Strategic Consulting

Comprehensive staff development programs can have a significant impact on your bottom line. A recent survey showed that companies who offer strong employee development programs have shareholder returns 8 time higher than companies who don't. Of course, employee development means more than just sending people out to training, but figuring out what else to offer, when to offer it, and who should get it, is a big job. Making sure you provide sufficient budget is also critical, but that investment has to be justified and allocated in the best possible manner.

Cranial Expansion can help you determine where the needs are, what solutions will fit, and how to make it all a success. Our consultants are experts at finding the right mix of solutions for every organization, helping you produce winning programs everytime and getting the most out of every training dollar.

Our Strategic Consulting services focus on supporting you in three main areas:

• Needs Assessment - Our consultants understand your business and they know how to ask the right questions to find out exactly where the gaps are. We balance that information against your corporate objectives to create a prioritized gap list that's detailed, actionable, and unbiased.
• Solution development - Addressing skills gaps is more than just planning training courses, but it can't require a complete corporate restructuring either. Our consultants provide recommendations that make sense within the existing organizational culture and budget.
• Implementation - When it's time to take action, we're there to support you. We'll assist with program development and management, get your people up to speed through knowledge sharing and coaching, and help you develop organizational self-sufficiency.

Course Development

Cranial Expansion Course Development services give you exactly what you need, the way you need it. Whether it's classroom, web-based, virtual classroom, satellite, performance support, or a combination of the above, we have the answer.

Cranial Expansion consultants have extensive experience building all kinds of learning materials, and we've worked on both sides of the desk - as producers and purchasers - so we understand that we're there to help you. We work in partnership with you to design a solution that fits your needs, rather than trying to tell you what's "right". We also understand that every engagement is structured differently, and we're equally comfortable taking on the entire project, working with others as a joint effort, or just providing extra help where you need it.

Our course development approach focuses on excellence in three main areas:

• Deliverables - Everything we give you, from initial requirements to finished courseware goes through rigorous review and testing before it goes out the door. Instructional design reflects current research and best practices, and everything works the way you expect it to.
• Project Management - Producing quality deliverables isn't enough, so expert project management keeps everything on track from start to finish. Our PMI-based methodology ensures that everything gets done the right way, on time, on budget.
• Customer Service - No project can be a success without a satisfied client, and we want every project to be a success. We don't take your material and disappear to work on it, and we don't farm out the work to overseas contractors. We maintain regular touch points through every phase and we collect your feedback throughout the entire engagement.

LEX™

Cranial Expansion's innovative LEX™ (short for Leadership EXcellence program) represents a revolution in corporate leadership training. Rather than corralling all your managers into a 2-day session that's forgotten within a month or two, LEX provides an ongoing program of learning and behavioural intervention that develops your management team quickly and effectively, within the context of their daily routines.

Instead of having a management guru stand at the front of class and tell inspirational but ultimately ineffective stories, our program digs into the heart of the issues facing your team today, giving them the tools they need to resolve those issues now and in the future.

LEX comprises a series of short, regularly scheduled group sessions where leadership concepts are introduced, discussed and practiced. Between sessions, participants have opportunities to utilize those concepts and start working them into their own routines. Any difficulties with that integration are dealt with directly in group sessions, empowering participants by allowing them to find solutions that work within their specific environment. The result is a stronger management team, practiced and ready to tackle organizational challenges.

LEX's innovative approach and structure also provides benefits in the following areas.

Teambuilding
Our program encourages your leaders to work together to solve problems and overcome challenges. Because our program is so tightly integrated with daily tasks, this collaboration begins to permeate everything participants do, leading to better organizational communication and efficiency. Rather than creating a group of individual leaders, LEX creates a unified management team that understands how to work effectively together.

Scheduling
With a traditional leadership training course, you face two challenges - finding a time when everyone can attend, and supporting new managers hired after the course is finished. Plus, if something happens and one of your managers misses it, they're out of luck. LEX is designed to provide scheduling flexibility and keep everyone involved. If someone misses a session or gets hired part way though, no problem! They can pick up at the next session without missing a beat. The result is greater consistency and no more new hires being out of the loop.

Control
LEX is designed to foster independence and ownership among your team. Content is heavily weighted towards your business activities and scenarios, so participants can relate to it easily. Topics are also scheduled to coincide with relevant corporate activities, so participants have the opportunity to use their new skills right away.

Contact us for more information about how LEX can help make your management team stronger.

ConsultingBundle™

When you need ongoing assistance with course development, maintenance, or other tasks, Cranial Expansion's ConsultingBundle™ is the answer. Rather than facing the costs of continually hiring consultants, or the politics and risks of fulltime staff and contractors, the ConsultingBundle™ provides the best features of all three. You get the flexibility, efficiency, and effectiveness of a dedicated consulting company, with terms that can't be beat.

