ThirdBrain Simulations: A new Dawn in Training · importance of not just learning, but applying...

Quanta Training Ltd. www.quanta.co.uk

1 Capability Statement

ThirdBrain™ Simulations:

A new Dawn in Training


2 ThirdBrain™ Simulations

Introduction

Tired of expensive courses that don’t seem to deliver the results you hoped for?

Perhaps you don’t need a course; perhaps you need a ThirdBrain™ Simulation.

With over twenty years of training experience to draw from, we here at Quanta know that:

TRADITIONAL TRAINING METHODS FOR PROCESS-DRIVEN APPROACHES CAN’T

PROVIDE THE FULL ANSWER IN CREATING A HIGH-PERFORMANCE CULTURE.

Adoption of processes such as PRINCE2®, ITIL®, APMP, Agile and even certain systems such as SharePoint, often return less value than expected despite ample investment in training of the traditional variety.

Why?

We have come to call it the ThirdBrain™ problem.

The source of the dilemma is that knowledge does not always lead to behaviour. Ever had one of the following thoughts?

This process isn’t working for us! Why can’t people follow the rules? Isn’t anyone speaking to each other?! They know what to do – why can’t they get on with it?

Then ThirdBrain™ training is the answer for your organisation and our suite of ThirdBrain™ Simulations could be a key part of the solution.

What is a ThirdBrain™ Simulation?

ThirdBrain™ Simulations bridge that troublesome gap between

knowledge and behaviour. We have all had experiences when we know

what we should do but instead do what is easiest, most comfortable or

routine.

Through implementing a particular process in a controlled, yet realistic

environment, our Simulations allow delegates to witness first-hand the

value of applying best practice within the work-place. Equally important it

will allow them to experience the consequences of malpractice, how

important it is to communicate effectively and the power of working

together.



How do they work?

Our Simulations are team-based experiential learning experiences

designed to mimic the intricacies of operating certain working practices in

real life. Previous delegates have referred to them as ‘a dry run’, ‘like a

live-firing exercise’ or ‘a comfy environment in which to get to grips with

a particular process’. As well as experiencing a particular process in action

delegates will come to realise the importance of team-work, leadership

and clear communication.

Facilitated by one of our experienced trainers, who is not only a subject

matter expert but also a ThirdBrain™ Facilitator, each Simulation is run

over a number of rounds. During each round the team will enact part of a

process and the Simulation will respond dynamically. For example in our

Project Phoenix Simulation the teams are presented with a variety of risks

to their project. Failure to collaboratively work towards identifying

significant risks and setting up appropriate mitigating actions within a

tight budget can result in project delays, the project going over budget or

worse!

In between each round our ThirdBrain™ Facilitator works their magic,

helping the team to reflect on their actions and to formulate their own

plan to improve their performance.

What a ThirdBrain™ Simulation is not

The term Simulation has many meanings to different people, but to be

clear a ThirdBrain™ Simulation is not:

A computer game – delegates interact with each other and with their

ThirdBrain™ Facilitator

Dependant on a set level of prior experience – they are adaptable to any

level of expertise and can be facilitated for beginners or experts ensuring

all participants are stretched but supported

A complete replacement for traditional training methodologies –

ThirdBrain™ is all about Knowledge and Behaviour combining to create a

culture of high performance. Removing either unbalances this equation.

However, our Simulations can be combined with our Taught Courses for a

fast-track to success – see our Knowledge+ offerings.

Read on to find out more

About our different ThirdBrain™ simulations and how they have already

helped companies like yours to excel

http://www.quanta.co.uk/thirdbrain-simulations/knowledge-thirdbrain-simulations



The crowds are waiting…

…competitors are watching expectantly. Can Project Phoenix resurrect your theme park’s dwindling trade or is the ride of your life likely to derail before it even begins. You need to bring all your Project Management excellence to ensure success; can you live up to those high expectations?

Do your projects often end up feeling like they are

more hassle than they are worth?

Or do you feel your Projects Team need constant supervision to avoid

making costly foul ups? Projects can be stressful undertakings but they

are vital to deliver the changes necessary to make your business flourish.

While Project Management frameworks such as PRINCE2® or APMP

provide the knowledge of how to manage projects on paper they don’t

fully prepare you for the challenge of running projects in the real world.

