In the business world today, change is something that can be referred to as a sure thing. Whether a company is soaring or experiencing tough times, laws, procedures, team members and technology all change, so the need to adapt is ever present. The ability to do so will impact success which places great importance on how change is managed and the techniques that are employed to do so. This brings the question of training to the top of the agenda.
Simulation-based training, offering real-world practice with a higher level of participant involvement, is one option available to companies. In pharmaceuticals, the simulation approach allows sales representatives to practice what they learn in a controlled environment, experience the consequences of their decisions, and receive feedback from instructors and peers. Simulations are also a great tool for confidence building - and a confident rep out in the field is good for business.
How does simulation training work?
Essentially, simulation-based techniques consist of games that put people into situations where they must use the information at their disposal to make the same types of decisions as they would in real life. Not only do simulations reproduce the software environment of the business, they also replicate the daily interpersonal and environmental challenges a person may face. For a rep, the job involves mastering the use of software – not just knowing where to click but why they are doing it and having a complete understanding of how to get the most out of their systems.
The benefits
A simulation course offers participants many benefits and one of these is practice. As the adage goes, ‘practice makes perfect’ and simulation-based training sets the scene for this. Simulation also takes practice one step beyond just clicking on the software. It provides a competitive setting in which to do so and this competition helps to drive enthusiasm for involvement, which in turn leads to higher retention. When it comes down to being on the winning or losing team, reps and sales managers will of course strive for the former and with this comes a complete understanding of where and why to click and how to make the right decisions. The most recent simulation-based courses also offer feedback, calculating results that are given to participants to review, analyse, and then improve on.
A further benefit of simulation-based training is the way it demonstrates how different ways of using the tools creates different results, thereby helping participants to understand why they should use the tools and how to integrate their use into entirely new processes. Essentially, simulation allows for a new way of thinking and working to be explored, with the benefits of being able to practice and perfect techniques without the risks of real-world consequences. Quite often, following participation in a simulation-based training session, a tool that a representative or sales manager was first introduced to months earlier is seen in a different light. The experience of the simulation leads to ‘thinking out of the box’, inspiring the participant to really explore what the tool can do for his or her business objectives in ways not considered before.
Change management
Simulations are useful in change management situations because of the way innovation works. Those people who are most open to change are targeted first – in much the same way that a drug company will focus efforts to promote a new drug to physicians they view as being ‘innovators’ in the hope they will then influence their more conservative peers. So, sales and marketing teams must first get the influential people to support the incoming changes as they will in turn ‘lead by example’.
In pharma however, first-line managers and reps are often ‘lone rangers’, working alone without the opportunity to see what their peers are doing and how they are doing it. When we consider the explanation above, this situation is not conducive to behavioural change. Enter simulation-based training to remedy this scenario, where participants work in teams alongside their peers with the opportunity to observe how they think, work and act. This has the added benefit of exposing those more conservative participants to the minds of more innovative thinkers. Add to this a savvy facilitator who spreads the most innovative participants across the groups so that their influence has maximum impact, and who also gives examples of why some teams did better than others and you have a training course that provides a learning experience which can only be bettered by real world events.
For more information on how IMS Learning Solutions and Change Management programs can help your business, visit our website at www.imshealth.com/learningsolutions