This one-day simulation emulates the growth stages of a highly complex and competitive industry. Participants learn the most reliable tools for industry analysis, assessment of organizational core competencies, and the basic options for strategic positioning. Gem Setters (participants in teams of two) immediately apply these basic strategic tools in a wildly dynamic and realistic series of interactions to reinforce and further hone their strategic thinking and partnering skills.

The key objective is to emerge from four phases of "play" as a profitable, wealthy and well-positioned team. The simulation is realistic in that it is not a win/lose game, nor are financial results the only criteria of success. Success is defined by each team's ability to stake out and hold a viable position given the constraints on its resources and competencies.

Each team starts with a unique set of constraints and deals with customers who are characterized by different and changing value propositions. Teams must continually assess opportunities and risks. Each team determines its own success, in large part, by skillfully assessing the other teams in the simulation and by creating many different and changing sets of strategic alliances.

A Key Learning: strategic thinking and partnering are required in every department of the organization and at every level of management. The use of strategic skills is an important step toward becoming leader.

Overview

Participants first learn the rules for the simulation and play a warm-up round. Then Gem Setter teams are formed, and the teams spend two hours learning the most basic and current principals of strategy, drawn from such authorities as: Michael Porter, Everett M. Rogers; Geoffrey Moore; C.K. Prahalad; Robert Burgelman; Clayton Christensen.

Each tool is illustrated with case histories from different organizational functions and levels of management. Presentation is interrupted by periods of application to the participants' current job, and by the Gem Setter Teams' applications to their strategic plans for the simulation.

Expected Outcomes

• Define strategy and its relationship to your job as a manager
• Understand that every role in your organization includes a strategic element
• Distinguish between strategic and non-strategic tasks
• Be able to identify strategic tasks in your job that require more focus
• Increase your understanding of the business application of strategic models
• Understand the criticality of executing and sustaining your strategic tasks

Target Audience

Managers at all levels of the organization. Especially useful for middle managers who frequently misunderstand the importance of strategy at their level. Groups of 18-30 participants are ideal.

Impact

Though strategic responsibilities increase as position scope increases, every role has a strategic element. The more managers understand this aspect of their jobs and become more strategic, the greater is their contribution to the organization. As they look upward and outward, their decisions consider longer-term implications, making them more valuable.