September 3, 2025 – Abilitie. Imagine the scene: one of your team managers uses all the right buzzwords — empowerment, engagement and culture — but for some reason his team isn’t very happy. Performance drops, engagement stagnates and he can’t explain why. In this situation, what do you do as his leader? How do you get to the root of the issue and turn things around?
This is one of the many scenarios leaders face in Abilitie’s newest release, Director Challenge. In Director Challenge, a simulation-based development program for senior leaders, participants navigate the complexities of leading multiple teams, with an emphasis on growing the managers under their leadership. With a colorful cast of team managers, each with their own unique development areas, participants must balance guiding and coaching team managers to be better motivators and collaborators, while ensuring their teams continue to deliver business-critical projects. Replicating real-life business challenges, with in-game decision points and consequences, Director Challenge provides the ultimate practice ground for senior leaders to hone advanced people management skills.
Abilitie has built its reputation on technology-enabled learning with its experiential simulations and AI-enhanced gameplay. Its programs are also known for their social and competitive elements, with cohort-based delivery and facilitator-led debriefs. Director Challenge follows the same delivery model: participants work in pairs to coach their team managers and complete challenges, sharing knowledge, perspectives and approaches. The scenarios faced are common in most business settings but skilled Abilitie facilitators help to contextualize the learning for each cohort, supporting on-the-job application.
“It might seem counterintuitive that we’ve chosen to integrate one of the greatest asynchronously-available learning tools of our lifetime into a synchronous experience. However, as technology changes at accelerating rates, we hold true to timeless truths: (1) learning is a social experience and (2) the collective understanding that comes out of a team of leaders getting together shapes culture. We feel honored that organizations trust us with the most important asset they have, their leaders’ time.” Luke Owings, Abilitie VP of Product.
When designing Director Challenge, the Abilitie product team set out to support senior leaders with their most common challenges, identified as:
Becoming a “Force Multiplier”
Many leaders struggle with “letting go” and trusting their managers to execute effectively. They need to equip their team managers to execute autonomously so they can amplify and scale performance across multiple teams.
Balancing the “Now” and the “Next”
Leaders struggle with time management and prioritization across competing demands, especially when balancing coaching and talent development with more strategic work. This becomes even more salient when trying to cascade priorities down through their business units.
Navigating Influence, Performance, and Culture-Building
Leaders set the tone for culture in the way they manage conversations around performance and engagement. The example they set for their team managers cascades down through the organization and needs to be intentional.
Leading Through Change and Making High-Stakes Decisions
Leaders face constant organizational shifts and must make strategic trade-offs with incomplete information. Many struggle with how to balance support for organizational decisions and team advocacy in uncertain environments.
“With Director Challenge we are addressing a critical gap in leadership development that is too often overlooked in the design of holistic talent programs. While there are plenty of executive-level retreats and many courses that develop front-line leaders, the senior-level manager – the crucial glue between executive vision and flawless execution at the front lines – is too often left out of the development strategy. Director Challenge directly addresses this gap.” Bjorn Billhardt, Abilitie CEO
Director Challenge launches on September 3, joining Abilitie’s portfolio of programs designed to develop senior and emerging leaders. While Abilitie’s Management Challenge develops the skills team leaders need to coach, delegate and navigate critical conversations with their direct reports, Director Challenge develops the more strategic skills senior leaders need to lead multiple team managers while balancing the long-term cultural and performance needs of the organization.
Interested in learning more about Director Challenge and how it can level up your leaders of leaders? Sign up for a demo to see the simulation in action. Schedule demo.
About Abilitie
Abilitie is an Austin-based leadership development company delivering experiential training that builds business acumen, strategic thinking, and management skills. Since spinning off from Enspire Learning in 2015, Abilitie has worked with 850+ clients in 50+ countries, including Marriott, Coca-Cola, GE, and Southwest Airlines.
For more, visit abilitie.com.
Contact
Sue Martin, Senior Director, GP Strategies, smartin@gpstrategies.com
