Our Approach

Our work is customized because we know that one size does not fit all. We are partners with our clients on their journey. It begins by deciding where to start and agreeing on the best plan of action for change. Low hanging fruit? Big wins? Keep what’s working? We are in this together to design and implement the plan. We check on progress along the way.

Becoming more conscious is not an event or a sudden awakening. It’s a steady, iterative effort. We get there by building the systems that sustain the change. Checking what’s working. Modify. Repeat.  Our Conscious Capitalism Journey is a simulation that illustrates that so you and your team can navigate what the future holds.

We build a learning culture so that all employees – from the board room to the front line – are inspired to grow and change. An organization changes when each employee changes. A top-down mandate is not as effective as having the entire hive move together. 

We believe in “technology transfer” rather than be “consultant dependent.” We teach our clients so that they have the capacity to continue the journey. We believe in leaving a legacy so that the change has a strong foundation of knowledge, skills, abilities, and systems.

ASSESS

Front-end analysis

We start with the gap between where you are now and where you want to go. Why not conduct your fact-finding in such a way that you gain the acceptance and understanding of your people? Fact-finding can be collaborative and transparent.

We don’t believe that paper & pencil surveys alone can tell the whole story. Why not have first-hand observation and personal interviews. Why not involve your employees at the beginning of the journey of change?

We design a front-end analysis process where your people work along with us. They participate in several ways – they help to design the research and conduct it. And then the magic of participation comes forth by having your people share the stories of their findings. Compelling stories that capture the heads and hearts of others. Stories that are relatable because they are set in situations that all can appreciate.

The front-end analysis yields several results. It provides an accurate story about how things are. It helps to sort out fixes -- low-hanging fruit of changes that may yield early results from the harder issues that will take time to improve. 

We use this unique design in our Purpose Summit and Customer CARE Summit. 

Self-norming questionnaire

While we don’t rely solely on paper & pencil surveys, we do think that they have a place in your journey to building a better company. One purpose of an initial survey is to provide a starting point against which you can measure progress. A survey can be an efficient way to determine a key area to focus on.

We design surveys that are a little smarter about describing your starting point. Just one survey can tell you two things — the Desired and the Actual — the perception of what’s most important and of how well you meet these important needs. Knowing what others consider to be their most important needs gives you value information. You can’t move on all fronts at the same time. This lets you invest in the top priorities.

The size of the gap gives you other important information. Typically, the larger the gap, the more attention that will be needed to make the change. There is an advantage in using an outside consulting firm to conduct the questionnaire because your customers and outside stakeholders view us as neutral and knowledgeable.

For further information, read this article:  U.S. Equity Money Managers Are Surveyed for Client Satisfaction.

DESIGN

Instructional Design & Development

Do you want to attract and retain employees? More than money, employees want an investment in themselves that gives them new skills, more experience, and increased responsibility.

This is a learning culture. One where the organization builds skills throughout the employee’s lifecycle -- from onboarding, pre-management training, skills building.

The keys to a learning culture is to embed the charge for training, monitoring, and coaching with the front-line manager and subject experts. A sense in the company that each one should teach one, to pass along their know-how to each other. Silos are broken down. Training is done in the flow of work. Learning is a constant, not an event.

We serve our clients by teaching subject experts how to develop training. This is more than writing manuals or creating slides. Training teaches the ability to do something on the job. We ensure that the instructional design provides practice examples, practice, and on-job support.

Related Case Studies

• VISA
  "Help those who help the customer"

• Anheuser-Busch
  "I can’t relate unless the training fits me"

• Viacom Cable
  "Make the training design efficient for widely different jobs and schedules"

• Cable One
  “Sell the complete product line”

What Our Clients Say

“Challenge: the pandemic forces all training to be online. We had less than 3 weeks to convert our workshop from in-person to virtual training

∙ First and foremost, you modeled gutsiness and honesty. It took strength to present the workshop online, not knowing for certain how well a full-length class would fly - but you dove in, and there are five learning professionals who are the better for it. Plus you modeled honesty in acknowledging you're in the midst of figuring it all out, rather than trying to fake being an online super-expert. Your example helps me better embrace the unknown as my team figures out what training needs to look like going forward.

