To achieve a realistic business simulation, people enter the simulation into roles and departments similar to ones they have at work. The familiar issues of resource allocation, inter-departmental communications and coordination, strategic planning, influence, negotiation and power, multi-stakeholder decision-making, managing innovation and change all will occur in the simulated organization. Using a balanced scorecard approach, the overall performance of the organization is tracked and fed back every “quarter”, forcing people to look beyond their immediate tasks and local issues. As participants start to gain control of the basic business requirements of the simulation, organizational life gets more complex, ambiguous and uncertain. Unlike other simulations where there are preset options and constraints, Real Time is highly dynamic, ever changing and open to innovative actions.

Each course is tailor-made to ensure the simulation will reflect the participants’ business and work-life dynamics. As the course unfolds participants make decisions and take actions, this way building their own business and organizational culture, again a close reflection of their home organization’s dynamics. During the simulation the course staff makes changes to and “massages” the simulation to help reinforce critical learnings. No two courses are the same.

An intense "learning by doing and reflecting" experience, the lessons of Real Time tend to be varied for different people. Most people come to the course already rich with theories and ideas that they have seldom used in practice, often of an idealistic nature. In Real Time they are expected to take a close look at what they actually think and do, and learn from the direct impacts they have on the business and on others. They will also have the opportunity to try out things they may know about but have never tried before.

Our aim is to provide each person who attends the course with breakthrough insights about themselves and how they can be more effective in ambiguous, ever changing work environments. Since each person comes to the course with a different set of skills, knowledge and motivations, the lessons most important to each will be unique to them. Our goal is to ensure that what is learned is meaningful and useful for each of the participants, particularly after the course. Feedback from participants tells us we do just that.