We find that many of our clients come to us because they are looking to drive specific corporate strategies - to launch a new cultural initiative, to launch new competencies or behavioural aims, and to transform themselves from an Elephant to a Jaguar.

Our enabling infrastructure, which we designed and created ourselves, enables us seamlessly to incorporate a client's information and content so that their employees can bring about the agreed deliverables. We incorporate the client's own material - policies, procedures, products and more - into the client's Academy.

However, that is just a part of it. We are not just a 'training developer and provider.'  Through our local agents, we work with our clients, face to face, to work out what they are seeking to achieve, how we can participate in this, and how we can best add value.

We can build specific new elements for the client - a training needs analysis, a competency based questionnaire, pre-work and post-work for a formal training program, quizzes, tests and specific learning material. We get our editorial team to write content - with feedback as required - to support a client's initiative.

1. How is the Academy different?

• We offer competencies, or the ability to do.  We do not offer training for the sake of training.
• We teach professionals how to solve problems.  Training is about telling people what to do. Education is about enabling people to learn and develop - in their way.  The Academy brings all elements of learning to ensure people can do!
• Everyone has his own way and style of doing things.  While we offer the standard and commonly accepted wisdom of management, we also encourage and enable people to think about and indeed to question how they can apply their own style.
• The Academy is the first of its kind in the world today.  We have begun to set up franchises outside our base to our countries.
• The mission of the Academy is to develop managers into professional problem solvers.

2. Who are the targets?

• Our programs are aimed at decision makers, from those who sit on board of directors to managers and supervisors.

3. How does the Academy deliver on the training objectives?

• By practices and engaging the trainees to practice what they have learned and take it back to work
• By providing evidence that their work can actually have a linkage to creating real value for the customers
• By allowing the programs to be tailored as 20% of all our courses are made much more relevant by including the client's cases, role plays, and videos.
• By reliant on giving the trainees frequent and specific feedback.

4. Why cultural perspective is an important part of all the Academy's training?

• The courses of the Academy are particularly strong in helping participants understand the cultural context because the majority of our Academic board, our developers, and our trainers have all worked abroad as international executives.
• Almost all businesses today exist in a multi-cultural environment. Whether this is because of global reach or because of ethnic variety among employees and managers, it is important to recognise that values, norms and even habits vary. We have an international editorial board featuring distinguished senior managers and academics. Our Fulbright scholars come from all over the world - China, India, Ireland, Canada, Australia, the UK and the USA.
• We welcome contributions from every part of the world - and particularly welcome contributions from our direct audience. We provide not only give editorial help but also positive advice on writing about management.

5. What is a typical Academy training session like?

•  Fun
• Always small classes
• Never one way lecture for more than 30 minutes
• Lots of exercises to get the participants doing and learning
• concentrate on enabling people to learn in their own way and at their own pace
• Focus on solving complex problems.

6. What is so special about the problem solving training at the Academy?

The first aim of all our training programs is to teach the participants competency in solving the immediate problem; but the most important aim is to help them solve similar problems in the future, helping them learn how to fish, and not fish for them.

Our Programs :

• Uses the latest learning practice to help absorption; for example, the use of back-at-work action plans.  Blended learning involving simulations, role plays, cases based on your company's learning history are typical makeup of our programs.
• Includes problem solving tools used by management consultants such as McKinsey, Booz Allen, PWC, IBM, and Accenture.
• Uses a proprietary framework - symptoms, prognoses, causes, and treatment whereby the latest best practices are employed. 

7. Do my employees have to be consultants to benefit from such training?

No, anyone with an urge to fix complex managerial challenges can benefit from our programs.  The Academy even offers a mentoring program for those requiring stronger support. 

Over 70% of the courses are provided to supervisors and managers.   We do have a growing collection for front-line staff and typically we would prefer to train your supervisors as trainers for such programs.

8. Who would benefit most from the rigorous practical training at the Academy?

Supervisors and managers who are experiencing challenges at present to transform a process, a department, a team of individuals, or to understand how best to interact with customers.  Companies that are experiencing growing pain would benefit tremendously from the AMC-type of courses.

