PDG Leverages Strategy Consulting Capability to Build a Corporate University

PDG’s Strategy Consulting team is working with a major pharmaceutical company to design and develop a new Corporate University for their manufacturing division.  The consulting team is being led by Reni Gorman, PDG’s Director of Strategy Consulting. This engagement is leveraging the following service offerings from PDG’s Strategy Consulting capability:

Organizational Change Management: In order to drive new methods of achieving business success, PDG’s team is designing a structure that will drive process improvements and determining the best way to communicate and gain commitment from the organization so the change takes root.

Workforce Transformation Optimization: This engagement is focused on creating a path forward which best leverage the organization’s most valuable assets, its people. PDG’s team performed current state and root cause analyses, with the output being an actionable roadmap for improvement. In addition, PDG’s team is also devising the structure that will guarantee a successful implementation.

Learning Strategy: PDG brings its expertise in selection, certification, and governance to create a Corporate University that is effective from Day 1.

For this mission critical engagement, PDG has assembled a tremendous team with some of the best minds in the business, including experts in manufacturing process, human performance, corporate governance, performance evaluation, and certification.

PDG Announces Global Facilitation Capability

PDG’s steep growth curve continues which the addition of a Global Facilitation Capability.  Executing in alignment with PDG’s business strategy, this strategic offering will increase PDG’s global footprint and enhance our ability to support the worldwide learning and development needs of our clients.  Vertical industry expertise is also a key component of the Global Facilitation Capability, with our network of facilitators having broad experience including financial services, health sciences, technology, communications, business services and manufacturing.  In additional to industry expertise, the Global Facilitation Capability includes deep domain expertise in the areas of leadership & management development, organizational change, selling skills, relationship management, communication & presentation skills, coaching, business writing, negotiation skills, team building, performance management, and diversity.

 PDG is pleased to continue to evolve our service offerings based on the emerging needs of our clients.  We not only offer translation and facilitation services for global implementation, but a robust training design & development offering for efficiently creating localization-friendly, live and technology-delivered solutions.

New Year, New Faces

PDG continues to grow, in fact, since mid 2010 our team has grown over 30% in order to support all of our business lines.  We have added Instructional Designers, Program Architects, Developers, Recruiters, Program Coordinators, Graphic Designers,  an Innovation Strategist and a Financial Analyst.  If you are interested in joining the PDG family, check out the job postings by clicking on “Your Career at PDG.”

Performance Development Group Wins Gold Brandon Hall Learning Award

Performance Development Group Wins Gold Brandon Hall Learning Award

April 20, 2007 – Performance Development Group (PDG), a global performance improvement firm, announced that it has won a Gold 2006 Brandon Hall Excellence in Learning Award in the category of Custom Content.
PDG’s winning entry was a simulation developed to help Wyeth Pharmaceuticals sales representatives bridge the gap between learning and performing on the job. Wyeth sought a solution that would enhance the sales force’s ability to use new behaviors and tools in the field. With that goal in mind, the PDG simulation incorporated three elements: context (to teach where and when to use specific tools and processes); examples (to model what the desired behaviors look like); and practice (to instill the confidence needed to use new skills in the real world).

A series of short simulations enables reps to practice and discover the best tools to use in each sales situation, closely mimicking the work environment and providing performance feedback throughout. In order for the simulation to be realistic, the storyline was based on “war stories” from experienced reps. To make it immersive, the simulation used realistic 3-D environments and extensive video.
During a series of simulated sales calls with physicians, reps learned to identify where and when to use each behavior and the likely outcomes of choosing one approach over another. At each decision point in the sales call, context-sensitive links helped end users learn the best use of each tool and resource available. Reps were encouraged to attempt each simulation several times, making different decisions and seeing the resulting outcomes.

“The most compelling reason to use selling simulations is to develop our people and to equip them to meet strategic business objectives,” said Don Block, Executive Director, Sales Training, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. “This simulation will allow our representatives to apply their knowledge in a safe learning environment and to hone their skills, so they can provide the greatest value for our customers and gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.”

The Brandon Hall Excellence in Learning Awards are presented annually by Brandon Hall Research, one of the leading research firms in training and development. Now in its twelfth year, the Awards program showcases exceptional work in the use of technology to enhance learning.
“The winning entries this year show great design and wonderful creativity,” said Brandon Hall, Ph.D., chairman of the Awards program. “These winners really set the standard for innovative learning.”

- more –

PDG Wins Gold Brandon Hall Award, Page 2
PDG’s Custom Content entry was recognized during a ceremony and reception held on Tuesday, October 24, 2006 in Denver, Colo., as part of the 2006 Training Solutions Conference & Expo, held October 23-25. The winners are listed at www.brandon-hall.com.
Entries were submitted in the categories of Custom Content, Learning Technology, Learning Case Studies, and Live Online Learning. In 2006 a total of 252 entries, representing 16 countries, were submitted. The entries were evaluated by independent judges from 44 countries around the world.
About Performance Development Group

Performance Development Group (PDG) is a full-service performance improvement company dedicated to helping corporate clients maximize the productivity of their workforce. The company helps businesses identify the drivers of performance in their organization, pinpoint the areas or efforts that will provide the best return, build targeted solutions that bridge those performance gaps and drive the realization of their business goals. Whether the right solution involves performance consulting, blended learning design and development, or immersive business simulations, PDG has the skills and expertise to help businesses succeed.

