The Business Turnaround Simulation Exercise

Contact Harry Moore, Moore Fleming on 07843 009887 or email harry@moorefleming.co.uk

This simulation exercise involves participants running a manufacturing company making an assembled product using stickle bricks. The participants assume roles including that of operator, planner, line feeder, managing director, sales director etc. The facilitator takes on the role of customer. Over a series of rounds the participants have to work together to turn the business around. This is an operational turnaround, not financial reconstruction, although the participants clearly have to achieve financial targets for the business to become viable. Ideally a minimum of 10 people is required to run the game. There are 4 stages in the operation. The participants are briefed on the rules of the game and allocated their roles on a random basis. Each round is 10 minutes comprising 10 one minute periods. The participants are then thrown straight into the game. There is work in progress, stock and some finished goods. Assemblies have to be completed and shipped on demand. The first round is chaotic but exposes the delegates to the problems of maintaining operational efficiency whilst supplying the customer. At the end of the round the group have 10 minutes to identify the top 5 problems. Through facilitation they use Root Cause Analysis to determine the real problems and avoid quick fix solutions. A further 10 minutes are allowed to identify solutions to the problems. They are then given a further 5 minutes to implement one solution. These rounds are repeated a further 2 or 3 times and the group goes through a process of continuous improvement but this is usually insufficient to turn the business around. Prior to the last round we set the vision as to what needs to be achieved in terms of costs, resources, quality and delivery. A process of Step Change is introduced.

The game is all about communication, working together and understanding the importance of getting it right first time under sever time pressures. It is also about understanding what you are doing through training and achieving real results through lateral thinking. The game is facilitated. It is not a test and people are not made to look foolish or assessed in any way. It is meant to be a learning process to enable teams to work together more coherently and smarter, rather than simply work hard. The whole exercise takes about 3 hours.