Long before COVID struck, a U.S. military unit reached out to Motive to book an iteration of our popular Transforming Crisis Systems (TCS) course, a systems-and design thinking-based curriculum for stakeholders addressing complex conflicts or social change.
“We heard that a counterpart military unit previously hosted an iteration of this course and applied what they learned to a strategic-level planning effort with great success,” the unit point of contact told us. “What would it take for us to book a TCS iteration of our own?”
Procuring Motive services was easy for this customer because they were able to leverage an existing contract awarded by their parent organization on which Motive is a vendor with partner firm WWC Global. Within a few weeks, paperwork and funding were squared away and Motive subject matter expert (SME) instructors were set to deliver the week-long in-person TCS course.
Then geopolitics and a pandemic struck.
A major world event prompted the unit’s sudden deployment just days before the course was set to run. Instead of canceling the course, however, Motive and the unit agreed to reschedule and explore ways to take training to the next level.
When the unit returned to the U.S., they were tasked to conduct analysis and planning focused on a newly developing threat overseas. To make matters more complicated, COVID-19 was in full swing. Motive responded to both developments without hesitation.
“Because of COVID, we shifted from in-person course delivery to Motive’s pandemic-proven all-virtual (online) course format,” Motive’s CEO, Morgan Keay explained. “But more importantly, when we learned about the unit’s urgent tasking to examine a particular evolving conflict, we proposed building a custom real-world scenario into the event at no additional cost. The idea was to maximize the unit’s investment in training and optimize impact by turning the final day of TCS into an action-oriented analytic and planning workshop. To co-facilitate alongside our SME instructors, we invited three world-leading academic and policy experts in the topic the unit had been directed to tackle.”
In the end, not only did the workshop consolidate student mastery of TCS tools, reveal easy-to-miss options to mitigate unfolding conflict dynamics, and connect stakeholders and experts from the Defense Department, Harvard, the State Department, and the Modern War Institute, it helped the unit complete their assigned task.
“The real-world workshop was a springboard to create a deliverable for senior decision-makers that we were required to submit in the very near future,” one of the unit’s leaders said at the conclusion of the course. “The tools learned in TCS will be valuable moving forward in our planning efforts…and are extremely complementary to [our existing analytic capabilities].”
“It’s routine practice for Motive to seize opportunities like this to advance our social enterprise mission to mitigate global conflict and instability through above-and-beyond work and by activating our cross-sector partner network,” said Course Producer and Motive Community Outreach Lead, Melissa Vanderburg. “It’s why I came to work for Motive.”
In anonymous written evaluations, students described this TCS iteration as “super hands-on,” and “the best training received in [their] military career.” This is consistent with feedback Motive has received from more 2,000 course graduates, including 200 civilian and military students who have completed virtual training with Motive since March 2020.
When asked to assess Motive’s virtual course format against other online training & education students have completed, feedback is unanimous: “No comparison, Motive’s virtual courses are vastly better,” summed up a Marine NCO who took Motive’s virtual Governance & Social Contract (Gov) course in May. “I completed my entire bachelor’s degree online and have taken online courses through various DoD institutions, but Motive virtual training is more interactive and effective than any of those,” a military officer and June TCS graduate wrote.
Whether you’re a U.S. federal, state or local government agency, civil society organization, or private enterprise confronting a complex problem involving hyper-local or geopolitical conflict or social change, we’d love to customize our courses, workshops, and specialized services for you! We invite you to fill out a quick request form to receive a commitment-free quote or learn more.