The WAGNER Group is one of the world‘s leading manufacturers of innovative technology for the finishing of surfaces with powder and wet coatings, paints, and other liquid materials. The equipment and systems of the international Group are used in industry, in the trades and by do-it-yourself enthusiasts. Around 2000 employees worldwide work in 18 operating companies on three continents. The biggest is located in Markdorf at Lake Constance, Germany, and employs around 500 people.
Client Challenge
Due to its world wide presence, the WAGNER Group has international employees as well as international clients. Development impulses are offered annually to selected employees as part of the talent management process. Each year, approximately 40 people with different hierarchical levels/professional experience are defined globally. Two groups took part in simulation games: the so-called „professionals“, who will decide on a specialist or management career in the future, and the „managers“, who are already in a management career. The focus of the programm is on networking and exchange with other members of the team, for generating a deeper insight in other functions and branches. Cross-collaborative, divisional, and international thinking should be encouraged to work stronger and better with each other.
Our Solution
In order to optimally respond to the objectives and framework conditions of the WAGNER Group, we used our business simulations Business Management (group professionals) as well as Scale Up (group managers) for the seminars. Apart from the simulation, the participants needed to do some additional tasks, like an advertising campaign or their positioning within the market. After the last game period, the general meeting took place. The participants presented their stratgies, their decision making processes and their personal learnings. The management was present at the beginning and at the end of the seminars. With the teams, they discussed the transfer of their knowledge and their developed strategies to their own working reality.
The Value for the Client
Based on the simulations Business Management and Scale Up, the seminar could support the (future) executives as follows:
- Both groups learned how to evaluate the company data and asses the consequences of their decision making.
- In Business Management, the teams learned how to operate forward-looking in a dynamic competetive environment.
- In Scale Up, future managers deepend their knowledge in order to develop and implement forward-looking strategies for achieving their goals.
The participants got insights in into the overall management of a company. They reflected transferred the knowledge to the daily work environment. It encoraged coordination & cooperation in an international and interdisciplinary team.
