Membership and Certification

Membership and Certification

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EEA Membership and Leadership Training

Why this new approach to leadership and training?

Traditional leadership training has largely focused on the qualities of the individual leader—communication, emotional intelligence, decision-making, influence, and executive presence. These capabilities remain important, but they do not fully address one of leadership’s most difficult responsibilities: how to align the differing interests, motivations, and contributions of all the stakeholders whose actions determine organizational or team success.

The EEA Impact Academy introduces a new type of leadership training based on systems thinking. It teaches leaders how to establish a common purpose, translate it into clear goals and measurable objectives, manage inevitable stakeholder tradeoffs, and align communications, learning, job design, incentives, recognition, technology, and other management practices around desired outcomes.

Enhance your career by mastering a systematic approach to fostering the proactive involvement of your organization, stakeholders, or team members. It’s not just a skills set any executive and manager can benefit from, it’s a career. According to Linkedin, there are over 6,000 job openings for employee engagement, culture, well-being and recognition, with average pay in the low- to mid six figures.

Click here to the Enterprise Engagement Alliance Job Board featuring regularly updated jobs in employee engagement and well-being, total rewards, customer and channel engagement, incentives, etc.

As Chester Elton, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author, executive advisor to global leaders, high-performance culture expert, Thinkers50 and Coaches50 honoree, and keynote speaker, explains:

“It takes a system. Hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent to engage people over the last two decades, and yet engagement is at record lows. For many years, I’ve been honored to be part of a community dedicated to improving workplace culture through recognition, leadership, and gratitude. While I remain more passionate than ever about this work, especially with my focus on gratitude, I’ve come to believe that engagement needs a more structured, systems-based approach to achieve the impact we all seek.

“That’s why I encourage you to explore the Enterprise Engagement Alliance Impact Academy. The program offers a practical framework for integrating the many elements of engagement into a cohesive, measurable system. In my experience, the leaders behind this initiative bring both deep expertise and a genuine commitment to advancing our profession by applying the proven principles of Total Quality Management to people.”

Engagement is every leader’s business, but engagement itself is not the ultimate objective. The objective is to direct people’s attention, capabilities, commitment, and actions toward a shared organizational or team purpose.

As a recent SHRM article underlines, even the strongest engagement strategies fail when managers lack the skills to translate organizational intent into consistent daily employee experiences and behaviors. The EEA Impact Academy was created to address this broader leadership challenge by giving managers a practical framework for harmonizing stakeholder interests, coordinating management practices, and connecting people-related investments to measurable business outcomes.

This is a new form of leadership development for leaders

Faculty and Leadership

Gary Rhoads

The Academy brings together educators, practitioners, and thought leaders with backgrounds in stakeholder management, quality management, behavioral science, incentives, recognition, and organizational performance. Key faculty and advisors include:

  • Gary Rhoads, Stephen M. Covey Professor Emeritus of Marketing and Entrepreneurship at BYU Marriott School of Business.
  • Chester Elton, No. 1 New York Times business book best seller and a pioneer of modern recognition.
  • Bruce Bolger, Founder of the EEA and publisher of Engagement Strategies Media and Rewards Recognition Network.
  • Darwin Hanson, Founder and CEO, TM Evolution and President of International Center for Enterprise Engagement
  • Industry experts and advisors from the fields of HR, customer experience, incentive and recognition, quality management, communications, and enterprise performance. Click here for a complete list of the faculty and contributors.

Membership Benefits by Level

The EEA Impact Academy provides separate participation paths for corporate management, professors and educators, organizations, and solution providers. The common goal is to help people master the principles of Total Quality Management for people, connect engagement activities to measurable results, and demonstrate a commitment to creating value by harmonizing the interests of all relevant stakeholders.

The Enterprise Engagement Alliance (EEA) has been approved as a SHRM Recertification Provider, enabling eligible EEA educational programs to award Professional Development Credits (PDCs) that SHRM-certified professionals can use toward maintaining their SHRM credentials.

Professional Management Membership — Free

For qualified corporate executives and managers in HR, sales, and marketing who wish to associate their professional brands with a commitment to measurable enterprise engagement and value creation through people. Benefits include:

  • Access to selected EEA educational materials, research, case studies, and learning resources.
  • A study guide introducing the principles of enterprise engagement and Total Quality Management for people.
  • Access to selected assessments and educational programs.
  • Invitations to EEA briefings, webinars, and learning activities.
  • A pathway to formal Impact Academy training and certification.
  • The ability to identify yourself as an EEA Professional Management Member — Committed to Measurable Enterprise Engagement.
  • A 25% discount on Corporate Membership for your organization if it wishes to train, educate, or certify multiple managers.

