Project Simulation Training Programme®
The Project Simulation Training Programme® (“PSTP”) is an innovative and highly effective training programme developed by Tiefenthaler Consulting, aimed at providing effective risk assessment and management skills to role players involved in construction contracts whilst enhancing effective communication skills. All of this is done via entertaining exercises aimed at building the project team’s contractual compliance abilities.
Traditional contract training generally means a lecture on the terms of the contract. This method requires little audience participation, does not encourage the participants to develop their personal interpretative skills and is, frankly, boring and unmemorable.
The Project Simulation Training Programme®, on the other hand, “simulates” a number of contractual scenarios (known as “Project Updates”). Each of the Project Updates™ are based on problems likely to be encountered on the project. Delegates are separated into “project / contracts management” teams and are required to race against the clock (the Contract Programme) and each other to contractually manage their way through the problems in a controlled and guided environment. The delegates’ solutions are analyzed and discussed and any shortcomings resolved. The delegates are then advised how best to apply the contract terms to each of the problems. In this way the delegates are given practical knowledge and are taught how to employ the contract to their best advantage in an interactive environment where typical project conditions apply. The delegates are therefore equipped to deal on a day to day basis with the most likely contractual risks.
The programme is conducted in the manner of a “game-show” with the teams' respective performances being assessed and “Tiefen-dollars” (a fictional currency comprising time and resources) awarded to the team with the best contract solution. At various critical milestones, the teams’ comparative performances are assessed, and teams lagging behind are made to compensate for the time needed by “paying in” from their bank accounts. At the end of the “contract period” the teams’ performances are compared and prizes awarded to the team which has best managed the contract risks in terms of the contract, their resources and time. Other awards given are also given, e.g. best team spirit.
The competitive and “game-show” approach of the programme concentrates the participants’ minds and motivates them to read and interpret the contract in a creative and thoughtful way. Their team’s reputation and success depends on the team members understanding the contract. Teams are required to appoint a different “representative” for each Project Update who presents that team’s solution to the rest of the teams. The participants’ presentation skills are assessed and guidance is given on the best way of presenting a contractual submission. This helps the participants to develop their communication skills.
The Project Simulation Training Programme® has proven to be an important team building exercise. Members of the project teams are encouraged to interact in a casual/informal relaxed atmosphere with each other and are encouraged to debate the terms and conditions of the contract amongst themselves. Tiefenthaler Consulting encourages the team members to develop a “team identity” by, for example, having them wear different team colours and by making them collectively responsible for their team’s solutions to the problems. The competitive, adversarial and entertaining nature of the exercise leads to healthy and heated debate between the teams regarding the various interpretations of the contract. As one participant who obviously enjoyed the programme quipped “It shouldn’t be called Project Simulation Training, it should be called “Project STIMULATION Training”.
The participants leave with an intimate understanding of the risks on the project, how to manage these risks using the contract, how to communicate the contract solution to third parties and how to negotiate disagreements regarding the terms of the contract in a constructive manner.