BCD Travel's challenge
BCD Travel manages business travel for companies around the world: with 13,500 employees in 109 countries, its 2017 turnover topped $25,000 million. In a fast-changing market, where new technologies make it easier to book travel, its edge depends on something you can't automate: leaders who know how to manage and motivate their teams.
After an organization-wide audit, the US training and development team zoomed in on middle managers. Many recently promoted employees were struggling to manage their teams, and there was a clear gap between executives and middle management. BCD Travel needed leadership training that could reach the USA, Europe, Latin America and Asia at the same time, with fewer in-person sessions, lower costs and no drop in quality. The motto: do more in less time.
- Strengthen middle managers' leadership and team management skills
- Train managers in the USA, Europe, Latin America and Asia simultaneously
- Cut in-person sessions and their costs without compromising quality
- Deliver intensive, fast training that people can apply right away
The solution
BCD Travel chose Pacific, Game Strategies' serious game on leadership. The premise hooks you from minute one: your plane crashes, you're stranded on a desert island and the only way out is to build a hot-air balloon by leading a virtual team. Along the way, managers learn to set objectives, spot what each team member needs, give feedback and delegate, with lessons drawn from hundreds of interviews with CEOs and senior executives over more than 12 years.
Its simulator makes players take decisions and live with the consequences: learning by doing, not by listening. And since all you need is an email and an internet connection (on a computer, tablet or smartphone), BCD Travel could combine Pacific with other leadership courses and launch it in several countries at once. The masterstroke: management set aside a full workday so middle managers could immerse themselves in Pacific for all eight working hours.
The games they played
BCD Travel on video
In their own words
I think out of all of the training I have ever done in BCD, this is an all-time favorite and would love to have more items like this.
It’s all about the employee. And it’s his choice that is driving the game. You have to act and interact. It is 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration.
The game itself is very intuitive. Pacific is like real life.
The results
A clean sweep: every learner finished the game, 91% would recommend it and 100% consider it applicable to their day-to-day work. Leadership skills were reinforced among middle managers spread across the globe in a single, intensive day.
The impact showed up in the calendar and the budget too. The program went from 12 months to 5, and in-person trainings dropped from five to two. Less travel, less lodging and less opportunity cost added up to 60% savings on those costs. Exactly what they were after: doing more in less time.
Every number
- 60%lower costs linked to in-person training
- 5 monthsof training, down from 12 months
- 100%completed the game
- 100%find it applicable to their daily work
- 91%would recommend it
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Shall we play?
Tell us what your team needs to practice and, in a personalized demo, we'll show you the solution that will make the biggest impact on your organization.