THE SIMULATION: Participants become the new owners of a struggling service organization and make critical operating decisions that CEOs make every day. They analyze staff deployment, training and outsourcing; they invest in developing new services; they invest in equipment; they assess and implement technology; they improve customer service processes. They handle chance events, move game pieces and answer to investors. And they embrace new insights — not just how the numbers work but the consequences of their actions on financial success.

TRAINING OUTCOMES: Managers develop a critical leadership competency with significantly higher levels of financial literacy and business acumen. They can articulate the organization's financial and strategic imperatives, read and interpret financial reports, align departmental and personal goals to overall company success, make better decisions and inspire others to do the same. Employees learn to think and act differently with a big-picture understanding of the company's financial and strategic goals. They see the link between their departmental objectives and their own, where they fit and how they can make a difference.

CONNECTIONS: Exercises after the simulation create a bridge from the classroom to learners' real-time work environments. With the fresh perspective of “running” a company, learners can effectively explore their real organization's strategies, processes, terminology, profit drivers, cash flow, competition and more. They connect their day-to-day behaviors to how they impact the bottom line. (Connections exercises are provided with Zodiak, or you may wish to work with us to customize the exercises for deeper relevance to your issues and/or your audience.)

USES: Zodiak is an excellent way to broaden your leadership development curriculum ... engage managers around company vision and strategy ... accelerate employee commitment to major changes ... help employees gain insight into how they affect the bottom line ... energize a management, sales or company wide event.

TIME FRAME: Zodiak is a one-day program, incorporating a four-hour game session and a two-hour Connections session. Optional extension exercises can be modified or customized.

DELIVERY: We can train your in-house facilitators or provide our experienced discovery learning facilitators to conduct your sessions.

The world of healthcare is changing faster and faster. Today, providing high levels of quality patient care must occur amid a whirlwind of issues—from healthcare reform, capital expenditures and physician shortages to readmission penalties, Medicare/Medicaid reimbursements, mergers and acquisitions, and more.

Too often, leaders, managers and staff fall back on what worked in the past, without much thought to the changing healthcare landscape. Your people need to become focused, engaged, positive and energized for your organization to go from where it stands today to where you need it to be tomorrow.

PRE-ZODIAK EXPECTATION SETTING: Before the Zodiak simulation, we partner to build consensus on an approach that will meet the needs of learners and the expectations of senior leaders. A focused implementation and measurement plan emerges, setting the stage for hospital-specific customization and follow-through.

AUDIENCES: All hospital associates, including executive mangers, supervisors, directors, support staff members, and other key personnel.

THE SIMULATION: At the center of our approach is Zodiak®: The Game of Business Finance and Strategy for Healthcare Organizations — a powerful one-day business acumen simulation. During Zodiak, learners become engrossed in a story-driven hospital scenario that closely mirrors their own healthcare organization’s financial and strategic issues. Working in groups of three-to-four around a game board and iPad®, they become the newly-hired executive team at Zodiak Hospital. Over the course of a simulated three-year period, learners are challenged with turning around the health of the struggling hospital in a pressure-intensive climate of uncertain regulatory conditions, changing patient needs and unpredictable events.

DELIVERY: Paradigm Learning healthcare consultants deliver Zodiak sessions. Prior to each session, the facilitator will work with the client on logistics, audience composition and supplemental considerations necessary to ensure that the experience meets client and learner needs.

CONNECTIONS: Periodically during the simulation, and even more intensely during the afternoon session, participants are guided to connect insights to their own organizations, departments and jobs. They explore strategies, financial realities, key terminology, challenges and opportunities at the organizational level and then zero in on their own personal and team/department impact on success. Finally, each learner develops a Z-Plan™ to take back on the job – a plan that focuses on revenue generation, cost management, patient satisfaction or other key measures.

POST-ZODIAK LEARNING REINFORCEMENTS AND Z-PLAN IMPLEMENTATION: After the Zodiak simulation, tools and processes are used to reinforce and refresh learning, and to ensure follow-through on learners' Z-Plan commitments.

EVALUATION AND MEASUREMENT OF THE BUSINESS ACUMEN DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE: Finally, we circle back to senior leaders with results—both qualitative and quantitative—and provide recommendations for ongoing development, reinforcement and recognition.

TRAINING OUTCOMES: Our multistep process ensures that employees at all levels clearly understand the issues that leaders within the healthcare industry face every day, as well as the uncommon circumstances that are unique to their hospital. When staff members become aligned with strategic and financial goals, and learn where they fit into the big picture of success, they can—and will—take quicker, more effective action in support of both quality care and bottom-line success.

THE SIMULATION: Participants take the role of the new owners of a struggling company. They make critical operating decisions— taking out loans, attracting investors, purchasing equipment and materials, and delivering products and services. They handle chance events, move game pieces and respond to investors. And they embrace new insights — not just about how the numbers work but also about the impact of their decisions on financial success as measured through EVA performance.

CONNECTIONS: Exercises after the simulation create a bridge from the classroom to learners' real-time work environments. With the fresh perspective of "running" a company, learners explore their organization's EVA goals and calculations as well as strategies, initiatives and processes. They connect their day-to-day actions to how they impact the bottom line. (Connections exercises are provided with Zodiak, or you may work with us to customize the exercises for deeper relevance to your issues and/or your audiences.)

DELIVERY: Paradigm Learning healthcare consultants deliver Zodiak sessions. Prior to each session, the facilitator will work with the client on logistics, audience composition and supplemental considerations necessary to ensure that the experience meets client and learner needs.

TRAINING OUTCOMES: Managers and leaders develop the business acumen to align department, team and personal objectives to EVA success and make better day-to-day decisions about people, products and processes. Employees gain the financial literacy and business acumen necessary to understand how EVA drives corporate decision making and strategy development. Just as important, they discover how they affect this key measure of success within their teams, departments and jobs.

