Training Magazine Names Keller Williams #1

THE SOURCE FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

www.trainingmag.com

INSIDE: Jiffy Lube International, Capital BlueCross, CHG Healthcare Services, Blue Cross Blue Shield of MichiganBest Practices & Outstanding Training Initiatives

Keller Williams Is at Home at No. 1

Real estate franchise moves into the top spot on the 2015 Training Top 125

2015 Training Top 125

$35 JANUARY/

FEBRUARY 2015

FEBRUARY2015

We applaud ambition, passion and commitment.And the ones who have all three.

© 2015 PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, a Delaware limited liability partnership. All rights reserved.

We are happy to recognize PwC’s Chief Learning Officer, Tom Evans, for his contributions to PwC and the field of corporate education.

leadership, PwC’s Learning and Development team delivers learning experiences that inspire our US

received Chief Learning Officer’s prestigious CLO of the year award, which recognizes learning leaders who have made substantive and measurable change in business, vision, strategic alignment or leadership.

www.pwc.com

contents

Keller Williams Realty Is at Home at No. 1Bolstered by the belief that “training fuels all of our success,” North America’s largest real estate franchise moves into the top spot on the 2015 Training Top 125. BY LORRI FREIFELD

Jiffy Lube Greases the Wheels of SuccessEfforts to enhance the performance of managers, combined with new technology and other learning investments, kicked Jiffy Lube International, Inc., into high gear in 2014. BY MARGERY WEINSTEIN

Capital BlueCross Thinks Big In 2014, Capital BlueCross doubled the size of its customer service group, requiring it to formulate and launch a new training approach in record time. BY LORRI FREIFELD

The Heart of CHG Healthcare Services2014 was a healthy year for training at CHG Healthcare Services as it featured a program to encourage employees to give back to their community, an effective effort to stem turnover, and progress on a new learning technology initiative. BY MARGERY WEINSTEIN

BCBSM Empowers Employees Nurturing a workforce ready to take ownership of the company’s success was a top priority for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) in 2014. BY MARGERY WEINSTEIN

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FEATURES TOP 5

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training JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015 | 1www.trainingmag.com

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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015 VOLUME 52, NUMBER 1

54 Training Top 10 Hall of Fame Companies earn a spot in the Training Top 10 Hall of Fame by notching a Top 10 spot on the Training Top 125 four years in a row.

56 Training Top 10 Hall of Fame Outstanding Training InitiativesTraining Top 10 Hall of Famers submitted an Outstanding Training Initiative that was judged by each other. KLA-Tencor, Verizon, and Microsoft earned the highest scores.

62 The Training Top 125 Training magazine’s 15th annual ranking of the top companies with employer-sponsored workforce training and development.

102 Best Practices & Outstanding Training Initiatives Training editors recognize innovative and successful learning and development programs and practices submitted in the 2015 Training Top 125 application.

110 Why Can’t We All Be Happy at Work?Although scientific support for the benefits of happiness is mounting, creating a happy and engaged culture requires a new kind of organizational learning. BY SHAWN ACHOR

(WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE ITLN RESEARCH TEAM LED BY

MATTHEW DELLA PORTA)

120 Turtle Bay TurnaroundTraining fortified by open communication, leadership involvement, and the development of core values is helping Turtle Bay Resort surf a new wave of success. BY LORRI FREIFELD

124 How Much Do You Know About Learning Technologies?A recent Training magazine survey found that participants have a firm grasp on purchasing learning technologies used for courses and similar e- and m-learning projects. But grasp of technologies used to manage various aspects of the training function is more mixed. BY SAUL CARLINER AND DAVID WILLIAM PRICE

130

130 Desperately Seeking a Mind ShiftWhen we get to a point where learning activities are anchored around people, and systems deliver a personalized learning experience in both academic and corporate worlds, we are all going to be much better off. BY DON KELLER

www.trainingmag.com

4 Online TOC Web-only content 6 Editor’s Note Home, Sweet Home BY LORRI FREIFELD

8 Training Today News, stats, and business intel BY LORRI FREIFELD

14 Soapbox Creating Learning That Transfers BY DR. SEBASTIAN BAILEY

18 Soapbox My Half-Gallon of Ice Cream Is Only 1.5 Quarts BY CHRISTINE NILSEN MARCIANO

24 How-To Top 10 Time Tips for Trainers BY LAURA STACK

26 World View Focus on Ukraine BY TATYANA FERTELMEYSTER AND

ELENA SHLIAKHOVCHUK

134 Best Practices Continuously Collaborative Cross-Cultural Curricula BY DR. NEAL GOODMAN

136 Training Magazine Events Your Attention, Please! BY JULIE DIRKSEN

138 Learning Matters Getting Training in Gear BY TONY O’DRISCOLL

140 Trainer Talk Training in Tough Times BY BOB PIKE

142 Talent Tips Happiness Is…Doing What’s Right BY ROY SAUNDERSON

144 Last Word Overcoming Performance Anxiety BY MICHAEL ROSENTHAL

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FEATURES (CONTINUED)

(page 2)

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3 Ways to Pull Learning Through Your OrganizationLeveraging manager involvement for learning transfer.http://www.trainingmag.com/3-ways-pull-learning-through-your-organization

A Year of Change: 2015 Employment and Training Trends The growing preference for video over text-based communications will have a profound impact on training and leadership development in the coming year. http://www.trainingmag.com/year-change-2015-employment-and-training-trends

How Do You Make Sure Your LMS Is Delivering ROI? In search of a scalable training solution that could reach all employees simultaneously and conveniently, information services company Penton turned to Lynda.com. http://www.trainingmag.com/how-do-you-make-sure-your-lms- delivering-roi

Virtually There: Creating the Mobile Virtual ClassroomWe need to focus on the differences in the mobile interface and the engagement techniques used to create interaction and collaboration on a mobile device.http://www.trainingmag.com/virtually-there-creating-mobile-virtual-classroom

Interested in writing an online article for www.trainingmag.com?

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K eller Williams Realty, Inc., took up residence at No. 1 (up from No. 2 last year) on the 2015 Training Top 125, while Jiffy Lube International drove into the No. 2 spot. Health-care companies dominated the rest of the Top 5, with

Capital BlueCross, CHG Healthcare Services, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michi-gan notching Nos. 3, 4, and 5, respectively.

Some 27 new companies broke into the Top 125 this year. The majority of the companies are in the health/medical services, real estate/insurance, finance/banking, technology, and retail industries.

Here are some overall statistics from the quantitative analysis of the 2015 Training Top 125 applications:

percent of payroll. The mean amount of training costs savings was 10 percent.

-

were offered as virtual instructor-led classrooms.

8 percent of eligible employees made use of tuition reimbursement programs in

-cent use competency maps and personal/individual development plans. Some 71 percent tie managers’ compensation directly to the development of their direct reports.

concerned about employee retention and recruitment, according to a survey of 423 -

-

See p. 110 for more on the research and case studies. Here’s to a very Happy 2015!

editor’s note


Home, Sweet HomeTRAINING EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Brent Bloom, VP, Organization Effectiveness and L&D, Applied MaterialsVicente Gonzalez, Senior Director, Global Training, MAXIMUSRaymond D. Green, CEO, Paradigm Learning, Inc.Bruce I. Jones, Programming Director,Disney InstituteMichael S. Hamilton, former Chief Learning & Development Officer, Ernst & YoungNancy J. Lewis, former CLO and VP, ITTCorporation, and former VP, Learning, IBMAnn Schulte, Director/Global Practice Leader, Procter & GambleRoss Tartell, former Technical Training and Communication Manager - North America, GE Capital Real Estate

TRAINING TOP 10 HALL OF FAME

Cyndi Bruce, Executive Director, KPMG Business School – U.S.Gordon Fuller, Global Design & Development Leader, IBM Center for Advanced LearningDaniel J. Goepp, Managing Director, Learning & Development, PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLPJennifer Hentz, Talent Development Manager, Booz Allen HamiltonGlenn Hughes, Senior Director, Learning & Development, KLA-Tencor CorporationDiana Oreck, VP, Leadership Center, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel CompanyMyra Pettis, Director of Educational Service, SCC Soft ComputerLou Tedrick, Staff Vice President - Workforce Development, VerizonAnnette Thompson, CLO, Farmers InsuranceNicole Roy-Tobin, Director, Best Practices & Innovation, Deloitte

2014 TOP 5 EMERGING TRAINING LEADERS

Aimie Aronica, Senior Director, Technology Engagement, and General Manager, Austin eBay Inc. Site, PayPal – an eBay companyKristin Hall, Training Manager, PPDJennifer Hentz, Talent Development Manager, Booz Allen HamiltonRebecca Lockard, Director, Learning & Development, Advance FinancialChristine Nilsen Marciano, Commercial Lines Training Consultant, Nationwide

CONNECTING ORGANIZATIONSto the Best Minds in Business.

GET IN TOUCH.

Sign up for a free trial at corporate.summary.com/trtrialOr call our Corporate Solutions Team at 1-484-732-8918.

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• Access to Top Business Thinkers – the authors and practitioners that are shaping today’s new business practices.

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• Instant Access – on all devices through our website and iOS & Android apps.

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IT IS RELATIVELY EASY TO GET PEOPLE FIRED UP about being happy at work. Atleast initially… that’s what we are finding in our research. So how do yousustain positivity?

Here is one way that I have found is extremelyeffective:

Step 1: Find a routine that many people en-gage in at work each day. This could be a dailyhuddle meeting like the people at NationwideBrokerage Solutions do. This routine involvesmany individual practices including: projectingthe day’s work activities, reviewing the previousday’s business, and assessing wins and losses.

Step 2: Once you have identified such a rou-tine, then add one extra step or practice to theroutine that is designed to do nothing morethan raise positive emotions. These could in-clude loyalty, pride, a sense of accomplishment,and hopefulness.

At Nationwide, they chose to infuse a prac-tice that elicits care for one another. They puta mood barometer in the huddle board meetingarea. Before the meeting starts, everybody puts

their picture magnet over thedescription that best describestheir mood that day. People whoare feeling good are celebratedand people who aren’t are shownpassion and concern—with of-fers of assistance and supportthat carry on throughout theday.

The net effect is that thesehuddle board meetings—whichcould simply be another bor-ing meeting about all the thingsthey have to do—have becomea favorite part of the day for theentire team.

Find a routine and add a posi-tive practice to change the natureof work.

(See “Why Can’t We All BeHappy at Work?” on p. 110 formore happiness research, casestudies, and best practices.)


by Lorri Freifeld

TO SUBMIT NEWS, research, or other Training Today tidbits, contact Editor-in-Chief Lorri Freifeld at [email protected] or 516.524.3504.

news, stats, & business intel by Lorri Freifeld

3 Questions That Create MomentumHow will next year look different from now? Most people’s New Year’s intentions don’t last much past the first quarter. Make the most of the seasonal momentum by treating yourself as you would a professional project

you manage effectively.Open your calendar and create an event

that repeats monthly for 12 months. Create your own self-assessment quiz to ask your-self the same three questions throughout the year—this will start you thinking about what to do throughout the year to keep improving along the way. Note that the following ques-tions allude to professional (and personal) skills you’ll have used to promote yourself at work and in life:

1. Why am I doing all this? The “purpose” discussion is valuable to have at least once a year. When you know what you do matters, it makes late nights and long

hours easier to manage.2. What did I learn? Successful people

continue to learn. Every day they look for ways to expand what they know, add to that knowledge base, and apply what they know better.

3. Who’s on “Team Me”? The five people you spend the most time with influence what you talk about at work, what you think about at home, what you worry about on your commute. Change your friends, change your life.

Want to make this even more real? Con-nect with someone you trust to share your three answers with on a monthly basis.

