As an example of our learning philosophy, we were asked by our clients at Cadbury in 2005 to help them develop a one-day basic training course in contract law for their purchasing consultants
The courses would be facilitated by the legal counsel in each region, often in the local language, and subject matter expertise was provided by the corporate legal team.
To prove their commitment we were presented with the course material – a total of 256 powerpoint slides in a great deal of detail.
Our deliverables to Cadbury were:
- a one-day practical course in five languages, containing group exercises, case studies, discussion sessions, some expert delivery; and a total of 9 powerpoint slides
- an on-line pre-work study pack and quizzes; (this was where most of the original slides ended up); this doubled up as an ongoing permanent source of reference in four languages
- train-the-trainer sessions for the regional legal counsels; most of these were carried out by video-conference; lasting three hours, they provided the lawyers with basic group management skills, an understanding of the learning concepts and course format, and the confidence to face an audience of 18 discriminating purchasers
- on-site support for the initial tranche of courses in US and Europe
The courses were an outstanding success; they were run over a period of three years in every region and territory in the world, and voted by many attendees as the best procurement course they had attended. An unexpected benefit mentioned by many of the lawyers was a significant improvement in the collaboration between legal and procurement teams, and greatly improved integrity of many of the resulting contracts.
