Relationship management sits at the heart of excellent client service. Your people may have strong technical expertise, but without strong relationship management skills, internal projects and external relationships can break down. Our approach to developing these vital skills is centred around experiential learning activities and can be delivered as an in-class solution or as virtual learning. Our approach embraces a number of interactive activities designed to help build and embed skills and behaviours around active listening, questioning and communication as well as building rapport and setting out clear expectations.

Our typical experiential learning approach focuses on:

Effective listening – Learning the habits of a good listener and developing an understanding of how to break the barriers to effective learning.

Effective questioning – Learning how to be clear on the purpose and intent of your questions and communicating them with clarity.

Building rapport – Beginning and maintaining relationships with essential banking clients along with making a favourable impression.

Networking – Developing the skills necessary to express ideas and values relevant to your bank effectively at networking events.

Influencing effectively – Understanding the people involved in a banking situation and responding to opportunities with clarity, building trust as you do this.

Rising to the challenge of client service – Experiential training activities to allow your people to develop the skills they need to deliver client service expectations to a professional standard.

Other experiential programmes that explore relationship skills

We have a wide range of banking simulations that also explore relationship skills, in various banking contexts – helping to enhance individual effectiveness and team development at your bank. These include:

Digital learning solutions designed to embed and sustain the learning

Our digital learning solutions offer a flexible and on-demand platform to embed and sustain learning. Drawing on our existing modules or designed bespoke to your needs we can offer digital experiential learning solutions to compliment a learning journey as pre- or post-learning or as a standalone solution. These include virtual learning, e-learning, microlearning and digital workbooks. For more information, contact us today.

Our Client Centricity simulation-based programme will allow your participants to step into the shoes of a typical corporate customer, and experience a wide range of banking products and services from the other side of the fence. Participants get to experience, first hand, how and why clients use various products and services, gaining practical insights into what is appropriate for each stage of the business’ growth and financing needs. The programme covers the product suite for start-up businesses through mid-sized corporates to large multinational businesses.

The programme will also help build knowledge and understanding around your Bank’s offering to clients. Short masterclasses help build knowledge, insights and skills which delegates then apply in an engaging banking simulation – where they are actually running a business similar to that of their customers. The simulation helps delegates to contextualise their learning and offers practical learning takeaways. The programme is designed to build up knowledge incrementally – carefully aligned with the business lifecycle of a typical business – from start-up to multinational trading. In each phase of the business lifecycle, different banking products are relevant, and delegates experience the financing pressures customers face and in doing so gain first-hand experience of banking products that would help solve customer business issues. The programme provides an engaging and memorable experience helping to develop technical, interpersonal and commercial skills while also improving team development.

 Our typical programme structure explores:

• How does a bank generate a return?
• Retail banking
• Commercial banking
• Transaction banking
• Global markets
• Fixed income securities
• Derivatives
• FX and currencies
• Corporate finance
• Private wealth
• Institutional clients

We offer a number of compliance modules as part of our business banking training offering for professionals working in the financial services industry faced with an increasingly challenging regulatory environment. Whether it be insider dealing, market manipulation or failures in information barriers, lessons can be learnt from past failures of internal control. Our series of products and lessons learnt modules, which embrace the perceptual thinking learning approach, give participants the chance to explore well-known examples of banking failures and consider how to apply these insights to their own area of banking. The areas of compliance we focus on are:

 
Our programmes can be tailored to meet the needs and context of your organisation, as well as the audience, whether this be as part of graduate training, management development or general CPD.

Building the right mindset and capabilities to challenge the status quo and embrace change are increasingly becoming an essential skill set given the pace of change in banking and the evolving needs of customers. Our experiential solutions help develop the right mindset – positive, proactive, flexible and eager to learn and seek out new ways to contribute to the success of your Bank.

Our experiential learning approach for compliance training includes banking simulations, interactive workshops and virtual learning webinars, offering clients flexibility in which to create an effective learning journey.

We can also create digital learning solutions that will allow your people to access relevant, on-demand learning including microlearning, e-learning and workbooks for compliance training.

Anyone can have innovative ideas that help drive your bank forward and meet the needs of tomorrow’s customers. Quite often it is the little, day-to-day things that create the most value. Ensuring your people have the skills to seek out new and better ways to create value in your bank is vital. Our experiential learning programmes help build these critical skills, providing your people with practical tools to generate new ideas, apply logical decision making and see ideas through to fruition.

Our experiential approach, which draws on principles of perceptual thinking includes unique banking and business simulations designed to really immerse delegates into the learning, engaging with them emotionally and intellectually to develop robust business and commercial skills essential in making effective decisions. We also have a suite of digital learning solutions designed to support delegates throughout their learning journey including e-learning and microlearning.

Ensuring people from all functions within a bank understand the control issues around specific products is a requirement of today’s more regulated banking environment. Our experiential training programme assesses a number of critical aspects to understanding the products your bank offers along with your control framework. Our typical programme explores:

Know your products banking simulation

Participants experience first-hand how and why clients use the various products on offer at your bank and learn when and where banking products are appropriate for a company based on its size, business lifestyle and commercial situation.

Know your control framework banking simulation

Your people gain a better understanding of the fundamentals of your bank control framework, the importance of a holistic control culture and oversight and the significance of HR issues and how to challenge behaviour that is not consistent with the cultural context of your bank.

We bring an engaging and experiential approach to on-boarding and graduate training programmes. We dedicate time to ensure we fully immerse your programme into your bank’s context, your products, your values and your leadership standards. This way, your programme develops relevant and practical leadership development skills and insights that your people will be able to apply right from the beginning of their careers.

We have identified seven experiential training features critical to equipping your graduates and new hires with the commercial skills and insights they need to succeed at your bank. These are:

Our approach to credit skills training is different. We focus on changing behaviours around how your people give loans. We achieve this by creating experiential learning solutions that are closely aligned with our clients’ credit culture and internal processes, and fully reflective of the current marketplace and trends.

Our tried and tested approach will help your people to make better, more informed financial decisions and build stronger client relationships through robust technical and interpersonal skills. Our solutions draw on a blend of engaging learning interventions including:

We offer a flexible approach to meet the learning ambitions of our clients. And working in close partnership with our clients, we tailor our solutions to ensure they meet their learning outcomes.

We have set out below our sample ‘7 Step Credit Skills Learning Pathway’ which clients can pick and choose elements from depending on their learning needs.

 
Whether you are looking to create or enhance your commercial banking training programme or corporate banking training programme – would be happy to explore your training needs and share our ideas. Please do get in touch or take a look through some of our infographics on this page.

