Living the Lessons

Learning followed by practice was the underlying strategy driving BASF's Leadership Academy. Informational sessions were reinforced with practical business simulations that engaged participants in dialog and let them put new concepts into practice.

Deborah Shapiro-Ross, a business planning manager in BASF's chemical division, and a guest speaker during the Academy's "customer focus" week, shared her insight as an IS customer. "Apples & Oranges demonstrated how to follow the money through an organization," she says. "It gave everyone a good perspective. They could see what each division costs to run, and how to realize a return on investments."

Best of all, Shapiro-Ross adds, "It was fun and shows relationship impact." Shapiro-Ross notes that she has already seen IS managers put into practice the same strategies they discovered during Apples & Oranges.

The last week of the Leadership Academy is best described as highly spirited. During Tango, IS manager teams vied to win over the best customers either by bidding in the open marketplace or luring them away from competitors. The competition was equally intense for employees. With few tangible assets to count on, IS managers quickly discovered the value of intangibles-like employee know-how, R&D and customer relationships- in a knowledge-intensive business.

BASF's Michel Vitiello, manager of organizational development for the IS group, kept up the momentum by holding a Super Tango event-inviting back the winning Tango team from each of four sessions to compete against each other. One participant aptly captured the mood of a Tango playoff: "Ladies and gentlemen, let's get ready to rumble!"

To fuel the internal frenzy, Vitiello posted live Intranet bulletins on team developments as the drama unfolded.

Meredith Levinson, a reporter with CIO magazine and a guest Tango team participant, observed, "Of greater importance than how their company ranked is what they learned from the simulation - exactly how important and difficult it is to set a goal, allocate the resources they'll need to meet it, be flexible enough to adapt their plans if the competitive landscape shifts and communicate these changes and plans to all team members."

Concludes Vitiello, "We're making some good strides in the 'know-how' part of the equation. And having some fun in the process."