“Participants learn to challenge and shift their leadership mindset and to change and practice new leadership behaviors… ”

Summary of the Experience

The Maxx is an engaging and powerful business simulation in which participants step into leadership roles within a complex—but struggling—“Disney-esque” organization that needs to transform itself in a competitive and increasingly digital world.

Upon entering the Maxx environment, participants select leadership roles through a unique process and are then tasked with developing creative strategies across three turbulent, challenging and somewhat stressful business years. The program enables participants to explore parallels in their organizational lives and to learn how to be successful in an environment filled with massive change, increasing customer expectations, internal organizational friction, urgent deadlines, tough decisions and other crises.

Throughout the simulation, participants have a “mirror” held up that allows them to uncover their leadership mindsets and to see their leadership behaviors and how these affect both the culture and performance of the organization. This enables them to gain a better understanding of and appreciation for the impact their decisions and behaviors have on others, on the organization and ultimately, on the marketplace and customer. Participants learn to challenge and shift their leadership mindset and to change and practice new leadership behaviors that are required for the transformation of their teams and their organizations.

Debrief

Debriefs happen after every “year” in the Maxx experience. Each After-Action-Review ensures that leaders discover and challenge their mindsets around leading others and organizing work. Each debriefing enables the leaders to hold up a mirror to their own leadership behaviors, actions and choices and to understand how this affects both the culture and performance of their direct teams and the enterprises as a whole.

Each debrief echoes and builds on the previous reflection period. Each one equips the leader with the tools and insights they can immediately apply in the safe practice field of the next simulated year – and then finally transfer and apply these back on the job.

Leaders leave the Maxx with a deeper understanding of what it will take to transform their teams and their organizations in a very competitive and increasingly digital landscape. They also leave with a greater sense of the crucial role that leaders in the heart of the company play in this transformation.