Tailored to reflect your Bank’s KYC and financial crime policies, this banking simulation, centred on an experiential learning approach, will heighten understanding of what information your Bank requires to be obtained to make informed decisions, the triggers for additional due diligence and also the signals to look for in evaluating the on-boarding of customers.

The half-day banking simulation will provide your participants with practical experience in meeting clients and establishing whether they should be on-boarded or not. Participants are given an overview of your policies and attend a networking event where they meet three to five potential client prospects of the bank. The clients are role played by experienced actors, and the clients are all based on real-life potential prospects. They reflect a range of profiles and backgrounds including one or two that have committed financial crimes. The participants are required, in pairs, to meet a number of the client prospects, and through active listening and questioning, obtain sufficient information to determine whether the client should be on-boarded.

The module concludes with the actors all standing in a row at the front of the room. Each team is then required to identify whether or not they would onboard or exit the customer together with the specific reasons why.

Finally, the actors reveal their true identity and those who should not have been on-boarded (i.e. those who have committed financial crimes) step forward to the surprise or expectation of the participant teams. This experiential banking simulation heightens participants’ banking and commercial skills and understanding of what information needs to be obtained to make an informed decision.

We have over 30 years’ experience of working closely with asset finance companies and asset finance divisions of major banks to provide bespoke training solutions centred around experiential learning. Our practical learner-centred training solutions are tailored to your needs and offer a cost-effective alternative compared to industry associations which offer similar training. From foundation modules that introduce asset finance to new joiners through to unique asset finance business simulations designed specifically for the asset finance industry – we can help!

Our asset finance modules are split into three learning pathways; foundation, intermediate and advanced and are designed to equip your people with the technical, interpersonal and commercial skills necessary to add value and progress in asset finance.

Foundation modules in asset finance

Intermediate modules in asset finance

Advanced modules in asset finance

Run the asset finance company – our unique business simulation

This challenging one-day business simulation is set in the context of an asset finance business. The simulation focuses on four interlinked areas, and to be successful, teams need to work together effectively to grow their business and maximise value creation. The simulation works at multiple levels developing technical and commercial skills as well as promoting strong team development. The simulation focuses on:

Whether your people are new to financial services or need to broaden their knowledge and understanding of market developments, our corporate and commercial banking training programmes fit the brief. Our structured ‘Understanding market developments’ programme builds from a review of the causes and repercussions of the financial crisis which laid the foundations for the change in today’s market, through to the broader macroeconomic impact on financial services and the ever-tightening regulations. The retail sector has suffered due to changing consumer expectations and unsustainability of retail business models. Similar challenges like digitalisation, AI and open banking are also impacting on financial services. The programme will consider the strategic options that are available to both existing players in the market and new entrants. What will the successful bank of tomorrow look like and what skill sets will be required to deliver the business values? Our training approach utilises perceptual thinking and breaks the information down into nine sections to increase retention. These are:

We offer an experiential learning approach for new hire programmes, helping to develop practical skills fully immersed in the way you do business, your products, your values and your leadership behaviours. Designed to your needs, our on-boarding and graduate training programmes seamlessly bridge the generational gap, engaging participants both emotionally and intellectually, equipping them with the technical, interpersonal and commercial skills required to succeed at your Bank. We offer a full suite of modules that we can customise to your needs including:

Our programmes range from unique banking simulations and interactive workshops to a wide range of digital learning solutions such as virtual learning, e-learning and microlearning.

We offer a wide range of experiential digital learning solutions for banks that can take the form of a blended learning solution or a standalone module. Our methods include technical credit skills through to a wide range of sector-specific interpersonal skills, delivered in a variety of formats including microlearning, online films, digital workbooks, e-learning and virtual learning.

Our areas of expertise include:

Do your people have a practical understanding of the products your Bank offers and how these products add value to a customer? For instance, when would a business benefit from a finance lease, invoice discounting, a rights issue or trade finance? Whether new to the industry or an experienced professional, we offer a full suite of products and industry skills workshops that we can tailor to reflect the learning needs at your Bank, designed to enhance individual and team development.


We also have a unique banking simulation that can be adapted to your needs. This simulation involves taking over the management of an international business. The simulation allows participants to use a wide range of your Bank’s products to help them grow their business enabling them to experience how and why clients use the products on offer.

The simulation helps participants to develop a practical understanding and experience first-hand how your bank’s products are used and applied by clients and when/where they are appropriate. It also highlights circumstances where clients could easily be mistreated through poor decisions and the business consequences – growing their commercial skills and appreciation.

‘Run the Investment Bank’ is our leading experiential training simulation designed to provide participants with an overview of an investment bank, its customers and products, and how the divisions work together to deliver a full service to clients. The business simulation is flexible and scalable – allowing us to tailor the programme to reflect your bank’s specific structure, principles, strategy, governance framework and financial reporting.

Our business banking training methods aim to equip your people with the necessary skills to succeed in investment banking, while also improving management development and team development to meet your requirements. The four areas of your bank the simulation focuses on are:

In each round, in addition to running a specific area of the investment bank, they have five key areas they also have to manage, helping to develop their wider commercial skills and interpersonal skills. These include:

Risk management – Operating within a strict regulatory framework to satisfy capital, liquidity and stability ratios.

Financial management – Financial statements for a number of investment banks are provided, with participants working to assess the critical business metrics.

Business transformation through the use of technology – Participants work in teams to consider utilising digitalisation to improve banking services, create products that are easier to use and streamline operational processes.

Leadership – Relevant leadership roles within your investment bank are given to each participant to develop an understanding of these positions to improve commercial skills and interpersonal skills.

Organisational values – Tailored to your specific objectives and values, participants learn about your Bank and its products and also how they need to conduct their business and day-to-day roles in the context of your Bank’s values and way of doing business.

Participants also take on operational support roles as part of the banking simulation and maintain these throughout. These roles cover HR, corporate governance, risk and finance and group audits.

As well as ‘Run the Investment Bank’, we also offer a wide range of other banking simulations, centred on experiential learning. These include:

We are renowned for designing and delivering unique, large scale experiential learning events and banking simulations. Working in partnership with our clients, we create on-boarding programmes that are centred around the Bank’s specific organisational values, strategy, products and leadership standards. We take a fresh and creative approach to the design and delivery of on-boarding programmes, embracing compelling experiential in-class and digital banking simulations that engage participants and connect them with your bank. Our learning solutions are typically used as part of graduate induction programmes or general on-boarding and offer a cost-effective, flexible and scalable solution that can comfortably accommodate large numbers. Get in touch today to find out how we can help design an investment banking training programme for you.

Our fully interactive, online trading banking simulation provides participants with an opportunity to manage a portfolio of assets based on historical or real-time market movements. Our industry-leading trading platform will provide your people with a practical learning experience to improve their trading and commercial skills, and is fully customisable to reflect your investment banking training needs.

