See how KITE works in real life!

KITE in Action: A Case Study

"Having our curriculum on paper means that we maintain control over it. It provides consistency in our training program, no matter who the instructor is."
-- Barbara Courtney, Executive Director, Artist Trust

Artist Trust (AT) is a medium-sized non-profit that delivers information services to artists throughout Washington State. In 2003, AT selected Guila Muir's KITE process to develop 44 hours of business skills training for approximately 229 artists over a five-year period. The criteria for the training, to be developed by four contracted art professionals with no background in training, included:

• The final curriculum had to be consistent so that each cohort received the same information over a five-year period;
• The training sessions had to be interactive and participatory;
• The final curriculum had to be written so that any subject matter expert could easily deliver the training.

Guila helped AT staff determine the content and flow of the curriculum. She then
provided the 2-day Training Design class to the 4 subject matter experts. At the end of these two days, the participants had mastered the KITE process. Each had developed a draft of their first training session.

Guila provided the developers with 30 hours of input and consultation over the next 6 weeks. By the end, they had finalized a total of 18 modules, varying in length from 1.5 - 6 hours long. (Note: all the developers were employed full-time in other pursuits. Working with KITE was not their only task.)

In less that 6 weeks, the SMEs developed:

• 18 different Instructor Guides--one per training module. (The Instructor Guides provide the trainer's "script," including content and clear instructions that describe how to conduct exercises and activities.)
• Participant worksheets, handouts, and other supplemental learning materials.
• All necessary visual aids.

ROI

Because the experts themselves wrote the curriculum, Artist Trust paid less than one-quarter what they would have if an outsider had done so, even at below-market consulting rates. Development time was cut by a third.

Outcomes

"Having replicable training sessions on paper makes it easier to evaluate our program."
--Barbara Courtney, Executive Director, Artist Trust

Although Artist Trust periodically brings in new instructors, the training remains consistent, facilitating program evaluation. Artist Trust is now considering marketing all 18 modules nationally.

See if your organization could benefit from KITE. Take a quick survey and receive free consultation!

More KITE success stories!

Do the following sound like "dry" subjects to you?

• Contract Monitoring
• Auditing
• Contract law
• Contract Management
• The Competitive Process
• Essential and Advanced Contract Drafting

In 2003, Washington State's Department of Social and Health Service's Central Contracting Services (CCS) determined a need to develop training sessions on these topics that would keep people awake! The sessions would be presented statewide by a number of different subject matter experts.

In less than 3 months, using the KITE process, six Contracting Specialists with little or no training background developed 8 written curricula. The sessions are interactive and lively, and participants have written on their evaluations comments such as "I learned a TON. I never thought contract monitoring could be so fun!"

One more example of how KITE helped save money and time:

People with the knowledge are retiring!

In 2000, the King County (WA) Executive took a look at retirement statistics and predictions. He learned that many human resource managers would be eligible to retire in the next three years! The executive made a decision to capture this institutional knowledge before it was lost. He kicked off a project to turn internal knowledge into training sessions that could be used internally for years to come, no matter what the turnover rate.

Using KITE, Guila Muir guided 15 subject matter experts (SMEs) over a three-month period to developed curriculum for supervisors in varied areas of the Human Resource field.

Topics included:

• Risk Management
• Employee Selection Process and Techniques
• County Leave Management
• Worker's Compensation
• Ethics
• Safety Management

The SMEs produced Instructor's Guides, participant aids, and all necessary visual materials. They then field-tested and improved the training sessions. The workshops vary in length from 2 hours to full-day, are well-organized and highly participatory, and include full instructions to the trainer.

These workshops are unique. Expertly designed for King County's own specific needs, they include only that information which is essential to King County supervisors…a truly "tailor-made" training curriculum.

See if your organization could benefit from KITE. Take a quick survey and receive free consultation on your organization's unique situation. Or, contact Guila Muir at info@guilamuir.com.

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