SS Hardinger Consulting
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Sarah Sue Hardinger

 704-906-6656

[email protected] 

I am a senior level consultant and project manager with exceptional experience in implementing business strategies.  I have worked through Human Resources, talent management, change management, learning and line organizations in a wide variety of service and technical industries with a consistent record of enhancing quality, cutting internal cost and increasing internal and external client satisfaction. 

SS Hardinger Consulting                                                                        2008 to present

My Role:  Owner, Senior Consultant, Thought-Leader

Results:  Improved the valuable human resource variable in the business equation

Key Points:

-       Combined traditional learning solutions with change management techniques incorporating current social networking technologies in seamless communications stream

-       Supported efficient and effective business transformations emphasizing learning and development, leadership, and organizational development

  

IBM  (Selected projects)                                                                                    1998 to 2008                       

Project: Expertise Taxonomy  - overhauled approach to personal competency development and introduced new method for pinpointing resources needed on a given project

My Role:  Executive Project Manager, member of PMO

Results: 

-       Implemented corporate business strategy in learning environment saving $230M in internal costs in year one

-       Communications and presentation style developed for reporting to executives was so successful it has since been adopted by several departments

Key Points:

-       Led several major projects and integrated with 23 other HR IT projects on one timeline.

-       Set new industry standard for HR best practice and leadership development, recognized by CLO Magazine and other industry periodicals.

-       Shared our budget under run with parallel team to bring entire initiative in at budget

-       Translated technical and functional requirements into a family of tools, including interface design and user acceptance testing

-       Melded brilliant individuals and hard-working groups into one cohesive, high-performing team

-       First wide-scale use of Web 2.0 technologies for information dissemination in lieu of formal training

 

Project:  Management and Leadership Development Curriculum – adapted IBM internal management and leadership curriculum into an external training product, implemented it with two clients, and managed internal deployment office

My Role:  Senior Project Manager

Results:  $14M in immediate revenue with continued revenue stream of >$100M worldwide

Key Points:

-       Introduced new pricing structures since used with other products

-       Blazed the trail for future patents of learning technologies

-       Explored and documented required changes to materials for various international audiences

-       Earned an A+ in the Project Quality Review and the IBM Delivery Excellence Award

 

Project: Prudential Insurance Laptop Launch  - deployed 20,000 laptops with new software and forms throughout the US and Guam

My Role:  Project Office Manager for Training and Call Center Support

Results: 

-       Shortened sales cycle

-       Significantly reduced number of applications using incorrect forms

-       Increased number of sales people able to meet quota

Key Points:

-       Three-year project stayed on time and on budget with minimal and often changing temporary services office staff

-       Hired and managed deployment of vendor-provided instructor staff of 35

-        Award winning project recognized as exemplary project of the year for coordination of technology and business goals, with the Training Project Office being especially recognized for its contributions

-       Senior management completed level 3 evaluation and began level 4 (See Publications)

 

Century Design            (Selected projects)                                                            1991 to 1998

 

Established computer-based training (CBT) division in Charlotte for Minnesota-based documentation company

My Role:  Manager of Charlotte division

Results: 

-       Went from $0 to $3M revenue in year one.

-       Maintained $5M+ revenue stream over remaining years

-       Introduced many technology innovations in training to the parent company and clients

Key Points:

-       Introduced CBT to a number of large and medium businesses in the Southeast

-       Led creative design and development team in initial use of video and animation in CBT

-       Reduced training costs for our clients while increasing retention and altering their learning culture

           

Project:  Parke-Davis Sales University – created first convention-style sales training incorporating computer-based training

My Role:  Learning Strategy Consultant

Results:

-       Increased number of subjects an individual sale representative could cover in one week

-       Decreased time commitment of valuable technical experts in holding repeated training sessions

-       Increased ability to review training material

-       Increased representative satisfaction with the training experience

Key Points:

-       Variation of this training approach has been used by Parke-Davis and Pfizer since this time

-       Innovative strategy was to combine refresher sales skills training with new product information

-       Technical innovation was to put hard product information in pre-requisite CBT allowing class time to focus on selling techniques for a particular new product

 

Hardinger Network                                                                                                1988 to 1991

           

Project:  Parke-Davis Product Launch – sales training related to launch of Lipitor

My Role:  Learning Consultant

Results:

-       One of the most successful product launches in company history

-       Sales force was well-informed to speak to physicians about a totally new drug line

Key Points:

-       Saved thousands of dollars by reusing images developed for advertising in the sales training

-       First use by Parke-Davis of digital animation to explain the complex chemical interaction

 