Components
Each ConsultingBundle gives you a dedicated course developer as your point person, learning your business, and delivering the services you need. You dictate where and when the course developer works, and what they work on. Supporting that developer are tools, processes, and a proven methodology that ensures your projects get done the way you want, when you want. Project management, technical support, graphic design, and content review is all included - a complete course development division, at your disposal.

Benefits
The ConsultingBundle provides numerous benefits over traditional resourcing models, including:

• No recruiting costs or hiring/firing politics
• Guaranteed resources and productivity
• Flexible usage options
• A depth of skillsets to support your changing needs
• Simple, consistent budget management and forecasting

• Services

  Cranial Expansion provides a variety of services to address different client needs. Whether you want to outsource your initiatives completely, learn to do it yourself, or some combination of both, we've got the services you need to get things done quickly and effectively.

  • Strategic Consulting Analysis of the broader skills development needs across the organization, and expert advice on the most effective ways to address them.
  • Course Development Complete project outsourcing, joint development, or just extra hands at the right time - whatever the need, we've got it covered.
  • LEX - Leadership Excellence The leadership training program that guarantees strong managers over the long term.
  • Consulting Bundle Fulltime staff, contractors, and consulting companies - the best features of all three, without any of the headaches.
• Industry Solutions

  Cranial Expansion industry solutions are custom tailored for each industry's specific needs. Our consultants understand your business and the issues you face, and we have the learning solutions that fit.

  • Transportation & Manufacturing The first comprehensive online training solution designed specifically for the Canadian trucking industry.
  • Travel & Tourism Solutions to get your message out quickly and consistently, to every agent.
  • Hi Tech Training services for your employees, clients, and channel partners, allowing you to not only keep up, but set the pace in this dynamic industry.
  • Financial Services Busy institutions with continually evolving needs. We've got the services to provide the right help at the right time.

Transport

Cranial Expansion's CarriersEdge® suite is the first comprehensive solution that allows transportation companies to train drivers without sacrificing mileage. Designed specifically for the Canadian trucking industry, CarriersEdge® provides a complete, cost-effective training package for carriers of any size.

For more information, visit http://www.carriersedge.com.

Travel & Tourism

With ongoing changes to industry requirements, pricing models, and tour packages, you constantly need to inform and educate agents. Getting the word out to everyone without disrupting their productivity is critical, but it's not easy. Our services for Travel & Tourism can help you get the word out to your entire audience, on time, everytime.

Tour Operators
When launching new tours, you want every agent to understand the package and value proposition. Whether it's a large nationwide chain, or a Mom & Pop with one location, you want them to think of your tours first when dealing with customers.

We can develop an interactive launch experience that reaches your entire audience and makes a lasting impression. Launch your tours today and have every agent selling them knowledgeably tomorrow. Our services can keep your tours front-of-mind and separate you from your competitors.

Travel Agencies
With agents distributed across various locations, keeping them trained and motivated is a necessity. Basic courses from Worldspan, Sabre, and Gallileo cover the fundamentals, but you need comprehensive training that reflects your processes and business model.

We can help you provide that training quickly, and cost-effectively. Our Travel Agency solutions offer the tools you need to create powerful, flexible training that delivers the message to your agents, without impacting their productivity.

High Tech

Offering a full range of training solutions to staff, customers, and business partners can be tricky. You know it's necessary, but it can easily distract from core initiatives and get very costly. However, the right combination of offerings can dramatically increase staff effectiveness and customer satisfaction, as well as improving revenues. We can help you strike that balance in your organization. Our background is High Tech and we understand the challenges you're facing today. We can help you to deliver a broad range of offerings that fit both your business culture and your budget.

Staff training
Keeping staff trained is an ongoing challenge at growing companies. People and technology are constantly on the move so the right programs need to be offered at the right time, with flexibility and consistency. Our services can help you provide true professional development to everyone in your organization, without increasing your costs or reliance on outside vendors.

Client training
You already offer a selection of training courses to your clients, but it may not be as profitable as it could be. An effective client training program not only provides you with an ongoing revenue stream, but it improves client satisfaction and helps strengthen your relationships. We can show you how to make the most of your client training - expanding the reach of your offerings without expanding the overhead cost of delivery.

Partner training
Whether your business partners are regional distributors, implementation partners, or VARs, their success is your success. We can help you develop a partner training program that gets them up to speed quickly, and provides them all the tools they need to sell your solutions more effectively.

Financial Services

Whether it's system and process upgrades, new compliance or certification programs, or just ongoing staff development, you've got a lot of training that needs to be done. Getting the most out of external Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), providing ongoing course maintenance and support, and making sure all the loose ends are dealt with - it all needs to be done on time and within budget.

Cranial Expansion solutions can help you get the most out of your training investments.

We can work in conjunction with your outside SMEs to ensure your custom courses give you exactly what you're after - whether that means supplementing and customizing existing materials, or complete repurposing into new delivery formats.

Once your courses are launched, we can keep up the momentum with regular updates and maintenance services. We can also take care of all the little things that contribute to a great learning experience - whether it's CD duplication, job aids, intranet maintenance, or just extra support here and there.