By Jason W. Womack, MEd, MA www.womackcompany.com

www.twitter.com/jasonwomack | [email protected]

Products & Services >> Once Upon a Time... >> Tech Talk p. 10

Sustaining Positive AdvantageBy Shawn Achor, author, “The Happiness Advantage” and “Before Happiness”

Productivity Coach’s Corner


>> Second City Communications, the business solutions division of improvisational theater The Second City, and SAVO, a market leader in sales productivity solutions, partnered to expand Second City’s RealBiz Shorts Sales content library into the sales enablement space. This alliance will provide video-based sales training solutions and a day-long co-creation event at The Second City theater in early 2015. Second City Communications also launched RealBiz Shorts Talent, with video content developed in collaboration with 20 global companies as founding members.

>> Unicorn Training has invested in game studio Amuzo, with the two partnering to bring the mobile and cross-platform game experience to educational games for the corporate sector.

>> Xerox announced an agreement that expands its learning portfolio with the acquisition of Intrepid Learning

Solutions’ learning services. Xerox’s acquisition does not include Intrepid’s cloud-based learning technology business, which will continue to go to market under the Intrepid Learning brand. The two companies will launch a partnership alliance to present clients with unified learning options using Intrepid’s technology and Xerox’s e-learning, consulting, administration, and classroom training programs.

>> OpenSesame, a marketplace for buying and selling e-learning, formed a new strategic partnership with CLMI

Safety Training and Demos to address the growing gap between needed skills and existing talent. CLMI Safety Training will offer top courses through OpenSesame on topics such as chemical safety, hearing conservation, and forklift safety.

Partnerships&Alliances

Teaching Problem-Solving Skills By Bruce Tulgan

2. Internal awards or recognition tied to quality metrics: 45%

3. Ability for employees to nominate colleagues or direct reports for “awards”: 43%

4. Personal compensation tied to quality metrics: 40%

5. Cash bonuses tied to quality metrics: 38%

6. Promotions tied to quality metrics: 31%

7. Ability for customers to nominate employees for awards/recognition: 28%

STRONG LEADERSHIP IS ESSENTIAL to devel-oping and sustaining a culture of quality,but only 60% of workers say their man-agement supports the quality vision andvalues unequivocally, according to a studyThe American Society for Quality (ASQ)and Forbes magazine conducted of morethan 2,000 senior executives and qual-ity professionals worldwide. Overall, only47% of respondents say their leaders leadby example or otherwise “live” the values,and only 50% say support for the com-pany’s quality vision is apparent amongmiddle management.

Incentives are another essential compo-nent of building a culture of quality. In thestudy, ASQ found that the following qual-ity-focused incentives are currently in useby organizations, in order of popularity:

1. Regular performance reviews: 67%

www.rainmakerthinking.com | Twitter @brucetulgan | [email protected]

Imagine how much better most employees would solve regularly recurring problems if you were to prepare them in advance with ready-made solutions so they don’t have to “problem solve” anew each time: If A happens, you do B. If C happens, you do D.

What kind of job aids does your organization have to help employees learn ready-made solutions for dealing with recurring problems?

If your organization already has job aids, such as checklists, then spread those tools and spread the word. Use those checklists as the centerpiece of training, coaching, and ongoing reinforcement.

If not, then help employees create job aids for recurring problems:

for each: Is there an established policy or procedure for this problem? What

resources are available? How much discretion will the individual have to improvise? What is the best solution here?

step by step.

operating procedure.

into simple job aids, such as checklists or automated menu-driven systems.

Employees who study those best practices and use those job aids will develop steadily growing repertoires of ready-made solutions. And by teaching employees to implement specific step-by-step solutions to recurring problems, you are teaching them what good problem solving looks like. Upon that foundation, they can build more advanced problem-solving skills.

Where’s the Quality Control?

—


>> Harvard Business Publishing launched the New Leader program, a virtual, cohort-based experience delivered across 14 weeks that is designed to accelerate the transition of soon-to-be promoted or recently promoted employees into first-time manager roles. The five-module program starts with Developing a Leader Mindset, and then builds management skills across modules covering Personal Adaptability, Talent Development, High-Performing Teams, and Driving Execution.

>> Weejee Learning, a global provider of interactive enterprise-wide custom learning solutions, now offers Qwick Custom—a selection of adaptable pre-designed themes that can be tailored with an organization’s own content to streamline the creation of a custom e-learning course.

>> ServiceRocket, a provider of training, utilization, and support technology and services to maximize customer success, unveiled TrainingRocket 4, the latest version of its on-demand learning platform powering the online universities at many of today’s fast-growing software companies, including Cloudera, NGINX, Mulesoft, and Pentaho.

>> ThinkHR, a provider of expert HR resources, introduced ThinkHR Learn, a cloud-based training solution that enables companies to maintain compliance, lessen risk, and increase employee productivity. ThinkHR Learn offers unlimited access to more than 300 courses, designed to keep employees up to date with training such as sexual harassment and discrimination courses that can help reduce a company’s risk and liability.

>> Aubrey Daniels International

(ADI), a workplace consultancy, is providing organizations an opportunity to license Blitz Precision Learning, a Web-based training and evaluation program that increases the return on training investments.

Products&Services

>> Qstream, a provider of a mobile enterprise solution for managing the human side of sales acceleration, announced next-generation analytics and data visualization capabilities designed to instantly and continuously synthesize millions of data points into sales fluency “heat maps” and targeted coaching actions. The Qstream Predictive Insights Engine leverages the combined power of mobile, gamification, and big data to deliver business intelligence that help sales managers proactively align the behaviors of their salespeople with growth initiatives.

>> Wranx is a new continual training and assessment mobile app that turns employees into experts in less than a minute a day. It is backed by a

scientifically proven learning technique called Spaced Repetition—a “brain hack” that exploits the phenomenon whereby people more easily remember or learn items when they are studied a few times spaced over a long time span rather than repeatedly studied in a short span of time. The app delivers ongoing training and assessment direct to any employee desktop, tablet, or smartphone.

>> JVC Visual Systems Division introduced its new BLU-Escent laser hybrid illumination projector technology. The new three-chip laser hybrid DLA-VS2500ZG and DLA-VS2300ZG projectors have been optimized to meet the stringent requirements for simulation and visualization applications.

STORIES REPRESENT THE MOST

POWERFUL

Once Upon a Time…By Dave Carroll, singer, songwriter, and storyteller, “United Breaks Guitars”

R E S U L T SR E S U L T SR E S U L T SIn a world of challenges, Mohawk’s Training team focuses on delivering results. Across the business, we drive growth by helping employees exceed customer expectations through superior quality, service, style and product innovation.

WE DELIVERMOHAWK TRAINING

www.mohawkind.com

According to psychologist Robert Brinkerkoff, data tells us that fewer than 15 percent of participants of training successfully use

what they learn. And research into how we learn explains why: As Learning professionals, we’re thinking about workplace training the wrong way.

Traditionally, training focuses on the event: We plan it, make sure people attend, and hope they learn something while they’re there. But our job isn’t to help people learn; it’s to help them solve problems in the real world. Transfer—not the event—should be the hero. Actually, the word, “transfer,” is misleading as it implies that knowl-edge is collected in the classroom and carried back to our desks. That is not true.

We need to put the learners—not the event—at the center of our thinking and design experiences that maximize the chances of them putting new skills into action. Rather than thinking about be-fore, during, and after an event, we should focus on what we want the learners to do at each stage of a learning cycle: engage in the content, participate in the learning, and then activate new behaviors.

Not only has this participant-centered ap-proach proven to produce greater transfer and reach business outcomes faster, it’s also cheaper than traditional training. Christopher Leady, head of Learning and Development at Campbell Soup Company, partnered with Mind Gym to implement a distributed journey of bite-size learning sessions (workouts) based on the engage-participate-activate cycle. Several instructional and programmatic de-sign principles made the program a success.

WORKOUT WEDNESDAYS

To drive engagement and capture attention, Campbell launched a dynamic and colorful mar-keting campaign to promote “WOW” or “Workout Wednesdays.” This series of bi-weekly 90-minute workouts uses scientifically grounded principles of learning to create an environment where people actively take part. The short, sharp sessions offer

attendees one or two practical tools to try imme-diately, rather than reams of theory. For Leady, bite-size sessions and immediate applicability are fundamental to successful transfer. “At Campbell, we don’t subscribe to a scholarly approach, wrapped in theory,” he says. “It’s a matter of being pragmatic. [After the workouts] people walk away with some-thing they can do differently tomorrow.”

Workouts combine bursts of high-energy practice with reflection time, maintaining learners’ attention so they take in and remember more. In an employ-ee survey, Leady discovered a demand for bite-size learning. “Almost unanimously, people said, ‘Eight-hour sessions are too much,’” he explains. “Most prefer between 90 minutes and four hours, depend-ing on the topic. Given that everyone has busy lives and short attention spans, we err toward shorter ses-sions. I love the approach of getting people moving every seven minutes to make sure they’re engaged—it’s adult learning theory at its best.”

A study from the American Psychological Asso-ciation focusing on a meta-analytic review of the distribution of practice effect showed that bi-weekly workouts add a distributed aspect to the learning, which results in better, longer-lasting learning. Evi-dence in an article by Lila Davachi, Ph.D., and Leib Litman, Ph.D., suggests that a distributed approach delivers a 17 percent greater performance improve-ment than traditional massed practice.

RELEVANT AND APPLICABLE

But attention alone is not enough. Perceived rel-evance most strongly correlates with engagement and transfer, so in addition to a quirky engagement campaign, Campbell’s program had to be relevant to employees’ everyday jobs. “If learning is not im-mediately applicable, chances are employees will not do anything with it,” says Leady. “Learning needs to be applicable in real time.”

Additionally, Campbell offers “a la carte learning”—a menu of several bite-size sessions so participants can select the ones best suited to their

soapbox


Creating Learning That TransfersTrainers must focus on what they want learners to do at each stage of a learning cycle: engage in the content, participate in the learning, and then activate new behaviors. BY DR. SEBASTIAN BAILEY

Dr. Sebastian Bailey

is a thought

leader, best-selling

author, and co-founder

and president of

the U.S. branch of

Mind Gym, a people

consultancy that

effectively transforms

the way people think,

act, and behave at

work and at home.

Co-authored with

Mind Gym co-founder

Octavious Black, Dr.

Bailey’s latest book is

“Mind Gym: Achieve

More by Thinking

Differently” (September

2014). Dr. Bailey

writes an online

column for Forbes at

http://blogs.forbes.

com/sebastianbailey.

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Compliance? Should I be concerned about it?

Still waiting for my

training...

Where is my equipment

and training?

out forms!

Uh...What do I do?

individual needs. As well as balancing choice and scale, this approach means learners are psychologi-cally invested in the sessions from the get-go.

Of the engage-participate-activate cycle, Leady believes the engage part is paramount to realize the most from a learning investment. “If you take an outside-in approach to learning by engaging peo-ple with resources that are relevant to their success,

support the business outcomes they are working to achieve, and are easy to apply, the benefits themselves become a key motivational driver,” he notes.

Nevertheless, Campbell invests just as much in triggering activation, because “that’s where true application is put to the test,” Leady adds.

Each Campbell workout is followed immediate-ly by a Pledge to put the learning into practice. Far from vague action planning—which rarely trans-lates into action doing—a Pledge is a specific and public commitment in which participants use “if…then…” implementation intentions to specify how and when they’ll use their new skills. Cementing the promise by sharing it with peers increases ac-countability and the likelihood of it happening.

To further trigger activation, each workout is ac-companied by a Mission: a practical task built into participants’ workflow. The biggest obstacle to transfer, according to participants, is not having the opportunity to use new skills, as noted by train-ing researchers D.H. Lim and S.D. Johnson. The Mission removes this obstacle by making trans-fer opportunities obvious. As Missions are part of people’s routines—they’re about approaching something differently, rather than doing something “extra”—they’re far more likely to be completed.

