Intas Pharmaceuticals partnered with SimuRise to host a powerful collaborative leadership training session during their leadership offsite. Through the immersive business simulation The Search for The Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine, 44 Plant Managers discovered how to work better as a team, take smarter risks, and make decisions that move the business forward—all while having fun and unlocking their full leadership potential.
The Leadership Development Objective
This wasn’t your typical collaborative leadership training.
Intas Pharmaceuticals wanted to create a program that was:
- Energizing
- Fun
- Deeply focused on real leadership challenges
The half-day offsite focused on four key areas:
- Collaboration
- Resource maximization
- Strategic decision-making
- Smart risk-taking
All under the theme: “Unleashing the Potential Within”
SimuRise designed a collaborative leadership training experience using their flagship simulation to turn this objective into an impactful, memorable experience.
The Simulation: Mining Gold, Making Decisions
The program used The Search for The Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine, a simulation set in the 1800s where teams must mine for gold with limited resources, uncertain paths, and big decisions to make.
In this experience:
- Teams had to plan, strategize, and collaborate under pressure
- Leaders were encouraged to use their full toolkit—resources, advice, and teamwork
- Every action had a consequence, and every decision shaped the outcome
The simulation perfectly mirrored real-world business challenges, making the collaborative leadership training both relevant and high-impact.
Key Learnings and Behavioral Shifts
1. Collaboration Over Isolation
Plant Managers realized that success comes faster and bigger when leaders work together instead of in silos.
2. Maximize What You Have
The program taught participants to use what’s already available—people, tools, time—more efficiently.
3. Smart Risk-Taking
Leaders experienced how to evaluate risks, take bold moves, and adjust their course without overexposing the team.
4. Leverage Support Networks
Asking for help and using internal advice systems became part of the strategy, reinforcing that leaders don’t have to go it alone.
The Impact: Energy, Insight, and Lasting Change
This wasn’t just a simulation—it was a mindset shift.
- Energized engagement far beyond a classroom workshop
- Deeper collaboration among managers who rarely interacted before
- Improved strategic thinking under pressure
- Better team alignment and shared leadership language
By gamifying the learning experience, this collaborative leadership training helped simplify complex leadership concepts and turn them into real, memorable lessons.
Why This Worked
For Intas, this program offered more than just a few hours of learning:
- It created space for honest collaboration
- It gave leaders practical frameworks they could apply back on the plant floor
- It built connections and culture, the kind that lasts beyond the offsite
The combination of immersive simulation, high-stakes problem solving, and shared goals turned this into a strategic investment in leadership development.
Conclusion: A New Model for Leadership Offsites
SimuRise’s collaborative leadership training proved to be the perfect fit for Intas Pharmaceuticals’ offsite. It was engaging, practical, and tailored to the challenges that real leaders face.
If you’re planning your next leadership offsite, consider skipping the PowerPoint slides.
Choose a simulation that energizes, engages, and transforms. Because when leaders grow together, the entire organization moves forward.
