Success Stories

Productivity Dynamics helps clients achieve business results with a focus on research-based and action-oriented practices. Here is a sampling of the challenges that have been presented to us by our clients:

Challenge: “Assessing Business Impact”

A telecommunications provider seeks to assess the business impact of a multi-year leadership development initiative targeted to 30,000+ managers at all levels of the corporation.

Solution

Productivity Dynamics worked collaboratively with the client and other stakeholders to develop and implement a robust evaluation strategy that:

  • Mapped critical course learning outcomes to desired business results
  • Identified and made recommendations around organizational obstacles or enablers to skill transfer
  • Assessed the bottom line business impact of the leadership initiative

Evaluation findings played a crucial role in transforming the program from a mere educational event into a strategic action-planning tool for management.

Challenge: “Determining ROI”

A telecommunications provider demands accountability from its learning organization to justify expenses, identify return on investment and demonstrate effectiveness.

Solution

Productivity Dynamics collaborated with the client on the development of a comprehensive measurement system consisting of three components:

  • Formative evaluation – to assess and improve the intervention during development
  • Summative evaluation – to assess learning and job effectiveness, and the business impact of the intervention
  • Organizational health diagnosis – to assess the vitality of the learning organization in responding to customer needs, achieving strategic objectives, using and improving on operational processes, operating cost-effectively.

Assessment highlighted the contributions made by the organization and promoted client confidence in the learning organization’s ability to deliver. Additionally, the blueprint that resulted is being used to institutionalize a performance measurement system that will provide on-demand accountability for each milestone in development and implementation.

Challenge: “Keeping Pace with Rapid Growth”

A rapidly expanding software company requires workforce re-development to achieve an ambitious business goal within a 3-year window of opportunity: growth from a $300M to a $1B company.

Solution

Productivity Dynamics worked with all stakeholders in this effort – executives, managers, engineers, sales, and service professionals – to identify the business challenges confronting the organization and the behaviors essential for achieving business success. From these results we then developed a:

  • Multi-tiered learning strategy that complemented the business strategy
  • Three year implementation plan that identified and addressed a range of contingencies (thereby reducing risk)

Planning included an organizational structure for the training function, budgets, practices, and infrastructure requirements. This plan is currently being used by the client to transform her function into a corporate university.

Challenge: “Transforming a Training Strategy”

A multi-billion dollar IT service provider expands into eBusiness. A learning strategy is needed to provide global, on-demand development for thousands of employees world-wide.

Solution

Through extensive analysis of business priorities and organizational challenges, Productivity Dynamics designed a set of user-responsive learning and perfomance support products that:

  • Eliminate organizational obstacles to employee job effectiveness
  • Provide on-demand support for employees anytime, anywhere

Ramp up time for employees has been reduced and the client reports that the workforce is quickly transforming itself to a first-class web-based IT service provider.

Challenge: “Going Global”

A $3.5B hyper-growth technology company has an ambitious goal to become a global enterprise. A strategy for revitalizing and developing its workforce is essential to the success of the business plan.

Solution

Productivity Dynamics worked cross-functionally to engage 35 business leaders from nine business units in designing a set of performance solutions that would allow the business to achieve its goal. The result:

  • A roadmap for removing performance obstacles and ensuring field buy-in
  • A set of benchmarked practices to make our client best-in-class
  • A detailed blueprint for creating a new learning function capable of partnering in strategic business planning

Challenge: “Building Consistency”

A leadership development vendor, highly prized for the caliber of its instructors, is tasked by a major client with creating a corporate-wide executive development program. A strategy is required to ensure consistent, effective delivery and post-training support.

Solution

Productivity Dynamics worked with the vendor and host organization to: þ Develop a set of competencies and associated self-assessment instrument for instructors based course requirements, student input and best practices of the training industry

  • Audit course delivery and provide informed feedback on style, consistency and effectiveness
  • Analyze course materials and delivery strategy for delivery usability, learning effectiveness and student on-the-job support

Our recommendations and designs became the cornerstone of the client’s material development and instructor re-training workshops. Detailed reports were developed for instructors as was a set of internal training options that addressed gaps uncovered in the instructor self-assessments. To guide re-development of materials, Productivity Dynamics created a set of instructional prototypes as well as a set of guidelines for restructuring the course.

Challenge: “Integrating & Focusing the Workforce”

A newly merged major telecommunications provider must quickly yet systematically orient new supervisors to compliance requirements around business initiatives, government regulations, bargaining unit agreements, and industry-leading leadership practices.

Solution

Through extensive analysis of business requirements, field requirements and the training styles of front-line supervision, Productivity Dynamics worked with HR and regional management to develop and implement a comprehensive orientation program for new supervisors. Specifically, we:

  • Worked with regional and line management, and representatives of the target audience to identify critical competencies required for new managers
  • Enlisted buy-in and validation of proposed training from all levels in the organization
  • Devised an instructional strategy that married in-class experience to post-training self-development
  • Developed a design structure and roll-out plan to ensure fit to local field contingencies

Based on our analysis and design, training time was reduced by 50% with the probability of increased attendance. The course is currently being adapted for corporate-wide implementation.

Challenge: “Developing Buy-In”

A industry-leading fiberoptic provider is set to go global. The influx of a young, diverse, highly-skilled and independent workforce is expected to transform management practices throughout the corporation. However, current management development lacks credibilty and buy-in.

Solution

Productivity Dynamics used analysis to infuse established training with the authenticity and relevance required for effectiveness. Specifically, we:

  • Worked with management and previous students to identify critical gaps within the existing course
  • Developed a set of skill practice situations based on extensive interviews of line managers talking about job challenges and the situations they were daily confronted with
  • Re-designed the course to include an action-planning component that would encourage horizontal and vertical collaboration to address the demands of the new workplace

Following a successful pilot, the course became the launch point for a larger organizational improvement initiative involving all levels of management. 

Challenge: “Evaluating Success”

A corporate-wide workforce development organization has promised a healthy ROI for a $2M investment in transforming itself into an eLearning provider. An objective, thorough assessment of results is required.

Solution

Productivity Dynamics worked collaboratively with the client and other stakeholders to develop and implement a robust evaluation strategy that:

  • Mapped critical learning outcomes to desired business results
  • Identified indicators and developed measurement strategies to track results
  • Operationalized a four-level performance value chain that objectively linked learning results measurably to business outcomes
  • Developed a set of formulas for assessing and comparing conventional with solution costs to arrive at true price/performance metrics

This evaluation design has been institutionalized by the client into a set of practice requirements for monitoring and ensuring training effectiveness. 

Challenge: “Redefining skill sets”

A leading global IT corporation re-organized its global professional services division. To support the newly formed practices, the organization needed to define skill requirements and to develop new learning and development roadmaps for 10,000 consultants around the world.

Solution

Productivity Dynamics collaborated with the opinion leaders and subject matter experts in each practice to define business requirements and needed skills and knowledge to meet the requirements, conducted a skill gap analysis, and developed a set of learning and development roadmaps for 15 newly created practices. The result:

  • Required skill sets for various levels of consultants worldwide are accessible through the Training and Development Website
  • Learning and development roadmaps with valid local learning opportunities are accessible to consultants the worldwide

This program has been implemented and has received overwhelming positive feedback from both consultants and their managers.