An added incentive to complete the Mission is the Booster session, where participants regroup to share successes and challenges and learn from their peers. Research in the Journal of Applied Psychology showed that during a leadership program, after- action reviews in which participants reflect on what’s working and what’s not led to a significant

increase in leadership ability.After the Booster? Back to the beginning of the

cycle, with another bite-size session exploring an-other skill. It could be a workout, or it could be a live action—a “flipped classroom” approach in which the content is introduced in pre-work, followed by learners spending 90 minutes practicing their skills in real-life scenarios. It equally could be informal

learning or online learning via a social network. Whatever the next experi-ence, the cyclical nature of the program builds momentum and maintains engagement.

THE MANAGER’S ROLE

Manager support is vital in sustaining the learning. At Campbell, employees add learning to their formal development plan and meet their managers before and after a workout to discuss what they want

to get out of it and how they’ll apply the techniques. Coaching and feedback play an important role.

“Being able to get feedback from peers, man-agers, and leaders on how you’re performing is critical to success,” explains Leady. Feedback also helps build the whole team’s capability; “a continuous feedback loop is like a flow of ener-gy, making us collectively stronger and able to achieve greater contributions.”

Indeed, a principle of the engage-participate-activate approach is targeting not just learners but the social and cultural context in which they learn. Such a team-wide approach plays out in the demand for learning at Campbell. “Initially, the program was open enrollment; however, we now have several areas within the company requesting to “work out” as a team,” Leady says. “Collec-tive skill building has a more powerful impact on learning transfer and application as partici-pants have a network of people to engage with and support their learning journey. Corresponding-ly, there is also a shift in network performance as capabilities of the entire team expand.”

It’s not just individuals and teams who benefit from this cycle. Ultimately, the program is designed to boost business performance. Each workout was selected to drive a high-performance culture—a strategic priority for Campbell. By distilling busi-ness needs into practical behaviors and delivering a program that encourages these behaviors to be-come habits, the intervention caters to individual learning needs and delivers business results. In Campbell’s case, the proof is in the soup. t

soapbox


We need to put the learners—not the event—at the center of our thinking and design experiences that maximize the chances of them putting new skills into action.

I WORK FOR THE COMPANY THATTACKLES THE WORLD’S TOUGHEST CHALLENGES

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My son noticed it first. As he scooped way too much ice cream into his bowl, he asked: “Mom? Why do you call this a half-

gallon of ice cream?” I gave my husband that glance that can only

say, “Honestly, what kind of child are we raising here?” I exhaled, and shook my head in disap-pointment as I quietly wondered which shore of our collective gene pool I could blame for this kid. I can see why the boy didn’t want to read his science book, but who doesn’t love to read food containers? Obviously, we still had some parent-ing to do here.

I answered, “Thomas, we call it a half-gallon of ice cream…because there’s a half-gallon of ice cream in the container.” Cue my eye rolling.

“But there’s only 1.75 quarts in it. See? It says so right at the bottom.”

I was relieved to see that the kid could read. To boot, he was right. And it got worse. In the ensu-ing months, my low-fat ice cream lost even more weight. My so-called half-gallon now weighs in at 1.5 quarts. Oh, the humanity.

I wondered where else my assumptions about life were being challenged. Bring on my bag of choco-late chips. My 16-ounce bag now holds a mere 12 ounces. My half-gallon of orange juice is light by 5 ounces. They didn’t even create a new carton. They just left two inches of air space at the top. Perhaps they want my orange juice to breathe.

These thoughts of quiet change brought me to our world of training. Things change all the time, yes. But that’s really the stuff that happens to other people. Those changes are happening in someone else’s world. My world surely is intact. My world surely is not shifting its orbit without me. Yet subtly, almost imperceptibly, things may be changing in your world, too. I submit that the subtle shifts can be the most dangerous for us as educators. The Big Bang shifts are noticed by all of us. Easy...and loud...and noticeable. The devil is in the details, as they say.

THERE’S ANOTHER PLATE

We work hard to improve our delivery and timing, to create new ways to engage learners and pro-vide activities that illustrate our point and keep it fun, and to secure measurement tools that…well…actually measure something. It feels like those spinning plates at the circus. The problem is, there’s another plate. Perhaps the circus guy didn’t make it down to the end of that table, and the plate, like our material, has gone flat. While we’ve been busy creating ways to engage learners, the stuff we’re teaching may have shifted. I work in insurance. Since most of us have a car and a house, I can use my own industry as an illustration.

While I am offering neither insurance nor legal advice, I discovered a few subtle shifts in insur-ance forms while kicking around on the World Wide Web that furrowed my brow and bugged out my eyes. Some industry homeowner deductibles are moving from flat dollar amounts to a percent-age of the loss. That may increase my deductible outlay.

In one trade journal article, I discovered an HO-8 home form, a form with which I was not even fa-miliar. Yes, I researched that one. It’s named perils for both the house and the stuff. In an attempt to limit a premium increase, some carriers now have a new twist called a cosmetic roof endorsement. In my opinion, the endorsement is a great idea. Yes, I can remove it if I choose. Basically, it says if a roof still has its structural integrity after a hail or wind event—meaning it still keeps out the weather even if it looks a little beat up—it doesn’t need to be re-placed. I get it. It makes total sense. But if I forget to mention it to an agent…who forgets to men-tion it to a member…who feels his policy has this non-existent form known as “full coverage,” then confusion at claim time can be followed by sad-ness, frustration, and anger. None among us wants to be referenced in any sentence that includes the phrase, “you people in insurance...” That sentence will never end well.

soapbox


My Half-Gallon of Ice Cream Is Only 1.5 QuartsSubtle shifts can be the most dangerous for us as educators. Perhaps our material has gone flat while we’ve been busy creating ways to engage learners. BY CHRISTINE NILSEN MARCIANO, CIC, ITP, CLCS, SBCS

Christine Nilsen

Marciano, CIC, ITP,

CLCS, SBCS, is a

Commercial Lines

training consultant

at Training Top 125

winner Nationwide.

Marciano is a 2014

Top 5 Emerging

Training Leader and a

recent Nationwide CEO

Award winner.

SIX YEARS OF AWARD-WINNING TRAINING PROGRAMS

ThTheThTheTTT eT EcEconooononooooononoomicmicmicicmicmicmmmicmmmmiicalalalaaa brb and includes the following property and caaasuasuasuaaaaltyltyltyltlttytyltlttytytytyytyyy iinninnininininsursursursursursursuurs aanancanccanncaan eeeeee cocoocoocoompampampampampmpapp nnienienienienienieniess:s:sss:s:s EEEcEE onomiccalal MuMuM tuatuauaualll InInInInsursurursurrs anancancnccaanaanncceeeeeee CoCoCCoCCCoCompammpapampampaapmpampampapp nynynynynny,nny,ynynyny,,yyy, PePePePePePePeePeerthrthrththrthrthhrthr InInInInInInsursurrrsurrsursuurancancancancnancncancncan eeeeeee CoCoCoCoCooCoCC mpampaampampampampapapp nnyny,nyny,nyy,y,y,y, WWWWWaWaWWaWaWaaWWaWaWaaaterertertertttererertetetert looloolloolloolooloolloooolooooooo IInIInIInnInnInnInnInssuursssususurrsurrsursursurrsururaaannccancancnccancncaancancanccann eeeeeeeeeeComComComommmComoComCompanpanpanannnpanpanpapanpanpaap yy,yyy,y,y,y,y, ThhThThT eeee MiMiMiMiMiMiMiiiMiMiMMMMMississisisissssissississssss squsqusqusqs usqsq oioi Insurance Company, Federation Insursuru anancnccccananccceeeeeeeeeeee CCoCoCoC mpampanyny ofof CaCanadnada.ff ©220150 Econoonomicmicmicalalal InInInsursursurursurrurancancncanncancca ccaan eee.eeee.e AlAAAlAlAAlAAlAAlAlllllllll iriiririiririririri hhhtghhghghtggghtghtghtghtgh sssss reereerererererer serserserserssersesser ddveddvedvedvedvedved.. EEEEcEcEcEcEcEcEcEconooonoonoonoonoonoonoono imicmicmiccmicmmicicmiccmicmic llalalaalalallalaalall®®®® anananananannananananddddddddddddddd rrererererrerereerel tlatlalattlatlatatatllatlata ddedededededededeed tttrtrtrtrr ddddeadadedddadeadeaa emarmarmararmarks,kks,ksksksks,,namnameses annnanddddddd lololololologososssgossgosgosogog araarararareeee thhhththheeeeee prprprrrprpp opeopeopeopeopepeoo rtyrty of Economicalff Mutual Insurancee CoCooCompaaampaanynynnyyy and are regisg tered and/or used in Canadadada.a.a. AAAlAlAAlAlAlAAlAAlAllAlAllllllllllllll otototototooooottoootto herherhehherhhherrerhheererhehe trtrtrtrtrtt dadeadeaa marmamarrkkksksksks araraarareeeee thththththththtththththeeee prprprrprprprp opeopeopeopeopeop trtyrtyrtyrtyyy fofofofofofo thththththth ieireireireireirfffff rererereeespespespeepespspespspep ctitctictictictctitctictictictivvevveveveveveee owwoowowowoowwownenernernernerernerssssss.

When great training programs meet enthusiastic staff, everyone wins.At Economical, our staff are passionate about making the most of our dynamic roster of seminars, workshops and online courses — not to mention all of the post-secondary and professional designations we’re proud to support. It’s their dedication that inspires us to develop programs that count.

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KEEPING THE PLATES IN THE AIR

Here’s one solution. Be a lifelong learner. Enjoying a conference event such as Training 2015 Confer-ence & Expo is valuable for learning needs analysis, how to say stuff, what activities to include, and how to support the learning. I met amazing people and learned cool tools. Here’s the hook: I need to come equipped with what actually comes out of my mouth. The material? Well, it’s on me.

Here are three suggestions to keep your planet from tilting and your plates from falling:

1. Return to your subject matter experts (SMEs). For many of us, SMEs are only offering opinions when we ask them. That’s usually at the creation of a program or project. I can be guilty of not revisiting the facts of my materials once they’re created, too. Start at the beginning of your course and try to see it through the eyes of a question-asking 3-year-old. You know the kid. He’s the one who keeps saying, “Why?” or “Says who?” These are all great ques-tions. Every time a fact appears in the work, double check it. Break it up into chunks and give each team member a piece to manage and maintain. Of course,

it takes a while; if training were easy, everyone would do it.

2. Stay current through industry news and industry associations. Get out your spade and dig. Here are a few key Internet search phrases to consider:

Cool things are happening every day, and staying current adds to our credibility as educators. Imag-ine the increased credibility when we can mention a term or fact in class and then be able to illustrate it using an historic fact, a recent court case, or an upcoming change.

3. Attend an industry event or get a new designa-tion. Whether you are in insurance, health care, or government, there always will be a work group near-by. There’s a local association chapter or an upcoming symposium. In my industry, there are several educa-tional designations that not only keep me smart, they garner immediate credibility with students. There’s always something to learn. Go learn it. t

soapbox

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I’ve been in business teaching personal produc-tivity skills to corporate employees for more than 20 years. Even if you don’t teach time

management seminars, good time management is essential for a great presentation. Here are some time-tested guidelines that have worked for me: 1. Practice 10-to-1. For new presentations, you’ll

spend at least 10 hours outlining, researching, and creating your presentation for every semi-nar hour. Thus, a new eight-hour seminar will take 80 to 100 hours to create. So prepare it at least one month in advance, and practice it several times before presenting it.

2. Plan for less. Content that you believe will take 10 minutes could take 20 when done live. Plan to use 45 to 50 minutes of material for each 60 minutes of platform or classroom time. Always plan to speak for less time than you anticipate, so you can leave room in your program for spontaneous stories, unanticipated conversa-tions, and unexpected questions.