∙ Naturally, being gutsy and candid wouldn't have mattered had you not been so obviously expert in instructional design. Your expertise gave me confidence that I was in good hands.

∙ Your generosity in sharing resources and offering office hours also mentors us well, setting a solid high bar to measure ourselves against.

Kris, thank you again for a very, very worthwhile learning experience. I appreciated your expertise, encouragement and heart. “

— City of San Francisco training staff

“Kris was a great teacher and her knowledge and experience was what stood out the most to me.  She really encouraged people to learn and really cared about each person understanding each concept she taught.  I think in a world full of self-proclaimed "experts" who take every opportunity to grab the spotlight for their own personal glory, Kris is the real deal.  I feel she truly knows what she's talking about, and has proven this in her work.  Every question presented to her and even when challenged, she had an answer for and came up with great solutions.  Just like a math computation, not only did she provide a solution or the answer, she showed the work.  I'm grateful to have attended this class and experience learning from a true expert!”

— Participant in recent Instructional Design workshop

“This workshop helped take my instructional design skills to the next level. It gives you the tools and mindsets to think and work your way around the ADDIE cycle. and could as easily be applied to in-person as to remote training. Whatever your experience level, I bet there is something here for you. My classmates were from many industries and came with a wide range of experience. We learned from Kris and from each other. With already a few years of experience in ID under my belt, I was happily surprised by how much I learned. I've drawn on the course learnings multiple times in the past six months alone to create lesson plans and teaching guides for university classes, for professional development training, and for our train-the-mentor program.”

— Founder & CEO, service company

Training is a system, not an event

When training is an event, employees forget 80% of what they learned within 24 hours. If training is going to endure, then it needs to be customized and to be taught by your front-line managers.

The training program needs to be customized to the job and include practical examples, practice, and on-job application. We call this “face valid or fail.” With customized training, participants see real-life situations of when to use the skills. Participants are eager to find solutions to their job challenges. And from the company’s perspective, customized training not only takes hold and lasts longer, but ends up being cheaper to use over the long run.

We encourage front-line managers to be trainers. The more that a manager teaches the course, the more the manager masters it. The employee looks to the manager for problem-solving how to apply, and the manager is there to monitor how well that application goes.

We are adept at developing training as part of an organization’s ability to execute strategy. 

Related Case Studies

• AICPA
  "Align your curriculum and teach SMEs how to design training"

• Pepsi Cola
  "If we run lean and mean, then every person needs training"

IMPLEMENT

Change Management

Conscious companies change over time. The transformation takes consistent leadership to inspire change and keep it going. Change is not a “head trip.” It’s a “heart trip” that needs to engage feelings as much as facts.

We work with you through the stages of change:

• Get Ready to Change

• Direct the Change

• Keep the Momentum

This is described in our blog: The Moses Model.

SUSTAIN

Performance Support Systems

Change is incremental. Change is an evolution, not a revolution. And once a company changes, it needs to have systems in place that support and sustain the change.

We design the human systems that help companies stay aligned to the new culture:

• Job Design: We use the Hackman and Oldham model for creating jobs that have purpose, task diversity, builds skills, autonomy, and quality of leadership. Employees flourish when they have Care, Say, Growth, and Meaning.

• Performance Management: We work with our clients to build a system that supports performance, not judges it. Employees need to have clear expectations and fast feedback about how well they are performing. The manager is a coach, not a critic, who provides inspiration and motivation by pointing out what’s right even more than what’s wrong.

• Employee Input: We help keep the finger on the pulse of employee engagement so that the organization knows how well they are doing and what might be improved. Employees are actively involved in making suggestions for improvement, and in creating projects and standards for moving their job forward.

Related Case Study

• Viacom Cable
  "Make the training design efficient for widely different jobs and schedules"