Your Chief Virtual Learning Architect

Learning to Performance

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Custom Design & Delivery

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Predictive Evaluation

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Enterprise Learning Strategy

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Dave Basarab Consulting has elevated the training experience, offering an end-to-end comprehensive approach that includes training strategy, instructional design, development, delivery , post program training transfer, and evaluation (via the unique Predictive Evaluation methodology). Virtual Chief Architect Dave Basarab has combined all of these individual training elements with his user-friendly, comprehensive Learning to Performance approach, which significantly increases companies' training ROI.

Why we are different

Innovation: Our primary focus is creating learning programs using a Learning to Performance approach.
Expertise: Dave offers the depth and breadth of his experience, including working internally at prestigious companies (Motorola, Ingersoll Rand and Pitney Bowes) as well as his knowledge and expertise as a highly-respected, sought-after consultant.
Partnership: Basarab collaborates with companies, serving as their own Chief Learning Officer whenever they need to plan, strategize, or implement training initiatives.

Training Services

Enterprise Learning Strategy

Enterprise Learning Strategy

At Dave Basarab Consulting, we're experts in creating Enterprise Learning Plans. We work with you to develop your company's learning strategy and direction.

Custom Design, Development, & Delivery

Custom Design, Development, & Delivery

Custom training is an effective way of developing the capability required to execute your strategy. We are a custom design house that creates programs specific to your business.

Learning Burst Development

Learning Burst Development

We can create and deliver your courses via our unique Learning Burst Method - keeping your employees at their jobs while receiving world-class training.

Predictive Evaluation

Predictive Evaluation

We predict the ROI for your courses and establish success gates. We then evaluate the course against the success gates to show value realized and continually improve results.

Leadership Development

Leadership Development

Turn-key virtual custom leadership development program that combines world-class leadership speakers/educators with post-event personalized coaching to provide you with a cadre of highly skilled leaders.

Predictive Evaluation

Building a Vendor Management Process for Outsourced Instructional Design

Outsourcing instructional design can give an organisation access to specialist capability, faster production and fresh thinking. It can also create rework, inconsistent learning assets and unclear accountability when vendors are engaged without a clear operating model.

A practical vendor management process connects procurement, learning and development, subject matter experts and business leaders. For Australian organisations, the approach should also account for distributed teams across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and regional locations, local privacy obligations and the realities of a competitive learning services market.

Set the Business Case

Begin with the business problem rather than the course catalogue. Define whether the vendor is expected to improve onboarding, support a systems rollout, build leadership capability or convert classroom content into digital learning. Each purpose requires different expertise, delivery timelines and measures of success.

The business case should include the cost of internal staff time, vendor fees, technology, translation, accessibility and ongoing maintenance. A partner may appear inexpensive when quoted per module, yet become costly if internal reviewers spend weeks correcting weak drafts. Strategic value also includes risk reduction, speed to capability and reuse of learning assets.

Define Scope And Governance

A statement of work should specify audiences, learning objectives, modalities, content sources, review stages, file formats and acceptance criteria. Include requirements for Australian English, local examples, mobile access and compatibility with the organisation’s learning management system.

Assign decision rights before work starts. A project owner can manage timelines, an instructional design lead can approve learning quality, and nominated subject matter experts can validate technical accuracy. For senior stakeholders, guidance on strategic value can help connect capability investment with broader organisational priorities.

Choose The Right Design Partner

Evaluate vendors through evidence, not polished sales presentations. Request samples that show needs analysis, assessment design, facilitator resources and accessibility practices. Ask how the team handles incomplete source material, conflicting stakeholder feedback and late changes to compliance requirements.

Check the proposed team, not just the agency brand. Identify the lead designer, project manager, media specialists and quality reviewer, then confirm their availability during Australian business hours. Useful selection criteria include:

Demonstrated experience with the target audience and industry
Strong discovery, learning architecture and assessment capability
Transparent pricing, assumptions and change-control rules
Secure handling of business information and learner data
References that confirm reliability, communication and rework levels

Compare Commercial Models

The contract model should match the level of certainty available at the beginning of the project. Fixed pricing works well when content, scope and review cycles are stable. Time-and-materials arrangements can suit discovery or complex transformation work, while a retainer may support a continuing pipeline of small learning products.

Commercial model	Best suited to	Main control required
Fixed fee per deliverable	Defined modules with stable requirements	Precise acceptance criteria
Time and materials	Discovery, complex content or changing priorities	Approved capacity and weekly reporting
Retainer	Ongoing learning production	Prioritised backlog and service levels
Milestone-based fee	High-risk programmes with staged approvals	Clear exit points and sign-offs

Include intellectual property ownership, licence rights, confidentiality, subcontracting approval and source-file handover. Australian organisations should also clarify GST treatment and ensure privacy clauses align with the Privacy Act 1988, especially where learner records, video or employee data are shared.

Run A Controlled Pilot

A pilot is a practical test of both the design partner and the governance process. Choose a representative piece of work, such as a short learning burst, manager toolkit or compliance module. Avoid selecting only the easiest project; the pilot should reveal how the vendor manages ambiguity and stakeholder review.

Set a short discovery phase with agreed outputs: audience profile, performance problem, learning approach, storyboard and delivery plan. Test the review workflow with real stakeholders in locations such as Perth or Adelaide, where time-zone coordination can expose weaknesses in communication and approval routines.

A strong pilot produces more than a finished module. It shows whether the vendor asks useful questions, documents decisions, protects version control and responds constructively to feedback. The result should inform the master services agreement and future sourcing decisions.

Measure Adoption And Value

Vendor performance should be assessed after launch, not when files are delivered. Track completion, assessment results, learner confidence, manager observations and evidence that the target behaviour is appearing at work. Predictive Evaluation can help forecast adoption and business impact before a major programme is scaled.

Agree on a measurement dashboard with the vendor and internal sponsor. Inspiration for leaders can support the human side of change, while performance data keeps decisions grounded in evidence. Useful indicators include:

Delivery against milestones, budget and agreed quality standards
Review-cycle duration and the volume of avoidable rework
Learner participation, completion and assessment performance
Manager-reported behaviour change or workplace application
Business measures linked to the original performance problem

Use baseline data wherever possible. If the aim is faster call handling, establish current handling time before training. If the aim is safer work practices, combine learner evidence with operational safety indicators rather than relying on satisfaction scores alone.

Keep The Relationship Productive

Vendor governance should create a dependable working relationship without removing healthy challenge. Hold regular delivery reviews, maintain a shared risk register and keep a decision log that records scope changes, owners and due dates. A quarterly business review can examine patterns across projects rather than treating every issue as isolated.

The relationship should also support different working styles. Some designers contribute best through written briefs and quiet review time, while others thrive in workshops. Guidance on introverted leadership offers a useful reminder that inclusive collaboration can improve the quality of design discussions.

Review the arrangement at least annually. Confirm that the vendor’s capability, security controls, pricing and capacity still suit the organisation. The strongest process makes expectations visible, protects learning quality and keeps outsourced work tied to measurable business results. What readers should remember is simple: select the partner carefully, govern the work clearly and measure whether learning changes performance.

Learning to Performance

Learning to Performance, a complete training approach, gives companies world-class training to drive significant return. This approach includes upfront work (Impact Mapping, design), training (for staff and company executives), and post-training efforts to ensure training transfer. This unique recipe - the key for successful training and adoption - is changing the way companies implement training. This methodology could work with any content for organizations in any industry.