Developing change management competencies using simulation games

January 31, 2008, 9.00 a.m., Divani Apollon Palace & Spa Hotel, Vouliagmeni

It is a well-known adage that change is the only constant in business. Yet, how good is your company at:
- Surviving change in its competitive environment?
- Implementing major change initiatives internally?
- Making change stick over time?
- Sustaining a culture of agility and responsiveness?

Implementing and managing organizational change takes a lot of effort, uncertainty and an honest look into the organization's inner world: values, beliefs, traits and emotions. Whereas usually managers know what it takes to implement change in theory, they find it persistently difficult to implement change successfully in practice: approximately 70% of change projects in modern corporate environments fail.

Although after the fact we usually know why a project has failed, companies are often unable to exploit such experience to avoid repeating the same mistakes. This is the knowing-doing gap: though we know what ought to be done (our espoused theories), our behaviors in practice are inconsistent with our espoused theories.

Traditional educational approaches have serious limits when it comes to developing the practical competencies required for implementing change in organizations. Innovative approaches based on simulation-based experiential learning address this weakness in a way which better reflects the reality of change in organizations, stimulates people to challenge their assumptions, and triggers a better organization-wide understanding of the factors determining the success or failure of change and innovation projects.

ChangeMasters is a service based on advanced simulation-based serious games with proven learning value, during which players are challenged to act as 'change agents' in charge of introducing a major innovation in a context that reflects the dynamics of their own organizations.

The simulation game has been developed at CALT (Center of Advanced Learning Technologies) at INSEAD, led by Prof. Albert A. Angehrn, and tested in leading organizations (in business, government and education) globally.

During the event participants had the opportunity to experience first hand the simulation in small groups.

By participating in this conference/ workshop, executives from Greece and the region had the opportunity to: 
- Learn from world class academics on latest approaches to change management. 
- Gain insights from industry leaders on changing organisations.
- Experience the simulation game approach to change management.
- Test and reflect on their own change competencies. 
- Understand the real value of action-learning approaches for their organisations

Keynote Speaker:

Mr. Ulysses Kyriacopoulos
Chairman of the Board, S&B Industrial Minerals and
Chairman of the Board, Greek National Opera

Speakers - Facilitators:

Prof. Albert A. Angehrn
Professor of Information Technology and
Director, Centre for Advanced Learning Technologies (CALT)
INSEAD

Dr. Nikolaos A. Mylonopoulos
Associate Professor of Information Systems and
Associate Dean of Innovation and Technology
ALBA Graduate Business School

Dr. Ruggero Cesaria
Director Learning Processes and Tools Practice
ISVOR FIAT

Giovanni Sgalambro
Partner
Strategy & Change Competence Leader - IMT Italy
IBM Global Business Services and
President Assochange.

Clive Martlew
Head of Corporate Learning
SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT

Mette Sandahl Bengtsson
IKEA

Hasse Karlsson.
Director, MBA/Competence Networks
Swedish Trade Council (STC)

Program:

08:30  Registration
09:00  Opening
09:10  Preparing for change: Mr. G. Sgalambro, President, Assochange, Italy
09:30  Introduction to the ChangeMasters Simulation
10:30  Coffee Break
11:00  The ChangeMasters Challenge: Simulation Game in Small Groups
12:30  Light Lunch
13:15 Debriefing the ChangeMasters Challenge
14:30  The Leader's Perspective on Change: Keynote Address by Mr. U. Kyriacopoulos
15:30  Coffee Break
16:00  Deploying ChangeMasters in Practice: Case Studies and Panel Discussion [IKEA, FIAT, Scottish Government, Assochange, Swedish Trade Council, ALBA]
17:00  Closing
 
The workshop will be conducted in English language only. Participation is free of charge.

For more information please contact Mr. A. Alexopoulos at T 2108964531, F 2108963302, E [email protected].

The workshop was organized as part of the EU funded (e-Ten Programme) ChangeMasters project (www.change-masters.eu). ChangeMasters aims to develop an innovative, highly involving, effective and easily deployable lifelong learning service which will provide adults with key skills and competencies in organizational change and innovation management area. CHANGEMASTERS will provide a set of widely deployable eLearning simulations putting users in role-playing situations in which they can validate and develop their soft skills through learning-by-doing in realistically modeled scenarios. CHANGEMASTERS will improve the change and innovation management competencies of European corporate learners and decision-makers, and the change and innovation readiness of organizations, both in the private and public sector, Europe-wide.   

Participants:

INSEAD - Centre for Advanced Learning Technologies (France)
ALBA (Greece)
Deloitte (Greece)
Scottish Government (U.K.)
IKEA (Sweden)
Isvor FIAT (Italy)
Learning Lab Denmark (Denmark)
Alpha Labs (France)
Swedish Trade Council (Sweden)