3. Prepare more. The above said, always have more material than you’ll need, just in case. Some presenters speed through their presen-tations due to nervous energy and end too soon. Check your breathing; if you are out of breath, you’re speaking too fast. Write the es-timated time on each corner of your handout and practice your material enough that you can maintain the proper pace. At a conference, you could be asked to extend your time to “pinch hit” for a no-show speaker.

4. Meet participants. Your presentation begins before you speak and continues after you’re finished. Mingle for a few minutes and meet audience members before you’re introduced. When you present, you’ll key in on familiar faces, rather than complete strangers.

5. Tighten activity time. For group activities, al-lot less time than you think they’ll need. If you give 20 minutes for an exercise, they’ll wrap up quickly and leave to answer e-mails or make calls. Instead, give them six minutes to come up with 10 ideas, and they’ll get buzzing and creative.

6. Break at least every 90 minutes. Take a break every 60 minutes if the audience is seated the-atre style; every 75 minutes for classroom style; and never go more than 90 minutes without a break. Adults’ attention spans wane as their bodies (and bladders) tire.

7. Start on time after breaks. If you start five minutes after you told the audience to return from a break, you’ll inadvertently train them to return five minutes late. Don’t punish the people who honored you by returning on time. I like to tell the first half of a great joke or story before a break, promising the ending after the break. Since watches and phones are set differ-ently, give the length of the break rather than a time to return. Give odd numbers for break times for memorability, such as 12 or 17 min-utes. Start right on time with the end of your story, refusing with a smile to tell it again to latecomers (they will ask friends later).

8. Stop on time. No matter how late you started. Ending late shows a lack of respect for your au-diences’ next commitments, and you are sure to annoy your meeting planner or boss. Know exactly how long your close will take, and prac-tice jumping to it from different parts of your presentation. Prepare several different versions of varying length and be able to drop a story or exercise and substitute a pithy quote instead.

9. Print your outline. If you’ve been allotted 60 minutes, and the speaker ahead of you goes over by 30 minutes, you’d better be able to deliver in 30 minutes. Print your PowerPoint slides in outline format, so that during presen-tation mode, you can type a slide number on your keyboard and hit enter to jump to that slide. If you click through the slides you won’t cover, participants will feel slighted.

10. Don’t rush out. When the session is over, stick around to chat with participants. Many peo-ple will ask questions they weren’t comfortable asking in the larger group. Others will tell you a personal story about a point you made or thank you for helping them. You always have time to hear that. t

how-to


Top 10 Time Tips for TrainersEven if you don’t teach time management seminars, good time management is essential for a great presentation. BY LAURA STACK

Laura Stack is

president of The

Productivity Pro,

Inc., which provides

workshops on personal

productivity, time

management, and

peak performance.

She’s the bestselling

author of six books

from major publishers,

most recently,

“Execution IS the

Strategy” (www.

executionisthestrategy.

com). For more

information,

visit www.

TheProductivityPro.

com and connect at

www.linkedin.com/in/

laurastack.

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world view


Focus on UkraineThere is a great interest in training programs that address personal development, interpersonal skills, brainstorming, and public dialogue. BY TATYANA FERTELMEYSTER AND ELENA SHLIAKHOVCHUK

T he largest country entirely within Eu-rope, Ukraine gained its independence in 1991 as the Soviet Union was collaps-ing. Locked between Russia and the rest

of Europe, Ukraine has been figuring out its way through political and economic challenges of-ten not even noticed by many in the West. It all ended in November 2013 when then-President Victor Yanukovych refused to sign an agree-ment of association with the European Union (EU), which just days earlier seemed like a sure thing for many Ukrainians and Europeans. The months that followed saw an unprecedented civil unrest; serious casualties; Yanukovych’s escape to Russia; and election of the new president, Petro Poroshenko. Russia, which has been op-posing Ukraine’s integration into the EU, went as far as annexing Crimea, and supporting separat-ists in Eastern Ukraine engaged in fierce fighting with the Ukrainian army.

The end of 2014 saw Ukraine with a newly elect-ed, largely pro-European parliament and a long list of badly needed reforms aimed at eradicating corruption, stabilizing the hryvnia, and revitaliz-ing the economy—all of that while dealing with separatists armed and supported by Russia.

What does that all mean for global business? Ukraine’s Index for Investment Attractiveness is growing. It is wide open to continue exist-ing partnerships and engage with new Western partners. Its new government has three ministers from Western countries. Ukraine and Ukraini-ans are living through a tremendous crisis, which is also ripe with great opportunities.

WHAT’S NEEDED

Ukrainian higher education produces highly qualified professionals as far as their technical skills are concerned. However, practically no time is given to development of soft skills. There is a great interest in training programs that ad-dress personal development, interpersonal skills, brainstorming, and public dialogue. Other hot topics include leadership, time management, sales and marketing, and presentation skills. Issues of cultural diversity are coming to the forefront, as well.

FACE-TO-FACE IN A TRAINING ROOM

Trainers experienced in working with Ukrainians prefer to have at least two-day programs. It takes a while to break the ice and to build rapport. Western trainers often are suspected of not understand-ing the local culture, economy, and geopolitical situation. Demonstrating your local expertise and openness to learn about it is essential. Incorporat-ing training activities rooted in Ukrainian culture such as Ukrainian crafts, folk dance, and games is becoming an important trend.

MONEY IS TIGHT

Money is even tighter than in previous years. As a result, many companies prefer to have train-ers on staff rather than engage significantly more expensive outsiders. Individual practitioners and companies providing training find themselves doing a lot of free demos or pilot programs to get potential clients interested. Lots of effort has to go into building relationships and establishing one’s name on the market. Publishing high-qual-ity articles on a subject of interest goes far toward establishing one’s expertise.

TIME IS RUNNING AWAY FROM YOU

Ukrainian culture has a rather polychronic ap-proach to time, which means that schedules and agendas do not govern people’s lives and things are done when it feels right (or “when we get there”). It often leads to training programs being resched-uled at the last moment without any compensation to the training provider. Those who insist on “late cancelation fees” in their contracts often find themselves without clients. Ironically, time man-agement trainings are very popular.

SENSE OF URGENCY

Trainers often are called in if a client company must respond quickly to a specific emerging need. In this case, an expectation is that training will provide an immediate answer and offer a solution that can be applied right away. There are more and more train-ings that offer a quick solution (“in half a day, we will teach you everything you need to know to change your life”). Multi-day trainings that were popular a few years ago are becoming a harder sell. t

Tatyana Fertelmeyster

(left) specializes in

Eastern European

cultures, multicultural

teambuilding,

and global talent

development. She is

a senior associate of

Global Dynamics Inc.

For more information,

visit www.global-

dynamics.com.

Elena Shliakhovchuk

(right) is a Ph.D.

candidate, specializing

in cultural intelligence

and literacy,

repatriation, and

migration issues.

Jiffy Lube and the Jiffy Lube design mark are registered trademarks of Jiffy Lube International, Inc®. © 2015 Jiffy Lube International, Inc.

Jiffy Lube® is proud of the recognition received for our commitment to training. Jiffy Lube University serves 20,000 Jiffy Lube service center employees acrossthe country. Last year, these employees completed over 2.2 million hours of training, all with one mission in mind—to help our customers Leave Worry Behind®.

Jiffy Lube would like to thank the Jiffy Lube Association of Franchisees Training Committee, Shell Oil Company and the key vendors who helped us provide an award-winning training program to Jiffy Lube employees throughout the Jiffy Lube System.

AT JIFFY LUBE®, WE’RE HIGHLY TRAINED AND HIGHLY HONORED TO BE A 2015 TRAINING TOP 125 AWARD WINNER.


Everyone in real estate knows it’s all about “location, location, location.” Keller Williams Realty, Inc., embodied that principle as it nabbed a prime piece of real estate—the top spot—on the 2015 Training Top 125 for the first time. New CEO Chris Heller attributes the ranking to the fact that “all of our training and coaching is developed by studying and modeling the

behaviors of our most successful leaders. And because our top agents are continually learning from each other and improving on ideas, our training is constantly improving.”

KELLER WILLIAMS

REALTY executive

team, from left: John

Davis, president; Gary

Keller, chairman of the

board; Mary Tennant,

member of the board; Mo

Anderson, vice chairman

of the board; Mark Willis,

member of the board; and

Chris Heller, CEO.

#1 KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY, INC.

Is at Home at No. 1Keller Williams

##############1 KELLER WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLIAMS REALTY, INC.

Bolstered by the belief that “training fuels all of our success,” North America’s largest real estate franchise moves into the top spot on the 2015 Training Top 125. BY LORRI FREIFELD

“Training fuels all of our success,” adds Dianna Kokoszka, CEO, KW MAPS Coaching. “As an education-based com-pany, we always are investing in training. In 2014, we unified our training divisions and hired our first Chief Learn-ing Officer, Bryon Ellington, who has deep experience in educational programming, technology development, and global operations. We expanded the resources offered by Keller Williams University. We’re also devoting more energy into what we call ‘market of the moment’ train-ing. We’re helping our agents establish themselves as the experts in their market. Local expertise is one of the great-est differentiators agents bring to the client relationship.”

MEGA AGENT EXPANSIONKeller Williams’ vision is to be the real estate company of choice. “Because of our focus on training, we attract more new agents than any other real estate franchise,” notes new President John Davis. Indeed, one of 2014’s goals was to increase agent count by 14 percent. The company finished the year up 18 percent, at more than 112,000 associates.

“As a commission-based industry, our biggest training challenge is to guide thousands of new Keller Williams agents through our training programs so they can get into production quickly and build their businesses,” Davis says.

One of Keller Williams’ most innovative and successful programs in 2014 was Mega Agent Expansion. “We’re the first real estate franchise to offer a formal training pro-gram to train top agents on how and when to expand into additional markets,” Kokoszka explains. “This is a revolu-tionary concept in real estate that provides associates with unprecedented opportunities to grow their businesses. It also challenges us to develop training on a whole new level.”

In 2004, founder Gary Keller’s bestselling book, “The Millionaire Real Estate Agent,” paved the way for agents to leverage prescriptive models and systems to net $1 million annually and become “mega agents.” Ten years later, top Keller Williams agents who have mastered the MREA pro-cess are searching for what’s next. Keller Williams wants to ensure that “next” happens within Keller Williams, so the company can continue to attract top talent. Observ-ing the market and the success of Keller Williams’ top 100 agents, Keller recognized the next natural step: expansion into additional markets. A small group of agents began experimenting with expanding their brand to new geog-raphies. From these early expansion agents and the lessons they learned, Keller Williams created a model for a new source of growth. That required the development of a new training program.

Mega Agent Expansion (MAE) teaches top agents how to leverage economies of scale, centralized lead generation, and a shared administrative hub to launch businesses in five, 10, 20, or more additional geographic locations. “For the first time,” Kokoszka says, “individual agents can re-alize their dream of their brand stretching around the

country or the world, all within Keller Williams.” MAE launched in February 2014 and includes instructor-led

classes, Webinars, expert interviews, productivity re-sources, and coaching. Top expansion agents participate through mentorship, coaching, and consulting.

Program components include:A 40-city tour throughout North America: This builds awareness and promotes expansion; it is taught by a mega agent and early adopter of expansion. Expansion Systems Orientation: A two-day training

course offered monthly at the Keller Williams Learn-ing Center to dive deep into expansion mechanics. “Participants walk away with a working business plan, action items, accountability systems, and the lead-ership skills needed to head sales teams in multiple locations,” Kokoszka says. A top expansion agent co-teaches the class with founder Gary Keller.Social media community: A private community of learn-ing and sharing for expansion agents. Job aids: Checklists, forms, spreadsheet models to

chart compensation options for key team members, and a “First 100 Days” plan for a new expansion. Monthly calls: Regular Q&A sessions with top expan-sion agents on introductory and advanced topics. Coaching program: “We’re training our top KW MAPS Coaches in MAE concepts and methodologies so they can help their expansion agent clients,” Kokoszka says.

