Three words used most often to describe Kurt Beerline, PhD, include experienced, knowledgeable, and passionate about learning. He currently partners with organizations to develop learning systems for employee or leadership development and succession planning. Kurt is both a skilled and inspirational instructor, and a master in curriculum research & design and program development. He has also coached numerous professionals on management, life transition, and corporate education.

A practicing behavioral scientist, sociologist, consultant, trainer, content author, and performance coach, Kurt has worked as both an internal and external consultant in areas such as leadership development, creative and scientific thinking, assessment, strategic improvement, process or systems improvement, standards, and team dynamics. He has also led research projects in three countries.

Kurt's recent clients include the City of Longmont, Adams County Sheriff's Department, Colorado In-House Trainers Association, the State of Arkansas, and Denver Seminary. He has worked as a senior learning officer for the City of Aurora, a performance consultant with Integrated Learning Systems, education consultant with Center for Performance Assessment in Denver, Colorado, and professor of higher education for Evangel University. He was founding president and chief consultant of Quality Performance, a consulting firm focusing on leadership and quality management for private corporations. In 2002, he was awarded the City Manager's Award for Outstanding Contribution for his project and competency-based Supervisory Certification Program, and other organizational improvement efforts. He was also the recipient of the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) 2003 Local Government's Innovator Award in Productivity Improvement for his work in the leadership development of supervisors and police lieutenants.

Kurt holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Sociology from the University of Texas at Austin and has served as a professor in higher education for over 10 years. He is listed in Who's Who Among America's Teachers, Who's Who in American Education, and Who's Who in the Midwest.

Advanced Leadership Programs

Development and Delivery Supervisory Certification Program. Upon request of the city manager of the city of Aurora, Dr. Beerline designed and delivered a project-based advanced leadership program in which for over 150 supervisors and managers graduated in the four years the program was offered. This program was adjusted, revised, and delivered more than 20 times to general mixed audiences and other times customized to specific departments and divisions. The new program emanated from a comprehensive city-wide training needs assessment that was also spearheaded and designed by Dr. Beerline. The assessment included surveys, focus groups, andinterviews with key informants and department directors. At the beginning of the program participants had a supervisory skills assessment distributed to their work reports to identify strengths and needs for improvement. The course curriculum was then customized to enhance the strengths and close the leadership gaps. Participants attended more than 16 courses in four module areas: Strengths Based Leadership, Leading with Policies and Procedures, Leading with Emotional Intelligence, and Leading for High Performance. The heart of the program, however, was work-based projects where course material was applied in actual work situations such as a mentor-protégé collaboration, developing individual learning plans, designing performance appraisals, developing standards for work practices, and conducting a business process improvement.
A post assessment and final report concluded the program. The post assessment demonstrated that 72.7% of the supervisors in the program demonstrated improvement based on their employees' assessment, and 51.5% registered an improvement of over 11%.

Police Lieutenants Lifetime Learning Program. The New Lieutenant Learning Program was one of the first initiatives started by the then-new Aurora Police Chief, Ricky Bennett. Chief Bennett's concern was that the police department had effective training programs for new recruits but once people are in the department very little is done for their development. Especially crucial was the development of leadership for the middle range leader of police lieutenant. A leadership development program for lieutenants was a first step toward developing a stronger vision for learning throughout the department. Dr. Beerline was brought in to lead and develop the entire program and deliver the leadership modules. First a committee of police personnel and chiefs was established to identify competency areas for lieutenants, and under Dr. Beerline's direction, identify indicators for competencies. Secondly, Dr. Beerline developed a standards-based assessment instrument that could be used by the new lieutenants and mentors to assess their initial needs and progress. Thirdly, a blended training strategy was developed including mentoring, on the job learning, and classroom instruction. Dr. Beerline designed and delivered three day-long courses on Mentor and Protégé Relationships, Catalytic Leadership, and Emotional Intelligence.
The program was assessed using the assessment instrument. The results demonstrated that the program goal was accomplished: all new lieutenants had achieved competency in all identified competency areas in the first six months of the program. In following years the leadership courses were delivered to all existing lieutenants, all chiefs of the department, and then to sergeants of the police department as part of the Career Development initiative.