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EN The corporate training industry spends over $340 billion a year on learning. But most of it doesn’t stick. People attend, complete, or click through sessions,...
Univar Solutions (Univar) is a global chemical and ingredients distributor and provider of value-added services. Headquartered in Illinois, USA, they employ over 10,000 people in more than 30 countries globally.
The company was ranked among TIME’s Best Companies for Future Leaders, within the inaugural year of the awards. As part of the award, data firm Statista analysed the CVs of 2,000 prominent scientists, politicians and CEOs of the country’s largest companies to identify the companies where they most often worked. Univar was ranked 61st.
Univar had identified that their leaders needed upskilling to understand and apply financial terms and commercial concepts, to inform the discussions and their decisions at work.
Members of the Univar learning team had experienced our simulations at previous organisations, so knew that we had an off-the-shelf programme that could be configured to suit their specific needs. As they already had an understanding of how simulations typically work, they were able to create a steering group to quickly establish which elements would need configuring, and how to align the content and materials to the organisation’s context.
As part of a wider leadership programme, we delivered Visible Value, which is designed to replicate the real-life commercial decision making required at Univar, as well as the measures of success in each experience being matched to the organisation’s performance metrics. This is critical to embed the mindset required of Univar leaders.
During the simulation, teams run their own version of Univar, competing with the other teams to create the most profitable business. This game gives Univar employees a wider perspective of the whole organisation, and how different functions’ decisions affect profit. They are given the tools to apply the financial concepts and commercial implications of their decisions during business discussions.
Since 2022, we have delivered these simulations to approximately 300 participants each year, and the sessions continue to receive overwhelmingly positive feedback.
Participants praised the interactive and immersive nature of the simulations, which simplified complex business concepts and facilitated practical application, and The Net Promoter Score (NPS) for these programmes is 55.
Univar has observed a marked improvement in participants' understanding of commercial implications and financial principles following the simulation. The realistic scenarios that are based on the reality of life at Univar have enabled participants to receive actionable feedback and gain insights applicable to their day jobs as leaders in the business.
“I was able to learn a lot while having fun. Also I really loved that I was able to find similarities with the game and real-life work situations. Excellent course and easy material to digest.”
“Had a great time. This material would be very boring to spend 10 hours on, if it wasn’t for the game format.’
“This was a fantastic course. Turning the concepts into a game really kept it engaging, and also helped apply the concepts to everyday work Also a great opportunity to meet more individuals at Univar.”
“It offered a great understanding of the risks a company takes by doing business, and understanding the full cost of doing business.”
Our mission is to bring game-based learning experiences to all corporate training programmes. Since 1987. We have designed games for over 500 organisations, providing unique learning experiences to nearly 500,000 people globally.
To find out more, our team would love to hear from you.
The corporate training industry spends over $340 billion a year on learning. But most of it doesn’t stick. People attend, complete, or click through sessions,...
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Over the past 35 years, we've worked with hundreds of clients around the world to create moments that stick. Find out the answers to some of our frequently asked questions during that time.