Training simulators aren't just for astronauts and pilots anymore. With computing power ever more affordable, simulation software is popping up everywhere, from kids' games (the popular Sims line from Electronic Arts) to corporate training programs.

Simulations per se aren't new to the corporate training environment; for years, companies have pulled employees together and asked them to work through simulated business problems as a group. Andromeda Training Inc., in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, has been developing and marketing business simulations since 1993. Its facilitator-led "Income/Outcome" program allows users to see how the decisions they make can affect a company's profitability while teaching them basic business and finance concepts. "I've sat through it, and it's absolutely astounding," says Harvey Singh, founder and CEO of Instancy Inc., a Cary, North Carolina–based company that helps businesses share knowledge among their employees. "What I would learn from reading three or four books I could learn a lot more quickly and readily in a simulation environment."

Increasingly, simulations are moving online, as new software generates sophisticated problems and multivariable situations to which learners must respond — and face the consequences. Companies on a budget can dip their toes into the simulation waters using desktop programs such as Adobe Systems Inc.'s Macromedia Captivate, which simplifies the creation of E-learning content by giving more control to nontechnical staff, resulting in a highly functional tutorial, demo, or simulation that can be offered online, on a disk, or embedded in other applications.

Frank Hanfland, manager of training technology and interactive media at Safety-Kleen Systems Inc., says he can now create for hundreds of dollars what previously required tens of thousands of dollars — and in less time to boot. "Before, I would sit down with a subject expert, discuss the subject matter, try to learn what they were doing, and then go to a graphics designer and finally to a programmer, and then run back and forth three or four times to the subject expert," he says. "Now I give Captivate to the subject expert and say, 'Go crazy.' Captivate captures his contribution, and then he passes it to me for a quick edit," and voilà!, a module is born.

"I think this is where the future is," says Singh, referring to the widespread popularity of computer games. "Kids are growing up with these tools." — R.M.

Charm School for CFOs

Can training help turn a promising but unpolished finance manager into a company's next CFO? Maybe, but it's not easy.

Neil Witmer, an executive coach, management consultant, and organizational psychologist who runs Witmer & Associates, in Oak Brook, Illinois, has been helping firms evaluate executive talent for two decades. In that time, he's identified six qualities he considers critical for world-class CFOs: intelligence; the ability to think in multiple dimensions; the ability to operate at either a macro or micro level at will; broad business experience; the willingness to take reasonable risks to grow the business; and the ability to read people (what he calls "social insight").

Middle managers may well have sufficient intelligence to move higher up the finance chain, says Witmer, but they are often lacking in other areas. They have a hard time seeing the big picture, are overly cautious, lack social insight, or don't have broad business experience. Unfortunately, he says, only one of those attributes — business breadth — is highly developable. "The others are really more genetically wired," he says, adding that while a shortfall in one or more of those areas might be OK at smaller firms where the CFO role is less demanding, their absence would be a "fatal flaw" at the Fortune 100 level.

What about so-called soft skills — a polished presence, say, or strong communications skills? The great CFOs all have them, Witmer says, but he's not inclined to include them on his short list of essentials. "I know brilliant CFOs," he says, "who are not terribly articulate." — R.M.

If a Colleague Falls in the Forest

You've heard about them, no doubt, and maybe even participated in them — those feel-good treks through the woods with your office mates that are designed to foster camaraderie and teamwork. New Age exercises like "trust falls" or rappelling down rock walls may enliven subsequent watercooler chat, but do they really have a lasting effect once everybody is back at work?

Probably not. "I have no problem with these things if they're sincere," says consultant Marc Rosenberg of Marc Rosenberg and Associates, whose latest book is Beyond E-Learning (Pfeiffer, 2005). "The real issue is that we tend to think a day in the woods will solve a year's worth of personality clashes, organizational mismanagement, or bad leadership. What often happens is you go out there and you feel better for about three days. But if you then go back to the same environment and haven't done anything to fix it, it's a waste of time. This type of training is never a substitute for true leadership."

Jack Phillips, chairman of the ROI Institute, in Birmingham, Alabama, agrees. "I've yet to see a positive return on investment from one of these programs," he says. "That doesn't mean they're not important or that they're unnecessary, but it's rare for them to impact a person's work or a team's work enough to overcome the cost of that training. It's more for entertainment." Tell that to the guy with the rope burns. — R.M.

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