This has been one hell of a week so far. I left home on Sunday to go to 3 days of management training. I was a little skeptical, but it ended up being one of the best 3 days of training I have ever gone through. UGS has decided to invest in a leadership development program and I went through the first round back in January (I think…may have been February). The first round was interesting, but nothing to write home about. Mostly 2 hour talks from experts on a range of topics from communication to leadership to financials. All good stuff…just not all that exciting. The second round couldn’t have been more diffferent. It was a 2 day simulation (with 1/2 day in front and back for prep and reflection) of running a real manufacturing company. I have done a few simulations before, but nothing like this. There were so many variables that there was no way to get your head around them all…kind of like real life 😉
We started off badly. We couldn’t produce anything in “year 1” so we had no sales and ended up in a massive hole. Our team recovered well though and it really was a case of learning a lot through adversity. The things I think I knew before but really learned as a result of the class:
- Just because you know something doesn’t mean that everyone else does. Taking the time to communicate and ensure comprehension of a half baked idea is better than keeping the world’s greatest idea to your self.
- Having a “large animal picture” view of the world isn’t the bad and easy thing that I though it was. In fact as long as your model is close enough to the truth, it may be the only way to get any sort of handle on what’s really going on.
- I’ve got to learn to “bounce back” more quickly. This was the one piece of feedback my team and the administrators gave me. After our year 1 disappointment I was really in the dumps and it took me until the next day when we had some success to really get myself out of it. I can’t let things keep me down that long.
All in all it was a great excersise and I only wish I could do it again!
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