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Training Stories

Each of the stories here come from Joel Montgomery's experience as an Instructor-Trainer, Learning Architect, and Performance Coach

These stories focus specifically on coaching teams and organizations, though coaching has also been a part of Joel's consulting experience.

Training for Global Consulting Firm

Client Context

A Global Consulting Firm with more than 60,000 professionals working from more than 145 offices around the world.  The firm served thousands of clients, offering full business integration services as well as specific consulting programs required by these clients.  Worldwide headquarters for the firm was in Chicago, Illinois.   During the period 1993-1998, education programs for the firm's employees and many of its clients were developed by their Professional Education Center located in Saint Charles, Illinois.

Challenge

Beginning in 1993, firm's Professional Education Center introduced the concept of "goal-based learning" as a primary "learning architecture" for programs offered to its consulting professionals.  This concept was applied in computer-based programs, in the classroom, and in "virtual" learning classrooms.   

Action

Initially, Joel helped anchor the programs in the classroom, introducing the role of learning coach and opportunities for reflection in the programs.  Beginning in 1994 he provided "just-in-time" training to the firm's change management professionals on client engagements.  Beginning in 1995 he designed alternative learning architectures that were applied to education programs 2.5 days (24-training-hours) or less in length that needed to be produced in short (six-week or less) time-frames, on tight (under US$100,000) budgets, with limited resources (teams of two to six developers).   Beginning in 1995, Joel also introduced a new approach to targeting and measuring learning outcomes.  In 1998 Joel introduced an integrated "hands-on-learning" approach in a 2.5-day program for 200 the firm's consulting executives in Europe.  The name of this program was ELA- Comm- 98.

Results

Joel was a key player on three teams involved in the design, development, delivery, and evaluation of three "goal-based scenario" classroom trainings, each attended by thousands of Global Consulting Firm's professionals.  (SAnDS, IBSS, BAnDS).  He guided the development of one program for the Change Management Competency Group and two for the Strategy Competency group.  Joel personally managed the design, development, and delivery of eight 2.5-day, one 2-day, and two 1-day "integrative learning" programs provided to client teams and/or to firm professionals around the world (223 training hours at a development cost of less than US$800,000 resulting in a cost of slightly less than $4,000 per training hour).  In 1998, Joel was the learning architect and overall project manager for "ELA- Comm - 98" (the "hands-on-learning" experience attended by 200 communications executives from Europe and Latin America). Joel also introduced new approaches to targeting and measuring learning outcomes.  These approaches advanced understanding of performance measurement and were used in all of the programs he personally designed.

Time-Frame

July 1993 - November 1998

Learning Architect-Global Consulting Firm

Client Context

A Global Consulting Firm's world-wide pool of 60,000 consultants and its global client list.

Challenge

Create more effective learning programs involving learning to learn from experience for cross-cultural and multi-cultural groups of participants.  Joel served as both a manager and a learning architect for the firm's Professional Education Center based in Saint Charles, Illinois. 

Build on grounded theory and understanding of how individuals learn to grow understanding of how organizations learn.

Action

Joel added research components to the programs developed and delivered for the global consulting firm around the world.  Joel developed, designed, delivered, and assessed many of these programs in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia.

Joel then documented this research in a series of articles published first on the firm's "intranet," then in the Educational Resource Information Clearninghouse (ERIC).  (See http://joelmonty.wikispaces.com/meta-models for a sample article.)

Results

Joel's research and series of articles led to the creation and publication of a new understanding of how to navigate individual and organizational learning.

More effective learning programs were introduced around the world and thousands of the Global Consulting Firm's professionals participated in these programs.

The lessons learned from the research and practice now guide Joel's performance coaching initiatives with clients.

Time-Frame

1993-1998

 

Goal-Based-Learning

Client Context

A Major Global Consulting Firm with education planning and delivery based in Saint Charles, Illinois.

The firm developed and delivered in-house consulting education programs for its 60,000 consultants world-wide during the period July 1993-November 1998.  Many of these programs were delivered by "line managers" and partners brought to the firm's Professional Education Center (located in St. Charles, Illinois) only for the length of the program they are delivering.  Prep time for these "instructors" was usually a long weekend (Fri-Sun).  

Challenge

Develop and test (proof of concept) "goal-based scenario" training for the classroom.  Introduce reflection as a part of the training. Introduce  the role of the learning coach. 