In many ways, it would be like being expected to drive a car having only

studied for your theory test – you would have the knowledge of how

should drive but would not understand how other drivers behave or what

you and your vehicle are capable of.

Our ThirdBrain™ Simulation, Project Phoenix, bridges the gap between

knowledge and behaviour, enabling delegates to learn for themselves the

importance of not just learning, but applying sound project principles.

Keeping the project on the rails…

Delivered over 1 or 2 days Project Phoenix places the team of delegates in

the heart of a new construction project that is critical to the survival of an

ailing theme park. Having gathered the requirements from the Project

Board the team will have to work together to ensure they stay one step

ahead in the arms race for the most thrilling ride.

As the deadline approaches the tension builds and delegates with have to

manage their resources effectively and ensure that key objectives and

reports are delivered on time. All members will gain familiarity with

common Project Management tools such as progress reports, schedules

and risk profile diagrams. Failure to deliver will have very real

consequences.

Most importantly, throughout the day each team member will have the

opportunity to experience various roles with the project – how will you

face up to being the Project Manager as the launch date approaches?

Was your project a Big Dipper or a Big

Disappointment?

A post-project briefing will discuss the successes and failures experienced

by the team; were they on-time, to budget and, most importantly, did

their ride please the crowds and, ultimately, the Project Board?

Our ThirdBrain™ Facilitator will identify any areas for improvement and

extrapolate the lessons learnt from the day into a broader context. The

discussion will then move to how their experiences of Project Phoenix can

be applied to current or future projects within their company.



Houston we have a problem…

87 hours from home. Your spacecraft is slowly dying! You have a serious problem, unless you and the ground support staff start working as a team to solve it, people will die. But remember, time is running out. And fast. Welcome to the Apollo 13 – an ITSM case experience.

Are you struggling to implement ITIL or another IT

Service management methodology?

Don’t worry – you are not alone. Many of our customers struggle when

adopting ITIL. Often, their personnel are well trained with heaps of

experience but they just can’t seem to get ITIL to work for them.

As one of our ThirdBrain™ Simulations, Apollo 13 helps to narrow the gap

between knowledge and behavior which is often the only thing standing

between a company and successful ITIL adoption.

Experience the Thrilling Reality

Delegates taking part in an Apollo 13 Simulation take on the

responsibilities of Mission Control in Houston. Their mission: bring the

crippled spacecraft and its crew safely home. Through the skillful

facilitation of one of our ThirdBrain™ Facilitators (who are also ITSM

subject matter experts) the team will experience all of the problems that

actually arose during the real Apollo 13 Mission. They will see and feel

firsthand the consequences of people, process and technology upon the

quality, cost, customer satisfaction and overall business result.

Did you save Apollo 13?

A post-mission briefing will discuss the successes and failures the team

experienced, identifying if there was any room for improvement in the

way you and your mission control colleagues co-operated. During the

discussion the following areas will be considered:

Determining the root cause of failure

Recommending a service improvement plan

Working proactively to prevent future accidents

Reflection on the team process & solving process errors

Transferring the learning experience to daily practice

Learning Objectives

After experiencing Apollo 13 delegates will have:

A first hand understanding of the ITSM theory

Learnt how ITSM processes are used in other environments

Understood the interdependency of processes & their impact on

business continuity

Learnt how good designs can improve the performance of the

service department

Grasped how processes can be improved by designing and

implementing as a team

Understood the importance of a successful awareness campaign

Realised the importance of obtaining organisational

commitment/buy-in



2,560BC

Famine. War. A demanding Pharaoh. Worst of all you have forgotten the papyrus with your Gantt chart on. Can you muster all your Project Management skills and succeed at the Challenge of Egypt?

Do your projects often end up feeling like they are

more hassle than they are worth?

Or do you feel your Projects Team need constant supervision to avoid

making costly foul ups? Projects can be stressful undertakings but they

are vital to deliver the changes necessary to make your business flourish.

While Project Management frameworks such as PRINCE2® or APMP

provide the knowledge of how to manage projects on paper they don’t

fully prepare you for the challenge of running projects in the real world.

In many ways, it would be like being expected to drive a car having only

studied for your theory test – you would have the knowledge of how

should drive but would not understand how other drivers behave or what

your and your vehicle are capable of.