Helping professional problem solvers, from accountants to managers, and strengthening their ability to execute remain a cornerstone of our programs. 

9. How do I know my employees have learned from the programs?

Two choices, depending on your needs:

1. A simple multiple choice quiz.  This is a useful validation of the participant's ability to acquire knowledge.  All our half-day courses have a quiz element built in.
2. For a more rigorous approach, a competency-based project validation whereby each of the participants must demonstrate how he/she has applied the methodologies back at work, and document such learning in an official process.

Course Selections

1. What are some examples of 'how-to courses' that are available? 

The Academy is particularly strong in these areas:

1. Change Management
2. Corporate Governance and Risks Management
3. Leadership and Team Building
4. Communications
5. Personal Drive
6. Customer Service, and of course
7. Management Consulting

Some of the most popular managerial how-to programs include:

• How to operationalize Corporate Governance
• How to change complaints to new orders
• How to write a million dollar proposal
• How to chair meetings
• How to present a professional image
• How to solve problems creatively and laterally

Each 'how-to course' is modular in structure, basically half-day to one-day in length and can be combined to form tailored programs for your company.

Each is taught by a professional AMC consultant/trainer, vetted by our QA team, and continually refined through focus groups and client feedback.  As a result, each trainee receives a healthy amount of relevant in-class materials, academic references for further research, and a barrage of your company's case studies to stimulate their thinking. 

For a fuller collection, please seek out program catalogue or visit our homepage at www.academy-mc.org.

2. Are all course originally developed for the local market?

• Virtually all of our materials are developed in-house by a team of international experts. 
• Since all materials are principally developed by the international experts at the Academy, amended by the local agent and trainer to fit the local condition, we are both global and local.
• Our courses are not academic but academically respectable.  Our courses have been chosen by the Institute of Management Consultants and other professional firms.  We are recognised by the Royal Roads University and many universities around the world.
• Culturally appropriate is one of the most important qualities of our programs as a team of local experts in each country will sit down and amend the cases to improve learning.  In addition, our trainers must speak the local language. 
• All our programs will have both English and a local dialect in the training materials.

3. Can clients have a course tailored for their needs? 

Yes, indeed.  In fact, virtually all our in-company courses are tailored to some degree for your need.  Tailoring for public courses is a bit more difficult given the variety of students.  On average, 20-30% of the course materials are tailored for your industry or for your company and your Account Director will work with you on this.  We typically would create short situational cases and role plays to bring out learning in your particular context.

The ownership of such copyrights remains with AMC although you may use them for your own in-house training.

4. Can I reuse the materials and have one of my trainers become a certified trainer? 

Yes. All of our programs can be licensed to the company for in-house distribution and usage and we will be happy to train your trainers.   Please speak with your Account Director.

Course Quality

1. How rigorous are these courses?

The contents are academically respectable while being functional at the same time.  As the participants learn about eliminating causes that had contributed to the managerial problem, only then academic theories will be used as a framework.  80% of the courses will be functional with the intent of helping the participants understand how to solve their immediate problems and how to begin to formulate a set of guidelines for them in solving future problems.

Virtually all of the training materials have been created by a team of local and international professional course developers at the Academy, validated by international consultants, and are constantly being refined through application and testing by your local office.

2. Can these courses be integrated into a diploma offered by a university or a professional institution? 

Depending on your needs. 

Many of our courses can be linked to a university program.  The Academy has worked with many leading local and overseas universities to link management and management consulting programs.  These have included the University of Oulu, Fudan, the Open University, the University of Hong Kong, and Royal Roads University in Canada for example.  The Academy has been tasked by many professional institutes such as the Institute of Management Consultants, the International Institute of Management, and the Hong Kong Institute of Company Secretaries to provide top-up programs.

3. How can we be more assured about the quality of your training products? 

We believe very much in our products and services.  In fact, we believe in giving our clients a high level of satisfaction: satisfaction guaranteed or a replacement course will be provided free in another subject and by another professional facilitator.