About our trading banking simulation

Participants are split into two categories: Hedge Fund teams and Investment Bank teams. Both categories have different goals and will be ranked primarily within their peer group.

The Investment Bank teams will be judged on two aspects. Firstly, their ability to control their exposure to market movements. Ideally, the Investment Bank teams should minimise the proportion of their revenue generated through market movements and thus leave the majority of revenue to stem from commission. Secondly, teams will be judged on their ability to manage their exposure to market risk, with the ultimate target being to maximise revenues and minimise risk.

The Hedge Fund teams will be required to analyse the market, research notes and break news stories that are released during the session. Their aim is straightforward; they have to make a profit putting on certain positions in the market. They can buy and short sell the shares available, but what will make the difference between a good or a bad Hedge Fund is not only their ability to read and interpret the markets and the news but also their ability to get the best price for their transaction from the competing Investment Banking teams.

Investment Bank Sales Traders communicate with Hedge Fund Traders via telephone throughout the session with traders then executing orders into the market using the bespoke simulated trading software provided.

As part of our investment banking training portfolio, we also offer a suite of focused and relevant interpersonal skills modules essential for developing effective people and team skills. Our experiential learning solutions are practical and built around scenarios and context of an investment bank. This way, your people come away with insights and practical tools they can apply immediately to the workplace to drive individual contribution and team development.

Our experiential training methods focus primarily on:

Our other areas of expertise include:

Whether it’s for graduates, interns, apprentices or general on-boarding, our experiential learning solutions for new hires all have a proven track record of helping to develop technical and interpersonal skills necessary in investment banking training. We will work with you to design and deliver a bespoke learning solution that supports your people right from the start which can draw on a mix of experiential banking simulations and activities and delivered as an online digital solution, as virtual learning or as an interactive in-class workshop. With over 30 years’ experience to draw on, we will design and deliver an investment banking training solution that is right for your bank and your people, and which embeds and sustains the learning effectively.

Our suite of investment banking training workshops provide participants with the opportunity to really understand banking products. We adopt a learner-centred approach to achieving the development ambitions of our clients. In our workshops, we encourage delegates through an experiential cycle of learning that creates new personal insights, providing delegates with plenty of opportunities to apply their learning – paving the way for real behaviour change. As such, our workshops are built around experiential learning methods and banking simulations – which can be delivered flexibly as either in-class workshops or as virtual learning.

Bonds, FX and commodities

• Bonds – products, markets, yield curves, pricing and duration, repo and futures, credit spread metrics, DV01 hedging and forward pricing
• Commodities – overview, energy sector and futures, drivers of commodity prices, commodity swaps and diversification benefit
• Fixed income risk management
• FX – spot and forward contracts, cross rates, forwards and currency swaps

 
Equities and credit

• Accounting and financial analysis
• Complex financial instruments and off-balance sheet finance
• Equities – characteristics and jargon
• Equity valuation and modelling
• Financial forecasting in Excel
• Modelling the impact of financial transactions
• Regulatory and accounting capital for financial institutions
• The impact of derivatives on client’s accounts

 
Derivatives

• Credit derivatives – credit risk and CDS, pricing
• CFS and total return swaps
• Equity derivatives – CFDs and equity swaps, equity index swaps, warrants and convertibles
• Futures – structure and applications, single stock and equity index futures
• Interest rate derivatives – swaps, forwards, futures and options
• Swaptions – structure, terminology and applications
• Options – vanilla options, structures and applications, pricing, Greeks

 
General CIB

• Economics of markets
• Excel for financial markets
• Investor psychology
• Structured products – main classes of investment products, exotics
• Technical analysis and behavioural finance
• Trade finance – products and solutions, client solutions
• Trading strategies
• Treasury – capital, cash and liquidity management, managing risk

 
Financial modelling and corporate finance

• Analysis of financial statements
• Building enterprise value models
• Building a DCF model
• Comps modelling
• Debt structuring
• EVA modelling
• LBO modelling
• Leverage Finance Structuring
• M&A modelling
• Project finance modelling
• Real estate valuation
• Strategic business analysis
• Valuation modelling
• VBA

 
Risk

• Assessing financial risk
• Capital adequacy
• Conduct risk
• Counterparty risk
• Credit risk management
• Introduction to risk
• Management risk
• Market risk management
• Operational risk management
• Regulatory risk
• Understanding the cost of risk capital
• Value at Risk (VaR)

Our digital solutions for investment banking training offer an experiential learning experience coupled with real flexibility. Our digital offering includes virtual learning, microlearning, online banking simulations and industry-leading corporate finance training via our dedicated e-learning company CFI. We can also custom design digital learning solutions to meet the needs of a specific project drawing on our dedicated team of in-house media experts and learning technologists. Our digital learning solutions include:

• On-demand microlearning and e-learning – check out some of our free modules
• Accredited online financial training through our e-learning partner company Corporate Finance Institute – CFI
• Live virtual learning modules on technical, industry and professional skills delivered by our experienced trainers and facilitators
• Custom-designed interactive PDF workbooks, manuals and handbooks
• Custom-made training films and movies designed around specific products, services and bank initiatives
• Experiential film-making activities that support interventions in leadership development and assessment, management development, employee engagement, team building and managing financial performance

Our private banking training and wealth management training programmes are designed to reflect your specific needs and learning objectives. Our core offering for this sector is centred around relationship management skills, designed to provide your people with practical tools they can use day-to-day, as well as skills and insights to deliver their goals more effectively.
From effective listening and questioning skills to managing and growing client relationships, we have over 30 years of expertise to draw on in the design and delivery of your learning and team development solution.

Deliverable as virtual learning or a face-to-face in-class workshop, our experiential learning approach focuses on seven fundamental areas that are critical to relationship management development and team development. Centred around our Private Banking Simulation, which makes extensive use of professional role-play actors, this banking simulation draws on a mix realistic client interactions including phone calls, virtual meetings and face-to-face meetings. Each of the seven areas (as below) is a blend of simulation and facilitator-led inputs/discussions designed to build up skills logically and gradually.

• Effective listening – Participants are faced with a range of genuine client scenarios designed to test and develop their effective listening skills. Delegates benefit from 360-degree feedback and get a chance to replay the action to practice and refine their skills further.

• Effective questioning – Participants develop their skills on questioning including learning the different types of questioning, how to structure questions and how to establish credibility and build rapport.

• Managing client meetings – Participants learn through simulated client interactions that explore how to open meetings, respond to cues, manage the middle of a meeting and how to close a meeting along with the next steps.