The MAE program already has achieved noteworthy results, including:

www.trainingmag.com training JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015 | 29

FAST FACTS

1.

2.

3.

CONTINUING TO BE BOLD

COMPETITIVE AND COLLABORATIVE


KW MAPS COACHING CEO Dianna Kokoszka (center in blue) surrounded by BOLD coaches.

#1 KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY, INC.#1 KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY, INC.

Learn more about Change Navigator at www.discoverylearning.com/trainingmag and visit us at Booth #34

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same side of the table. As a result, associates think of their col-leagues as collaborators, not competitors.

This shared identity enhances Keller Williams’ training programs, Heller believes. “Moreover, our Profit Share program (detailed below)—which rewards the associates who help the company grow—promotes collective success. What’s good for one agent is good for all agents. This spirit of collegiality and camaraderie underpins a unique corpo-rate culture that fosters collaboration and the pursuit of win-win opportunities.”

It also encourages the sharing of best practices. As a company, Keller Williams purposefully works with top performers to identify best practices to share. Every mar-ket center has an Associate Leadership Council (ALC) composed of its top agents, notes Vice Chairman Mo An-derson. And every ALC has an Education Committee made up of volunteer agents who go out and reinforce these best practices through training and education in the office.

KEYS TO ENGAGEMENT AND RECRUITMENTTo foster employee engagement, Keller Williams launched a companion course to “Recruiting Great Agents” called

“Keeping Agents First.” It focuses on the PERCs (produc-tion, engagement, recognition, and culture) and is taught throughout the year.

“Our Growth Initiative also targets engagement in sev-eral ways,” adds Davis. “These include the adoption of Training Tracking (which encourages market center lead-ers to engage associates whose production gains are notkeeping pace with their colleagues’), presenting Reboot (a multi-stop tour engaging all levels of office leadership), and empowering market center administrators (MCAs) to take on increased leadership responsibilities fostering engagement in the office.”

Another factor in employee engagement is the Keller Wil-liams Profit Share system, which aims to facilitate growth from within and fosters the company’s belief that “to-gether, everyone achieves more.” Keller Williams agents are eligible for Profit Share (and its worldwide companion, Growth Share) by sponsoring and mentoring new agents in the company. Through this program, agents share inthe company profits created by the agents they sponsor. “So agents encourage potential recruits to join Keller Wil-liams by sharing our value proposition of training and coaching, and once they join, agents support their new

KELLER WILLIAMS UNIVERSITY team members,

from left: Julie Fantechi, Kim Harryman, Mona Covey,

Bryon Ellington, Pam Bunn, Dawn Sroka, and Jonathan Moerbe.


#1 KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY, INC.#1 KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY, INC.

We’re dreamers. Disruptors of norms. And firm believers that there’s always more we can achieve.

That’s why we have a company-wide team of experts championing world-class development. Why we have our learning center—Capital One® University. Why associates we hire today perform even better tomorrow. And why the customer experience we deliver is always top-notch.

EEO Employer/Protected Veteran/Disabled

Congratulations to our team for once again making Training ’s Top 125.

WE ARE

ALL

WORK IN PROGRESS


recruits, helping them navigate all the tools and resources Keller Williams offers to enhance their careers, including education, coaching, and technology solutions,” Davis says. “Agents accompany their recruits to KW training events offered in their office, region, or at international conferences.”

Agents and their sponsors have a mutually beneficial relationship. The potential rewards for both parties are

unlimited, driven by trusting, respectful relationships and monetary gain, Davis says.

Profit and Growth Share workshops are offered monthly both as instructor-led training in local offices and as Webi-nars from international offices. Agents are encouraged to take the workshops multiple times and to continue to support their new agents. There is profit share coaching, as well, and there is no limit to the number of agents an agent can sponsor.

The Keller Williams Profit Share program has resulted in distribution of more than half a billion dollars since in-ception. In 2014 alone, Keller Williams shared $98 million with associates.

Training also plays a part in employee recruitment. “Our market centers are trained as part of their recruiting ef-forts to open the classroom to competitors’ agents,” Davis explains. “Individual associates invite potential recruits to attend training sessions and educational events. They’re trained to contact other agents and talk with them about how they’re doing compared with the rest of their local board of REALTORS and the opportunities and resources Keller Wil-

liams offers. Successful recruits joinan agent’s Profit Share tree, helping build passive income for life.”

Keller Williams’ Family Reunion event is five days long and sells out ev-ery year at just over 10,000 attendees (limited only by convention space) or 8 percent of Keller Williams agents. Family Reunion features Keller Wil-liams executives, top leaders and agents, and master faculty leading more than 250 educational, 1.5-hour sessions covering sales skills, business

acumen, leadership skills, and technology training. In one of his sessions, Gary Keller delivers his Vision Speech for KW and the real estate industry at large and highlights the proprietary training and trends derived by the KW research division. This data-based training gives both leaders and agents the competitive edge they need in their markets. In fact, leaders who bring recruits to Family Reunion have a 92 percent conversion rate.

MOVING AHEADKeller Williams has several new initiatives in the works toenhance training, including a field-driven platform for top experts to share ideas, techniques, and best practices, Hell-er says. “And we’re utilizing software to create real-time feedback aimed at continual improvement of both instruc-tional content and instructors.”

Looking farther ahead, Heller says, “at the rate we’re growing, we’ll double in size in the next decade, but the fundamentals of the real estate business are not going to change.” Real estate is a local business based on individual agents and their relationships, he notes. “Agents are going to continue to be the center of the real estate transaction. Our opportunity is to train real estate agents better than anyone else in the world so they can provide superior ser-vice to clients and build big businesses for themselves and their families. Training will continue to be our primary means for helping our associates achieve their dreams.”

As for Heller’s dream if Keller Williams had unlimited funding for training, “it would be to provide every one of our associates, no matter their production level or where in the world they live, with daily access to world-class master faculty trainers. We’d also provide every associate with a full-time accountability coach.”

That’s an offer most agents—and employees in general—would be happy to receive. t

#1 KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY, INC.

QUICK TIPSAccording to Dianna Kokoszka, CEO, KW MAPS Coaching,

“Gary Keller teaches us to focus on our most leveraged activ-

ity. What’s the ONE Thing we can do such that by doing it

everything else will become easier or unnecessary?”

Keller Williams is a company built by agents for agents. That

means its most leveraged activity is modeling the behavior of

its top agents, Kokoszka says. For other companies aiming to

bolster their success, Kokoszka offers the following advice:

successful leaders. Learn how they’re excelling and then

systematize those innovations so all members of your

organization can grow.

every strategy you’re pursuing is helping to build an

organization everyone wants to be part of and no one ever

wants to leave.

partnerships and invest for the long term.

“All of our training and coaching is developed by studying and modeling the behaviors of our most successful leaders, and because our top agents are continually learning from each other and improving on ideas, our training is constantly improving.”


Managers are a company’s first line of defense—and offense—in delivering superior customer service. With increasing competition for all companies—even those at the top of their industry—the ability to deliver consistent quality to customers is a competitive advantage. A leader in the quick lube/vehicle

maintenance business, Jiffy Lube International, Inc., proved in 2014 that training could be at the forefront of this effort. Improved new manager programs, new technology (including a leadership simulation and electronic follow-up system), and the continued ability to support significant new product launches, were just a few of the important contributions made by Jiffy Lube’s Learning team.

JIFFY LUBE INTERNATIONAL, INC.,

executive team, from left: Colin

Abraham, president, Shell Lubricants

Americas; Steve Ledbetter, president,

Jiffy Lube International; Henry Flores,

Learning manager, Global Commercial

Americas; and Ken Barber, manager,

Learning & Development, Jiffy Lube.

#2 JIFFY LUBE INTERNATIONAL, INC.

Jiffy Lube Greases the Wheels of Success

#2 JIFFY LUBE INTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNATIONAL, INC.

Efforts to enhance the performance of managers, combined with new technology and other learning investments, kicked Jiffy Lube International, Inc., into high gear in 2014. BY MARGERY WEINSTEIN

MODEL MANAGERS“The store manager is vital to the Jiffy Lube system as the manager has tremendous influence over service center tech-nicians, customers, and the bottom line,” says Manager of Learning & Development Kenneth Barber. “Jiffy Lube In-ternational wanted to improve the training for this key role, so we took an aggressive approach in developing a program to optimize success.” Working collaboratively with the Jiffy Lube Association of Franchisees Training Committee and Jiffy Lube International Operations team, the Jiffy Lube University Learning team conducted an in-depth study of top-performing store managers, as well as those who were considered average-performing managers. “After gather-ing data from numerous managers across the system, our findings indicated that while all managers are engaged in similar duties, the primary differentiator between a top-performing and an average-performing manager is the time they spend developing their team members. The time invest-ed in development by top managers was twice that of average managers,” Barber explains.

Armed with this information, the company significantly enhanced its management training curriculum by executing four major initiatives:

E-Learning: Older courses were updated and service topics were converted from instructor-led training to e-learning to ensure the 14-topic curriculum for managers is current, rel-evant, and consistent, regardless of when or where learners take the courses.

Instructor-Led Training (ILT) Leadership Training Class: Trainers leveraged the best resources they could find on leadership and business, along with expertise from industry leaders, to create a new three-day leadership class. The class was piloted in January 2014, and then rolled out system-wide in February 2014.

Electronic Follow-Up System: An electronic assessment tool for leadership class participants was launched in March 2014. Both the participant and his or her supervisor now are asked to assess their leadership capabilities immediately following class and then again at 30, 60, 90, and 180 days.

Leadership Simulation: “A Day in the Life of a Store Man-ager” program was developed to serve as the proficiency exam for leaders. The interactive simulation consists of 33 scenarios with various solutions for addressing each. Man-agers receive points based on the quality of the response and must achieve a minimum 10,000 points to pass and earn a Leadership Certification.

“In the first nine months, more than 35,000 management e-learning courses have been completed, with 3,000 certi-fications earned. More than 1,000 students have completed the Leadership Training class and the simulation, with ap-proximately 50 percent of those utilizing the Electronic Follow-Up System,” says Barber. “The impact has been sig-nificant. Within three months of a manager completing the enhanced training, the service center experiences an im-provement in customer counts and satisfaction.”

NEW PRODUCT SUPPORTManagers’ preparedness came in handy last year as they found themselves supporting a significant new product launch. The majority of Jiffy Lube service centers offer Pennzoil motor oils. In April 2014, Pennzoil launched Penn-zoil Platinum with PurePlus technology. The product was produced through first-of-its-kind technology that convert-ed natural gas into pure liquid base oil. The challenge for the Training team was to prepare and deploy an educational curriculum for more than 2,000 Jiffy Lube service centers across North America in less than six months. “While the overall message was technical,” says Barber, “the team need-ed to ensure that the service center technicians could easily understand the technology behind the product, as well as the product benefits and value, so they, in turn, could communi-cate to their customers.”

The Jiffy Lube University team developed a combination of e-learning, instructor-led training, and virtual instructor-led training courses to educate not only the service center tech-nicians but the Jiffy Lube international field team. To create excitement and passion for the product, stakeholders were rewarded with incentives for completing advanced levels of training. “We also worked collaboratively with the Pennzoil team to develop and display video communications on JLU Tube to raise awareness and generate enthusiasm around the product,” says Barber. “The courses were finalized in less than two months and made available to stakeholders in early March. Within 45 days, more than 12,000 Jiffy Lube store employees (65 percent) had completed the e-learning course. Additionally, JLU Tube had more than 23,000 views, and more than 4,500 technicians had completed instructor-led training sessions.”