Project:  Cardinal Health Systems – Non-specialist physician training series

My Role:  Project Manager and Instructional Designer

Results:

-       Reestablished regular releases over three years increasing revenue by several fold

-       Rescued critical project that was 3 months behind on a 9 month schedule

-       Restored credibility for on-time delivery of issues to subscriber physicians

-       Established state-of-the-art support tools that became the crown jewel of this training series

Key Points:

-       Introduced sound instructional design and project management best practices

-       Cut time to market by 50%

 

Control Data Corporation                                                                                    1977 to 1988

 

Project: International Sales University – new six-week program to orient newly hired sales representatives

My Role: Creative Learning Consultant, Project Manager and Class Manager

Results: 

-       20% increase in sales for the first class over the previous year’s new hires

-       2 of our first year graduates achieved 100% quota

-       Format was so successful it was followed for remaining years of the company

Key Points:

-       Innovative strategy was to integrate basic consultative sales skills training with produce knowledge training and orientation to the corporate systems used by sales representatives

-       Simulation of sales cycle using corporate managers and executives with whom the representatives would later interact as the clients

-       Live working systems were made available so the students could become accustomed to using them in a controlled environment

-       Students were grouped in teams and competed for a final sale

-       Enthusiasm created by this competitive environment appears to have carried well into their real territories

 

Projects: Courseware development – development of 3000+ courseware hours of classroom training, video-based training and CBT

My Role: Project Manager, Instructional Designer, Developer

Results: 

-       $40+M in outside sales

-       50% reduction in internal training costs

Key Points:

-       Computer-based training implemented on ground-breaking PLATO instructional system

-       Established best practices for CBT design, development, and evaluation (ADDIE method)

-       Expanded use of CBT to other divisions of Control Data, primarily systems development and CAD/CAM (computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing) divisions

-       Received top learning award (Tarpon Award) for innovation in learning

 

Education and Personal History

 

·       Written and spoken frequently for professional groups such as the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, the National Society of Performance and Instruction, and the American Society of Training and Development.

·       Member of Charlotte ASTD Chapter and PM for 2010 Day of Learning

·       Project Manager and Chair of the Board for leadership certification within the IBM Learning Profession.  Subject Matter Expert for the Learning Specialty in the Project Management profession and a member of the PM Certification Board, WW lead of the Educational Competency for the Knowledge Management and Professional Development initiatives and a Project Management Deployment Lead for the Americas.

·       Bachelor of Arts in Secondary Education – Mathematics from the University of Missouri at Kansas City.

·       Masters courses at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, University of Minnesota and Stanford University.

·       Attended or taught over 800 hours of adult learning, business, management, sales, project management and technical continuing education.

 

Certifications

Stanford University Certified Project Manager, 2011

IBM Certified Executive Project Manager, 2006

IBM Certified Learning Specialist, 2002

PMP Certified Project Manager, 2000, PMI

Teaching Certificate in Secondary Mathematics, Missouri and Kansas, Lifetime                                                     

Publications


 A+ Compositions, 500 Words without Tears. 2009.  How to write a 500-word composition in two to three hours and receive a good grade.  Available at Amazon.com.


“Measuring the Long-term Effect of Training:  Prudential LaunchPad – A Case Study,” 
ASTD Yearbook 2000, January 2001.  Report on measuring success of training against business objectives.



"Technical Training Techniques", a one-day train-the-trainer course for technical personnel who have been assigned to train sales staff or users in their area of expertise.


“Nobody Told Me the Wheel Could Roll”, Chatauqua Proceedings, 1989.  Paper presented on need for good training as a part of a product introduction.


"Embedded Training:  Programs Within Programs", Training, 3/88.  Publication of original concept to build wizards into software products.


"How To Make Computers Really Work for You", Design News, 2/87.  Report on increase in job effectiveness due to computer-based training at Hasbro manufacturing.


Core Competencies


Learning

Needs assessment

Instructional design

Curriculum and course development

Course deployment

Course evaluation

Learning Strategy (corporate and divisional)

Measurement (ROI)

Classroom instruction

Virtual classroom instruction

Workshop facilitation

Certification of instructors and other learning professionals

 

Project Management

Resource usage and conservation

Time estimation and tracking

Budget estimation and tracking

Project Start up (black belt)

Work Breakdown Structure

Deliverable definition and delivery

Reporting (up to C-level)

Team Building

 

Business

Excellent communications skills

Executive presentations

Tracking and reporting

Systems integration

Strategic view

Entrepreneurship

 

Technical

MS Office Suite (Mac and PC)

MS Project

Project Workbench

Centrex

Net Meetings

Share Point

Imaging software

LMS and other data base design

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