ABSTRACT

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Junior Partnership at Blue Ridge High Performance Consulting: Engaging Students and the Application of Communication Skills and Knowledge in Practical Contexts Authors: Dr. William Kennan, Addis Ainsley, Jeremy Butler, Brittany Case, Caitlin Hermann, William Stephens, Terrence Strickland, Randy Taylor, Rebecca Wilburn RADFORD UNIVERSITY, RADFORD, VIRGINIA ASSIGNMENTS CLIENT LIST ABSTRACT • City of Roanoke • Volvo Trucks • Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation: Chuck Wyatt • Virginia Government Financial Officers Association • Client based collaborative team work. • You will participate in and be evaluated on an initial client meeting in which the client identifies a training needs and parameters and/or specifies and negotiates the product to be delivered. • You will develop a proposal for a comprehensive training program in the area you negotiate with your client or you may be asked to renegotiate a contract already in effect and then deliver the product. • You will prepare a sample of the training program designed to demonstrate how the program work and how the participants and organization will benefit or you will prepare a revised training proposal to be signed by clients and partners. If you are working with an existing contract you will then deliver the product. • You will participate in a midterm meeting with your client to evaluate your progress and the quality of your work. In that meeting you will present preliminary research findings and you will offer a preview of the proposed project. • You will pitch your proposed program to your client and you will present your sample(s) during the last week of the semester in December. If you renegotiate and deliver a product you will present the results of your work to clients  at that time. • You will submit your proposal to me and your sample. You may also be asked to submit your project as approved by your client. This poster provides a case study that focuses on the experiences of Junior Partners in the employ of Blue Ridge High Performance Consulting (BRHPC). BRHPC is a fictitious organization that has been created to provide an opportunity for graduate students enrolled in a seminar titled “Training and Development” to engage with real clients and to take their classroom knowledge and experience and utilize that intellectual capital to analyze and offer solutions for real world problems and challenges. The presentation describes the structure of BRHPC, the learning objectives, the learning process itself, and how this vehicle is used to engage students with classroom content from many of their classes and ultimately with clients. It also describes the relationship that evolves between students and clients who ultimately join the learning process as teachers and mentors. The presentation draws heavily from the burgeoning literature on student engagement and its purpose is to demonstrate how students can be deeply connected to learning through connections with projects and client teachers and mentors outside academe. SYLLABUS This course is designed to be a hands on and highly interactive experience with the training and development industry with special concern for communication training and development. The class works with external clients who have genuine training and development needs. The job will be to serve the needs of the clients and to secure a contract for BRHPC to provide those services. As such, the junior partners are treated by clients and the Senior Partner as working professionals both in class and during interactions with clients. GOALS • The course goals are as follows: • To learn about the profession of training and development, including consulting. • To learn about and apply the process of developing, delivering, and evaluating training in a practical context. • To gain experience and knowledge working with clients to develop, deliver, and evaluate training programs. • To gain experience and knowledge about working collaboratively as a team in a business environment. CONTACT INFORMATION REAL WORLD EXPERIENCE • BLUE RIDGE HIGH PERFORMANCE CONSULTING • https://sites.google.com/site/tdfallsemester2009/ • Textbook: • Noe, R. A. (2010). Employee Training and Development (4th ed or most recent). McGraw-Hill, Irwin. • Poster coordinators: • COMS 620- TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT • FALL 2011 CLASS TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT • “This class helped us gain experience on applying our training and development skills along with working with a real client.” • -Brittany Case (Student) • “It was good experience to be the trainer instead of the trainee.” • -Jeremy Butler (Student) • “It was really exciting to see the students take what they learned in class and apply it to their clients.” • -Bill Kennan (Professor) • “While working with my classmates at Volvo, it made all of us feel we were not just students but real world professionals.” • -Caty Hermann (Student) • “Your presentation made my day!” • -Gene Dillon (Volvo Trucks) BLUE RIDGE HIGH PERFORMANCE CONSULTING