At Insight Experience, we work to help business leaders grow and enable their organizations do great things. The leaders who participate in our learning experiences work in a wide range of settings and scale—from leaders of teams to leaders of global organizations; from leaders of small entrepreneurial businesses to leaders of worldwide functions. There is only one constant: the chaos and disruptions of 2020 have challenged each and every one.  

A lot has been, and will be, written about the importance of leadership communication in times of uncertainty and change. This year, unlike others in recent memory, challenges leaders to communicate with a higher bar of clarity, consistency and frequency.

When we first proposed to some of our clients that they pivot classroom workshops to virtual training, we got more than a few hasty “No, we’ll wait till we can meet in person again” responses. There was a fear that a virtual training might not be as impactful or as engaging as in-person sessions and that, as a result, it would be better to hold off for a few months than to settle for a virtual experience. However, this kind of thinking is doing leaders and businesses a disservice. For one thing, it is still unknown when it will be safe to return to in-person training. And, once it is deemed safe to return, in-person training will almost certainly look different than it did before the pandemic. What we do know is that postponing training based on a wish for the future will result in a missed opportunity to capitalize on the benefits of remote training.

We are living and working in extraordinary times. It’s safe to say that business leaders at all levels and across all industries have been tested – and will continue to be tested – unlike any other time in their careers. Navigating through the turbulence created by the Coronavirus pandemic requires two important leadership traits: competence and courage.

The inclusion of senior executives in leadership development has long been the summit in program design.

Let’s face it: most leaders learn their craft largely through apprenticeship.  Talent Management and Leadership Development programs offer new skills and perspectives at key points in a leader’s career, but the most significant input to how leaders learn to lead is what they see in the leaders they have worked with-- for good or for bad. 

During the summer of 2019, we created an infographic detailing both WHAT leaders learn from a Business Simulation and HOW leaders learn during a business simulation.The rapid push to virtual work has made the summer of 2020 look very different from both a work and life perspective. Yet, while so much else has changed, the impact of a business simulation remains intact. The combination of experiential learning and collaborative exercises in which individuals connect and interact make business simulations the perfect solution for a virtual leadership development experience. Business simulations have eight key elements that make them effective in the virtual setting as they drive interaction and create opportunities for feedback and reflection.