Using Do and Debrief™ Learning to develop business acumen in context. Put financial skills training in the context of your company, strategy, and goals.

1. Building Business Acumen with Do and
Debrief™ Learning
What it is
Do and Debrief™ Learning turns the traditional classroom instruction process upside down.
It places learners in situations that require them to synthesize financial information with the Possible Topics
skills they brought into the classroom in a collaborative team environment.
Income statement
In a Do and Debrief™ workshop, participants are placed in a challenging fictional situation.
For example, a management audience might be informed that they are taking over business Balance sheet
unit for which they will have P&L responsibility. A sales audience might be getting the
opportunity to take over a territory from another sales representative who has left the Cash flow
company or been promoted. In either case, the learner must take charge of a new position,
quickly assess the situation, make decisions, take action and then report back to the group. Profits/losses
The action may require a role play interaction, possibly with an employee, the boss in the
Working capital
fictional situation or another department. The role plays can be performed with fellow
workshop participants or with role players from outside the class. Company-specific metrics
Industry-specific trends
How it works
Learners are grouped in teams and given background on the fictional situation. All actions Budgeting
taken by the teams require collaboration and consensus. Do and Debrief™ generally
includes the following: HR strategy
Learners complete a comprehensive pre-workshop experience to establish a common Marketing
baseline of business literacy. Key business metrics and ratios are explained, and the
workshop case study situation is introduced. Web-based readiness assessments can Operations
also be included.
When they arrive at the workshop, teams learn more about the business challenge they R&D
will be collectively facing (running a territory or division, assuming control of a plant, and
so on). Growth
Teams receive data and reports that include corporate long- and short-term goals , and
that reveal the challenge and create a sense of urgency. For instance, an experienced
manager may have resigned or a key supplier may be in financial trouble. Production is
down — the situation is deteriorating.
The cast of characters is introduced. For management workshops, learners receive “In a Do and Debrief™
background on their direct reports. For sales workshops, learners receive profiles of key workshop, learners are
customers or accounts. For business units, department heads may be introduced. placed in a challenging
Teams establish priorities. They name their team, assign roles and responsibilities for fictional situation.... the
the first activity (team leader, scribe, timekeeper, and so on), and determine what needs learner must take
to be done in their new role. What will they do first? Second? Third? Why those things charge of a new
and why that order? What is their fallback position? position, quickly
assess the situation,
and take action, usually
in a role-play activity.”
©2011 Universal Training. All rights reserved.

2. “Do and Debrief™ …
works because it
Next, each team briefly presents the results of their work to the rest of the group. fosters engagement.
Competitiveness between teams begins to develop and the teams become The pressure is on to
increasingly motivated to succeed. find a solution to a
Depending on the audience, a measurable business simulation component is problem that is going to
introduced. Teams make decisions that affect their fictional business unit and their sit down across the
results are tabulated and scored by computer. When this component is used, the table from learners in
teams may be ranked, making the learning even more dynamic and competitive. 10 minutes.”
As teams confront challenges and make decisions, the case study becomes
increasingly complex. The business decisions mirror those of the real business
world: Should they enter a new market? Introduce a new product? Cap sales
commissions? Restructure territories? Acquire a competitor?
New content is introduced through short facilitator-led mini-sessions. As learners
advance in the program, the challenges become increasingly dependent on the new
content presented in the workshop. They also become increasingly difficult.
In every case, teams self-assess and present to the class. How effective was their
strategy? What were their results? What was their rationale for taking the actions
they did? What would they do differently if they had it to do again?
Teams each present a summary of their critique. If outside role players were used,
they are given a chance to add their feedback at this time.
Where does it work best?
Do and Debrief™ learning works well with audiences who have some business
experience to build upon. They may have faced some of the challenges the workshop
presents before and believe they have an effective way of handling them. They may be What Learners Are
business school graduates with a good theoretical grounding in the management Saying
fundamentals. They may be the kind of learners who enter training experiences believing
that they already know best. They are probably confident high-achievers who may be “The case studies and
reluctant to accept a different way of thinking just because somebody else advocates it. situations were real
They may have a “show me” attitude and may be somewhat disengaged in formal world — the kinds of
learning situations. challenges we face
every day on the job.”
Why does it work?
Do and Debrief™ works because it puts learners in the position of having to think fast and
respond quickly. It is more like real life than a structured learning experience. The “We got to share ideas
problems are familiar to learners because they come up from time to time in their with our teammates to
company. The situation is inherently interesting. There is the possibility of gain — find solutions to
succeeding in the simulation, being the best team in the class, and performing well in problems that
front of peers. There is also the possibility of loss — failing in a role play situation, mattered.”
missing their objective, or having to explain poor performance to the rest of the class.
Do and Debrief™ also works because it fosters engagement. The pressure is on to find a
solution to a problem in 10 minutes. As a member of a team, they can’t let their “The situations are so
teammates down. And because the responsibilities on the teams rotate, they can’t interesting and
disappoint a teammate because they may be looking for that teammate’s support in the engaging that you find
next activity. Finally, they don’t want to be the one team that doesn’t succeed, that loses yourself getting sucked
the employee or the account, or the weakest team in the class. in, even when you
thought you wouldn’t.”
2 ©2011 Universal Training. All rights reserved.

3. Why is it so valuable?
Learners tell us again and again that their Do and Debrief™ learning experience was their
most valuable learning experience ever. Here are some frequent participant comments:
“The learning was fast-paced and we never got bored. We never spent more than 15
minutes doing any one thing, so the time flew by.”
“We got to try out our methods before having another way of doing things presented to
us.”
“The case studies and situations were real world — the kinds of challenges we face About Universal
every day on the job.”
Training
“The business simulation gave us real-world, measurable results. Our decisions were
evaluated against objective criteria, not just somebody’s opinion.”
“We got to share ideas with our teammates to find solutions to problems that mattered.” Universal Training is a
“We had four opportunities to learn — preparing for the role play, doing the role play, nationally recognized
debriefing the role play and hearing the other teams’ presentations, and participating in developer of custom
the mini-sessions.” learning solutions.
“The outside role players add an incredible level of seriousness to the activity — it’s just
We build solutions from
a role play in an ordinary class, but when that stranger walks into the room and shakes
the ground up when off-
your hand, your heart starts to pound — it’s so real!”
the-shelf training doesn’t
“The situations are so interesting and engaging that you find yourself getting sucked in,
measure up or address a
even when you thought you wouldn’t.”
specific business
challenge.
Finally, it’s valuable because it’s fun and it works. Each participant gets to test his or her
limits — gets to try to succeed or fail. It requires the use of multiple skills and competencies
Our well-established,
at the same time — they not only have to know how to solve the problem, they have to be
collaborative process is
able to convince their teammates that they have the best solution. Learners have to
based on proven adult
influence their teammates without seeming to take over. And the skills that worked so well
learning principles.
for the last situation may not work as well for the next one.
The result is cost-
effective learning that
How can I get started?
gets measurable results.
To get started in Do and Debrief™, you need:
For more information,
The right audience — experienced, competitive, confident high-achievers visit www.
The right case study — you have to build it from the ground up to ensure it represents universaltraining.com.
the most challenging situations your audience faces
A good facilitator — the instructor for this type of training has to resist the temptation to
“tell” learners the answers; he or she has to trust the process and let it work, even when
it feels uncomfortable
To throw the learners into the deep end of the pool and let them figure it out — don’t
spend a lot of time telling them how it works or how good it’s going to be, just get them
started and trust the process
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3 ©2011 Universal Training. All rights reserved.