Case Studies

The Challenge

A national foundation launched a sweeping restructuring of seniority levels and job descriptions across every job family. The initial ask was a simple training on how to use the new documents.

Discovery & Needs Analysis

Closer investigation revealed the real stakes: these changes signaled a redistribution of salaries and promotion pathways that directly affected mid-level employees who’d been expecting advancement. Recognizing that a standard training rollout risked triggering resistance and disengagement, I redefined the project scope to address the deeper challenge: helping employees genuinely understand and accept the new structure.

Design Decisions

Anchored in Bloom’s Taxonomy, I designed a gamified training experience — using role-play, real-work scenarios, and deliberate psychological distancing to help participants engage with a change that carried real personal stakes. Participants acted as HR consultants evaluating 21 carefully calibrated candidate profiles, mixed across job families to reduce bias and prevent premature self-review. Every deliverable, from the facilitator guide to the candidate profiles, was built and validated through multiple rounds with HR to ensure accuracy and instructional soundness. Facilitator notes went beyond logistics, equipping trainers to navigate likely emotional flashpoints in real time. Throughout, I balanced ideal instructional design against real organizational constraints — adapting scope and structure while protecting the core learning goals.

Evaluation

I recommended a Kirkpatrick Level 1 evaluation to capture immediate participant reaction, but time constraints prevented the client from implementing it, leaving no formal evaluation data. A follow-up call with HR revealed a more nuanced picture: while in-session reactions were overwhelmingly positive, employees left with unresolved questions they hadn’t felt comfortable raising, and managers weren’t adequately prepared to support their teams through the transition. This gap validated a risk I’d flagged early on — the manager-first session I’d originally recommended, later deprioritized due to time constraints, would likely have addressed exactly this shortfall.

Key Takeaway

This engagement demonstrates more than end-to-end instructional design practice. It reflects the ability to rapidly read an organizational context, navigate the human dynamics of change and deliver theoretically grounded, evidence-based work under real constraints. From uncovering the true scope of the problem during needs analysis, to designing for emotional safety alongside learning outcomes, to anticipating the consequences of deprioritized recommendations — this project illustrates what it means to bring both instructional expertise and change management sensibility to a client engagement.