same: The great are made, not born, and it is only through years of dedicated, structured effort that one can reach the top in their field.
Unlike musicians and athletes however, business people aren't afforded the luxury of practice. They tackle work situations armed with business or performance objectives, but rarely with personal development objectives. As a consequence the path to performance improvement can be tortuous.
Simulations - designed well - provide a form of structured experience that focuses the participant on personal development. Key elements of "perfect practice" are inherent in the methodology - things like explicit goals, experimentation, and instant feedback - and can be fine-tuned to create optimal learning in a condensed timeframe. Great simulations are also replayable - participants can tackle it multiple times and achieve skills mastery rather than game mastery.
Can you describe some of your simulation products/product lines, including their topics and most common usage formats?
Thanks for the opportunity to shamelessly discuss our products and services :-)
- DecisionAdvantage: In the world of Perfect Practice, DecisionAdvantage games are "warm-ups". They focus on decision making pitfalls and are a first step towards performance improvement. They create "teachable moments" - participants become aware of their susceptibility to decision traps and consequently are immediately open to learning more.
- ExperienceChange: ExperienceChange games are "work-outs" and are focused on performance improvement. Each game enables experimentation with change leadership best practice principles in different challenging scenarios. Participants leave the experience ready to start applying these principles back on-the-job.
- Custom sims: And finally, we offer "custom work-outs" for corporations, organizations and business schools. In broad brush strokes, we have two custom offers - tailor and from-scratch.
Tailoring our existing simulations is a cost and time effective path to simulation development and runs the gamut from updating terminology and graphics to introducing completely new content and evaluation models. In our industry, clients rarely have sizable discretionary R&D dollars to invest in simulation-based learning. Nonetheless, the appetite for simulation games is strong and budgets do exist for delivery (in the HR world's vernacular, "bums-in-seats dollars"). ExperiencePoint's EXPRESS tool enables rapid and inexpensive simulation development by allowing our clients to author their own games using our simulation templates and existing assets. A completely new, five to six hour robust simulation experience can be created for $25,000 to $50,000 (note: the industry benchmark for a similar tool is approximately $250K).
For client needs where our current simulation templates will not suffice, we offer from-scratch solutions. In the past we've created from-scratch games for major conference engagements (500 simultaneous users) and for simple, short seat-time classroom exercises. Custom work is simultaneously exhilarating and tough and with our participatory and iterative design approach, clients experience (nearly) every ounce of both. The thrill of the end result makes all the sweat worthwhile.
Are these simulations relevant both for corporate learners and students?
The short answer is "Yes" - our products are used in Corporate Management Development Programs, in Executive Education Programs and in Degree Program education.
However, the simulation experiences we create are part technology and part human. Participants work in teams and the players around the table greatly influence the degree and type of informal learning that occurs in a simulation session.
Our simulations not only explicitly impart best practice models and ideas, they implicitly prompt specific and important conversations. A group of undergraduates discussing whether or not to fire an individual in the simulation will naturally have a less textured conversation than a group of experienced MBA students or mid-level managers, who in turn will have a less textured conversation than a group of senior executives. In short, the simulation will rise to the level of who's playing. ExperiencePoint's POV is that this difference is both natural and appropriate for optimal informal learning.
When are simulations most effective in realizing performance change?
I worry that simulations and virtual worlds are so seductive that this is often an absent question in our industry. Thanks for asking!
Tackling this question from the opposite direction first...I once heard the author Douglas Coupland dispense the following life advice - "figure out what you're not good at and then don't do it." When it comes to simulations' role in performance change, I think we'd be wise to heed the same advice.
Computers make for lousy human-beings. I have a visceral, negative reaction to the plethora of simulations that claim to develop interpersonal skills by placing the learner FPS-style across the desk from a simulated conversation partner, and then offering up three to four pre-packaged things to say (each eliciting a pre-packaged response from the computer). How is this better than a choose-your-own adventure style book? We shouldn't expect (or promote) these types of games as useful for anything other than imparting the very basics of interpersonal interaction. I'm excited to think about the possibilities for this approach as new technologies become available that help machines recognize and reflect human emotion (see the works of Ros Picard at MIT and Paul Ekman) but we're not there yet.
Whew - now that that's out of my system, I'll address what simulations should do! For ExperiencePoint performance improvement is about transfer - designing to ensure that knowledge gained in-game is actually and appropriately applied and does not end up locked away, inert in the participant's mind. Game designers can do a number of things to encourage transfer.