The Professional Management Membership demonstrates a commitment to measurable enterprise engagement. It does not by itself constitute professional certification. Free Professional Management Membership is made possible by the support of a growing number of EEA sponsors providing solutions in all aspects of enterprise engagement and total rewards.

Professor and Educator Membership — Free

For qualified professors and educators interested in stakeholder management, enterprise engagement, human capital management, sales, marketing, organizational performance, and related disciplines. Benefits include:

  • Selected EEA educational materials, frameworks, research, and case studies.
  • Access to appropriate learning resources and assessments.
  • Opportunities to participate in the exchange of research, teaching practices, and emerging thinking related to measurable value creation through people.

Corporate Membership — $1,076 Per Year 

For organizations seeking to train multiple managers and demonstrate their commitment to measurable stakeholder and enterprise engagement. Organizations employing an EEA Professional Management Member receive a 25% discount. Benefits include:

  • Two copies of Enterprise Engagement for CEOs and Enterprise Engagement: The Roadmap.
  • A one-hour customized training program conducted by a senior EEA leader to help the organization focus its learning process around its needs, certification goals, and future objectives.
  • Consideration for involvement in EEA YouTube shows or effective-practices articles.
  • A 20% discount on independent analysis and verification of impact data, which starts at $1,500 before discounts.
  • Annual access to the People Value Impact Calculator for $300.

Solution Provider Membership Options — $450 to $2,500 per year

1. Supplier Sponsor — $450 per year

For solution providers that want to support the EEA mission, learn the principles of measurable enterprise engagement, and demonstrate their commitment to creating measurable value for clients. Includes:

  • One copies of Enterprise Engagement for CEOs and Enterprise Engagement: The Roadmap.
  • A customized training session with a senior EEA leader covering the principles of enterprise engagement, Total Quality Management for people, and measurable value creation.
  • Access to selected EEA educational and learning resources.
  • The opportunity to submit thought-leadership articles for consideration in ESM or RRN, subject to normal editorial standards.
  • A pathway to EEA training and certification.

2. Premier Supplier Sponsor — $1,500 per year 

For solution providers seeking greater visibility as well as education and association with the EEA’s focus on measurable enterprise engagement.

Includes all Supplier Sponsor benefits, plus:

  • One display advertisement per month in either Engagement Strategies Media (ESM) or Rewards Recognition Network (RRN), subject to available space and normal advertising specifications.
  • Opportunities for company executives or subject-matter experts to be interviewed for ESM or RRN insight and effective-practices articles, when relevant to editorial topics and subject to normal editorial standards.
  • Greater opportunities to participate in EEA educational programs, interviews, and other appropriate thought-leadership activities.

Note. Supplier sponsorship provides education, visibility, and opportunities to contribute expertise to the EEA community. It does not provide editorial endorsement or guarantee publication or coverage. ESM and RRN maintain independent editorial standards for submitted articles and interviews.

3. Professional Services Training and Support — Starting at $2,500 per year

For solution providers seeking deeper assistance in applying and commercializing enterprise engagement principles. Includes:

  • Advanced implementation and commercialization support.
  • Sales training, certification, and ongoing advisory support.
  • Assistance creating new business models and revenue sources.
  • Development of new client value propositions based on measurable outcomes.
  • Optional Appreciation at Work culture enhancement training and certification.

Click here to register for the membership option that fits you.

Certification Levels

Basic Certified Engagement Practitioner Test — $250 every three years

An 80-question multiple-choice examination conducted live online, proctored and recorded, followed by a 15-minute oral examination.

Advanced Engagement Practitioner — $500 every five years

This designation is based on at least five years of experience in the design or implementation of stakeholder-management efforts and an interview with an advanced practitioner requiring candidates to demonstrate their ability to develop an engagement approach based on real-world situations and past experience.

Additional Services

  • Access to the People Value Impact Calculator. EEA Academy members can obtain annual access for $300 to an Excel template and SaaS tool designed to help organizations calculate the impact of almost any type of engagement investment. The PVIC template makes it easier to gather information for AI-enhanced analysis supervised by experienced analytics professionals, while the SaaS platform helps correlate factors to identify the activities offering the greatest short- and long-term impact.
  • One-on-one training and facilitation. Highly interactive, purpose-driven speaking, training, and facilitation services designed to help organizations or teams harmonize stakeholder interests around clear goals and measurable outcomes.

Take the first step toward mastering performance through people—in business and in life. Register here for the program of your choice.

Prefer a conversation? Call 914-591-7600, ext. 230 or email bolger@theeea.org.