How a one-day simulation changed the way 250 leaders think about change

The client

Venterra Realty is a privately held U.S. real estate company specialising in the ownership, development, and management of multifamily residential communities. Operating across major U.S. markets, Venterra manages a large and geographically distributed portfolio of apartment communities, supported by a substantial population of on-site and corporate leaders. The organisation places a strong emphasis on culture, operational excellence, and people-led performance, with a strategic focus on developing leadership capability at scale to support growth, service quality, and sustained organisational change.

Client need

Venterra were undertaking an organisation-wide change programme, which required buy-in from senior stakeholders, managers, and staff. Venterra, understanding that change is both necessary and difficult, approached Business Simulations with the intention of running a fully experiential solution which would deliver systematic change to the mindsets of their leaders, that would help drive the success of this change programme.

Solution

Business Simulations delivered the Influence change management simulation as a core one-day experiential session within Venterra’s week-long leadership conference.

The simulation was selected and configured in close collaboration with Venterra’s event and leadership team to ensure strong alignment with organisational context, language, and priorities. Although Influence is a signature simulation, the experience was wrapped and framed in a way that felt highly personalised to Venterra, reflecting its current culture and internal change agenda.

Delivery used a blended facilitation model, with Business Simulations working alongside Venterra’s leaders in both participant-facing and behind-the-scenes roles. This enabled the internal team to remain focused on overall conference delivery while being fully supported by an experienced simulation delivery team.

Participants worked in cross-functional teams, ranging from first-time managers to senior stakeholders across 40 tables. In the simulation, they were required to influence stakeholders, develop a change plan, and create a high-performing team in real time.

The learning model was based on discovery learning. Participants learned through making decisions, experiencing the consequences of their actions, and receiving real-time, quantifiable feedback. Strategic debrief sessions were used to consolidate learning and connect simulation experiences back to Venterra’s real organisational challenges.

Results

High engagement at scale

Despite the scale of delivery, with approximately 250 participants, the simulation maintained a high level of interaction and focus. The experience felt intimate and highly participative, with full engagement observed at every table. This contrasted strongly with typical conference breakout formats, where a significant proportion of participants disengage.

Level-agnostic challenge

Senior executives and first-time managers were equally challenged. Because the simulation was relationship-based rather than role-based, it proved to be largely level-agnostic, enabling a shared learning experience across organisational hierarchy.

Improved organisational awareness of change

Participants developed a clearer understanding that effective change is complex, requires coordinated effort, and cannot be driven by a single individual acting in isolation.

Discovery-based behavioural learning

Participants reported that it was significantly more impactful than traditional lecture-based training. They learned through experience, mistakes, and real-time feedback - making the learning stick.

Sustained behavioural impact

Post-event, leaders demonstrated that they’d learned the importance of early stakeholder alignment. More proactive conversations were observed around who needed to be involved and influenced at the start of change initiatives.

Customer insight

Working with Business Simulations felt like a genuine partnership. Even with 250 people across 40 tables, the session felt intimate and fully engaging. We could not have been better set up for success in the participant-facing breakouts.

The simulation created a much deeper understanding of what change management actually involves. It made it clear that change is a team effort and that learning through experience and real-time feedback is far more powerful than traditional training.

Since the event, I’ve seen more leaders asking the right questions upfront, especially around stakeholder alignment and who needs to be in the room to make change successful.

Jessica Shaw, Director of Learning & Development - Venterra Realty