July 4th, 2008 Robin
As training consultants to both corporate and academic clients, we joke ruefully that whenever there is a downturn for a company, the first group to get cut back will be the Training Department, and the first trainers to get axed will be the outside consultants.
Last year our training work ground to a near-halt at the end of October. Apart from a couple of reasonable months in April and May, it has been very quiet this year. But suddenly fresh bookings are pouring in from clients old and new, all focused on August through October.
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July 2nd, 2008 eliza
Last month we hosted Income/Outcome University 2008, by far the most successful conference we have held to date. University and Fortune 500 clients came together with distributors from five continents to play the “Entrepreneurial Challenge” business game, hear academic and university keynote addresses, and share ideas and experiences.
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June 30th, 2008 Robin
In the old days at a tire manufacturing site of a company that shall remain nameless, workers on the production line had a row of lights over their work station. Each light could be green or red, showing whether that aspect of their production process was working with full efficiency or not.
The workers took pride in getting all the lights green before the end of their shift, so that they could climb up onto the railings where they were visible to everyone else, and have a relaxed smoke as a demonstration to all that they had got everything running perfectly. It was their de facto incentive system.
Posted in Business Simulations, Business Thoughts, Training and Development | Please Leave A Comment »
June 12th, 2008 eliza
These are a couple of games I/we have recommended heavily in the last few months, and a couple of people have suggested I post them here. Both are free.
Free Rice is offers an opportunity for focused engagement (while letting your unconscious brain process all the bits and pieces of your current projects). It also happens to be a great tool for students in search of vocab words! It starts out with 4 words to assess your level, so don’t be intimidated. (Or you can set some starting options, which I just discovered). BTW, the ‘free rice’ name means that every time you answer correctly, the sponsors (at the bottom of the page) will donate 20 grains of rice to the UN World Food Program to help end hunger.
Posted in Board (and Card) Games, Idle Musings | Please Leave A Comment »
June 4th, 2008 Robin
It looks like Income/Outcome is finally beginning to come together with a global network of training providers. Not only did we have representatives from five continents for our conference in May, but we are starting to see a natural coming-together of our community.
In Romania, a former Michelin manager who has taught 30 Income/Outcome business literacy workshops, asks about bringing the program in to his new company. Meanwhile Kennesaw State University, which uses the business simulation in their Executive MBA program in the US, is working with a couple of profs at the ASEBUSS business school in Romania to introduce Income/Outcome. And our Italian connection, Gruppo Soges, has already taught Income/Outcome workshops in Romania.
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June 4th, 2008 eliza
At Income/Outcome University we distributed pedometers to the international consultants and challenged them to track their steps in a workshop.
Leon Grandy of McCallum Petterson in New Zealand reports that he just ran a 2-Day Finance for Managers and Sales Professionals workshop. He reports, “I had 16,000 steps on day 1 and 13,000 steps on day 2″. The heart health goal is 10,000 steps per day, so facilitation of Income/Outcome workshops is definitely good for your health.
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May 23rd, 2008 eliza
As part of Income/Outcome University 2008 we invited our national and international distributors to play our newest business simulation Entrepreneurial Challenge. This marked the global release of the game which offers business acumen and team-building in a ’stealth-learning’ environment.
These people use the Income/Outcome business simulations to provide business literacy training around the world, and this was their chance to focus on playing the game. Here’s how they did:
Jose Maria Zamoro of Teneo Consulting in Spain; and Dr. Helmut Hergeth, College of Textiles, North Carolina State University were members of the the first place team M and M (Overall retained earnings of 84!).
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May 23rd, 2008 eliza
Income/Outcome University 2008: The Business Acumen Award for best performance in the Entrepreneurial Challenge business simulation was promptly renamed to Business Acupeople Award.
This year’s winners with the highest retained earnings were Team “M and M” - congratulations to team members Jeannie Ramsey, Andromeda Training; Jose Maria Zamoro of Teneo Consulting in Spain; Helmut Hergeth, College of Textiles, North Carolina State University; and Sandy M., Fortune Brands.
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May 9th, 2008 eliza
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Michelin VP to Address International Meeting - Use of a Business Simulation in Developing a Worldwide Business Literacy Program.
May 7, 2008
Steve Hunt, Michelin’s VP Travel Publications in North America will be the corporate keynote speaker at Andromeda Training’s Income/Outcome University 2008. Management trainers from five continents will meet with Fortune 500 and university clients of Andromeda, to play a business simulation and share ideas on corporate and academic learning methodologies in the areas of business acumen, finance and accounting. The conference will be held May 15 and 16 at the Siena Hotel in Chapel Hill, NC.
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April 2nd, 2008 Robin
So we’ve made a first trial video about the structure and value of ‘The Company Board’. But the question is, what is its real value?
In itself it provides a way to visualize financial statements as Amounts, not just as Numbers. It shows some of the potential for this way of looking and thinking. But it doesn’t go much further.
Will it increase business acumen, improve decision-making, improve the bottom line? Probably not in itself, so it isn’t in itself a learning tool.
Posted in Business Simulations, The Company Board, Training and Development | Please Leave A Comment »
