Frequently Asked Questions

  • Packages & Pricing

    Q: Can you explain what a suggested package is?
    A: A suggested package is designed to give you a sense of the type of areas that might be grouped together. They are only suggestions and a final package might combine several aspects, depending on your organisational requirements.

    Q: How is a final package constructed?
    A: Upon a complimentary meeting, to gain an understanding of what your organisation needs, a proposed package will be designed. This includes an outline of a suggested approach. This forms the basis of determining your final package requirements.

    Q: If I buy a package, am I stuck with the originally agreed approach
    A: As a section of the agreed approach is completed, a discussion to evaluate the outcomes and how best to proceed, will be held. If we agree that a different approach is required to the original schedule, we will take that alternative approach. In effect, the package buys a set number of structured and support hours, to be used to best effect.

    Q: How do we keep track of hours?
    A: It will be monitored by Evolution Consulting and a regular update will be provided.

    Q: What if I need more hours?
    A: We can either agree an hourly rate to complete the project, or we can agree an additional package, if warranted.

  • Emotional Intelligence

    Q: What is Emotional Intelligence?
    A: Emotional intelligence is the name given to a set of skills and abilities that allow us to manage ourselves and our relationships with others.

    Q: Why is Emotional Intelligence important?
    A:Successful people tend to have effective EQ.

    Q: Can a person’s emotional intelligence (EQ) change?
    A: Unlike IQ, a person’s EQ can be developed and sustained. A person’s EQ can change dramatically within a six-month period.

    Q: How can Emotional Intelligence help my organisation?
    A: Emotional Intelligence has many uses, not least that emotionally intelligent people have good self-awareness and self-control, allowing them to negotiate around conflict and build strong relationships with others. Good emotional intelligence influences a person's abilities in:

    • Sales & marketing.
    • Management.
    • Leadership.
    • Leading change.
    • Achieving goals.
    • Customer service.
  • Funds Training

    Q: What type of investment securities do you provide training on?
    A: Equities, Futures, Options, Currencies, Swaps and Bonds.

    Q: What types of bonds to you cover?
    A: Corporate, Government, Convertible, Cash Equivalents, MBS, ABS.

    Q: What areas do you cover in NAV Production?
    A: All aspects of the NAV production, including:

    • Subscriptions / Redemptions.
    • Security Trading.
    • Income & Expenses.
    • Pricing.
    • Corporate Actions.
    • Distributions.
    • Cash & Asset Reconciliations.

    Q: Do you incorporate systems training?
    A: If we are familiar with your accounting system, we can incorporate it into the training. If we are not familiar, we can incorporate your reports to support the training. If you require us to learn the system, it is open to discussion.

    Q: Do you undertake process reviews?
    A: Yes, we can undertake a review of your processes and produce a report with our findings.

  • Training Evaluation

    Q: Why evaluate training?
    A: Investing in training costs money and it is important to ensure that your investment is contributing to your bottom line. Evaluating training enables you to see this link and quantify to what extent.

    Q: What do I gain by evaluating training?
    A: By evaluating the impact of training, you gain an understanding of its effectiveness, which allows you determine if it is addressing your needs or if there are other underlying issues.

    Q: When does the Training Evaluation process begin?
    A: The training evaluation process begins at the Training Needs Analysis (TNA) stage. To be able to effectively evaluate the impact of the training, you need to be clear about the training objectives and how its impact will be measured.

    Q: Can you give me an example?
    A: Take an example of an organisation wanting to decrease customer escalations i.e., the number of customers who end up wanting to speak to a more senior member of staff. The objective is to decrease the number of times a senior member of staff must deal with a query, freeing up their time. This data (number of escalated calls and their duration) is already recorded so we have a baseline already available to us. The training course is devised to enable front-line customer service staff to deal more effectively with customer calls.

    • At the end of the course, participants are asked to complete an Evaluation Form (Level 1).
    • They are also asked to give a presentation of what they learnt in the course and how they will apply it (Level 2).
    • Eight weeks later, supervisors are contacted and asked what behavioural changes they are seeing (Level 3).
    • Twelve weeks after the training, we review the number of calls being escalated e.g., 20% reduction in the number of escalated calls (Level 4).
    • We then determine the monetary savings e.g. five supervisors spending 20% less of their time dealing with call escalation (Level 5):
      Assuming a salary of €40,000: €40,000 * 5 = €200,000
        €200,000 * 20% = 40,000
      Cost of Training: €5,000
      Return on Investment (ROI): ((40,000 – 5,000) / 5000) * 100 = 700%
      In other words, for every €1 spent on the training, you are gaining a saving of €7.

    Q: So, we should consider how we’re going to measure the impact at the design stage?
    A: Yes, identifying the business reasons for delivering the training and how changes will be measured upfront makes it easier to evaluate the impact at the end.

  • Leading Change

    Q: What areas does your Leading Change programme cover?
    A: Our Leading Change programme covers any aspect of organisational life that is being changed, including:

    • Systems e.g., IT.
    • Processes & procedures e.g., operational, HR, IT.
    • Cultural Change.
    • Change due to mergers.
    • Market changes e.g. Product/Services, distribution, regions.
    • Regulatory or legislative changes.

    Q: What is a Key Change Agent?
    A: A Key Change Agent is someone who is key to supporting and realising the required changes. They understand the reasons for the change, what the resultant world will look like (vision), communicate these at every available opportunity, listen to the grapevine concerns and suggestions and address valid concerns.