How a Global Professional Services Firm Built a Consulting Culture Across 12 Countries
Ariel understands our industry and our challenges. Their learning philosophy aligns with ours – prioritizing practical techniques and experiential learning that actually helps our people to learn in real life scenarios.
Client
A global professional services firm (hereafter, PS) with roughly 10,000 people operating across 12 countries. The firm serves clients through four client-facing lines of service: consulting, deals, tax, and legal assurance, alongside an internal firm services function.
Client Challenge
In a firm where four of five services are client-facing, communication is essential to establish credibility and express complex ideas. The organization wanted to offer a way for any employee to develop these consultative communication skills, but they also identified a group that had a particular skill gap: their senior managers and directors on the path to promotion. These managers and directors weren’t consistently demonstrating the communication skills their roles required, and the firm turned to Ariel to fill this gap.
Why Ariel
PS selected Ariel because the learning philosophy aligned from the start. Their Career Development Lead said,
“Ariel understands our industry and our challenges. Their learning philosophy aligns with ours – prioritizing practical techniques and experiential learning that actually helps ourpeople to learn in real life scenarios.”
Another advantage of using Ariel is that Ariel’s facilitators are seasoned, experienced professionals who understand the pressures of professional services. Participant feedback from Ariel program has been consistently high.
Practical flexibility mattered too. In professional services, employees are often incredibly busy, making attendance unpredictable. Using a sliding-scale pricing model, where the cost adjusts based on how many people ultimately participate, gave the firm room to plan without penalty. For an L&D team managing programs across 12 countries, that kind of operational trust is part of what a real partnership looks like.
Ariel Solution
Ariel partnered with the firm to deliver programs within its consulting skills curriculum. These programs focus on storytelling, executive presence, personal brand, and value proposition.
PS uses Ariel to solve communication challenges in two areas:
- 01 Open enrollment programs that run throughout the year in a virtual format, allowing employees across all 12 countries to join based on their developmental priorities.
- 02 Customized, in-person, nomination-driven programs that target employees at specific levels (senior manager and director) that are up for promotion but have a communication gap that may be holding them back.
Outcome
The firm conducted an internal study of 3,000 employees across 50+ programs (including Ariel programs) over two years. The analysis found a significant statistical correlation between time invested, diverse skill development and career progression.
Ariel’s consulting skills programs form a key part of this learning portfolio and support career development and employee performance for PS.
The programs also had a lasting effect on the partnership itself. The learning leader went on to recommend Ariel to colleagues in another business unit, who began working with Ariel as well.
“Ariel, as a trusted provider, helps us to achieve our strategy, which is to provide learning opportunities that support the career progression of our people.”
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