Our ThirdBrain™ Simulation, Challenge of Egypt, bridges the gap between

knowledge and behaviour, enabling delegates to learn for themselves the

importance of not just learning, but applying sound project principles.

Turning on the heat

Delegates will enact the roles of a project management team tasked with

the daunting job of building the Pharaoh’s pyramid. Supply, construction

and workforce constraints will test their Project Management skills to

breaking point.

As flood and famine threaten their deadlines the team will learn to utilize

Project Management tools such as Gant charts and resource allocation

matrices to good effect but, more importantly, they will learn the

importance of good team work and sound communication skills.

The colossal build is broken into two phases, with each round containing

12 rounds:

Design or improve a process Apply the process Report on their success – or failures – and reflect on the

performance with aid of one of our ThirdBrain™ Facilitators Make decisions on what to improve in the following round

Have you pleased the mighty Pharaoh?

A post-construction briefing will discuss the successes and failures

experienced by the team; were they on-time, to budget and, most

importantly, is the Pharaoh pleased with their handiwork? Our

ThirdBrain™ Facilitator will identify any areas for improvement and

extrapolate the lessons learnt from the day into a broader context.

Ultimately the discussion will move to how their experiences of Challenge

of Egypt can be applied to their current or future projects.



Looking for a successful ITIL

®

adoption?

Capita IT services had no choice; they HAD to successfully adopt ITIL. They did so thanks to Quanta and a programme of ThirdBrain™ Simulations and tailored workshops



The Customer

Capita IT Services is part of the Capita

Group Plc, the UK’s leading business

process outsourcing (BPO) and

professional services company. Capita IT

Services’ core service is customer focused

managed IT. The Capita IT Services’ service portfolio includes end user

computing services, communication services - including network and

cabling - infrastructure services, application services and professional

services, all available to meet end-to-end outsource and selective source

strategies.

The Requirement

Capita IT Services took over the IT

Services for Southampton City Council

in October 2007 and were contractually

obliged to introduce ITIL throughout the

department. A number of ITIL

processes where in place, primary

Change & Incident Management but

others needed to be intorduced. There were very mixed views towards

ITIL (including managers), as well as various levels of understanding and

formal ITIL qualifications, throughout the department. There were

around 100 people who were either in the department or needed

awareness of what ITIL was, as it would impact on their daily working.

The Challenge

There were a number of challenges with the Capita IT Services ITIL rollout:

A large number of people needed to be trained and quickly

Rapid development of some individuals understanding of ITIL was

required

A sense of excitement was needed around the roll-out rather

than resistance, which was currently the overwhelming feeling

A traditional 3-day ITIL foundation course was not relevant for

everyone and as such an un-necessary expense

Stakeholder buy-in was also varied and in some areas of potential

concern, which in turn could jeopardise the effectiveness and speed of

the roll-out and coupled with both of those was the cost of a delayed or

ineffective rollout.

The Solution

Rather than simply trying to make a

one-size fits all solution work for

Capita IT Services, one of our

ThirdBrain coaches took the time to

understand the challenges facing

them and what they were trying to achieve. This allowed us to come up

with a solution, which was not only more effective but also benefited

from some huge cost savings.

Our solution started with an ITIL based ThirdBrain Simulation, which not

only helped ensuring everyone’s ITIL knowledge was brought up to the



same level but also encouraged cross departmental working and team

building, in a fun and innovative way! The fact that it was something

completely different meant that everyone was engaged, whether it was

from a point of view of applying their ITIL knowledge or learning it for the

first time.

The ThirdBrain Simulation worked particularly well as it:

Created an understanding of the ITIL processes (even though

people did not necessary realise they were learning!)

Importantly helped the appreciation of how the ITIL processes are

linked and the impact that staff actions have on these

Enabled mixed groups from different disciplines to be involved

Allowed staff at all levels to engage

Created huge buy-in from the different stakeholder groups

The ThirdBrain Simulation used in this

instance was Apollo 13 – an ITSM case

experience. Apollo 13 is an intensive one

day simulation, where the Capita IT Services

delegates played the part of Mission Control

in Huston. Their mission, get the stranded

astronauts back to earth by delivering

operational excellence.

Following on from the ThirdBrain Simulation

was a tailored one day workshop, which

was dubbed “Apollo 2”. This workshop

linked the learning within the simulation

with the “reality” of Capita IT Services

working environment.

