A Dive Into Risk-Free Environments

The BEST Awards recognize organizations that demonstrate enterprise-wide success as a result of employee talent development. The winners use learning as a strategic business tool to get results. View the entire list of 2025 BEST Award winners.

An experimental landscape, whether virtual or based in role play, fosters real experiences that cement learning so participants can apply it safely and successfully on the job. Simulations ensure that training is realistic and accessible for all users from frontline workers to executives. Numer­ous companies use simulations to their—and their employees'—advantage.

A safe journey

China's Zijin Mining Group Company has invested approximately $10 million to establish a state-of-the art simulation training base. The training center offers immersive, hands-on instruction for the difficult and dangerous work conditions that exist in the mining industry. The multi-degree-of-freedom simulators have two types of platforms that mimic realistic motion, critical for helping trainees master complex operations safely.

The effort targets high-difficulty operations that have high error costs and provides a means by which the company can offer risk-free training in 13 special scenarios.

"As a rapidly growing large enterprise, both onboarding and ongoing training must be established as fundamental systems," states CEO Zou Laichang. "We cannot let talent go to waste. We must help employees sharpen their skills."

The simulation training enables the organization to provide real-time feedback to trainees, standardize operations, and maintain a safe training environment. Since launching the initiative, the company has realized cost savings, a reduction in training time, and improved training efficiency and safety. Employees enhance their skills proficiency, and the company minimizes loss due to operational errors.

Top of the class

As a utility company that specializes in power transmission, Power Grid Corpor­ation of India Limited manages a competitive, high-regulation environ­ment that demands operational efficiency. With little—if any—room for error, the organization has a strong commitment to L&D.

In the 2023–2024 fiscal year, L&D's budget increased by 27 percent, enabling the team to leverage immersive technologies and simulations to modernize employee training and create engaging and effective learning programs. Domains include transmission line, air-insulated substation, gas-insulated substation, transformer and reactor, static synchronous compensator, and high-voltage direct current.

L&D also used simulations to create a company-wide business simulation and management games initiative. The effort aligned with the organization's commitment to developing managerial talent, which is especially critical as the firm looks to diversify operations. More than 450 staff members participated, divided into more than 130 teams. It involved five rounds: a qualifying round, followed by three additional ones to narrow the field, and the final.

The initiative consisted of an interactive business simulation in which teams manage a new company in a virtual environment with the goal of obtaining the best investment performance. Every employee gained the opportunity to demonstrate strategic acumen, people skills, and collaborative spirit.

Each team presented their business case, plans for growth and investment, analytics related to growth, performance, efficiency, and workforce utilization. After the final round, eight teams advanced to compete in front of senior management at headquarters. Management not only invited top teams to shape future strategic efforts, but winners improved competencies for current and future roles—and some individuals moved into new job positions based on their performance. The company plans to expand the competition in the future.

Stepping up

At Huntington National Bank, simulations are a source of career development. The technology complements workshops and offers participants an opportunity to apply what they learned in two different workflows.

"Our colleagues are our competitive advantage, so we advocate for them, support their career aspirations, and provide leadership development programs," says Steve Steinour, the chairman, president, and CEO.

The Transformations Program is a development initiative for executive and senior women leaders. The talent management team uses the Carter Racing Problem (whether or not the team's car should race in the biggest competition of the year) to strengthen participants' capabilities across program areas by requiring them to work through a complex scenario.

Women work together for 45 minutes to make decisions with incomplete data. Then, in a 45-minute debrief, they learn the simulation mimics the 1986 Challenger space shuttle disaster and explore the drivers and implications of their decisions. The activity reveals the importance of understanding team decision-making dynamics—trust, collaboration, cognitive bias, groupthink, influence or persuasion, risk-taking, and communication—and how to positively apply such aspects in their current leadership roles.

The other program involved a simulation called the Food Truck Challenge to prepare interns for summer-long innovation projects and improve team collaboration, entrepreneurship, and emotional intelligence. Each team had to successfully run a food truck in a new market. They evaluated the competitive landscape, analyzed market data, set goals and milestones, and implemented their plans. The simulation was a competition, and each truck's success determined its ranking.

The simulation experience meant teams that performed highly in the competition would present stronger innovation projects. Accordingly, the top three innovation teams all placed in the top half of the simulation exercise. The company is using those projects to advance potential business opportunities.

Practicum and promotions

India-based NTPC Limited operates in the power generation industry. Its primary business is coal and gas, although it is expanding to include green-energy initiatives. With the regulatory landscape rapidly evolving, the company must be agile to operate competitively.

"Grow our own timber" is NTPC's talent development philosophy. In the past year, that strategy focused on targeted, need-based learning and future readiness. The L&D team leveraged simulators and virtual reality to address skills gaps while enhancing daily operations.

With 25 percent of the company's workforce having less than five years of experience, comprehensive training programs that include immersive learning and simulation tools are safe and effective ways to build competencies in power generation operations. L&D launched simulator training across various power generation capacities that mirror the organization's verticals, to include 500 megawatt, 660 megawatt, 800 megawatt, as well as welding and remote welding. In fiscal year 2023–2024, more than 900 employees received more than 54,000 simulator training hours.

Beyond technical training, NTPC uses simulations to cultivate leadership capabilities and business acumen. L&D maps simulation outcomes to individual leadership development plans and translates them into action learning projects that enable participants to apply insights in real-world environments.

There are two categories of leader development simulations. Multilevel leadership development simulations focus on midlevel, high-potential staff using real-world, scenario-based simulations to build decision-making and business acumen skills and assess leadership influence styles.

The Business Minds Management Game is open to executives. It assesses strategic thinking and decision-making skills in a simulated business environment. In 2024, 540 teams comprising more than 1,600 participants took part in such simulations, strengthening their ability to tackle complex business challenges.

Simulations have enhanced leadership preparedness, reduced transition time for executives stepping into senior roles, and strengthened the organization's overall strategic capabilities.

View the entire list of 2025 BEST Award winners.