| Saving the world from alien attack doesn't appear anywhere on Cara Newman's job description. But when asked to save the planet from intergalactic raiders, the IBM systems engineer found a way to get the job done. Her heroics were imaginary, of course, but what she learned from the process may be applied in real life. Newman was participating in a demonstration of The Journey Home, a training game developed by Ottawa based Business Simulation International Inc. BSI is one of only a handful of Canadian companies that custom-designs simulation training programs for clients. The programs range from board games such as The Journey Home to intensive live-in situations that can last several days. Company president Don Jones says the growing use of simulations training is related to studies that show people learn up to three times as much when they are active in receiving information reather than passive. "Adults want to get more involved in the learning process," said Jones. "They have a lifetime of experience, and a lot to contribute. The question is, what is the best way to get it out of them?" Simulations allow people to explore different way of responding to real-life situations without worrying about real-life consequences, says Jones. His goal in designing the simulations is to create a competitive, stressful, interactive environment where participants do more than pretend. "In a role play, you are asked to play a role and that in itself is superficial. In a simulation, we ask you to play yourself," said Jones. "When you let the person come out, the good and bad comes out as well." Developing custom simulations can take up to a year of intensive research into the company to understand the obstacles it faces and create a suitable program. Jones sometimes goes as far as working at the company to better understand the employees' perspective. The cost can get up as high as $250,000. Some major corporate players are buying into the effectiveness of simulation training. Ortho-McNeil Inc., Molson Breweries Inc., the Trilon Group of Companies, and the Arizona Public Service Company are all on BSI's client list. In its four years, BSI has done about 40 simulations, including eight major ones, says Jones. He is currently working on a particularly complex four-day simulation for a major Canadian corporation where everything from the participants clothing to what they eat and where they sleep in controlled. Jones says BSI has even formed a separate company to sell two of its simulations - The Journey Home and Planet X - on the general market. Licensing agreement for Canada and the United States are already in place. The game Newman played as part of the Association for Services Management International shows why the training method is growing in popularity. Even though it was only a demonstration and lacked the staging and special effects of most BSI simulations, players quickly became wrapped up in the job of saving the planet. Each team of six huddled over its starmap, planning strategy. Everyone has a specific job: captain, science officer, environmental officer, navigator, communications officer or training officer. Poker chips representing solar storms and dart flights signifying alien competitors were carefully moved in the map. Mars bars and neon tubes appeared as critical props in the game. Once every light year (three earth minutes), new information was available to help team on their quests. But the rules said players could leave their table only when the team gave its special cheer. In the spirit of the game, many borrowed Start Trek phraseology. "Beam me up, Scotty", "Make it so", and "Engage" the teams cried out as they jostled with one another to get the new information first. In debriefing session afterwards, each team shared what it had learned from the exercise. Newman, captain of the winning team, credited he squad's success to having "a defined process with built-in flexibility" from the start. Other teams reported insights into the importance of communication, sharing information and cooperation. "It was fun," said Newman afterwards. "And I definitely see it as being applicable to the business environment." "The best test or me is that theses people have seen everything, have seen every program. They could easily get up and say, 'This is crap,'" Jones said. "It never happens."
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