Action

Joel worked with a team of instructional designers to design and develop the consulting firm's the first goal-based classroom program, Systems Analysis and Design School (SAnDS), in 1993.  When the program was designed and developed,  Joel became the first "learning coach"  and coached "line managers" and partners from the consulting firm  to shift their activity from being  lecturers to being a learning facilitators and role-players.

Joel also introduced client-related innovations in follow-on goal-based classroom programs (Business Analysis and Design School--BAnDS, for example).

Results

The proof-of-concept program was successful.  10,000 consultants went through the program in the first year. 

The "continuous break" concept introduced in this programs were implemented throughout the Professional Education Center programs in St. Charles. (Now at the Q-Center)  

The "learning coach" concept has resulted in more than 20 full-time learning coaches working with multiple programs.

Reflection is an essential element of all programs.  The consulting firm committed to millions of dollars to its development of "goal-based learning" for classroom instruction.

Time-Frame

1993-1998

GBL for Government-Business Partnership-New Brunswick, Canada

Client Context

A team of change management consultants from a Global Consulting Firm working with the government of New Brunswick, Canada and a major international bank.


Challenge

Working with a budget constraint of less than US$20,000 and a time constraint of two-weeks, develop a 2-day experiential program that will prepare instructional designers and clients for a new type of experiential learning for a program to be developed for citizens of the province of New Brunswick.

Action

With the aid of a graphic designer and a content researcher, Joel developed the 16-hour program within the budget and time constraints and delivered the program to 27 people consisting of a mix of the three groups (12 change management consultants, and 15 people from both the Government of New Brunswick and from the international bank). 

Results

Feedback from participants (and the products from the program) indicated that the program was very successful and that the instructional designers were prepared to apply the new approach to learning design on their next projects.

Time-frame

July, 1994

ELA-Comm Workshop

Client Context

200 executive communication consultants working for a Global Consulting Firm in Europe and Latin America.

The consulting firm was deploying a new "Business Integration Methodology" to its global consulting practice.  Simultaneously, the Communications Industry Segment was developing specific integrated marketing packages (called market offerings) to be made available to clients.  A third initiative of the Communications leadership in Europe and Latin America was a new approach to leadership and communication.  The first two initiatives were still being developed internally while ELA- Comm- 98 was being designed.  The third initiative was offered by an outside vendor.  All three of these initiatives were targeted for Fiscal Year 1998 (September, 1997 - August, 1998) and were integrated into the ELA- Comm- 98 program.

Challenge

In a 12-week time frame, coach a part-time virtual team around the world to design, develop, and deliver a 2.5-day experiential-learning workshop that will ground the participants in the practical application of the new consulting methodology, the new market offerings, and the leadership-communications approach being endorsed by senior management. 

Action

Joel introduced the virtual team to the "Hands-on-Learning" approach used for the workshop.  The goal of the workshop, named "ELA- Comm- 98," was to enable participants grow in knowledge and confidence regarding the three initiatives described above.  The "hands-on-learning" design combined "action learning," integrative learning, cross-competency "integrated" work teams, just-in-time lectures, and client context.  The program was designed by a "virtual" development team via conference calls and electronic mail.  Joel Montgomery was the overall project manager and learning architect.  The development effort began with a conference call on February 8, 1998, and the program took place in Cannes, France on May 10-13, 1998.  The total development cost for this event was less than US$80,000.

See the ELA-Comm movie on the Photo Gallery page of this website.

Results

Participants were given just the amount of information they needed to work with the three approaches to help a simulated client situation.  As they completed one piece they went to another "just-in-time" lecture to give them what they needed to do the next application of the initiatives.  Over the 2.5 days (24-training-hours), participants took their simulated client through the Planning Phase of the new methodology, practiced the leadership and communication skills and applied one of the new market offerings--the one most suited to their client's needs.

In electronic evaluations distributed seven days after the event, 74% of the participants reported that they had achieved or exceeded the targeted learning outcomes for the program.

Time Frame

February 8 - May 10, 1998

Chemical Manfacturer-Info Tech-DE

Client Context

A major chemical manufacturer and a Change Management team creating a training program for the information technology department of the client of a Global Consulting Firm.

Challenge

Within a three-week time-frame, coach the  the Change Management team to design, develop, and deliver an experiential training program for the client that would help information technology personnel work with proprietary methodology being used by the client. 

Action

Joel introduced the Change Management team to a new approach to learning design.   The conceptual design was completed within three days.  Development took place over the next two weeks.  13 days after completion of the conceptual design, Joel guided revisions to the materials and delivered the pilot program to the client the next day.  