Identify the salient surface characteristics of the performance environment and reflect these in the simulation environment. Because human memory fuses perceptual cues and knowledge, it's valuable to incorporate environmental triggers from the application environment in the game scenario. This can include terminology, tools, and visual representations to name a few. Because emotional state is also a trigger, it's important for simulation designers to practice judicious use of our favorite engagement technique, competition. Also, overuse of abstractions (like "CEO Dashboards") that scrub away important complexities can have a detrimental effect on transfer.
Use multiple examples, both similar and dissimilar. Deep learning involves seeing multiple instantiations of a concept so that a learner can abstract the structure of the concept. Our suite of change simulations provide participants with a variety of scenarios where the scenarios look different on the surface, but the underlying best practices are the same. Through play, learners develop an understanding of how these practices manifest in different situations and thus build a deeper understanding of the nature of change best practice.
Allow for experimentation prior to the big "teach". Traditional education culture encourages 'knowing' prior to 'doing'. In simulation experiences this happens when participants are challenged to learn a framework for a certain concept (e.g. a risk management model) and are then asked to apply the framework in the simulation.
What is demonstrably better from a transfer perspective is to allow for experimentation in the simulation - with the data, decisions, and feedback metrics - and then teach the framework. This way participants can develop intuitions around the concepts which are then later reinforced or disabused by the framework taught.
Now, that's answering your question from a design perspective. Of course there are related content, audience, and on-the-job considerations that every simulation designer must consider when figuring out how to facilitate performance improvement.
Thanks - that really is a fantastic way of describing what works, what doesn't, and the learning science that underlies both. Do you have a favorite recent story of how a simulation you developed really helped a customer?
We recently used our EXPRESS engine to create a "Lean" implementation game for the Ontario Health System. Adopting Lean management practices is a key part of the provincial government's priority of reducing hospital wait times. However because it represents significant and on-going change, there has been a degree of resistance from various operational level stakeholders. For Lean to succeed, leaders and managers need to become agile change agents.
In health care, budgets are always tight and this seemed to preclude the creation of a custom simulation experience that could impart Lean implementation best practice. However ExperiencePoint was able to use EXPRESS to allow a team of health care professionals, academics, and consultants to author their own change game. The result is Lakeview, a simulation which is currently being rolled out across the Ontario health system. (Also see short blog overview of the sim.)
Level 1 (reaction) and Level 2 (learning) feedback has been extremely positive. A broader study has begun to evaluate the simulation's more lasting effects.
If someone is interested in adopting business simulations to enhance learning, what advice would you give them as they explore product options?
Assuming custom is not an option, here are some thoughts about exploring off-the-shelf products:
Start with a clearly articulated need which you and the vendor can then co-translate into learning goals. This co-translation approach will allow you to remain open to various options and may refine your view of what is the best way to address the need. The alternative of establishing rigid learning goals in advance of your search can lead to disappointment as no off-the-shelf tool is likely to be a perfect match.
Ask vendors for client testimonials and case studies, but only as a threshold measure of a vendors experience level. The best way to tell if a simulation will work for your organization is to run a pilot. Most vendors offer discounted pilots and will want to help you find low-risk ways to trial.
And on the subject of trials, try many different products. Simulations are best understood through 'doing' so experiment with a number and allow yourself to be inspired by the best parts of each - even an off-the-shelf tool can be customized in delivery.
Finally, ask vendors about their design philosophy and POV on simulations and performance improvement. They should have one!
Tha'ts great advice. What’s on the horizon for ExperiencePoint?
We're currently working on a "Design Thinking" Simulation. I'm excited about both the content and the rather unorthodox design we've originated to accommodate boundless decision-making (stay tuned!) The game is due to launch this Fall and, because it teaches methods for addressing messy and complex challenges, I'm optimistic it will have a positive impact on the world.
I'm sure it will. Thanks so much, Greg, for taking the time to share your insights and information about ExperiencePoint. We look forward to seeing what's next with you guys.
For more information:
- Greg Warman, Principal, ExperiencePoint
- Website: http://www.experiencepoint.com/
- 866.369.9888 x221
- Also see the "Experiential Learning in Change Management" chapter that Greg Warman and ExperiencePoint co-founder James Chisholm wrote in The Handbook of Experiential Learning (Pfeiffer, 2007)
See all the business simulation interviews here:
http://saulnier.typepad.com/learning_technology/2009/06/business-simulation-interview-series.html
Posted by: Denis | August 21, 2009 at 04:33 PM