Operational Excellence

Guidelines for Consulting Engagements & Implementation:

New Consulting Engagement policy and Implementation guidelines are created, revised and modified several times per calendar year. As Sloane Group gains experience with international Clients and Engagements, our know-how and expertise is directly affected and increased. We place an essential emphasis on knowledge and capability management to improve and upgrade our Solutions after each and every Engagement.

ADDIE and Dick & Carey ISD

ADDIE Methodology is a famous instruction systems design (ISD) used in Management Consulting and Executive Education. Recognized around the world for its efficiency and simplicity, ADDIE allows program managers to build new contents from A to Z, while introducing a central objective or theme.After the essential Planning phase, ADDIE proposes 5 chronological stages: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation (divided into 2 sub-sections: the formative and the summative assessment).

Specific engagement requires a different ISD. Sloane Group consultants particularly employ the Dick & Carey and Kemp ISD to design programs that require non-linear interventions or deliveries. With the Dick & Carey systems approach model, components of training are delivered iteratively following the list of emphases below:

• Identify Instructional Goal(s)
• Deliver Instructional Analysis
• Analyze Learners and Contexts
• Write Performance Objectives and KPIs
• Develop Assessment Instruments
• Write Instructional Strategy
• Select Instructional Materials and prepare development stage
• Design and Conduct Formative Evaluation of Instruction
• Revise Delivery and Instruction
• Design and Conduct Summative Evaluation

Guidelines for Effective Course Delivery:

Below please find a practical guide Sloane Group refers to when setting up a successful Executive Education engagement or a professional qualification course of tuition. These general guidelines are the result of many years of experience with tuition providers, university academic departments and research institute across both public and private sectors. They offer a blueprint for successful and effective program delivery around the process below: 1) Program Design, 2) Deliver, 3) Support, 4) Review and 5) New Program Design.

The focus is on the participants’ learning processes and experiences, and the environment within which learning takes place. Schemes of work covering the syllabus in full should be prepared for each subject taught and made available to participants at the start of the course. When appropriate, the program delivery should allow time for both syllabus coverage and revision and ideally incorporate tuition on appropriate exam techniques. Homework and course assignments should be plotted into schemes of work. Students should be made aware of their input into the learning process and any associated expectations of them. Participants and their Employers should benefit from a course handbook or lecture notes which give full details of the curriculum, contents to be covered and cases to be used during the training. Course handbooks or alternatively a note to Employers should provide an idea of the maximum numbers of students who will be taught in class and of facilities to support them in their studies. The course handbook should also contain names, qualifications and contact details of teaching staff, together with their specialist subjects.

It is important to use quality study materials. We recommend using our Academic Partners study materials (BPP, FTC, GTG, Stalla, Becker, Global English, Duke CE...). Where possible, Sloane Group should seek to provide facilities which will assist students in their studies and provide a comfortable environment in which to study (taught courses only). Facilities available may include a library, computers, laptops, tablet PCs, e-learning materials, internet access, rest rooms, facilities for hot and cold beverages, and disabled access.

Sloane Group regularly undertakes a documented review process for each program or course cycle covering:

• Enrolment and retention
• Exam performance
• Student feedback
• Learning materials
• Teaching and delivery issues
• Quality control procedures
• Accommodation and resources
• Action planning

Participant feedback is an important part of the review process and participants should be encouraged to complete feedback forms, for each paper studied, at least once in every course cycle. Feedback questionnaires should include questions re staff performance, for example, punctuality and attendance, the setting and marking of homework and so on. Participants’ views should be reflected in future course planning; problem areas should be identified and appropriate action plans developed to address the issues raised. While it can be difficult to get Employers and Academic Partners to participate in the learning process, it is very useful if their feedback can be gained, particularly for the purposes of future course planning/marketing. Sloane Group suggests that contact with Employers and Academic Partners is maintained and that they are invited to feed into the course review process whenever possible.