Chris Hutcheson is the President of IDEA Ltd., a firm he founded in 1988. He has over 24 years of experience in the field of adult education and facilitation. His front-line and management experience in financial and other business sectors has helped him link the development of organizations’ human resources to their operational performance.

He has facilitated programs in team building, performance management, leadership, interpersonal communication, motivation, creative problem solving, presentation skills, and trainer training. Chris has designed a wide range of technical and soft skills programs, and has developed resources in areas such as job sharing, flextime, and part-time work.

Chris worked with General Electric’s Workout! facilitation team, and has used similar processes to facilitate team problem solving for a variety of private, public, and not for profit sector clients. He has been involved in several 360° Performance Feedback initiatives with large Canadian financial organizations, and has facilitated feedback sessions with individuals and groups in Canada and the United Kingdom. Recently he worked with Desjardins General Insurance Group to develop and facilitate a Corporate Foundations program to help employees understand and increase their alignment with their mission, vision, values and organizational culture. He has worked with a variety of participants, from unionized personnel in manufacturing and government to senior executives in the financial sector.

Chris is the author of the Learning Style Questionnaire, published by HRD Press. This questionnaire is required reading in programs at the University of Oklahoma, among others. He was a mamber of the facilitation team and practicum supervisor at OISE/UT for their Certificate in Training and Development for many years, and now fulfills the same roll for the SEEC/CODI Master's Certificate in Adult Training and Development at the Schulich Executive Education Centre.

He is qualified to administer and facilitate interpretation of the Meyers Briggs Type Indicator, a self assessment instrument that has application in training, team-building, and organizational development. He is also certified to administer and facilitate interpretation and application of OneSmartWorld's human resource development solutions. Chris has worked with Situational Leadership and Social Styles processes and assessment tools for over 20 years. He is a certified facilitator for OnTheMark's experiential program, "Change of Course".

Participants in his workshops say that Chris creates a positive learning climate through his relaxed manner, humour, and ability to help them relate course content to the their professional and individual concerns in a practical, hands-on way. At the same time, they respect his depth of knowledge and experience and commitment to help them apply what they learn.

Clients appreciate his flexibility and ability to draw on their expertise, his willingness to share his experience and knowledge, and his collaborative approach to developing practical solutions.

His clients have included Apple Computer, AMA (American Management Asssociation) International, CARA Operations Ltd., Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Desjardins General Insurance Group, East Metro Youth Services, FGI World, FUJI Photo Film Canada, Geller, Shedletsky, and Weiss, General Electric, The Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank, mBanx, Molson Breweries, MR Communications, Noranda, Weston Bakeries, The Regional Municipality of Halton, the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade, and Tourism, the Office of the Worker Adviser, and SEDERI (The South East Downtown Economic Redevelopment Initiative).

Chris is also a fine art photographer whose work is in private and corporate collections in and around Toronto. For more information and to view his work please visit http://chrishutcheson.com