The Lane4 journey began on 19 September 1988, when British swimmer, Adrian Moorhouse lined up for the final of the 100 metres breaststroke at the Seoul Olympic Games. Having qualified in the fastest time, Adrian was in lane 4, traditionally set aside for the fastest heat winner, which gave him a small but potentially crucial advantage over his competitors. Adrian came home with the Gold medal. And although he didn't realise it at the time, with the perfect name for the business he would co-found just a few years later with leading performance psychologist Professor Graham Jones and business executive Adrian Hutchinson.
Lane4 is a Performance Management Company , whose expertise is in the field of human performance, helping individuals and teams achieve their fullest potential through three interlocking areas of business, psychology and elite sport. Lane4 specialise in change management , leadership development, and team development.
They needed a set of simulation tools with the following characteristics:
In Influence (formerly Cohort) participants lead a nine-week organisational change project, developing and executing a strategic plan while navigating the priorities and influence of multiple stakeholders. The simulation builds capability in three key areas:
In Influence (formerly Cohort) participants lead a nine-week organisational change project, developing and executing a strategic plan while navigating the priorities and influence of multiple stakeholders. The simulation builds capability in three key areas:
In Crew , you're a team leader responsible for successfully delivering a four-week project with your group. You’ll need to schedule work, delegate tasks, manage deadlines, and respond to unexpected issues - all while developing your team and keeping morale high.
Crew is grounded in John Adair’s Action Centred Leadership (ACL) model, helping leaders understand and apply the principles of task, team, and individual. It’s an ideal environment to practise team management in a safe, reflective, and engaging way.
The simulation focuses on two core skill areas:
In Crew , you're a team leader responsible for successfully delivering a four-week project with your group. You’ll need to schedule work, delegate tasks, manage deadlines, and respond to unexpected issues - all while developing your team and keeping morale high.
Crew is grounded in John Adair’s Action Centred Leadership (ACL) model, helping leaders understand and apply the principles of task, team, and individual. It’s an ideal environment to practise team management in a safe, reflective, and engaging way.
The simulation focuses on two core skill areas:
Participant feedback seen below are some direct quotes from Lane4 consultants who facilitate the simulations with their customers:
"The mix of team collaboration and team competition is very engaging - participants love it and learn great insights almost with realising it"
"The simulations are “facilitator friendly” with full manuals, briefing notes, FAQs, and agendas which mean I can concentrate on the customers and the learning instead of worrying about how the simulations work"
"Customising a game is a great way to collaborate with your senior customers and usually ends up them feeling huge ownership of game and looking for other ways to deploy it - which is great for Lane4"
We asked Dr. Austin Swain, Client Services Director, Lane4 Management Group for his overall assessment of the value of these simulations to Lane4:
Using these unique business simulations we have been able to develop a whole range of new services for our clients in key areas such as business acumen , strategic thinking , team and leadership development . After every simulation session the participants are always delighted with their new insights and the manner in which they have gained them – fun, fast, social, compelling, collaborative and highly competitive!
Ken is an expert practitioner, author and speaker on collaboration, high-performing teams and game based learning.