Results

The program was successful and participants were able to begin applying the new methodology in their Information Technology work.

Time-frame

March, 1996

ERP-Training-Sydney, Australia

Client Context

Major manufacturer and supplier of industrial gases.  Recently introduced Enterprise Resource Planning (SAP) software to change operations.

Challenge

The client needed a new type of guided learning to assist its employees learn how to work with the new ERP system.

Action

Joel acted as a performance and learning coach, guiding the consulting firm's change team and the client's change team in fine-tuning and delivering "a role-based learning program" for the client.

Results

Within one week, revised the training program in a way that client instructors were comfortable in their role.   Client participants built skill and confidence in applying SAP software to their daily tasks.  The employees first trained became peer advocates for the program.  This model developed was used in further SAP implementation for this client.

Time-Frame

April, 1994

HR-Competency Training-N.America

Client Context

In 1995, a Global Consulting Firm developed a competency model for its global workforce of more than 60,000 professionals.  The firm's human resource professionals needed to learn more about the model and how to apply it so that they could help consulting personnel make assignment and recruiting decisions based on the model.

Challenge

In a greatly compressed time frame (4 weeks of development time over the holiday period), work with a small team (a developer, a content manager, and a consultant), to develop a one-day program to be provided to more than 500 of the firm's human resources professionals to help them apply the "Career Development Model" to their daily work.

Action

Joel guided the design of the program over two days in New York prior to Christmas, 1995.  

Joel introduced a new approach to learning design, based on targeting and supporting achievement of specific learning goals in a work context,  prepared the performance coaches and functioned as one of them. 

The program was tested in February and March, 1996, then conducted throughout North America by a special team of "performance coaches" 21 times between April and November, 1996.   

Results

503 of the firm's human resource professionals participated in the program.  Feedback from the participants was collected electronically seven-days after the program and three-months after the program.  Feedback indicated that the program met its targeted learning goals.

This whole experience was documented in a series of research articles eventually released to released to the public via the Education Research Information Clearinghouse (ERIC).  (See http://joelmonty.wikispaces.com/meta-models for one of the articles.)

Time-frame

December, 1995-November, 1996

INDER-HU-South America

Client Context

After completing volunteer coaching projects for a Large Group Awareness Training and for the Colombian Red Cross, a group of Colombian business people asked Joel to be the first President of an International Consulting Firm formed as an affiliate of Joel's company in Los Angeles.  The name of the company that was the Institute for the Development of Human Resources (INDER-HU) (an abbreviation of the name in Spanish).

Challenge

Create educational and consulting programs in Spanish for the new company and coach the Colombian business people in how to facilitate the educational and consulting interventions.

Action

Joel designed more than 400 hours of educational programs in Spanish that focused on supervisory and management development, managing organizational change, "consultative selling," and personal and organizational growth.

Joel delivered several of these programs to clients that INDER-HU's marketing staff had identified, coaching the Colombian staff of INDER-HU to take on more active roles as performance coaches for the Colombian clients.

Results

The programs Joel developed were also translated into English and made available to clients of the Resources Institute in the USA.

Joel delivered four programs for clients in Colombia that were successful in meeting the clients' goals.

Joel had to return to the USA for health reasons in November, 1982, before his preparation of the Colombian staff of INDER-HU was complete.

Time-Frame

March - November, 1982

Bilingual Sales Training-South America

Client Context

Bedding manufacturer in Bogota, Colombia.

Challenge

Transition 25-person sales force from product sales into sales-consultants.  Deepen sales persons' understanding of both customer needs and product characteristics, advantages, and benefits.

Action

Joel designed, developed, and facilitated the organizational and performance change program for the sales force.  (All in Spanish.)

Results

Entire sales force completed the training successfully and increased sales volumes significantly immediately following the training.

Time-Frame

1982 (7 days on-site)

Supervisory-Management Training (Interaction Management)

Client Context

Clients of Development Dimensions International (DDI), headquartered in Bridgeville, PA.

Challenge

Train 110 instructors and 10 instructor-trainers to deliver DDI's Interaction Management Supervisory-Management Training to the employees of their companies.

Action

As a Regional Consultant for Interaction Management, based out of the Los Angeles office of DDI, I traveled throughout the USA and to Mexico to deliver a series of week-long performance-based training.  I helped translate some of the materials into Spanish and delivered some of the instruction in Spanish.

Results

110 instructors and 10 instructor-trainers completed certification in DDI's Interaction Management program.

Time-Frame

January 1981 to February 1982