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Case Studies - Education, Training and Regulatory Solutions
| Problem | Solution | Result |
| A small association needed to start offering professional education to its members, but its small staff team was fully engaged in other pressing priorities. | We have assumed an ongoing advisory role to the executive director. In this capacity, we are providing input and advice on various approaches to meeting their members' needs and the related communications and positioning issues involved in doing so. We are offering a sounding board for a variety of professional and regulatory issues faced by the executive director. | The executive director is able to consult on strategic initiatives so that ideas are well-formed, plans are realistic, and operations are aligned to deliver on the professional education strategies currently being rolled out. |
| A large association was seeking to develop a comprehensive professional education program, related professional standards of qualification, and a new professional designation for a traditionally unstructured area of its members' practice. It wanted to collaborate with local and international partner bodies and major private sector organizations. It lacked the staff time and breadth of expertise in implementing a program of this scope, however. | We provided program director services, assuming overall responsibility for program and standards development, education program marketing and delivery, and all other aspects of the program. We worked closely with an international partner, several private sector organizations, academics and practitioner volunteers to develop and implement a curriculum, standards of qualification, program materials and related marketing materials, including a professionally developed brand strategy. | The program was successfully launched with the public support of several of the private sector organizations. The first offering of the professional education program was over-subscribed. The program was seen as sufficiently successful for the association to hire a full-time program director to continue its operation. The new professional designation is now in use in the market place. |
| A growing mid-sized charity had ineffective and outdated governance structures, including articles of incorporation, bylaws and Board policies. | We worked with the Board chair to craft, sell and introduce clear, workable bylaws. We worked with several Board committees to bring governance structures to life. And, we provided ongoing support to the executive director through policy development and implementation. | The charity had more focused and effective committee meetings, and less frequent, shorter and better focused Board meetings. The organization's small staff also had a clearer understanding of the direction being set for the organization. |
| Volunteer committees in a small policy-development group were cumbersome and ineffective, reducing advocacy effectiveness and wasting volunteer time and talent. | We streamlined the volunteer structures, including replacing several committees with flexible, responsive volunteer talent pools. | The group experienced a far more effective use of volunteer resources, clearer staff accountability, and increased volunteer satisfaction with their roles. Concurrently, policy development and issue response times were reduced by 50%. |
| The continuing education program of a large professional body was caught in a "death spiral" of increasing course fees and declining attendance. Several competitors moved into the market, further reducing attendance and critical mass. | We introduced a dramatically changed pricing model, significantly improved marketing, and implemented a lower cost-structure for course operations. | Program attendance increased four-fold in the following year, and by a further double-digit increase in the year after that. Once attendance had been stabilized, the program showed improved profitability, with no increase in staff head-count servicing the market. Several competitors left the marketplace. |
| Several sister organizations were independently acquiring Web-based e-learning software. Even though the same package was in use by several organizations, costs were high due to uncoordinated license purchases, and there was no focal point of expertise being developed in the application. | We led a project to quickly confirm the choice of software and implemented a shared version of the package. | The application was made available to cooperating associations at considerable savings over the aggregate costs previously being incurred. We also implemented improved security over student materials, and increased user satisfaction with the application through improved support for it. |
| Sister associations across Canada ran similar continuing education programs without sharing information or content. Costs were duplicated and good ideas implemented inconsistently across the country. | We worked, through a new informal inter-association structure, to rebuild strained relations and create an environment of trust among participants. | The structure became a model for other pan-Canadian activities. Program costs for newly-shared activities declined by a factor of ten. Program quality increased and became consistent across the country. |
| An association found that maintaining a library facility for its members was increasingly difficult and expensive. | We worked with a university faculty library to develop and implement a strategic alliance and support arrangement, enhancing the university library's collection and resulting in the association's membership having preferred access to it. | Association costs were reduced, including reducing facilities space and staff head-count, concurrently with providing an expanded resource to its members. |
| A profession's self-regulatory framework was dated and inconsistent across several jurisdictions. It did not address environmental changes taking place in the area of multi-disciplinary practice. | We provided the staff lead, research and creative energy for a pan-Canadian task force of senior profession volunteers to provide a new conceptual self-regulatory framework for the profession. | Most of the task force's final recommendations were ultimately adopted in principle by the profession's bodies, and implementation (which is often contingent on legislative reform) continues. One major recommendation was adopted by the profession in the USA. |