SE MBA class 2021 honed their team building and leadership skills when climbing the Everest, or doing the computer simulation by the Harvard Business School. It was a part of the leadership course.

Tetiana Yalovchak, a Ukrainian summiteer who completed Seven Summits and a motivational speaker talked to the class participants. She highlighted the role of a leader in any challenging task. “Much depends on the leader. Due to our team leader all 17 team members reached the peak and returned safely back within 50 days,” Tetiana shared her experience. And then added: “Your climbing is going to be easier but no less exciting.”

The EVEREST simulation contains several important tasks related to teamwork, assignment distribution, ability to process new challenges and share information critical for decision-making. Teamwork and leadership quality are key elements of assessment.

“Except for reaching the summit, participantі have their own goals that are unknown for other participants. Besides, the system generates bits and pieces of information critical for moving up but unknown to anyone except the recipient. Thus, the participants have to communicate and share which makes the simulation even more exciting. The whole situation reminds project team activities brought together by the common goal in which each team member may have special situations that affect the results. EVEREST is a good tool to assess both leadership potential and quality of teams,” Oleksandr Sudarkin, the MIM-Kyiv MBA director and simulation moderator said.