Spy Games and Space Stations: Is this work?
There’s no rule that employee-training sessions have to be terminally boring. With that in mind, Internal & External Communication, Inc., offers its Fortune 500 clients an opportunity to trade in dull transparencies and training manuals for the “principles of play.” Suzanne Biegel, C/W’84, was recently named president of the company after six years there, and also was a winner in the 1997 Greater Los Angeles Entrepreneur of the Year awards competition.
IEC combines engaging themes, colorful graphics, and video-game-like features into award-winning training packages. Competitive Lexus car dealers, for instance, have polished their sales skills through a spy-themed, multimedia simulation featuring a secret Lexus development laboratory. In a program designed for Citibank, trainees interact with virtual customers who appear on a screen resembling a space-station control panel.