Brad Glaser remembers when his parents took over as the new owners of their employee training company. They would assemble papers on the ping pong table, use the guest room for storage and try to keep him, his sister and the dog quiet during business calls. Today, his parents are taking a backseat to the daily operation of the business they started 21 years ago, and have passed on the reins to their son.
 
Over the years the company, HRDQ, has sold its array of 100 different training assessments and games to more than 50,000 companies and consultants via its mail-order catalog and five international distributors. In 1981, the company moved from the family house to traditional office space. Clients have included CoreStates, Scott Paper, Independence Blue Cross, Harley-Davidson, the Internal Revenue Service and the FBI. Individual consultants buy the products, as does the American Management Association. International distributors are based in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, South Africa and Central Europe.
 
The 20+ employee company (the initials stand for Human Resource Development Quarterly) has a six-person research-and-development staff that create most of the materials. The company also has a division, HRDQ Consulting, based in Texas, where HRDQ founder Rollin Glaser is based. The elder Glaser, a consultant and author of many of the company's products, moved to Texas to be closer to energy clients that have included Shell, Exxon, Texaco and DuPont.
 
President Brad Glaser, 31, along with his sister, Barbara Roadcap, 34, executive vice president, are moving the family business into what he calls the "second phase of growth." Rollin Glaser, 65, who has a doctorate in adult education, remains active in consulting and is still company CEO. "My father is a true research-and-development person," Brad Glaser said. "My sister and I are not. We are basically business managers. He was able to build a very solid company based upon his expertise. The second period of growth is going to be from pushing the management and marketing side of the company."
 
So in addition to developing and selling assessments and games that are ready to use, HRDQ, whose corporate name is Organization Design and Development Inc., is adding customized products and new consulting services to the mix and positioning itself as a full-service company. The new services include product selection guidance, customization of existing products, creation of custom learning tools and training program design. Previously, when a customer requested such services, HRDQ provided them, but didn't pursue it as an additional revenue stream. "We have a lot of really good customers. They have a need [for customized products]. We have an expertise," Brad Glaser said.

The company has made other changes, including producing more general products rather than niche products, creating fewer off-the-shelf products, forming a customer review board and offering more games. Glaser expects the changes to boost sales 15 percent this year; he said annual sales at the company are in excess of $1 million, though he declined to provide specific figures.
 
"We had some difficult times in the early '90s because our product had become a little more niched. We weren't providing the resources we could be," he said. "We got heavily into self-managed teams that got very hot for a while and then started to die off." The company reduced its staff from 30, primarily in the administration area. It also reduced the number of off-the-shelf products it developed in a given year from 12 to 15 to eight to 10 currently.

"Five years ago we produced a lot of product and we couldn't market it all," he said. "Products that were on the cover of our catalog did very well. Some products that we didn't have the time for died. Some were very good but we just couldn't market them all. "We're now focusing on a few bigger products and on products with broader appeal, and investing time in the consulting side of our business."

In April, the company launched "Dealing with Tough Negotiators," an assessment that helps participants discover and improve their negotiating skills. Other assessment and game topics include customer service, team-building, problem-solving, leadership and communication.

Paul Urian, director of human resources at The Four Seasons, is currently using four of HRDQ's assessments and one game as part of a 10-month, company-wide management training program the hotel is undertaking. "I think the products are well-designed," he said. "They are generic enough that you can fit them into your own program." He also said he liked doing business with a local company, and enjoys the service he receives: "You call, they know you, they take care of you. Your orders get shipped very quickly."
 
Lynne M. Marshall, Ikea's management and specialist training manager for its North America stores, has been using HRDQ's product for the last six years. This year, she'll be using seven different HRDQ products for training staff. "Our co-workers really like the tools," she said. "I rarely hear anybody dispute the results. People really feel the results they get truly reflect their management style and their leadership style. "It's important that co-workers have confidence in an assessment tool so that when you are doing the assessment for them there is a comfort level on the part of the user."
 
Glaser said many companies competing for their share of the $55 billion human resource training-and-development industry do not produce the breadth of products HRDQ does, some companies lack an R&D staff and primarily publish other people's works, and others base their products on experience rather than theoretical research. "We produce products that are thoroughly researched and well-tested and based on sound theoretical principals," he said. "Some games are fun but the people playing haven't really learned anything. We make sure people walk away learning something and also have a good time."

© 1998, Philadelphia Business Journal - Reprinted by permission.