Our Work.

In light of economic conditions, a Big 5 professional services firm needed to transform its face-to-face industry conferences to a more cost-effective virtual development experience. The virtual institute aims to equip practitioners to deliver industry insight to clients.

Emerson and the firm created a sustainable, flexible and innovative design that could be used across various industry groups. The design focused on leading-edge learning solutions and tools that will force interactivity and break the mold of “death by PowerPoint” webinars and “click after click” e-learning modules.

The resulting program is a four-week learning experience that accommodates a variety of learning styles by offering synchronous and asynchronous training. It also uses many learning modalities, including virtual classroom sessions, discussion boards, virtual panel discussions, and a client simulation activity. Virtual classroom sessions (one to two hours in length) bring all participants together twice each week in either plenary sessions or in small virtual teams of five to six teammates with the support of a coach.

After nine years of working together and nearly 400 projects, Emerson has become a trusted partner to one of the Big 4 professional services firms. We’ve created a series of in-person learning programs to support their business objectives.

Emerson built a one-day workshop to standardize a common methodology for delivering data security solutions. We developed a week-long program for new hires with a client simulation broken into three tracks: financial statement and internal controls audit, finance operations and controls transformation, and internal audit transformation activities.

We refreshed an identity and access management workshop and a simulation program teaching basic project management skills to new audit managers. Another one of our favorite projects was building a simulation teaching basic project management skills to new audit managers.

The leadership of a Big 4 professional services firm knew there were opportunities to be gained through stronger client relationships. They believed if they strengthened key skills in their executives, they could unlock even more success. The firm conceived the Relationship Mastery Program, a skill-building effort for executives (partners, principals, and managing directors), and they brought Emerson in to help.

Together, we landed on four main courses: the Art of Empathy, the Art of Inquiry, the Art of Story, and the Art of Engagement. The Relationship Mastery courses were taught face-to-face at their own company university. We used a variety of methods to reach our learners: video scenarios, games, and interactive sessions. In the end, the results exceeded our client’s expectations. Since 2011, over 13,000 partners and managers have attended Relationship Mastery courses. And that’s just in the U.S. — courses are run out of every major geography: Asia/Pacific, Europe and North.

So far, 33 global executives have participated. We surveyed 2700 employees to find out whether the program was helping them in their client relationships. 94% said they would recommend the courses, and 97% reported that these courses and skills are “essential to my work.”

A new health care provider came on the scene in 2005 and grew quickly. In 2011, they expanded their kidney care business even further, prepared for regulatory changes and shifted to a new operating model. This was a lot of change for a young company, so they asked Emerson for help.

We worked with them to develop the right organization structure and operating model. We also helped leaders develop a strong and clear message to rally the troops. Executives and managers acted as change agents; they were armed with a “playbook” and workshops to get all employees pulling in the same direction.

The result was a successful transition to a new way of doing business that will serve the company as it grows.

When a technology services company wanted to move its sales team from a traditional, transactional approach to a more consultative sales model, they reached out to Emerson.

Although they knew where they were and where they wanted to go, they had been struggling to gain traction. Emerson helped them solidify their vision, identify barriers, and focus on the critical behaviors to bring their vision to life.

We met with the team and conducted interactive workshops to bring together their best thinking and our behavior change expertise. The result was a solid plan and support materials to unify the team toward their vision.

Emerson developed and facilitated a North America Marketing Leadership summit, an annual meeting of a major oil and gas company’s 200-person leadership team who gather to establish objectives and address obstacles.

We designed and facilitated an interactive session that helped them internalize the overarching business goals, identify immediate constraints, and develop ways to address them.

A major oil and gas company launched an enterprise-wide effort to simplify their downstream operations. Their goal was to better equip the organization to execute strategy, focusing on the value chain and the processes that drive results. They asked Emerson to help mobilize employees and management toward this goal.

We launched a sponsorship strategy, employee engagement program and communication plans. We also built web/portal resources and change management training. The guiding principle was that everyone, from leaders to front-line employees, drive the transition to an even nimbler, more powerful organization.

Our country’s premiere global business and financial information and news leader needed a new way of doing business. They reorganized their ad operations structure. and wanted to break through silos as they transformed their single-platform focus to a team-based strategic multi-platform approach.

Once they designed the future-state organization, they asked Emerson to create a learning program that would translate to on-the-job performance.

Employees who once worked in only one advertising channel needed to learn how their colleagues got things done.

We worked with them to create training and on-the-job support to build capabilities and confidence for new roles and behaviors. The program supported 240 employees on three different continents.

A large child care and early childhood education company had 1,500 centers using an array of client management systems. They wanted to roll out a single company-wide solution to bring their centers up-to-date, recoup lost revenue, all without disrupting operations.

From the beginning, the initiative faced challenges: they had been trying to replace IT systems over ten years and lacked internal change capability. The company had a very loyal and caring culture and we needed to use that energy to help them succeed.

Emerson brought methodology and metrics to the plan. We offered an operating model, readiness assessment and metrics, a define phase for learning, and a learning model and deliverables. We helped build capability in their teams and left a transition toolkit to reinforce process and measure progress.

The world’s fourth largest retailer was ready to make its U.S. grocery debut. Emerson designed, developed and implemented training for the launch. Their new store concept required a service model built around “customer assistants.”

To support that, we developed strategically driven training for both new hires and existing employees. They learned about the parent company, the genesis of the retail concept, and their role in living the company mission: a fresh and easy place to shop, a good neighbor, and a great place to work.