• Communicating effectively – Participants learn how to clarify the message being communicated, structuring communication, taking audio and visual cues and learning the preferred communication style of your client.

• Analysing current customer needs – Applying analytical tools to discover key industry drivers and the business imperatives for the simulated clients. Your people come away with sufficient knowledge of client opportunities and needs.

• Analysing future customer needs – Participants map out the future business drivers and visions for a client and come away with sufficient knowledge on how to identify likely customer needs and possible bank solutions.

• Strategic relationship management – This phase helps participants map out the best methods for building credibility and earning the trust and empathy of clients. Participants gain the confidence to challenge the thinking of senior management while displaying respect and empathy to win over clients.

Our offering for business banking training also includes Client Service Skills, helping to complement our relationship management programmes. For more information on our experiential Client Service Skills programme, see the links below.

Our experiential digital learning solutions are designed to offer real flexibility, enabling your people to learn on-demand and supporting them in their day-to-day roles. We have a suite of digital learning solutions from bitesize microlearning on core business skills to observational films that explore best practice in client meetings. We can also custom design e-learning solutions to meet any specific learning needs you may have by utilising our in-house digital production team and learning technologists. Also, utilising our virtual learning platform, we can also design and deliver practical management development and team development modules that compliment our technical private banking training solutions.

 Our areas of expertise include:

• On-demand e-learning and microlearning – check out some of our free microlearning modules available on our Microlearning YouTube channel

• Accredited online financial training offered by our partner company CFI (Corporate Finance Institute)

• Live virtual learning modules on technical, industry and professional skills delivered by our experienced trainers and facilitators

• Custom-designed interactive PDF workbooks and toolkits

• Custom-made training films and movies designed around specific products, services and bank initiatives

• Experiential film-making activities that support interventions in leadership development and assessment, employee engagement, team building and managing financial performance.

Our tailored graduate training programmes will provide your new hires to private banking with relevant knowledge and insights as well as practical tools and skills to be successful ambassadors of your Bank. The experiential learning methods we adopt will provide your new recruits with a clear understanding of your Bank’s products and services, its proposition to clients and the wider marketplace and industry. Our banking simulations will give your new hires the opportunity to experience what real customer interactions feel like, helping to ensure they gain invaluable insights in how best to position themselves and build strong relationships for your Bank, fully immersed in the context of how your Bank does business, your values and your code of conduct.

Our Wealth Management Simulation will provide your people with the opportunity to experience what real client interactions feel like and how best to maximise opportunities with clients. Centred around experiential learning, our Wealth Management Simulation will help develop practical skills around personal presence client focus, active listening, fact-finding, meeting preparation, conducting effective client meetings and pitching. Our skilled simulation facilitators, all with relevant business banking training experience, also provide real-time objective feedback to delegates around their technical and client handling skills to help build invaluable insights and embed behaviours aligned to your Bank’s values, culture and approach, along with improving critical team development skills.

Our practical sales training, centred around an experiential learning approach, will provide private bankers with a proven and robust approach to sales and relationship management. Participants learn sales best practice and put their new skills to the test through experiential activities closely aligned and tailored to the context of your Bank. Participants improve their sales and relationship skills and come away with practical tools to help grow their client relationships into that of a trusted partner. The skills we focus on include:

Our ‘Introduction to Asset Management’ is centred around our unique Fund Management Simulation. Ideal for new joiners, our experiential and insightful programme will broaden their knowledge of both your asset management business and the wider asset management industry. Tailored around your funds and investment approach, your people will leave with skills and industry insights relevant to the workplace.

Our Introduction to Asset Management can be delivered as an in-class workshop or as a virtual learning solution on WebEx or Zoom.

Learning takeaways from our ‘Introduction to Asset Management’ training programme:

• Clearly and easily summarise the range of products and solutions you provide for your clients
• Articulate how you manage money and how your approach differs from your competition
• Understand the main distribution channels for wholesale and institutional clients
• Read a prospectus and identify the key parties involved in the governance of an investment fund
• Walk through the life cycle of a trade deal and appreciate how all the steps fit together.

Experiential training activities blended in our ‘Introduction to Asset Management’ training
programme include:

• Running a multi-asset portfolio, analysing economic and sectoral information, generating investment ideas and constructing portfolios
• Review of your product portfolio, fact sheets and publications
• Working in teams to design and pitch a new fund idea
• Running the operations for a simple fund, capturing and confirming trades, settling them in the market and ensuring all accounting and reconciliations are complete.

We help your people develop a deeper understanding of derivatives, tailored to the specific needs of your business model and portfolio. Our asset management training courses blend experiential learning activities and business simulations to ensure your people gain practical and relevant insights.

Your people hear about or work with derivatives on a regular basis. Our ‘Derivatives in Fund Management’ course is centred around experiential learning. It will boost participants knowledge and confidence by enabling them to better understand the mechanics of any derivative, how they are used in fund management and articulating jargon to clients and colleagues in clearer, everyday language.

Learning takeaways from our ‘Derivatives in Fund Management’ training programme:

Experiential training activities blended in our ‘Derivatives in Fund Management’ programme include:

Our ‘Focus on Fixed Income’ asset management training programme will help your people understand the drivers of performance for your fixed income funds. From interpreting research and news to understanding your fact sheets more easily, this programme, centred around experiential learning activities such as simulations and interactive exercises, will provide your people with both the commercial skills and confidence when discussing fixed income with colleagues and clients.

Learning takeaways from our ‘Focus on fixed income’ training programme:

Experiential training activities blended in our ‘Focus on Fixed Income’ training programme include:

Designed around your equity funds, fact sheets and reports, our ‘Focus on Equities’ asset management training programme will help your people understand how you manage equity funds for your clients through relevant and highly engaging activities centred around experiential learning. Your people will come away with commercial skills and insights around how your fund management firm differentiates itself in the marketplace. Delegates will also gain a practical understanding of, and familiarity with, equity markets jargon commonly used in the asset management industry.

Learning takeaways from our ‘Focus on Equities’ experiential training programme:

Experiential training activities blended in our ‘Focus on Equities’ programme include:



We can custom design virtual learning, e-learning and microlearning modules to meet specific business needs, along with online business simulations and asset management simulations. Our digital learning solutions include:

Our asset management training focuses on people and interpersonal skills closely aligned to the needs of a fund management business. We believe that no generic one size fits all approach. Instead, our interpersonal skills programmes are practical, relevant and useful for people working in fund management. From effective investment writing skills that focus on writing fund fact sheets to speaking confidently about fixed income with clients or colleagues – we can help.