FINDING—AND KEEPING—STAR EMPLOYEESMaking it easy for employees to receive college credits for corporate learning is good for employees—and good for retention of high performers. Attracting and retaining top talent is an ongoing challenge for most companies, but es-pecially for those in retail, Barber notes. Internal research showed that 45 percent of Jiffy Lube service center em-ployees were either enrolled, or considering enrollment, in college or technical schools. “To address this need, we went through a review with the American Council on Education (ACE) in 2011, and the Jiffy Lube University curriculum was recommended for seven hours of college credit,” says Barber. “As we wanted to provide even greater benefit for the time invested in Jiffy Lube University training, we went through a second ACE review in 2014, which resulted in the Jiffy Lube University curriculum receiving ACE recommendations for 25 hours. For service center technicians interested in col-lege or a technical school, these hours provide a significant jumpstart toward helping them achieve their professional development goals. And this benefit serves as an additional recruiting and retention tool for Jiffy Lube franchisees.”


To help attract and retain Jiffy Lube service center employees, Jiffy Lube University also provides a comprehensive development path, the Jiffy Lube University Roadmap, which allows service center employees to take control of their development. “Being able to see a path to personal and professional development be-ginning on day one is a tremendous benefit,” says Barber. “Service center employees can clearly see what is expected and the stan-dard timeline for development. This clarity empowers them to take control of their development to reach their personal and professional goals.”

Along with bolstering recruitment and retention, providing de-tailed career planning feeds the system’s leadership pipeline. “The Jiffy Lube University Roadmap is not only a career development guide for service center employees, it serves as the foundation for the development of future leaders. From the Roadmap, employ-ees then are able to use the certifications they complete to move up the corporate ladder. As service center employees complete various Jiffy Lube University certification levels, they enter into a manager position,” says Barber. “Leadership training provides them with the guidance they need to build a successful team. Suc-cessful store managers often then are selected to serve as district managers, overseeing several stores on behalf of the franchisee. When they look back, it was the Jiffy Lube University Roadmap that started the process and gave the individuals an opportunity to move ahead professionally.”

LOOKING AHEAD: REVAMPING VIRTUAL INSTRUCTOR-LED TRAININGJiffy Lube will be paying special attention to the training it

delivers in 2015. “With more focus on efficiency, we must identify options to do more with less without compromising the quality of the training provided. Virtual instructor-led training classes appear to be a solution,” Barber notes. “We conducted research with a group of service centers utiliz-ing an instructor-led training course compared to a similar group of stores being taught the same curriculum using vir-tual instructor-led training. The participant feedback and the business impact were almost identical.” As a result, Bar-ber says, “we know using a quality platform and excellent virtual instruction techniques can yield positive results.”

In 2015, Jiffy Lube is planning to leverage virtual in-structor-led training as the primary delivery method for a system-wide initiative and to incorporate virtual instructor-led training as a viable option for other training courses. “Based on results to date,” says Barber, “we are confident that a good experience with virtual instructor-led train-ing sessions will raise the acceptance level among Jiffy Lube franchisees and make virtual instructor-led training an ac-cepted and preferred option moving forward.”

Given the company’s many training accomplishments to date, Barber offers the following advice to others: Success-ful training programs always embody the SAM Principle, meaning effective learning programs are simple (not confus-ing or needlessly complex), aligned with business goals, and measurable enough that trainers can track the coursework’s effectiveness for stakeholders. “When the SAM Principle is in place, and everything works together,” Barber says, “it is a beautiful thing.” t


THE JIFFY LUBE UNIVERSITY (JLU) Training Team.

#2 JIFFY LUBE INTERNATIONAL, INC.

Eagle’s Flight congratulates WESTERN UNION on their nomination of

We are honored to be partnering with you on your journey to becoming a

truly Customer Centric organization.


Bigger isn’t necessarily better when it comes to health insurers—or training organizations, for that matter. That comes as no surprise to Capital BlueCross, an approximately 1,800-employee health insurer that has served

residents and businesses in Central Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley for more than 75 years and earned the No. 3 rank on the 2014 and 2015 Training Top 125.

#3 CAPITAL BLUECROSS

Capital BlueCross Thinks Big

“Though smaller in size as an organization, Capital BlueCross behaves like a world-class training organiza-tion and conducts thorough research on how to achieve the maximum impact with every training dollar spent,” says Steve Krupinski, senior vice president, Human Re-sources. “The Executive Team and the Board believe the future success of Capital BlueCross hinges on investing in the development of our employees.”

Capital BlueCross has achieved a perfect balance

CAPITAL BLUECROSS Talent Management Leadership Team, from left:

Norm Mitchell, director, Organizational Development; Jodi Lynne Blanch, director,

Talent Management, and Steve Krupinski, senior vice president, Human Resources.

#3 CAPITAL BLUECROSS

In 2014, Capital BlueCross doubled the size of its customer service group, requiring it to formulate and launch a new training approach in record time. BY LORRI FREIFELD

between identifying key business drivers and then aligning the development strategies to achieve the business goals, Krupinski believes. “Each year, HR partners with the Executive Team to refine/realign development initiatives to ensure alignment with the business strategy and continues to build capability in the organization to successfully execute the strategy.”

CONCENTRATING ON CUSTOMER SERVICEA key corporate priority for Capital BlueCross in 2013/2014 was to “Grow the Core Business.” That meant in addition to providing traditional health-care coverage to consumers, Capital BlueCross focused on becoming the leader in customer service, ultimately offering this as an outsourcing option to other carriers.

Other health-care institutions immediately expressed interest, and Capital BlueCross was challenged with doubling the size of the customer service group. The organization formulated and launched a new training approach in record time, according to Jodi Lynne Blanch, director, Talent Management. New represen-tatives received 2.5 months of specific training before joining a “nesting unit” where their customer service skills were evaluated for an additional two months before joining a regular customer service unit. “The nesting unit provides real-time coaching and chair-side mentoring to enhance confidence and capabilities,” Blanch says. “The representatives then received two weeks of market segment training specific to their responsibilities.”

As a result of the training:

above target for 2014 and above the industry average of 70.2 percent, according to J.D. Power and Associates.

Insurance” company by Harrisburg Magazine (2014).

the Lehigh Valley Business Coalition on Healthcare.

business of two other Blue’s plans, turning customer ser-vice from a cost center into a profit center.

EMPLOYEE WELLNESSCapital BlueCross is not just about its customers’ well-being. The organization also aims to enhance employee health and well-being by delivering a comprehensive wellness program that educates, assists, and motivates employees to engage in healthier lifestyles.

In 2014, Capital BlueCross overhauled its employee health edu-cation model from a disease management, reactive approach to a proactive, wellness education model. “Wellness coaches were educated to better understand human behavior and personal motivation,” Krupinski says. “The new wellness training model created greater personal ownership of health and wellness.”

Krupinski points to specific results, including:

-ciation “Fit Friendly Award” (Platinum (highest) level) and “Innovation Award” in 2014.

on employee wellness training, Capital BlueCross has

productivity loss.

training with lowering disability and leave-related costs.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENTProfessional development is another key to employee engagement at Capital BlueCross. The company partnered with Corporate University (CorpU) Xchange to begin launching signature cours-es from top universities for professional development. Faculty from Harvard, MIT, Wharton, and George Washington Univer-sities lead the programs. “A social collaboration format is being used to teach and embed proven behavior techniques needed to ensure business success,” Blanch explains. The courses focus on topics such as leading bold change, negotiation, critical decision-making, entrepreneurship, and innovation.

HR manages the cohort and facilitates interactive exercises cus-tomized to the content and current business needs aligned to the corporate priorities and strategy. Blanch notes that this guided learning journey allows participants to go through the course as a semi-synchronous cohort of learners. “During the five-week pro-gram, the group receives the same assignments of video lectures, reading, quizzes, and/or threaded discussions, but each par-ticipant completes that coursework on his or her own time,” the executives say. “The cohort design provides learners the opportu-nity to motivate each other as they go through the program and has increased collaboration between cross-functional teams.”

All participants have requested to participate in the next ses-

in the business simulation agreed the learning had significant im-pact on how they think about business modeling.

The course content and delivery have contributed to business results, Blanch says, including achieving 150 percent of target for retail store sales; achieving 125 percent of target for retail store

retail store foot traffic.

BIG ROLE FOR BIG DATAA critical business challenge in the health-care industry is to di-versify and provide services other than traditional health-care coverage products. Capital BlueCross and Geneia, a support company that sells health and wellness services directly to indi-viduals and businesses outside of the historic medical insurance market, set a goal to build and launch by October 2014 Theon, a data analytics platform that will drive medical value in health-care markets. This data analytic platform will provide patient health-care analysis, allowing care managers the ability to guide their interventions for patients. To create a platform with this savvy modeling, Capital BlueCross had to provide an exploration environment to extract the knowledge from care management and platform experts.

Capital BlueCross partnered with CorpU to design and offer a simulation program using a social learning platform challenging


participants to design the Theon business model and implementa-tion plan. “Working in breakout groups with an executive leader, participants tackled actual organizational challenges to ensure the learning was practical and to drive greater engagement,” Kru-pinski says. “This networked approach was used to tap collective wisdom and to amplify learnings beyond the classroom.”

Capital BlueCross and Geneia launched TheonHealth.com and the Theon product in the market in May 2014, six months ahead of schedule. To date, Krupinski says:

-pleted the Business Model Canvas Course.

-ing in their jobs.

the next session entitled “Build Customer-Centric Capabili-ties to Drive Profitable Growth and Innovation.”

“We now are utilizing complex data to customize our pre-scriptive recommendations when addressing customer, client, and patient educational, service, and future needs,” Krupinski says. “To do this, we need all to understand how to process com-prehensive data to diagnose the need and formulate creative,

the mindset from highly skilled customer service-centric em-ployees to consultants who are able to master ‘knowledge work’ leveraging intellect, creativity, and analytic skills.”

Capital BlueCross also partnered with a local university to create a new curriculum focusing on health-care analytics. Students earn a BS and MS degree in Analytics through a multi-tiered internship at Capital BlueCross designed to complement

coursework. Capital BlueCross also partnered with another local university to use graduate and Ph.D. students as highly skilled interns to work on the Theon platform; these students obtain course credit for their work. To date:

-ship Program—two Doctorate, five Master’s, and one Bachelor’s-level.

experience was helpful with their career goals.

LOOKING AHEADKrupinski and Blanch anticipate that by 2025, Capital BlueCross’ internship program will supply a large percentage of new talent. “We will inte-grate these new employees into our strategic action teams early in their tenure at Capital BlueCross,” they note. “Much of the foundational training and

development will be focused upon this group.” Looking to extend Capital BlueCross’ success into 2015,

Krupinski and Blanch say the top three things on their training wish list for the New Year are:

1. Preparing all employees for leadership responsibilities and

instilling a leadership mindset in all levels of the organization.

“We have achieved measurable success with our Breakthrough

Leader Onboarding programs,” Krupinski and Blanch explain. “We will address this additional goal through three targeted programs,” which include: -gence, and Step Up Skills for Non-Managers.

2. Creating a personalized, customized development touch for

every employee throughout his or her career. Krupinski and Blanch say this would entail “providing ‘Customized Leader Consultations’ (CLC) to all our employees. CLCs occur upon completion of a flagship course and serve as a behavioral re-inforcement to the learning that occurred in their designated

They comprise a certified executive coach meeting with the participant to review, dissect, and coach to his or her individual strengths and challenges.”