The program used innovative techniques to train employees to perform their jobs seamlessly within the new service environment. With the help of Emerson, staff were ready to enter the U.S. market.

A large state government organization was struggling to support its internal clients because the team had few change management skills and tools. They asked Emerson for a creative solution.

We started with their custom change model (based on John Kotter’s Eight-Step approach) and developed an instructor-led program, incorporating our best practices in change management.

To fit their needs, the course modules were delivered “just in time” – team members learn a concept or tool when they are ready to use it. Knowledge is tested through case studies, where the project team critiques the learner’s outputs so that every step is a learning opportunity.

A major container ship facility faced several challenges during a massive ERP deployment that would impact over 1,000 employees. The already complex project was bookended by tight budgets and accelerated timelines.

In response, Emerson created a “vanilla approach” that eased the client through integrating such a large change. Together, we built a bulletproof business case, reenergized their change team and established a foundation for a successful ERP deployment. Work included creating a viable communication plan, user training program and vendor validation process.

While the organization told us they had “never undertaken a change this large,” it was business as usual at Emerson. Regardless of internal obstacles, we made sure their Oracle ERP implementation was made easy and made possible.

One of the U.S. government’s largest agencies tackles the most daunting problems our world has to offer. Yet they weren’t prepared for changes within their own organization. Their aging workforce meant high attrition and skills that would no longer meet the needs of the agency.

They had also adopted a pay-for-performance model. What they needed was a clear set of workforce skills and behaviors that matched their goals.

Emerson teamed with the agency to determine their critical competencies. The competencies formed the foundation for all their human capital processes, leaving the agency strong, agile, and ready to meet the challenges of the future.

When a business technology corporation acquired another company, ​they understood that the stakes were high. This change touched a vast landscape of processes, systems and stakeholders. Our client wanted to preserve the best of both company cultures, so they turned to Emerson for help.

​First, we created a Change Leadership Council to align executives on priorities, messaging, and engagement with front-line employees. We developed a comprehensive change plan that addressed workstreams, skills and behaviors; we created a stakeholder analysis that informed the communication strategy and plan; and we designed communication tools and templates to ensure the quality of ongoing communications. We worked with stakeholders on a behavior and skills impact analysis and a learning strategy.

​The solutions ranged from the strategic (creating message and momentum) to the tactical (changing over email addresses and signage). Throughout, we provided change management coaching to their change leaders – helping our client maintain the momentum needed to achieve a new, unified company.

Leaders at one of the world’s prominent hospitality brands were frustrated as they worked to effectively and consistently implement new initiatives across their organization. Emerson worked with them to refine a new change management methodology, then developed a course to turn HR professionals into high-functioning change managers.

The course fully intertwined the new model and participants’ real-life change initiatives, so they learned as they worked.

The program also included on-the-job coaching, peer support and a SharePoint site which provided articles, tools, and a place to post questions and discuss real-time problems.

You don’t become one of the Big 4 without cultivating a strong workforce. Our client, a major professional services firm, believes in the power of professional development, and wanted new business technology analysts to better understand the company they joined.

They asked Emerson to create a blended learning program for new hires. We built nine, 90-minute programs to teach analysts core consulting skills and deepen their knowledge of the consulting technology group’s service lines.

Eventually, we converted these courses into eLearning modules so they could be delivered without an instructor.

A Big 5 professional services firm asked Emerson to help develop the HC Business Advisory Program for Senior Consultants, a milestone-based learning program. It was designed to accelerate the transition of newly hired and promoted Human Capital Senior Consultants into their advisory role: diagnosing, articulating, and solving for client problems.

The inaugural program was built around realistic, on-the-job simulations and included participation of company leaders.

Since then, we have worked with the HC learning team to refresh the program based on feedback and develop it into a larger “end-to-end” experience for Senior Consultants; this goes beyond classroom-based learning to applied learning, support networks, etc. for the expected competencies at the SC level.

An international investment bank wanted to better serve their customers, employees and shareholders by increasing the performance of their sales organization. They asked Emerson to evaluate their current learning and performance support assets.

We conducted a needs assessment, stakeholder interviews, and an employee-wide survey; they revealed the need for a more robust learning strategy, clear success metrics and virtual learning best practices.

Our solution included a Learning Playbook and a custom version of our Virtual Learning Best Practices material. These materials ensured the bank had the knowledge, skills and abilities to be successful in the future.

For one of the country’s biggest clothing retailers, dry and traditional has never been the answer. They wanted a way to bring new field employees up to speed quickly and efficiently. Emerson worked with them to create “My Foundation,” a program that builds the right skills so that field leaders, store leaders and sales associates have immediate impact on the job.

The program includes a menu of learning opportunities, covering everything from operations to leadership. New employees get the support from an on-boarding team: a manager, a peer advisor and experts to develop custom learning plans. Learning is self-paced and happens online through self-directed activities, reading and reviewing resources, or on-the-job.

The result is an efficient, targeted learning experience that’s as nimble and fresh as the company itself.

To minimize the risk of an unsuccessful regulatory audit in the future, a health insurance company needed to ensure everyone in the organization had effective, annual compliance training. Training had to be standardized and tracked. They asked Emerson to help.

We evaluated their current program and met with leaders, compliance specialists, and department trainers to determine the performance gaps and solutions. We then developed policies and compliance training, including online courses for the company’s global employees and executive team. We also formalized their training development process and created a knowledge base to support ongoing training and communication.

Employees are now trained upon hiring, and each subsequent year. Each department owns and tracks its training. our client knows its organization is compliant and ready.