People learn most effectively by doing. As such, our training solutions are centred around experiential learning methods. Our most popular people and interpersonal skills programmes for asset management comprise of:

 
Our other areas of expertise include:

We understand that insurance companies are different from any other business and are faced with a unique set of commercial issues and challenges. Our Running an insurance company business simulation is specifically designed with this in mind. It will give your people the opportunity to run a simulated insurance company and experience first-hand the strategic, operational, commercial and leadership challenges involved. It brings the unique world of insurance to life in an engaging, fun and insightful way – perfect for on-boarding, graduate development and leadership development.

Running an effective insurance business is not just about playing with numbers on a computer screen where decisions are made and an algorithm delivers a pre-set outcome. Instead, in our insurance simulation all results are delivered by people working together to make things happen. In teams, participants have to manage and underwrite risk, manage relationships, manage finances and resources, work within a regulated environment, deal with a changing competitive landscape, manage investments. Will your participants work together to keep proper control over risks and performance? Will they live your organisational values while demonstrating a commercially sound approach? Our insurance simulation offers the opportunity to find out!

Learning takeaways:


• A practical understanding of the key products and services an insurance company offers
• The fundamental roles and divisional functions of an insurance and reinsurance business
• Better appreciation and understanding of the financial consequences of decisions and how these can ripple through a business
• Easily identify the critical business, leadership and financial drivers of an insurance business
• Practical tools to deal with challenges, change, stretch and emotional resilience as an individual and as part of a group, improving team development

The business simulation helps develop commercial skills and bring a practical context to:


• Your company’s strategic and operational plans for sustainable growth by running an insurance company that mirrors your organisation and the marketplace
• The competing priorities of an insurance business in a market of changing needs and emerging distribution channels
• The challenge of driving efficiency in business processes and the effective allocation of resources in the pursuit of operational excellence and world-class results
• The strict regulatory environment that insurance companies operate within as well as the broader plans for managing key stakeholders.


Risk management in insurance


Products, channels, regulations and market events all play their part in the complex risk frameworks that define the insurance sector. Centred on experiential learning, this workshop brings risk management to life through an engaging and insightful risk insurance simulation designed to help participants to understand risk and learn how to apply straightforward processes for the management of risk throughout the insurance business.

A typical risk management programme explores: The commercial implications of risk management, creating a risk culture, understanding the various types of risk in the organisation, identifying risks, assessing risks and tolerances, responding to risks, reporting and reviewing risk, mitigating risks, practising the application of risk management to business processes.

Learning takeaways:

• Understand the role and value of risk specialists in the business while also taking responsibility for risk management themselves in their everyday activities
• Identify the main elements of a typical risk management process to identify, analyse, evaluate and handle risks
• Build confidence to speak out if they consider a workplace risk to be unacceptable and where to flag potential issues and seek support.


The business simulation helps develop commercial skills and bring a practical context to:


• The risk management culture and processes within your insurance business
• The key risks faced by the business, who is responsible for each risk, and at what point the risk team should be brought into the decision-making process
• The key risks an insurance company faces including insurance risk (P&C and Life), credit risk, market risk, liquidity risk and operating risk
• Addressing the risks involved in an insurance business, the nature and impact of those risks, and putting risk management plans into action

Our commercial skills programmes will enable your people to understand the performance drivers of your insurance business and how to make better decisions to help improve their contribution to business performance. Our insurance industry training workshops are centred around experiential learning, comprising a range of simulations and activities, facilitated discussions, group work, case studies and exercises – all designed to build practical skills and give participants an opportunity to really apply their learning and easily transfer skills to the workplace. Our workshops focus on a number of key areas:

Introducing insurance – This workshop helps build participants knowledge and insights of a general insurance business and the insurance industry landscape. It explores, at a high level, the insurance company operating model, how it makes money, manages risk and handles premiums and claims, while providing an overview of the key players in the marketplace and their respective roles.


Introducing reinsurance – This workshop embraces a number of experiential learning approaches to explore the important role that reinsurance plays in the insurance marketplace. It provides a practical context as to why insurers use reinsurance, the key players, the buyers and sellers, types of reinsurance and the main reinsurance policies.


Measuring and managing value in an insurance business – This workshop explores how performance drivers of an insurance company are quantified in a commercial setting, helping participants understand what drives value creation for insurers and clients.



The commercial drivers of insurance value and performance – This workshop equips participants with practical financial and commercial skills to analyse the needs of insurance and non-insurance clients and determine how their objectives can be best satisfied. This experiential workshop also provides participants with practical risk and financial tools, frameworks and models to utilise back in the workplace.

Our specialist commercial skills programmes will give your people the skills and insights to make more informed business decisions to help drive performance. Internally, your people may have particular responsibility for building relationships, making sales, assessing risks, or handling claims – our tailored training programmes for the insurance industry support them all. Our programmes build practical skills and insights through experiential learning methods such as insurance simulations and interactive workshops. Our programmes include:



The impact of claims on insurance performance – Effectively managing the claims process can make a big difference to an insurance business. This workshop explores the fundamental drivers of GI performance that support Claims teams in their work in an insurance business.



Investment management in insurance – This workshop helps participants to understand the fundamental underlying concepts of all investment decisions in a modern insurance business including the expected return and the associated risks, and the contribution of both to an overall investment portfolio.


Practical portfolio optimisation – This workshop helps build expertise and market insight to better collaborate with others to identify actions that are critical when managing portfolios of risks rather than individual policies.



Understanding insurance for Brokers – This workshop will provide participants with an insight into the insurance industry from the other side of the desk, and the specialised role that brokers play for both insurance companies and clients.



Understanding the drivers of Life business results – This workshop helps participants identify how meaningful conclusions can be drawn from the financial statements of a life insurer regarding their business performance, current position and future financial health.

Our bespoke experiential training programmes for the insurance industry will ensure your new hires benefit from an insightful blend of industry, interpersonal and commercial skills ready for their new roles. From graduate training programmes ranging from a two day insurance simulation to a modular programme structured around rotations and phased over two years – we have the expertise to help. Our tailored approach helps ensure that your programmes are always designed and delivered around your organisational and commercial context and tied back to the workplace throughout – helping to build practical skills, knowledge and insights to really help your new hires in their new positions and careers.

We also offer a bespoke digital learning design service where we can create a learning solution such as e-learning, microlearning or virtual learning based around your specific needs. Our digital learning solutions have proven to be popular for general new joiner programmes where an introduction to the insurance industry and a general orientation to the business is required. Our digital learning solutions offer real flexibility and are also very cost effective.

Our portfolio of experiential learning solutions include:

• Business simulations / Insurance simulations
• Interactive tutor-led workshops – delivered in-class or by virtual learning sessions
• Workplace/company specific case studies
• Team activities / Action learning sets
• On-the-job projects
• On-demand digital learning solutions – e-learning, micro-learning, training films/movies.