About Brandon Hall Research
Brandon Hall, Ph.D. is the CEO of Brandon Hall Research and author of the groundbreaking “Web-Based Training Cookbook.” Since 1992, Brandon Hall Research (www.brandon-hall.com) has been providing independent research reports and expert advice on using technology in learning. Brandon Hall Research conducts the Awards program each year to recognize the best in innovative learning. To honor the Award winners Brandon Hall Research hosts the Awards reception and ceremony in partnership with VNU and in conjunction with the Training Solutions Conference & Expo.

Performance Development Group and PROTONMEDIA form Strategic Partnership

PERFORMANCE DEVELOPMENT GROUP AND PROTONMEDIA FORM
STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP

Philadelphia, PA. – July 10, 2009 – Performance Development Group of Malvern, PA today announced a strategic alliance with ProtonMedia of Lansdale, PA. Performance Development Group and ProtonMedia will work collaboratively to offer creative performance strategies and solutions by incorporating ProtonMedia’s enterprise virtual world, ProtoSphere®, a secure, private virtual world environment for collaboration, learning and social networking.

ProtoSphere®’s immersive settings will allow Performance Development Group clients to communicate securely using built-in application sharing, Voice Over IP (VoIP), text chat, and video telepresence facilities.
”This is a time of great change within the performance improvement space.” said David Manning, Managing Partner of Performance Development Group. “A rapidly increasing adoption rate of emerging technologies coupled with economic pressures for corporations to reduce budgets is creating tremendous demand for innovative digital solutions and the service providers who design them. Performance Development Group’s partnership with ProtonMedia enables our team of world-class experience architects to leverage the industry’s leading corporate Virtual World platform to design unparalleled experiences for driving workforce behavior and brand engagement.” “Large organizations are committed to virtual teaming, and virtual learning” says ProtonMedia’s CEO Ron Burns, “but today’s tools are dispersed, and hard to use. With ProtoSphere, and the awarding winning content and design work from PDG, organizations can leverage the best of both content and context, to increase the speed of knowledge transfer between organizational silos and build a more efficient and collaborative learning enterprise”.

Through this partnership with ProtonMedia, Performance Development Group enables global businesses to facilitate communication, collaboration and training in a secure, always on, immersive environment. Examples of capabilities include:

. Virtual corporate meetings
. Simulation-based training
. 3D virtual classrooms

. Social network systems
. Built in-blogs and wikis
. Customizable avatars

“Traditional push formats for training, communication and marketing are being replaced with more agile pull opportunities — where search engine optimization is king and one size fits one.” Mr. Manning continued. “The partnership between ProtonMedia and Performance Development Group will place the power of Virtual Worlds, Social Networking and Web 2.0 technologies into the hands of PDG’s experience architects to create engaging collaboration and learning opportunities for our clients’ employees and customers.”

About Performance Development Group
Performance Development Group is a leading Performance Improvement Agency that delivers strategy and solutions through interactive training, communication, and digital marketing experiences that ignite performance and catalyze behavior change for companies and their customers.

About ProtonMedia
ProtonMedia is the leading provider of virtual world technology for the enterprise. ProtonMedia’s flagship product ProtoSphere® is a secure, private virtual world environment for collaboration and learning. As the premier virtual world platform for the enterprise, ProtoSphere® features a suite of communications and social networking tools designed to deliver the most efficient knowledge transfer within a networked, learning organization.

# # #

If you’d like more information, or to schedule an interview with David Manning, please call 610-827-9595 or e-mail info@performdev.com

Performance Development Group Acquires effectPerformance, Inc.

Performance Development Group Acquires effectPerformance, Inc., a Leading Provider of Custom Learning Solutions

MALVERN, P.A., July 1 – Performance Development Group (PDG) announced today that it has completed the acquisition of effectPerformance, Inc. (EP),  Dr. Gus Prestera, President of EP, will become a Partner at PDG, member of the PDG leadership team, as well as steward the integration of his former company into PDG.
Under the terms of the agreement, PDG will acquire EP for an undisclosed amount of cash and stock. The acquisition is expected to immediately add to PDG’s top line revenues, as well as increase PDG’s capacity to deliver high quality solutions.

Malvern, PA-based PDG, already a leading provider of performance consulting, training and communication solutions, interactive marketing and staff augmentation services, becomes even larger following the acquisition of effectPerformance and a more scalable organization with the addition of EP’s capabilities.
EffectPerformance is a full-service provider of custom training solutions. Founded in 2003, EP provides clients with custom training solutions for workplace learning.  “As we bring the two organizations together,” said EP founder Gus Prestera, “we’ll be able to offer clients access to the top minds in the industry, best-in-class services, and an unmatched dedication to helping those organizations succeed.”  The company’s client roster includes many of the world’s leading companies including Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, Corning, EDS, Merck, and Comcast.

“In today’s competitive marketplace, our clients are increasingly outsourcing their workforce performance initiatives to increase quality, shorten time-to-value and reduce costs,“ said David A. Manning, Managing Partner and Founder of Performance Development Group,” effectPerformance has established a tremendous reputation in the marketplace that is distinguished by solid long-term relationships and superior quality.  The addition of EP’s customers, people and systems will significantly expand our learning services capabilities, while also adding key Fortune 500 clients.”

Gus Prestera will assume the newly created position of Executive Director of Client Services and will assume responsibility for all of PDG’s Client Services, including performance consulting, project management, solutions design & development, and quality assurance.

About Performance Development Group
Performance Development Group is a leading Performance Improvement Agency that delivers strategy and solutions through interactive training, communication, and digital marketing experiences that ignite performance and catalyze behavior change for companies and their customers.

# # #

If you’d like more information, or to schedule an interview with David Manning, please call 610-827-9595 or e-mail info@performdev.com