The Virtual Learning Program (VLP) is structured as a series of 6, multiple-session, action learning modules carefully selected for a target audience of Vice Presidents, Directors and above. In order to accomplish a high level of interactivity and learning, the VLP necessarily limits the number of participants to a small cohort of 30 to 40 concurrent participants, who are assigned to learning teams, which provides for an intimate learning experience and enhances cross-organization collaboration and networking.

The VLP launches with a six week, interactive exercise comprised of live faculty presentations focusing on critical business competencies, along with a dynamic, competitive business simulation in which the teams apply their learning by competing against each other through their management of fictitious companies. During each week of the interactive exercise, teams submit their management decisions to the faculty via online forms. The proprietary simulation software then produces business outcomes for each team relative to all the teams, including market share and changes in the operating results of their fictitious businesses. These results are reported in a realistic format using financial statements, ratio analyses, and stock prices. This dynamic, simulated business environment enables the participants to learn in real time from all the teams' business judgments - both good and bad - and to immediately apply what they are learning on the job.

Content is at the MBA or post-MBA level and delivered on the same day each week for ease of scheduling. A second weekly time slot for ‘office hours’ is scheduled later each week to enable individual teams to self-schedule time with the faculty to discuss each week’s decision criteria and have any questions answered.

After the business simulation, each of the subsequent 5 VLP modules takes participants through a ‘deep dive’ in a particular business subject – such as:

Collaboration Across Functions and Levels
Successful business outcomes require effective communication and the ability to work with team members with diverse opinions and competing agendas. This module addresses some of the leading challenges to successful collaboration, including: failure to effectively delegate; advancing new ideas; and overcoming technical and political barriers as members of cross-functional or distributed teams. Participants are provided with a unique opportunity to ‘stress test’ their contributions and measure the perceptions of their collaborative effectiveness.

Managing Change to Create a New Organizational Culture
In today's dynamic and competitive markets, business success factors can become obsolete overnight; and cultures, being slower to change, may actually prevent an organization from adapting quickly to new conditions. And in successful organizations, the urgency to evolve one’s culture is less obvious and can be even more challenging. This module explores the principles of culture change and enables participants to examine how a leader in an actual, successful turnaround grapples with these challenges, thereby creating a new strategic direction with a new shared belief system.

Innovation Within a Complex Organization
Organizations that have not developed an effective innovation strategy are at risk. Many business leaders blame a lack of innovation on either the technical or intellectual challenges associated with radical breakthroughs. In fact, developing a culture of innovation that is supported by repeatable and transferable processes is extremely challenging. This module explores how large, complex organizations are able to achieve market leadership by overcoming the single greatest barrier to sustainable innovation - the organization itself!

Effects Based Thinking
The physical distance between the C Suite offices and the mail-room may be measured in yards or meters. But for many organizations, it might as well be measured in light years when what’s being assessed is the diffusion of leadership’s strategic intent as it tumbles through the many levels of the workplace. Developing and implementing strategies for ensuring the coherence and integrity of organizational strategic imperatives begins with an effects-based approach to framing and delivering messages that accurately reflect leadership’s desired ‘next’ state.

Adopting the Customer Perspective to Drive Revenue
Customer centricity is not a new concept; in fact, most businesses assess customer satisfaction to determine their levels of success in the marketplace. The problem with merely measuring customer satisfaction is that it’s a forensic exercise – a narrowly-focused, post-purchase assessment of a specific transaction. This module focuses on how to systematically and successfully assess market opportunities, attract new customers, and improve customer retention by better anticipating and aligning with their needs.

Implementation and Execution
A good idea, or strategy, is worthless without a practical means of execution. Business success requires effective planning, the efficient mobilization of resources, and establishing a means for measuring their effects, as well as making tactical adjustments along the way. This module uses case examples and best practices to reveal how successful organizations transform their strategic and operational plans into meaningful and sustainable growth.

Leadership Excellence
There is so much written on “how to be a great leader” that it is increasingly difficult for managers to make sense out of what they hear and read. This module sorts out the sense from the nonsense in leadership to help you make better decisions as a leader yourself, not just trying to emulate other leaders. We focus on the two major approaches to leadership - Transactional Leadership or day-to-day, get-the-work-done leadership, versus Transformational Leadership which involves taking the organization in a different direction or to a new level. These two different types of leadership require different philosophies and behaviors and are context dependent. This means that the leader must assess which leadership approach to utilize in the context of his or her particular job.

The VLP modules are structured with two or three sessions each. The first session is an expert presentation of content with live Q&A and concludes with assignment of offline ‘homework’ the participants are expected to work on as a team before the next session. At the second session, the faculty calls on team-appointed leaders to report out the process and results of their teamwork assignment. The faculty then debriefs the plenary group on lessons learned and presents some additional content for take away applicability. For optional third sessions, an additional assignment may be given, such as a Gap Analysis, for participant teams to identify the gap between ‘current state’ and ‘desired state’ within their organization and to recommend ideas to bridge the gap, making the program learning highly practical and immediately implementable.

The VLP, which typically runs for a six month period, has been exceptionally well received at our client organizations, with managers signing up months in advance for inclusion in the next program.