Our training programmes, firmly grounded in experiential learning methods and centred around building robust commercial skills, will help participants navigate new financial reporting requirements introduced by regulators. Our programmes will show where to find further financial information and how to interpret it to find new business opportunities, whilst helping better inform company analysis, evaluation and decision making.

Learning takeaways:

• Be able to calculate available capital under Solvency II
• Better explain the principles of calculating the Solvency Capital Requirement under a Solvency II internal model and a standard model
• Use a simplified model to calculate the SCR of a company using the Standard model
• Show how IFRS 17 requires accounts to be constructed and how this differs from US GAAP and Solvency II approaches

In a complex sector based on relationships but also facing change, disruption and regulatory pressures, first rate interpersonal skills are critical. Part of our comprehensive suite of insurance industry training, we have a wide range of interpersonal skills modules that are tailored to reflect the context and the needs of an insurance business. Our modules offer a flexible learning pathway that can work as a standalone solution to address a specific learning need or blended with some of our commercial skills modules to provide a more complete learning solution.

Just like all of our learning solutions, our people skills modules are centred around experiential learning, offering participants the opportunity to learn by doing, apply new skills, and build robust plans to transfer this learning back to the workplace. Our popular people and interpersonal skills modules for the insurance industry include:

Effective personal impact

Building a brand that helps you grow your career and develop your relationships and network.

Communicating with impact

Communicate and present information, ideas and vision in a clear, structured and impactful way.

Being at your best

Experiential workshops to drive team development and improve leadership skills, allowing your people to be as productive as possible.

Coaching and mentoring

Effective coaching and mentoring to transform the talent in your organisation by inspiring and motivating your people.

Handling difficult conversations

Training to gain confidence, take responsibility and accountability for dealing with challenging issues.

Delivering powerful presentations

Challenge your existing presentation strengths and weaknesses, and so build more effective ways to select, structure and deliver your material.

Developing your emotional resilience

Develop your emotional intelligence at work by providing insight into managing your emotions and behaviour to maximise success in the workplace.

Effective delegation

Mastering delegation is a fundamental skill all managers must possess to prevent them from doing everything themselves, especially as their roles grow.

Working collaboratively

Creating high levels of ambition and drive around your organisational values, culture and business model is key to ensuring your people work together effectively and conduct themselves in the right way.

Writing with power and impact

Learning to write in ways that address the original business needs behind each information request, and structured in ways that make the findings clear and the next steps easy to determine.

Understanding others better using MBTI

Recognising the differences in the ways people think and react as individuals through MBTI, and building interpersonal effectiveness and leading to productive interactions with clients and colleagues.

Running effective meetings

Developing practical meeting skills that your people can utilise for everyday meetings as well as more formal meetings to ensure successful outcomes are achieved every time.

Managing projects better

Building a practical understanding of the critical elements of project management to help everyone to understand their role and impact in a team, and so contribute most effectively to project success.

Influencing and negotiating

Reaching effective business solutions by thinking, acting, influencing and negotiating collaboratively with colleagues to achieve sustainable success.

Effective time management

Developing your time management skills, optimising your approach to your efficiency, effectiveness and your environment inside and outside of work.

Essentials of management

Applying the fundamental roles and responsibilities when managing individual and teams equipped with the essential tools of management.

Digital learning does not need to be asynchronous and one way. Instead, we extend our experiential learning approach to digital learning solutions by creating e learning, microlearning and virtual learning that are fun, engaging and interactive. Our digital learning solutions are perfect for training new hires or used as part of graduate training programmes, and equally effective for CPD programmes for more experienced staff.

E-learning

Our short 20-minute e-learning modules are perfect for on-boarding programmes, blending into broader programmes or simply as refreshers for more experienced staff. Our pre-existing modules include:

• Introduction to the insurance industry
• Introduction to reinsurance

The modules can be hosted on your in-house LMS or accessed from the MDA Training LMS. We can also custom design any module to meet your precise needs.

Microlearning

Our microlearning is accessible across all major platforms and devices, providing easy access to bitesize digital modules. Our microlearning comes complete with digital support guides and assessments. Our pre-existing modules include:

• Excel modelling
• Outlook
• PowerPoint
• Word

Just like our e-learning, we can also custom design any module to meet your needs.

Virtual learning

Our virtual learning workshops are approximately 1.5 to 2 hours in duration and can be drawn from any of the modules included on our site and brochure. Our virtual learning workshops are embrace our experiential learning approach – enabling participants to learn by doing through practical exercises, case studies, group work and activities. We can accommodate up to three sessions in a day with clients having a choice, in advance, of which three sessions they would
like delivered on that day. Our virtual courses can also be provided in all geographical markets and time zones.

Our Commerciality Business Simulation has been designed specifically for travel industry training programmes..  It will provide your participants with a ‘real-time’ opportunity to practice and embed key commercial skills and behaviours, and gain a deeper and broader perspective on the commercial drivers of your business.

Centred around a unique business simulation, participants, in teams, are responsible for setting up, managing and growing a travel business. Each business has to drive finance, strategy, solution design & delivery and customer service in a dynamic and rapidly changing competitive environment to deliver success for their stakeholders. Business success is measured using travel industry-specific KPIs, such as Number of Holidays Sold, Margin Generated Per Holiday, Customer Acquisition Costs etc. Participants gain real insight into the drivers of these KPIs and personal insight into how their individual actions can contribute to improved performance in your business.

The simulation is unique in that it combines real commercial leadership insight with a fun, engaging and memorable travel industry training event.

Having the tools and insights to make robust strategic decisions has never been more important given the pace of change. Our Strategic Decision Making Skills Programme will help your people to move beyond the day-to-day focus, embracing a more agile mindset and helping them to seize the opportunities that disruption can create. The traditional model of managers and leaders passing on their experience and wisdom to colleagues is disappearing. Today, managers and leaders need to create space for others to think and apply some core skills to ‘ignite the mind’, to over-come fixed and rigid mindsets to embrace growth and curiosity fostering a culture of rapid and adaptive thinking.

Our digital and in-class experiential learning solutions can help drive this shift, providing an environment where delegates can experience ‘market disruptive’ factors and how to embrace these using agile skills to turn threat into opportunity. Your people will also be able to better apply strategic tools to find and develop opportunities to add value in your business, helping to improve the overall quality of business decisions.