3. Embedding a Mentoring Circle approach to accompany the

“Leader as Teacher” effort. “We have instituted a leader-as-teacher philosophy in which leaders share key lessons learned through the leadership development sessions and engage in discussions with their direct reports as part of the curriculum,” Krupinski and Blanch say. “In 2015, we intend to develop a for-malized mentoring group approach. This will be challenging and time consuming; however, we are committed at Capital BlueCross to deepen our already rich development culture.” t


CAPITAL BLUECROSS Talent Management Team, standing, from left, Norm Mitchell,

director, Organizational Development; Steve Krupinski, senior vice president, Human

Resources; David Berger, Leadership Development & Talent Management consultant.

Seated, from left: Nancee Holley, Leadership Development & Talent Management

consultant, and Jodi Lynne Blanch, director, Talent Management.

#3 CAPITAL BLUECROSS#3 CAPITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBLUECROSS


CHG Healthcare Services passed its 2014training health assessment with flying colors. Standout training programs for the health-care staffing company were diverse, including an initiative to educate CHG employees on

how to give back to their community, a comprehensive employee referral program, and a new program to address the retention of first-year employees. With so many innovative programs, this company’s continued growth in learning and development shows no sign of slowing.

CHG HEALTHCARE SERVICES leadership team, from left:

Drew Clarke, senior director; Kevin Ricklefs, senior vice president;

Scott Beck, COO, President; and Stephanie Rollheiser, vice president.

#4 CHG HEALTHCARE SERVICES

CHG HEALTHCARE SERVICES leadership team, from left:

Drew Clarke,w senior director;r Kevin Ricklefs, senior vicer president;

Scott Beck,t COO, President; and Stephanie Rollheiser, vice presidThe Heart of CHG Healthcare Services

TRAINING HOW TO GIVE BACK“The 2014 program we are most proud of is the Heart of CHG, an initiative to educate our people on the opportunities available to them in giving back to their peers and the surrounding com-munity,” says Learning and Development Senior Director Drew Clarke. “At a company level, our organization has always been actively engaged in the community, but we felt that a more formalized approach would provide better opportunities forindividual employees to give back.”

Starting with a kick-off seminar in which CHG’s CEO and COO partnered in introducing

#4 CHG HEALTTTTTHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRVICES

2014 was a healthy year for training at CHG Healthcare Services as it featured a program to encourage employees to give back to their community, an effective effort to stem turnover, and progress on a new learning technology initiative. BY MARGERY WEINSTEIN

the initiative to employees, this year-long rollout highlighted the different features of the program, including paid time off (PTO) gifting, Employee Network Groups, and the Compas-sion Fund (a program funded by employees, for employees, providing tax-free financial grants to help other employees in need or dealing with financial hardship). “In just the first eight months of this program,” says Clarke, “employee dona-tions have funded 10 grants, and more than 10 percent of our employees are making automatic contributions to the fund each pay period.”

TAMING TURNOVERAmong CHG’s major challenges in 2014 was its turnover rate. Although CHG has industry-leading turnover at less than 21 percent (health-care staffing industry averages 55 percent), the company is careful not to underestimate the significant cost related to turnover in a relationship industry such as health care. “Because of the lengthy ramp-up time in the first few years of employment in health-care staff-ing, new hire retention has always been a challenge,” says Clarke. “To make sure new employees receive the resources they need during this time, one of our divisions developed Passport, a year-long onboarding program that escorts new hires through a series of functions within the company.” The way it works is employees earn a stamp in their “passport” with each new person they meet. Participants then share their first-year experience with division leaders as part of a capstone event.

The program has proven successful. Passport participants on average made placements three to five weeks earlier than new hires from the previous year. Clarke says this early success has helped keep new employees more engaged and less likely to leave within their first year. Since the imple-mentation of Passport, the division’s turnover of first-year employees has decreased by 5 percent.

LEARNING TECHNOLOGY OVERHAULThe most ambitious learning goals will be held back with-out the right supporting technologies. Last year, CHG took its first steps toward enhancing this essential training tool. “2014 was a year that we spent laying the groundwork for a major learning technology initiative in 2015,” says Clarke. He explains that in the past, CHG utilized several platforms throughout the organization for tracking and disseminating learning, each one operating in isolation from other systems in the company. “Although these learning management and document storage systems were meeting the most basic needs for individual teams and divisions, there was a low ceiling of what we could achieve with this approach,” says Clarke. These smaller-scale tools most often had a limited scope of functionality, and without a singular enterprise-wide so-lution, the company’s ability to leverage reports and other data points at an organizational level would continue to be limited. For that reason, Clarke and his colleagues worked as a committee to identify the individual needs of divisions,

and after a long search and proposal process, partnered with SuccessFactors as CHG’s new learning technology solution. The Learning team then built an implementation and roll-out strategy due to begin in the first quarter of 2015.

REDOUBLING ON RECRUITMENT Finding the right employees to take your company where you want it to go is essential, so last year also marked a major effort by CHG to better utilize employees in the recruitment process. The company’s Talent Acquisition team launched a comprehensive employee referral program. In addition to the traditional $350 incentive for a successful referral, a series of campaign collaterals was launched to increase re-ferrals. One such strategy was to educate employees on what a good referral looks like, as well as arming each employee with specifically designed referral cards that can be handed out when they encounter someone who embodies CHG’s core values. “Our people are our best resource to find new talent,” says Clarke, noting that 58 percent of the company’s hires in the last year began as employee referrals.

Another approach CHG is using to enhance recruitment is promotion of its culture at local colleges. “Our relationships with local colleges provide us the opportunity to get in front of potential job seekers,” says Clarke. CHG’s senior lead-ers frequently speak at schools, sit on panels, and conduct workshops with MBA students, teaching prospective lead-ers and employees about CHG’s business and culture. “We know these are some of the most effective ways to both share our culture and find those with qualities that best align with ours,” Clarke notes. “In fact, in 2014, CHG was selected by Millennials as one of the organizations where they would most want to work, based on a recent survey by the National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS).”

WINNING CULTURE & COLLABORATIONCorporate culture at CHG is taken seriously. The company sees cultivation of the most productive, positive culture as key to its success. “Over the years, CHG has been recognized as outstanding in many different categories, from financial achievement to how we treat our employees. The number and variety of accolades are positively correlated with the number and variety of people-centric programs we imple-ment,” says Clarke, who cites the following culture-oriented awards the company has earned in the last two years, in ad-dition to earning the No. 4 spot on the Training Top 125 list for 2014 and 2015:

Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” listComputerworld’s “Best Places to Work in IT”

list

award

Work For” award

Healthy Worksite and Wellness Program


An important part of creating a winning culture is nur-turing employees to create a collaborative environment. “Perhaps our longest-standing effort to achieve collaboration, social learning, and peer-to-peer discussion is our tactical use of book clubs as a curriculum,” says Clarke. “Leadership groups, functional teams, and cohorts of specific programs utilize book clubs to target various topics. The method ef-

fectively introduces new topics, allows for ample time to absorb large amounts of content, and provides opportunities to test the material’s relevancy through thoughtful discussion and role-playing.” He says facilitators lead the class as they apply each concept to day-to-day chal-lenges in the workplace. This allows participants to teach each other as they attempt to translate the contents of the book into real CHG situations.

CHG: NEXT GENERATIONAll of CHG’s training efforts and suc-cesses feed into development of the company’s leadership pipeline. A ma-jor goal for CHG was to establish a 6:1 employee to leader ratio by increasing its leadership bench by 15 percent and

simultaneously lowering leadership turnover. To reach this goal, the company launched a tiered approach to identify-ing and developing a future leadership bench from within. The first approach was to implement a nine-box assessment that analyzes employees on their performance and potential. Employees who are identified as high in both potential and performance then are slated to go through the TIP (Talent


CHG HEALTHCARE SERVICES Training team in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

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Inventory Profile) process. This process involves a survey of self, peers, and leaders on leadership readiness of the high performer. Based on TIP results and subsequent coaching by CHG’s Leadership Development team, employees designat-ed as potential leaders are enrolled in the LEAP (leadership evaluation and assessment) program to further develop their potential into a skill set ready for promotion. “This nine-box assessment has been an effective tool in identifying employ-ees with high leadership potential. With the right people in our LEAP program, we can focus on preparing these

employees for the next step in their career,” says Clarke.

This targeted approach toleadership development has made the following impact since implementation:

decreased 33 percent.

leaders has increased by 48 percent.

is now 4.82:1 (a 24 percent improvement).

The development of strong leaders, including those within Learning and Development, may come in handy in 2015, given the company’s goals. “In 2014, our CHG-wide Learning and Development teams be-gan to introduce a culture of Continuous Development. In2015, our focus will be rolling out new development plans to all employees—no more past-focused performance apprais-als,” says Clarke. “Tied into this will be education courses for leaders on how to help their employees build an effective plan, and courses for employees on how to begin their career development.” t


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Developing employees able to take the initiative to provide customers with great service is a tall order. You first need a workforce that is engaged enough to care about the company and those it serves, and then you need employees trained well enough

to have the knowledge, on-the-job capability, and confidence to follow through. Bolstered by a new comprehensive Employee Empowerment Plan, Learning and Development at nonprofit mutual insurance company Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) achieved this ideal and other training milestones in 2014.

BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD OF MICHIGAN EXECUTIVE TEAM, first row, from left: Cathy Brennan Goheen, vice president, Human Resources; Daniel J. Loepp, president and Chief Executive Officer; second row, from left: Darrell Middleton, executive vice president, Operations and Business Performance; Laura Byars, vice president, Human Performance.

#5 BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD OF MICHIGAN

BCBSMEmpowers Employees

#5 BLUE CROSS BLUE SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD OF MICCHIGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

Nurturing a workforce ready to take ownership of the company’s success was a top priority for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan in 2014. BY MARGERY WEINSTEIN

STIMULATING EMPLOYEE EXCELLENCEIn 2012, BCBSM’s leadership was developing a strategy on how to succeed in a fast-changing world. National health reform was on the horizon, and the company’s leaders believed failure to recognize and adapt to the changes could significantly affect their future. The company ad-ministered an all-employee survey that year, which shed light on two areas of need: empowerment and customer focus.

“While several initiatives already were under way to sharpen customer focus, we had done little to address the daunting and difficult nature of improving employee em-powerment,” says Laura Byars, vice president of Human Performance. “With multiple health-care regulatory and compliance layers, employees were used to staying well within leadership guidance. Yet the need for corporate adaptability required having a nimble, adaptable work-force that could make more autonomous decisions.”

Byars says it became clear that employee empower-ment was a component necessary to achieve the vision of BCBSM’s leadership. “Each of the organization’s stra-tegic goals—financial performance, market strength, and customer experience—could be advanced through empowerment,” she says. “Creating a more empowered workforce became a key corporate initiative.”

To address this need, Byars credits her team for develop-ing a three-pronged Empowerment Plan:

1. Build clarity (define what empowerment looks like at BCBSM)

2. Build skills (provide learning opportunities and resources)

3. Build relationships (create opportunities for improved cross-functional sharing)

To help guide the initiative, BCBSM formed an Em-powerment Council comprising executives and several divisional workgroups. The Learning and Development team also created a measurement dashboard to track progress toward the tactical objectives.

Core to the strategy was a three-hour Empowerment Insights workshop—an interactive session featuring videos, role-play, and case studies. Byars says the goal of the workshop is to provide employees “awareness and clarity” on how to build an empowering environment for themselves and their teams. The session was required for the company’s leaders and highly encouraged for all employees.

Since the launch of Empowerment Insights in April 2013, more than 2,200 employees have attended. The popularity of Empowerment Insights spawned another training course—Empowerment Forum, a 90-minute ses-sion where former Empowerment Insights participants share their successes and challenges encountered around empowerment. The forums focus on overcoming obstacles, making decisions, and building a spirit of innovation and empowerment.

