“I love the Maxx for many reasons, not the least of which is its brilliant, sophisticated design. The Maxx actually provides a rich and realistic, self-contained world that challenges the participants on a business level, as well as on a personal level. The debriefs are rich and they set the stage for participants to explore and discover real and valuable insights for themselves.”

That, according to e! facilitator Ron Christian describes his experience with the Maxx, e!’s signature business simulation.

The Maxx is a deep-drill business simulation that immerses participants in a fictional company, Maxx Performance Entertainment Inc. The world of the Maxx is a competitive one. Participants are challenged with making strategic business and financial decisions, as well as leading with emotional intelligence in an ever-changing business landscape.

Behind the scenes in the Maxx, a sophisticated, computer-based financial model provides real-time, ongoing information to the Maxx teams throughout the simulation. The model synthesizes choices and business decisions that the teams make and offers them valuable input to assist them in understanding the impact of their choices.

Peter Gardiner Harding and Ron Christian are seasoned members of e!’s facilitation team. They have both been facilitating the Maxx since its inception in 1999, each having facilitated over 40 runs.

Peter and Ron--as well as every other e! Maxx team member--developed a character that they ‘become’ when facilitating The Maxx. Peter becomes ‘Oh Jester, My Jester,’ authentically costumed as a court jester. Ron enters the simulation as ‘Troub (Whom We) Adore,’ complete with guitar and travelling musician’s garb.

The characters add energy and fun to the simulation, but that’s not all. As Peter explains: “‘Oh Jester, My Jester’ allows me to get into relationships with participants in a deep and unique way. OJMJ is unlike any other character I play in any of my work; he is disarming, loveable and provocative in ways that other characters are not.” Facilitator characters add the key human element in bringing the simulation environment to life. Of course, once the action of the simulation is over, the facilitators step out of those characters to lead and guide the learning debrief. The debrief provides participants the opportunity to reflect on their experience in the simulation and to mine rich learning that they are then able to apply in their everyday work.

According to Ron, “The Maxx provides a 'risk free' learning environment that rapidly becomes very real for the participants. They truly can experiment with their behaviour and observe the results. I believe that at heart, most (if not all) adults do want to 'play', or at least be playful. The culture of this simulation really does make the program profoundly engaging.”

The Maxx was designed for the Bank of Montreal in 1999. It ran at the Institute for Learning in Toronto for over three years, with approximately 3000 BMO managers participating. Since 2001, e! has delivered The Maxx for Alcan Inc. in both Toronto and Vaudreuil, Quebec. Currently, the e! design team is hard at work enhancing and augmenting the Maxx for its upcoming run in partnership with Inforum in the fall of 2006. The end product of that design will be a complete four day immersive world called Leadership at the Maxx! This open-forum program will sweep participants up into a completely immersive and truly unique learning experience.