Set in the context of your business and marketplace, typical themes our strategic decision making programme could cover:

• How to think strategically
• Adopting new ways of working
• Developing a strategy to challenge disruptors
• Assessing and analysing the internal and external business environment and the business competitive position
• Utilising strategic tools to find and develop opportunities to add value
• Operating in a VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) environment
• Dealing with challenges and opportunities presented by mega trends and disruption
• Blue and red ocean market concepts
• Challenging conventional thinking
• Black box thinking – removing the fear of failure
• Iteration and incrementalism in business development
• Improving the quality of your decisions

Finance for non-financial managers is no longer an adequate way to address financial management issues within your business. The application and use of financial information has to be taken to the next level to be truly useful in steering and managing a business. Our commercial decision-making and commercial acumen programme addresses these issues, and we have successfully tailored and run the programme for a wide range of organisations across the world, creating demonstrable value in each.

The workshop can be delivered as an in-class workshop or delivered virtually.

How will your organisation benefit from this programme?

• Your people will communicate with a common language
• Decisions will be made from a more commercial perspective
• The quality of decision making will improve
• Your people will have a clear view of the issues that need to be addressed within their business
• Business reviews will be of a higher quality.

How do we do this?

• We design your programme to fully reflect your unique commercial needs, giving your people the financial skills and knowledge they need to make commercially-focused decisions that help create value in your business
• We integrate the management information that your people use to manage the business into your workshop
• We demonstrate how this information can be most effectively used to manage your business
• We use real company-specific examples to illustrate best practice and also practices to be avoided
• We work in close partnership with you to ensure that your programme reflects your business’ true commercial needs.

Key outcomes from the programme

The programme will provide your people with the tools, skills and knowledge to:

• Adopt a logical step-by-step approach to making commercial decisions and developing commercial acumen
• Understand the key drivers of performance in your business
• Understand how standard costing and marginal costing can be used to enhance business performance
• Understand the revenues and costs that are relevant to specific decisions
• Make more effective long-term investment decisions and how to measure their return on investment
• Benchmark and manage the working capital cycle in your business
• Understand the commercial drivers of projects and how to measure return on investment
• Evaluate a decision after consideration of all possible options
• Identify and evaluate the risks associated with preferred options
• Financially appraise options and take into account all relevant cash flows.

At MDA Training, we offer graduate development solutions that really engage with today’s Millennials.  Drawing on our 30 years experience of successfully delivering graduate training to some of the world’s leading companies – we offer our clients complete flexibility on the content, duration and delivery of their programme.  We will work in partnership with you to create a solution that is right for your graduates and your company – and set in the context of your business, your services and your culture.

We offer complete flexibility in the design and delivery of your graduate programme, including:
 
…a blend of modules designedto build robust skills around…

• Your service offering
• Your industry and marketplace
• Financial and commercial awareness
• How you do business i.e. values, leadership standards, personal and interpersonal behaviours

 
…a durationthat meets your needs…

• Whether this be a series of digital modules, a modular graduate programme phased over several years or simply a two-day workshop designed to slot into an existing curriculum

 
…delivered in aformat that is rightfor your people ranging from…

• Experiential simulations, interactive workshops, case studies, team activities, on-the-job projects, facilitated discussions, e-learning, micro-learning, films, virtual workshops

 
…and sustained through tried andtested methods…

• Aligned to your commercial context from outset
• Tied back to the workplace throughout
• On demand digital solutions to embed learning back in the workplace
• Follow-up tools and workshops

Our experiential, insight rich, learning solutions will provide your people with the commercial concepts, ideas and practical tools to drive improved commerciality in your business. Our solutions are designed around your business environment and commercial context so that your people develop skills, insights and tools that are relevant to your workplace, helping them to better deliver their personal responsibilities to your business through a stronger understanding of your business model.

Working in partnership with you we will design a practical learning solution designed around the identified learning gaps you’d like to address. In the design phase, we will explore a variety of possible delivery channels and agree a delivery format that is most appropriate for your organisation and your people offering real flexibility in how they learn and develop. Our expertise ranges from in-class workshops and business simulations through to a wide range of virtual, online and digital learning solutions. We also offer a range of optional learning tools to embed, reinforce and sustain the learning pre, during and post event.

We have listed below popular commerciality themes amongst our clients.

How is commerciality measured in your business?

• A look at your specific KPIs
• Commercial management information
• Understanding the income statement
• Revenue, costs and margin
• Business gross margin, adjusted operating profit and EBITDA
• Link to internal Management Information (MI)

Revenue and revenue management strategies in your business

• Drivers of revenue
• Pricing and volume
• Product/service mix
• Impact on margin
• Revenue management strategies in your business and other industries
• Core and marginal revenues sources
• New revenue sources – the impact of new product development
• Link to internal Management Information (MI)

What are the core costs in your business?

• Core and hidden costs in your business
• How are costs captured in your business
• Costing approaches – standard costing, absorption costing and marginal costing approaches
• How products and services are costed – linking resource consumption to activity
• Link to internal Management Information (MI)

How costs behave in your business and cost management strategies

• Fixed, variable and other costs in your business
• The budget setting process
• Forecasting costs based on the level of expected activity
• Challenging costs incurred
• Learning from the seven wastes
• Lean delivery of service
• Cost management strategies in your business
• Interpreting internal cost information
• Delivery of efficient and effective service improvements
• Link to internal Management Information (MI)

Approaches to pricing in your business

• Pricing products and services in your business
• Pricing versus cost of delivery
• Pricing below cost (loss leaders), cost based pricing, market driven pricing, target costing
• Price elasticity and price change customer/client tolerance
• Link to internal Management Information (MI)

Margin/profit attribution across the value chain in your business

• The value chain
• Procuring services and supplier management
• Input to output conversion in the business
• Distribution of products and services
• Attributing cost to value centres, products and services
• Assessing product and service margin/profitability
• Link to internal Management Information (MI)

Managing margin/profitability across categories/product suites

• Product/service segmentation
• Bundling and unbundling
• Customer service strategy
• Measuring marginal and total margin
• Measuring A&P effectiveness
• Link to internal Management Information (MI)

Balance sheet drivers in the business

• High level view of capital allocation in the business
• The cost of holding capital
• Capital drivers – working capital and core assets
• Working capital and Investment management strategies
• Link to internal management information (MI)

Converting margin/profit into cash flow

• The importance of cash flow
• Cash versus profit
• Drivers of cash flow
• EBITDA, working capital and capex
• Strategies to grow EBITDA
• Strategies to reduce working capital
• Efficient capital allocation and management
• Adjusted operating cash flow
• Link to internal Management Information (MI)

Value creation and value creation strategies in the business

• What is business value?
• Value capture tree
• Translating actions into value impact
• Testing actions against their commercial impact
• What can I do in my role to directly impact the value tree?

