Case Studies
When Learning becomes Fulfillment to Create Competitive Advantage
Situation
At the turn of the millennium, the Information Technology Service market represented one of the fastest growing sectors in the economy.
For a U.S.-based global company, consultants had not only become its most precious asset, systematically targeted by emerging competitors, but also its core product.
This created a paradigm shift in requirements for success. In addition to solid technical qualifications, strong business and relationship management skills became mission critical to creating, “selling”, and delivering value to customers.
Furthermore, English as the “e-language” became a prerequisite skill globally for accessing sources of information vital to innovation and leadership. However, in Italy traditional foreign language training had proven not only unattractive for adult learners but costly and ineffective.
Program
We conducted focus groups to gather information on attrition and benchmarked the competition. Then, we raised the bar by developing Project Competitive Advantage, a three-fold solution where learning became a fulfillment process to create competitive advantage.
We designed workshops to equip employees with long term focus and commitment to achieve ambitious outcomes.
We involved executives of the Consulting Division for strategic input and direction. Based on their desired outcomes, we developed Competency Plus™, a multiple course curriculum designed to transform technical engineers into business smart consultants.
Competency Plus™ reflected the proverbial “two birds with one stone” approach. It combined interpersonal and business skills training with the “plus” being advanced English language practice, in a low-risk environment.
For non-English speakers, we architected a community and custom designed an innovative English language curriculum. At year end, participants took the Oxford Exam to certify their achieved level of proficiency thus benefiting both the individual and organization.
3-Tier Methodology. Human brain power produces business outcomes. But the human heart is the only engine capable of sustaining commitment over the long-term. Inspiration found in the heart generates the motivation to fuel long-lasting focus and efficiency. The inner and larger circles above represent scenar-ios before and after personal alignment, respectively.
Impact
For 3 years, Project Competitive Advantage played an important role in our Client’s HR recruiting, retention and development strategies. It consolidated the Company’s image as a professional learning institution committed to developing its people thereby attracting the finest in talent pool.
Likewise, employee ratings and retention increased as employees benefited from tangible opportunities to increase their qualifications and market value.
Competency Plus™ made a major contribution towards the organization’s business strategy to move from “systems integrators to business integrators”.
The development of a bilingual workforce in Italy allowed our Client to circulate and grow its knowledge capital beyond cultural and geo-political borders.
Finally, Oxford University certification became yet another concrete instrument to measure return on investment along with an internationally recognized means of assessing English proficiency of its workforce for global inter-company exchange.
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