Learning Interventions for Consultants: Building the Talent That Drives Business (Fundamentals of Consulting Psychology Series)

This book outlines a five-step process for designing and implementing learning interventions for individual employees, teams, and entire organizations. These interventions promote continuous learning, innovation, and organizational growth and productivity.

Innovation is one of the key drivers of success in modern business, and continuous learning is what drives innovation. Building on the theory and practice of consulting psychology and the science of learning, along with principles of human resources development, this book articulates a five‑step process for designing and delivering effective learning interventions for individual employees, teams, and entire organizations. This process includes conducting a needs analysis, developing a contract that sets reasonable goals and expectations for clients, designing learning methods to meet the organization's needs, implementing the program and tailoring it as needed, and evaluating outcomes to ensure ongoing improvement.
 
The book also outlines three distinct types of learning—adaptive, generative, and transformative—that help employees cultivate essential skills and adapt their behaviors to improve job performance and promote organizational change. Guidelines for blending new learning technologies, including games and artificial intelligence, with in‑person workshops are also reviewed. Case examples bring these learning methods to life, demonstrating how they are applied in real-world settings.

Manuel London, PhD, is dean of the College of Business and Distinguished Professor of Management at the Stony Brook University, where he has taught and been an administrator for the past 28 years. His PhD is in industrial–organizational psychology from The Ohio State University. Starting his career on the organizational behavior faculty at the University of Illinois, Champaign–Urbana, he subsequently was a researcher and HR practitioner at AT&T for 12 years. As a practitioner and consultant, Dr. London has worked on program development in the areas of training, leadership development, performance management, and group learning. His books include The Power of Feedback: Giving, Seeking, and Using Feedback for Performance Improvement, Third Edition (2015), and Continuous Learning: Directions for Individual and Organization Development (with Valerie Sessa, 2006). He is the editor of The Oxford Handbook of Lifelong Learning (2011) and Performance Management: Putting Research Into Practice (with James W. Smither, 2009).

Thomas Diamante, PhD, is president, Consulting Division of the New York State Psychological Association. As executive vice president and practice director at CCA, Inc., a human capital consultancy, he consults for C-level, cross-cultural, cross-industry executives to enhance individual and organizational performance. He advises venture capital firms on nonfinancial due diligence to reduce investment risk and provides executive coaching for the Fortune 500. Dr. Diamante’s highly diverse client portfolio reflects global financial services, media, world-renowned cultural institutions, global consumer products, technology start-ups, as well as federal agencies and municipalities. Human resource consultations include management education, selection, performance management and succession planning, and leadership development. His PhD is in industrial organizational psychology from The Graduate Center, City University of New York; he is a New York state licensed psychologist. Dr. Diamante’s industrial–organizational background is complemented by clinical training in behavior change management from The Institute for Behavior Therapy in New York. He is formerly of Merrill Lynch (Global Securities Research & Economics), where he held the position of vice president of corporate strategy and organization development; KPMG Consulting (BearingPoint), where he served as senior manager and lead change consultant; and Altria, where he started his career as national manager, human resources and executive development. He is Board Chair, Emeritus for enACT.org, an educational nonprofit serving New York City schoolchildren and is the author of Effective Interviewing and Information Gathering: Proven Tactics to Improve Your Questioning Skills (2013).