Our approach to manufacturing management training is centred around experiential learning and focused on developing skills, tools and insights relevant and useful in a manufacturing or engineering business. Drawing on our extensive expertise and portfolio of experiential workshops, activities and business simulations, we will provide your people with the opportunity to adopt and apply targeted leadership behaviours for your business, demonstrating what good looks like and how an effective leadership culture can be developed.

We also offer a unique leadership simulation designed specifically for a manufacturing business. Our manufacturing business simulation is like no other in the marketplace. It emulates all aspects of a manufacturing process end-to-end and is fully customisable to reflect your commercial and operational challenges, organisational values and leadership standards. It will help your people break down functional silos and help them understand their role in leading the business.

In our manufacturing workshops:

• Delegates take on a leadership position within a simulated manufacturing business
• They benefit from a real-time opportunity to practice and focus on the key skills, attitudes and behaviours they need to adopt to drive operational and financial success – all set within your organisational values, leadership standards and manufacturing KPIs.
• They develop practical leadership skills and insights to lead a world-class manufacturing operation
• Share with their colleagues their leadership ‘edges’ (areas where they are outside their comfort zone) and address ways to manage them
• Receive real-time feedback on the impact their leadership behaviours had on their colleagues and how they changed over time.

Click the links provided below to explore our experiential leadership simulation further.

Generic ‘finance for non-financial managers’ type programmes are no longer an adequate way to address finance training within a manufacturing or engineering business. That’s why we offer a range of focused financial and commercial skills learning solutions set in the context of your business and industry. This way your people come away with knowledge, skills and insights that they can easily relate to and that are relevant to the workplace. Our tried and tested approach will provide your people with the tools and framework to understand the relationship between the decisions they make and the commercial and financial outcomes for the business.

Our learning solutions range from flexible virtual workshops and online microlearning through to experiential workshops and business simulations designed to explore the:

• Key financial goals and KPIs for your business
• Drivers of financial performance and the levers they can use to improve the performance of your business
• Identification and analysis of real manufacturing problems as they arise and work out how to resolve them
• Internal reports, management packs and financial information in your business
• Effective interpretation of company dashboards, helping to identify what actions should be taken to improve performance across all aspects of the business.

Other financial and commercial skills projects we have delivered for our manufacturing and engineering clients include:

• Building and managing budgets
• Commercial decision making
• Commercial selling skills
• Company valuation
• Corporate finance
• Creating shareholder value
• Decision making through finance
• Financial analysis
• Financial modelling – practical Excel tools and tips
• Financial reporting
• Identifying and managing business drivers
• Improving financial performance
• Making solutions financially compelling
• Risk management
• Using management information to improve performance
• Value creation.

We also have a unique and engaging business simulation designed specifically for the manufacturing sector that will transform the way your people think about commerciality. Explore our interactive manufacturing business simulation website by clicking the links provided below.

Our approach to quality control training in manufacturing is grounded and centred around experiential learning. Our unique manufacturing business simulation will help delegates to apply best practice process modelling and quality management tools to demonstrate the criticality of design accuracy related to specific manufacturing KPIs. It will help develop a ‘left shift’ mindset to ensure that ‘right first time’ becomes more than just a mantra. Our proven methods will provide your people with the mindset and tools to turn quality control into quality assurance in your manufacturing business. From accurate customer requirements analysis to effective design and ultimately zero-defects manufacturing, the simulation allows delegates to really understand and apply ‘left-shift’ in your business.

Our manufacturing business simulation also helps to demonstrate the inter-relationship between time, cost and quality while providing delegates with tools and techniques to help them manage what at first appear to be competing demands. Ultimately, our business simulation helps to demonstrate that time in design is rarely wasted as it leads to fewer quality issues in manufacturing which speeds up delivery, reduces cost and hardens margins.

Our experiential approach typically explores:

• Defining quality from the customer’s perspective
• Encouraging everyone in the team to adopt a quality mindset
• Recognising the costs of poor quality
• Using recommended quality tools to drive quality improvement throughout the business e.g. PFMEA, DFMEA, 8D, Fishbone diagrams, Six Sigma, etc
• Developing a culture that welcomes challenge when quality is compromised and celebrating quality heroes.

Click the links provided below to find out more about our exciting experiential manufacturing training programmes.

Delivering a quality product for customers requires more than perfect quality manufacturing processes. If customer requirements are not accurately understood, mapped and specifically agreed on, the chance of under-delivering rises dramatically. Our experiential approach immerses delegates into a manufacturing workshop that simulates a project bidding environment. Delegates experience a number of phases in the project’s life-cycle: a pre-bid phase, the bid phase, detailed design phase and prototyping and manufacturing/construction phase. The simulation rewards left shift thinking – the more robust the design, the more robust the process/product delivered to the customer. Delegates are encouraged to spend sufficient time in design to mitigate quality issues that would otherwise occur downstream in their business.

The simulation provides an experiential platform in which to deliver a number of learning outcomes:

• Accurately identify detailed customer requirements (internal or external customers)
• Construct a resource budget that realistically allows the business to meet the customer’s requirements and also generate an adequate return for the business
• Use and apply process mapping in the design phase of a project and process improvement tools in the manufacturing phase
• Apply six sigma quality management tools such as FMEA, 8D, XXXX fishbone analysis, Root cause analysis
• Develop an understanding of LEAN manufacturing principles and how to develop a culture of ‘right first time’
• Use a balanced approach appropriate to KPIs to ensure that all stakeholders in a project have their expectations met
• Develop an applied understanding of learning through failure and prototype iterative development principles, essential in developing as laminar a commercial environment as possible.

Explore this and our full range of manufacturing training programmes now on our dedicated manufacturing simulation website. And be sure to try out our interactive Simulation Builder© to custom build a programme that meets your needs.

A lean and agile manufacturing operation is a key imperative for manufacturers in a hyper-competitive global marketplace. That’s why our training solutions go beyond simply talking about concepts, approaches and processes. Instead, we take an experiential approach. Utilising our unique manufacturing business simulation, we explore in a hands-on way how process design and process improvement can be harnessed to deliver optimised financial results related to specific manufacturing KPIs.

Our manufacturing business simulation will provide your people with a deep understanding of what lean and agile manufacturing means, including the importance of a fail-learn-adapt-repeat approach to refining product output and creating a mindset that challenges the status quo in order to drive lean processes throughout all parts of the business.

Our manufacturing workshops typically explore:

Focusing on using as little time, tools and production plant as possible to deliver production targets
Acting as champions of change to create an environment in which your teams can operate the end-to-end process on lean principles
Eliminating ‘downtime’ and interruptions to flow through the factory
Developing a culture of continuous improvement and elimination of defects in the manufacturing process.

Find out more about our experiential approach by exploring our manufacturing micro-site dedicated to our manufacturing business simulation. Explore the links below for further information.