Training Solutions
The Evocatus team has a background in military training design and delivery, with particular experience in developing teams. This gives us a thorough understanding of how to frame training requirements, create exercises that get the most from the available resources and come up with detailed scenarios which challenge every aspect of an organisation.
At the most sophisticated level, this involved the planning and management of the British Army’s largest and most complex exercises, running continuously for weeks at a time with thousands of soldiers taking part and involving a host of supporting contractors providing simulation support, fast jets and helicopters, a civilian population, special effects and simulated journalists. At this scale, the challenge is as much about focussed project planning and synchronisation as it is about training expertise, but with a fixed and consistent understanding of the required outcomes.
Collective Training
We build knowledge, skills & experience into effective teams
We are not a traditional training company; much of what we do is focussed on culture, communication and strategy. However, the reason why we have so much experience running exercises is that they are simply the best way for training and preparing teams and leaders. Defence calls this Collective Training; its purpose is to build individuals’ knowledge, skills and experience into effective teams. At Evocatus, our pedigree as both leaders and collective trainers is a powerful combination for use in training commercial leaders and teams. Also, just as we often achieve team building outcomes as a by-product of an exercise, we often achieve training effect in addition to the main purpose of an event.
What skills can our training solutions target?
When it comes to training teams, there are a number of key areas that exercises and games are really well-placed to develop. We can design a training solution which develops teamwork in general, or which is specifically to develop one of these areas.
Communication
Leadership
Shared Understanding
Mutual Trust
Adaptability
Team Goal Orientation
How do we do it?
Self-evidently, not every team training event can be a huge live exercise. But the same structures and techniques can be used to train teams on a more simple level and on a smaller scale and can focus on the team itself or on preparation for tasks or the execution of a plan. Carefully creation of a scenario and the development of injects through which to control the exercise can create the same stresses and tension in a table top game or simulation as in a live event. Games and exercises of this type are ideal for helping to develop both leadership and management skills in those who will be responsible for decision making and for other people.
TRAINING SUPPORT
Over and above team training and leadership training, we are also well placed to support other training delivery teams with exercises to either start or end a training experience. At the start of a course, games provide an ideal environment in which to break the ice and rapidly introduce students to one another. At the end of a course, we can design an exercise which confirms what students have learned, potentially allowing them to show their new competence in a realistic context or scenario.
Our Network
At Evocatus, our focus is on using engagement through games to help businesses achieve their objectives, using our experience as leaders, decision makers, trainers and exercise designers. We are confident that we have the key skills to deliver truly transformational plan testing activities, but are equally confident that the best events will use the expertise of others, depending on the client’s needs. Our strong links to small businesses offering services as diverse as film-making and organisational psychology in the UK and beyond mean that we have a constant feed of new ideas, innovations and context to make sure we can deliver exactly what our clients are hoping for.
Where we operate
Our base in Dorset Innovation Park is a perfect setting for team building games: Swindon, Bristol and Bath are all within very easy reach. Alternatively, we routinely travel to deliver exercises at an organisation’s own offices or at an entirely different location; this can be particularly effective when a corporate away-day or meeting incorporates team building scenario games. London and other major cities with good public transport networks provide an ideal place to run problem solving games; Swindon and other regional hubs tend to provide more options for getting out into the countryside or for using larger indoor spaces without breaking the budget.