KCS v6 Certified External Trainer Instructions

Process to Become a KCS v6 Certified Trainer

1. Attend a KCS v6 Practices Workshop (full 2.5 day version)
2. Be KCS v6 Practices Certified. 
3. Fill out the Application to Become a KCS v6 Certified Trainer.
4. Organize and co-teach a KCS v6 Practices workshop with a KCS Certified Trainer.
   • This can be a revenue generating event at a client site or a public workshop. Generally the organizer (candidate trainer) keeps revenue (minus expenses and the co-training fee).
   • The Co-Instructor must complete the Certified Trainer Candidate Assessment Form, verifying the candidate's training capabilities including: understanding of the KCS practices, ability to articulate the KCS practices with examples, ability to handle objections, ability to debrief the workshop exercises and draw out the key learning points.
5. Register, pay for, and schedule the KCS v6 Trainer exam. $650 proctored exam of about 36 fill-in-the-blank questions with a 90 minute time limit. Exam is scored by and reviewed with a staff member from the Consortium for Service Innovation. Be sure to select the correct exam delivery method:
   • Online Proctored Exams Registration Instructions
   • Go to a Kryterion Test Center and find a location near you
   • Trainer/Instructor will proctor the exam at the end of a workshop
6. Pass the KCS v6 Trainer exam
   • Review the KCS v6 Trainer Certification Study Guide!
   • If the candidate's exam registration was paid for by the candidate's company, that company has the right to receive the Pass/Fail exam result. Registrations paid for by an individual candidate will be kept confidential.
7. Sign and abide by the KCS Workshop License Agreement
   • This includes staying current on workshop royalty payments as outlined in the KCS Workshop License Agreement
8. Start teaching workshops!

Costs

Eligibility Requirements

Applicants for this certification are expected to have experience with:

• Teaching/facilitating in a classroom or workshop environment
• Customer support and be familiar with current processes, structures, management practices, and metrics
• Knowledge management in customer support organizations
• Marketing Workshops to the Public

License Agreements

There are two license agreement options for KCS Certified External Trainers:

• KCS External Individual Trainer - Trainer signs KCS Workshop License Agreement and is responsible for royalties due
• KCS External Corporate Trainer - Company signs KCS Workshop License Agreement and company is responsible for royalties due

Alternatively, the KCS Certified Internal Trainer license is an option for a one time fee (instead of ongoing royalties). Company pays a one time fee, and only retains use of the training materials as long as they employ a KCS Certified Internal Trainer. A Certified Internal Trainer is only licensed to train employees of that company.

Completing the KCS Certified Trainer program means you are qualified to use the Consortium for Service Innovation KCS training materials to teach a variety of KCS workshops and authorized to proctor the KCS Certification Exams. Royalties apply for each workshop. 

The workshops include:

• KCS Overview
• KCS v6 Practices (1.5 day, 2 day or 2.5 day)
• KCS Leadership Workshop
• KCS Design Session

As a certified trainer you have the right to use the KCS v6 Trainer logo on your marketing materials and website in conjunction with the workshop you have been certified and licensed to deliver. As long as you maintain your KCS Certified Trainer status, you will have a license to use the latest workshop materials. The Consortium for Service Innovation maintains a webpage that lists KCS v6 Certified Trainers with links to information about the Trainer and their schedule of training events.

Membership in the Consortium is not required but strongly recommended.  Companies or individual trainers who conduct workshops that produce Consortium for Service Innovation royalties equal to or greater than Participant-level membership dues over the course of the previous membership year are eligible to receive a credit toward the following year's membership equal to half of Participant-level membership dues. For non-members, the determining time period will be the previous calendar year.

Certification Requirements for Additional Workshops

The KCS Certified Trainer does not include the KCS Coach Workshop, KCS v6 KDA Workshop, or the Intelligent Swarming Workshops. After trainers are certified to teach the KCS v6 Practices Workshop, then they can add one or all of the other KCS workshops offered through the KCS Certified Trainer program.

• KCS v6 KDA Workshop:  The KDA Workshop is configured to be delivered as a dedicated workshop for one company, as it uses a single company’s data for the exercises.  To get certified to teach you will need to secure a company that is willing to pay the Certified Trainer who is previously certified for the KDA workshop.  You will need to attend all of the pre-workshop meetings where all of the data needed is reviewed and ensure the company is able to collect all of the data.  You will then need to attend the entire workshop.  Following the completion, you will need to update your Workshop License Agreement (royalties apply).  For more information contact support@serviceinnovation.org.
• Intelligent Swarming Insights Workshops:
  • Be a KCS Certified Trainer
  • Take the Intelligent Swarming Fundamentals self-paced course and pass the associated Certification Exam (available at no cost to Certified Trainers) 
  • Update your signed Workshop License Agreement (royalties apply) 
  • Watch the recorded Intelligent Swarming Insights workshop review
  • For more information or to begin this process, contact support@serviceinnovation.org.
• KCS Coach: contact Beth Haggett

Exam Topics and Objectives

To prepare for the exam, see the KCS v6 Trainer Certification Study Guide.

The Trainer Certification exam consists of 36 fill-in-the-blank style questions and must be completed in 90 minutes or less. It can be taken in a test center, via online proctoring (video), or proctored by a KCS Certified Trainer. It follows the KCS concept of complete thoughts or phrases, not complete sentences.  The exam results are reviewed with the candidate by a staff member from the Consortium for Service Innovation; the exam review takes about 60 minutes. The exam is scored based on the candidate’s understanding of the KCS concepts and principles. Responses do not have to be exact words from the KCS documentation, but they must appropriately convey the KCS principles, concepts, practices, and techniques.

Where there are multiple correct answers, the complete list of correct answers is not required. For example, there are numerous reasons why "search early, search often" is important.  We may only ask you to list two of the reasons. You are welcome to list all of the reasons you believe to be correct. There is no "extra credit" for providing more than are asked for. However, incorrect answers that expose a lack of understanding will detract from your score. Certified Trainers must possess a deep and thorough understanding of KCS.

Audit Process

Applications for new trainer certifications and renewals are randomly chosen for auditing, although only a percentage will be selected.

Terms of the audit include:

• For Trainer Candidates: a Consortium for Service Innovation staff member will contact the reference listed on the Assessment.
• For Trainer Renewals: proof of workshop dates will be required. 
• Additional contact information will be requested for references and supporting documentation listed.
• The certification process will remain in progress until all the audit requirements are validated.

Once the audit is successfully completed, the two-year eligibility period starts.  Inability to provide contact information or requested documentation will result in failure of the audit and the candidate must reapply.

Misrepresentation of information on the application will result in loss of certification status and exclusion from the KCS network at the Consortium for Service Innovation's discretion.

Renewal

Certification begins on the date of completing all certification requirements and ends 24 months later.  In order to maintain an active certification status, you must:

• Deliver two (2) one day or longer KCS workshops within 24 months of becoming certified and every two years thereafter
• Be up to date on workshop royalty payments

If these requirements are not met you must contact support@serviceinnovation.org for reinstatement.

Rules of Conduct

Please read the Consortium's Member Rules of Conduct.  Lack of adherence to these rules of conduct will be grounds for loss of certification status and exclusion from the KCS network at the Consortium for Service Innovation's discretion.