I’ve never really been very good at exams. Sure, I’ve passed enough to succeed in what I do, but over the years I’ve seen some folk who find them easy and some who excel in different ways. People are varied and diverse in their learning abilities, so our certification programme HAD to reflect that. It drove me to deliver something more than just good at face value; it needed to shine bright for anyone and everyone participating.
These various learning styles stayed at the forefront of my mind whilst creating what we now call the Consensus Certified programme, which is accessible to everyone and open to their different styles of knowledge, learning and testing.
This was just the first challenge I faced when putting this programme together. As Consensus Certified started to build and the project items got ticked off the (incredibly long) list, I realised it’s the drive of our impactful customers and the experience of our colleagues here at Consensus that would make all the difference.
Daily, our CS teams work tirelessly to make sure our customers get the absolute best experience using our software and services and deliver outstanding results for their businesses. We thought if everything they create for customers is surprisingly helpful, why shouldn’t our education programmes be designed in exactly the same way?
So that’s exactly what we did.
Consensus Certified is both training and certification. Training is supplied by our CS teams via your own research and by using the software itself.
Come see how easy buying can be.
Learn it Your Way
About 15 years ago, I attended some training for a software product and you’d only get the training manual if you attended the course. It included detailed information that wasn’t available anywhere else which meant a whole load of people who couldn’t attend missed out on being able to learn in a self-service, self-paced way. They couldn’t refer back to the manual in the future putting them at a significant disadvantage.
I vowed that should ever I get the opportunity to create something better, I would.
There is nothing ‘gated’ about the training material for Certified Admin. If you really wanted, you could read our Knowledge base, scour our blog articles, read our research and then take the test. You’d be able to pass, and the information is always available online for you to bookmark.
However, it might be easier to process this information with our help and because we love being surprisingly helpful that’s what you’ll get.
Connecting Testing with Outcomes
Just recently, I wanted to learn about a new piece of software, and it needed to deliver big results in a short period of time. I had 2 options: 1. Get my head down into the training manuals and figure out how to work the system. Or 2. Work with the vendor to learn what I needed, when I needed it and in a way that fitted into my project. Learning for me wasn’t about an achievement to hang on the wall – it was about delivering successful outcomes. So the achievement had to be connected to that success, not just passing an exam.
This is why the test we’ve created in Consensus Certified for the new Certified Admin award focuses on outcomes not just theory. It’s split into 2 parts.
The first part: The exam.
I started off this post saying exams don’t fit everyone, and that’s still true even though we’ve included one in our criteria for award. What’s different about this one though is it’s not timed and it’s not secret.
You could spend 3 lazy days working through the questions if you wanted (although you’ll only need about 1 hour). You could ask colleagues or friends for help, you could even screenshot a question and send it over to your CS rep. Whilst the exam is not easy to pass, it’s not designed to trick you or strain your memory – we’ve all got our useful Knowledge base articles bookmarked, and Google is never far away.
What this test IS about is working through the areas you should know about our system, in order to make your colleagues, boss or yourself proud of what you’ve accomplished. There’s enough included to cause you to do some research, some investigating and some hard thinking. It’s not just Yes/No or multiple choice either: sometimes there’s no right or wrong answer, but there is an answer that’s going to positively impact the success you create with our tools, so we’ll deem that as a pass.
Remember, we’re helping you create positive outcomes, not just pass a quiz.
The second part: The video submission.
Since 2013, Consensus has championed tracked video demos, so it’d be a pretty poor show if we didn’t include a video recording as part of your submission for Certified Admin.
It gives our learners a great way to showcase more than just their ability to read the training manual, but how they’ve worked with our teams to create success in their own organisations by using the various tools and features of the platform. This is why when people see Certified Admin on your LinkedIn certifications section, or shared as a post, they’ll know you’re an impact driver, not just a box ticker.
We’re not expecting a Hollywood produced masterpiece – what we need to see is that you understand the concepts of Consensus and can articulate them to others in a way that makes sense to YOUR business.
Share and Enjoy
What do you get for all this hard work? We made that special too.
Being good at delivering outcomes through demo automation deserves more than just a thank you email. We’re giving you the digital equivalent of a flag to fly, a banner to wave and a framed stamped diploma from the university of You’re Awesome.
Certificates have moved on quite a way in recent years, so we’re proud to have brought Accredible in as our credentialing partner. Accredible is used by companies like Google, Slack, Gong, Sage, & Harvard University, so we’re in good company. And it means you get a Blockchain assured digital badge to share on LinkedIn or anywhere else, and a beautiful PDF download with QR code to hang on your wall.
Should you need it, the credential will always remain available to you even if you leave your current employer, and works very well linked on a CV. Find out more here: https://certified.goconsensus.com
So did I achieve my goal of creating a certification open to all that delivers on the promise of great outcomes for our customers? Well my team and I have been working hard for the last few months to put this together with one goal in mind: Help our champions celebrate success.
I’m proud we’ve delivered in such a purposeful way. As the months roll by and as we measure & adjust, I hope you’ll find it exceeds your expectations, as you succeed in growing your career.
Thank you,
Mark