USES: Zodiak is an excellent way to broaden your leadership development curriculum... engage managers around company vision and strategy... accelerate employee commitment to major changes... help employees gain insight into how they affect the bottom line... energize a management, sales or company wide event.

TIME FRAME: Zodiak is a one-day program, incorporating a four-hour game session and a two-hour Connections session. Optional extension exercises can be modified or customized.

THE SIMULATION: Participants become the new owners of a struggling company and make critical operating decisions that CEOs address every day. They handle chance events, move game pieces and respond to investors. They deal with issues such as linking HR budgets to the overall financial picture ... aligning department goals to organization objectives...analyzing and communicating ROI...and more. And they embrace new insights — not just how the numbers work but the consequences of their actions on financial success.

CONNECTIONS: Exercises after the simulation create a bridge from the classroom to learners' real-time work environments. With a fresh perspective of how a company works, learners can effectively explore their real organization's strategies, processes, terminology, profit drivers, cash flow, competition and more. They connect their day-to-day behaviors to how they impact the bottom line. (Connections exercises are provided with Zodiak, or you may work with us to customize the exercises for deeper relevance to your issues and/or your audience.)

DELIVERY: We can train your in-house facilitators or provide our experienced discovery learning facilitators to conduct your sessions.

TRAINING OUTCOMES: HR managers develop significantly higher levels of financial literacy and business acumen. They can articulate the organization's financial and strategic imperatives, demonstrate the value of their programs and services, increase their credibility and confidence with senior executives and stakeholders, align departmental and personal goals to overall company success, make better decisions and inspire others to do the same. HR employees develop a big-picture understanding of the company's financial and strategic goals. They see the link between their departmental objectives and their own, where they fit, and how they can make a difference.

USES: Zodiak is an excellent way to broaden your leadership development curriculum... engage HR managers around company vision and strategy... help HR employees communicate major changes to other employees... help HR employees understand how they affect the bottom line ... energize an HR department event or meeting.

TIME FRAME: Zodiak is a one-day program, incorporating a four-hour game session and a two-hour Connections session. Optional extension exercises can be modified or customized.

THE SIMULATION: Participants take the role as owners of a company and make critical operating decisions. They deal with such issues as selling products and services, managing the relationship between price discounting and profitability, and using business knowledge to build customer loyalty. They handle chance events, move game pieces and respond to investors. And they embrace new insights — not just about how the numbers work but how their actions affect financial success.

CONNECTIONS: Exercises after the simulation create a bridge to real-time work environments. With the fresh perspective of "running" a company, learners explore their own organization's strategies, processes, terminology, profit drivers, cash flow, competition and more. They connect their day-to-day behaviors to how they impact the bottom line. (Connections exercises are provided with Zodiak, or you may wish to work with us to customize the exercises for deeper relevance to your issues and/or your audiences.)

DELIVERY: We can train your in-house facilitators or provide our experienced discovery learning facilitators to conduct your sessions.

TRAINING OUTCOMES: Sales representatives develop greater confidence in analyzing customer needs and positioning products and services within the context of a buyer's financial drivers and strategies. They also demonstrate financial literacy in sales situations, engage in more strategic discussions with prospects, and open doors at higher levels. Sales managers become more effective coaches by using financial and strategic data to help their sales team position products and services. They also link team objectives for revenue generation to overall corporate strategies. Marketing and sales support personnel learn how they impact top-line revenue, bottom-line profitability and cash flow. They also understand where they fit in supporting their organization's customer-focused mission.

USES: Zodiak is an excellent way to boost an existing sales training curriculum ... energize and educate sales personnel at an event or meeting ... introduce new products and services ... and build collaboration between sales representatives and the sales support team.

TIME FRAME: Zodiak is a one-day program, incorporating a four-hour game session and a two-hour Connections session. Optional extension exercises can be modified or customized.

THE SIMULATION: Participants are placed into leadership positions within a government agency and must make the kinds of decisions agency leaders face every day — demands for services that exceed appropriations, budget cuts, deficits, vendor relationships and purchasing impacts, personnel disengagement and more. They handle chance events, move game pieces and answer to stakeholders. Ultimately, they embrace new insights — not just how the numbers work but the consequences of specific actions on organizational success.

CONNECTIONS: Exercises after the simulation create a bridge from the classroom to learners’ real-time work environments. With the fresh perspective of “running” a governmental agency, learners can effectively explore their real organization’s strategies, budget processes, terminology and more. They connect their day-to-day behaviors to how the effective and efficient use of funds. (Connections exercises are provided with Zodiak, or you may work with us to customize the exercises for deeper relevance to your issues and/or your audience.)

DELIVERY: We can train your in-house facilitators or provide our experienced discovery learning facilitators to conduct your sessions.

TRAINING OUTCOMES: Agency managers and leaders develop a critical leadership competency with significantly higher levels of financial literacy and business acumen. They can articulate financial and strategic imperatives, read and interpret financial reports, align departmental and personal goals to overall agency success, make better decisions and inspire others to do the same. Agency employees learn to think and act differently with a big-picture understanding of the agency’s financial and strategic goals. They see the link between their departmental objectives and their own, where they fit and how they can make a difference, and develop a commitment to use funds efficiently and effectively.

USES: Zodiak is an excellent way to broaden your leadership development curriculum … engage managers around agency vision and strategy … accelerate employee commitment to major changes … help employees gain insight into how they affect the bottom line … energize a management or organizational event.

TIME FRAME: Zodiak is a one-day program, incorporating a four-hour game session and a two-hour Connections session. Optional extension exercises can be modified or customized.