The Saving

As the only other feasible option was to put everyone on a standard 3-day

ITIL v3 Foundation course, simply by reducing the number of days training

from 3 to 2 and eliminating the foundation exam gave Capita IT Services a

tangible saving of £17,000. In addition there were also the intangible

benefits in terms of the stakeholder buy-in and an effective and quick

roll-out.

The Result

Quanta were instrumental in the success of Capita’s ITIL project. Through

liaising with various key stakeholders within Capita IT Services before the

simulation, specific issues were highlighted and the content/delivery style

was able to be adapted.

Considerable time was also spent on the follow-up day but Rob felt this

session linking the learning with the “reality” of their organisation was a

great investment and contributed to the overall success of the project.

“The feedback I heard was fantastic, even from Wilma and Fred! You

know the ones. I personally heard, best course I have been on! Great

fun! Really interesting way to learn! Overall we were extremely happy

with the overall result, the cost vs. benefit ratio we received was very

high! ”

Rob Gair Service Delivery Group Manager Capita IT Services



Need to adopt ITIL®

fast?

Such was the requirement of one unit of the Royal Corps of Signals. Success was accomplished thanks to Quanta and a programme of tailored courses complemented by a ThirdBrain™ Simulation.



The Customer

The Royal Corps of Signals is one of the combat support arms of the

British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the

battlefield communications and information systems essential to all

operations. Royal Signals units provide the full telecommunications

infrastructure for the Army wherever they operate in the world.

The Corps has its own engineers, logistics experts and systems operators

to run radio and area networks in the field. It is responsible for installing,

maintaining and operating all types of telecommunications equipment

and information systems, providing command support to commanders

and their headquarters, and conducting electronic warfare against enemy

communications.

The Requirement

The ability to rapidly design and implement

robust and secure IT solutions is key to the

Royal Corps of Signals.

With continuing operations in Afghanistan,

service personnel trained to high levels in IT

Service Management were becoming

stretched to the point where operational effectiveness may have been

compromised.

The decision was made to up-skill more than a dozen Officers and Senior

NCOs. They had to be ready in time for Operation Herrick XIII – less than

4 months away. Also, it was an imperative that the newly trained ITIL

operatives be confident enough in their new skills that they could hit the

ground running once deployed.

The Challenge

There were a number of challenges with the Royal Corps of Signals ITIL

up-skilling requirement:

Severely limited time available for training

Varying levels of prior ITIL knowledge Uncertainty amongst some members of the Corps as to ITIL’s

usefulness ‘in the field’

Delegate had to not just ‘know’ ITIL but be able to implement in

the field with a minimum of support



The Solution

After consulting the customer and a selection

of potential delegates it was decided that to

meet the Corps requirements a Knowledge+

approach was likely to have the most impact.

Combining FastTrack deliveries of the entire

ITIL Lifecycle suite with an Apollo 13

Simulation we were able to complete the

whole delivery in just 14 working days, while

still maintaining a programme pass rates of

100%.

The ThirdBrain Simulation completed the piece by:

Acting as ‘pre-deployment’ training for the team

Allowing participants to experience how ITIL works in a fast-paced

operational environment

Highlighting to the team how much they had learnt

Demonstrating to the Commanding Officer the advanced

capabilities of his freshly trained ITIL operatives

The ThirdBrain Simulation used in this instance was Apollo 13 – an ITSM

case experience. Apollo 13 is an intensive one day simulation, where the

Capita IT Services delegates played the part of Mission Control in Huston.

Their mission, get the stranded astronauts back to earth by delivering

operational excellence.

The Saving

The FastTrack nature of the training, combined with the On-Site delivery

of both the ITIL modules and the Apollo 13 Simulation resulted in a saving

of over £9,000.

An On-Going Relationship

The success of the ITIL FastStream has led to Quanta being introduced to

a variety of Signals Bases throughout the UK and even to units based in

Germany.

We are proud to say that we support our troops with cutting edge IT,

Project Management and IT Service Management Training.



Quanta Training Ltd. 8-10 the Moors, Worcester, WR1 3EE

T 0800 018 5592 | F 01905 616530 | [email protected] | www.quanta.co.uk

PRINCE2® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce in the United Kingdom and other countries ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce in the United Kingdom and other countries

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mailto:[email protected]

http://www.quanta.co.uk/

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