EMPOWERING TEAMSEmpowered individuals are only a benefit to an organiza-tion if those individuals can effectively work with others, so BCBSM also focused on increasing empowerment among workgroups. Workgroups and teams continue to build em-powerment at the divisional level. Supplemental messaging helped to educate employees through a humorous cam-paign of what empowerment is and what it isn’t. A series of thought-provoking, fun images depicting employees either in engaging or disengaging situations was interspersed with other corporate messages via flat-screen, electronic message boards throughout company buildings.

In Operations, a new service training program equipped service representatives to respond with greater empa-thy and flexibility. This more empowered approach was well-received among employees, and resulted in improved customer metrics. “How did we know we were moving in the right direction? Slowly at first, teams and individuals began relaying stories of successes born out of the empower-ment foundation,” says Byars. “Our team listened carefully at sessions for evidence of success, and then developed, docu-mented, and communicated those stories to employees.”

These programs aimed at increasing individual and group empowerment paid off. In 2014, the organization once again surveyed employees. Scores increased an average of 14 per-centile points in the five statements relative to empowerment over the 2012 baseline. Moreover, scores from employees who attended Empowerment Insights were 20 points higher than the scores of the employees who had yet to take the training. And for employees who participated in both Empowerment In-sights and Empowerment Forum, scores were 33 points higher. “Focusing our efforts on a more empowered and energized workforce has contributed to strong corporate performance in the post-reform health-care marketplace,” Byars notes.

NEW, CREATIVE USES FOR LEARNING TECHNOLOGYBCBSM believes that with knowledge comes a more empow-ered workforce. So the continued focus on honing training for its workforce was another key to BCBSM’s success in 2014. The company has continued to improve training by finding new and better ways to apply learning technology. For example, last year BCBSM used an online game to help employees better understand the company’s identity. More than 2,100 employees throughout the company competed for points and prizes in a “What’s Your Blue IQ?” online quiz as part of an initiative to build employee knowledge about the company’s new status as a mutual insurance company. “I find it easy to fit the game in during lunch and when I have a few extra minutes between meetings,” one participant in the program noted. “I learned more details about what it means to be a nonprofit mutual insurer, and how it puts us in a bet-ter position to move forward in the marketplace, while still focusing on our customers.”

Meanwhile, BCBSM enhanced the training programs it


provides to independent sales agents by using the newest, most affordable tablets. “Providing agents from multiple companies and around the state with a common technol-ogy platform created a seamless, consistent experience and eliminated compatibility issues that otherwise could derail the training,” says Byars.

In the last year, the company also increased its use of video as a way to add elements of fun and humor to programs to create a more inviting, engaging, and impact-ful training experience. “Our quarterly Nuts & Bolts symposiums use games and simulations to build cross-function-al relationships while also increasing business knowledge about core business functions,” Byars explains. “They also garner a greater under-standing of the needs of

internal customers.” For instance, the Contact Center ses-sions provide a simulation that captures the dynamics of a call center, including the delicate balance of providing ample time and full attention to the current caller while managing call handle time.

As part of the employee survey, Byars and her team learned


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BUILDING LEADERS IN TRAINING AND LEARNING

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BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD OF MICHIGAN Learning & Development team.

#5 BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD OF MICHIGAN#5 BLUE CRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSS BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBLUE SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHIIIELD OF MICHIGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN

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that employees who have attended a Nuts & Bolts symposium are far more likely to say there is a continuous investment in the skills of employees. The company believes increasing understanding through the simulated call center learning ac-tivity supports the company goal of enhancing the customer experience.

PREPARING THE NEXT GENERATION OF LEADERSBCBSM actively nurtures the next generation of the organi-zation’s leaders. To support their development, the company creates targeted learning opportunities and succession plans. “We have a formal succession plan for the mem-bers of our executive team. The process includes preparing individual succession plans and using input from both the in-cumbent and the senior executive of each division,” says Cathy Goheen, vice president, Human Resources.

In addition to succession planning, BCBSM uses com-panywide talent reviews to gain a better appreciation of the current and future strengths of the organization. “These reviews are facilitated by HR business partners, using a standard nine-box matrix to assess performance and potential,” Goheen points out. “During these reviews, management teams come together to confirm a calibrated understanding of employee performance and likelihood of

future advancement. After the completion of talent reviews, we hold talent summits to promote cross-divisional under-standing and sharing of talent.”

To ensure the right people are in the right roles to meet market, financial, and customer experience goals, the company conducts a comprehensive talent inventory an-nually. Employees identify their career interests, education, experiences, and skills, and leaders review the inventory and provide input. “We use information gleaned from this pro-cess to augment all other talent management processes and provide a searchable database to make the most of the talent we have in-house,” says Byars.

CONTINUED IMPROVEMENT AND GROWTHThe Learning professionals at BCBSM are proud of their successes, but know there is always room to take their ac-complishments to the next level. “While we take the time to celebrate our progress as measured by our increases in mar-ket performance and customer metrics, we know there is still a lot more progress we can make,” says Byars. “Our scores on employee surveys have improved dramatically, but we are not ready to rest on our past successes. To that end, we remain focused on empowerment and customer focus as key cultural priorities.” t



N o companies were eligible to be inducted into the Training Top 10 Hall of Fame in 2015. However, next year, McCarthy Building Companies, Inc., will join the ranks of the current 11 companies in the hall (Wyeth Pharmaceuticals subsequently was acquired by Pfizer Inc. in 2000; General

Mills, Inc., and Microsoft Corporation fulfilled their terms and opted to come out of the hall this year and are eligible to submit 2016 Training Top 125 applications). These 11 companies held Top 10 spots in the Training Top 50, Top 100, and now Top 125 rankings for four consecutive years. Members remain in the Top 10 Hall of Fame for a minimum of three years. They can choose

Training Top 125 consideration.

BOOZ ALLEN HAMILTON: No. 9 in 2007,

No. 1 in 2006, No. 2 in 2005, No. 4 in 2004,

No. 6 in 2003. Representative: Jennifer Hentz,

Talent Development Manager

DELOITTE LLP: No. 6 in 2004 and 2005,

No. 8 in 2003, No. 9 in 2002.

Representative: Nicole Roy-Tobin, Director,

Best Practices & Innovation, Deloitte

ERNST & YOUNG: No. 6 in 2007, No. 3 in 2006,

No. 7 in 2005, No. 8 in 2004, No. 7 in 2003.

Representative: Alison B. Hooker, Chief Talent

Development Officer, Americas, Ernst & Young

FARMERS INSURANCE: No. 4 in 2013, No. 2 in

2012, No. 1 in 2011, No. 6 in 2010.

Representative: Annette Thompson,

Chief Learning Officer, Farmers Insurance

IBM: No. 2 in 2006, No. 1 in 2005,

No. 1 in 2004, No. 2 in 2003.

Representative: Gordon Fuller, Global Design &

Dev. Leader, IBM Center for Advanced Learning

KLA-TENCOR CORPORATION: No. 9 in 2006,

No. 5 in 2005, 2004, and 2003.

Representative: Glenn Hughes, Senior Director,

Learning and Development, KLA-Tencor

Corporation

KPMG LLP: No. 5 in 2010, No. 2 in 2009,

No. 5 in 2008, No. 7 in 2007.

Representative: Cyndi Bruce, Executive Director,

KPMG Business School - U.S

PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS: No. 1 in 2010,

2009, 2008; No. 2 in 2007.

Representative:: Tom Evans,

Chief Learning Officer

THE RITZ-CARLTON HOTEL COMPANY: No. 1 in

2007, No. 4 in 2006, No. 9 in 2005, No. 10 in

2004, No. 9 in 2003. Representative: Diana Oreck,

Vice President, Leadership Center

SCC SOFT COMPUTER: No. 4 in 2011, No. 9 in

2010, No. 3 in 2009, No. 8 in 2008.

Representative: Myra Pettis, Director, Educational

Service

VERIZON: No. 1 in 2013 and 2012; No. 3 in

2011, No. 4 in 2010.

Representative: Lou Tedrick, Staff Vice President -

Workforce Development, Verizon

WYETH PHARMACEUTICALS: No. 5 in 2009,

No. 3 in 2008, No. 8 in 2007, No. 7 in 2006.

Acquired by Pfizer Inc. in 2009

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For the second year since the creation of the TrainingTop 10 Hall of Fame in 2008, Training magazine required all Hall of Famers to submit an Outstand-ing Training Initiative that would be judged by each other and shared with our readers. Each Hall of Fame Outstanding Training Initiative submission

could achieve a maximum of 20 points (half-point increments canbe awarded) as follows:

Level of potential business impact: 0-3 points Level of difficulty of challenges faced: 0-2 points Project scope: 0-3 points Instructional design: 0-4 points Innovation of training: 0-4 points Business outcomes achieved/expectations met: 0-4 points

The initiatives that achieved the highest scores are detailed below (KLA-Tencor, Verizon, and Microsoft). The other nine submissions will be profiled in the five remaining issues for 2015.

KLA-Tencor Corporation:Right People, Right KnowledgeKLA-Tencor Corporation is a supplier of process control and yieldmanagement equipment and solutions for the semiconductor and related nanoelectronics industries. To support these systems, KLA-Tencor Service engineers must successfully diagnose and repair machines that utilize advanced laser, optical, robotic, and processing technologies. These machines are of such critical importance to customers that some cases of a non-operational system can result in millions of dollars in lost customer revenue.

To further compound this challenge, the rapid rate of technology change in the semiconductor industry requires engineers to continually learn new advanced technologies while

staying proficient in the skills they already know. To address these challenges, KLA-Tencor’s Learning and Knowl-

edge Services team developed the Right People, Right Knowledge skill management process. This program monitors worldwide com-petencies over time via data analytics and utilizes this information to modify training curricula and certification design. The feedback loop continuously aligns KLA-Tencor’s talent management process with evolving business requirements.

System DesignThe system design required four capabilities:

1. Ability to track task completions in both instructor-led andon-the-job-training environments. It must cover all the required certification skills for a given product and track completions across all individuals who require the skill regardless of location.

2. Ability to provide task-based skill assessments that automaticallydrive remediation activities to improve skills where needed.

3. Analytical capabilities that allow the Service, and Learning,organizations to review ROI data related to field task activity, completion rates, and qualitative assessment feedback.

4. A closed-loop workflow process that drives changes to trainingtasks and enables compliance across the global learning population.

The Right People, Right Knowledge workflow (Develop a tasklist, Train them on the tasks, Practice it by OJT to gain certification, Perform an annual skill assessment) incorporates two distinct feedback loops. One loop ensures that service engineers are able to maintain their skill set over time and acquire any new learning created due to system/process changes. The second loop brings feedback from quantitative and qualitative data back into the cur-ricula structure, enabling continuous improvement.

OUTSTANDINGTRAINING INITIATIVES


2015 HALL OF FAME/OTI

ImplementationTo automate the business process, the Learning and Knowledge Services team realized that an online database with integrated automated workflows was needed. After an extensive analysis, the team created a custom, internally built system with an expandable Web-based design that integrated with the company’s learning management system (LMS).

After system development, a skill assessment was distributed across all of KLA-Tencor’s Service engineers (more than 1,000 individuals) covering more than 80 products. For each task, the engineers were asked two questions:

1. Are you capable of doing the task? Rated on a scale from “I don’t know how” to “I can teach it to others”

2. How frequently do you do the task? Rated on a scale from “Never” to “More than two times per year”

Based on their responses, the system assigned engineers a required training task. More than 100,000 remediation activi-ties were identified and more than 200 courses were created to facilitate. As part of the process, engineers and their managers were tracked on training activities with a 95 percent completion rate by year-end.

In addition, the Learning and Service management teams reviewed the data to identify systemic gaps in the curricula, resulting in more than 2,000 changes in the training and certification designs.

At a minimum, annual assessments are done, with additional assessments performed in between cycles to keep up with new product introductions and rapid product changes. Currently, KLA-Tencor is on its third assessment cycle.

ResultsLevel 2: More than 98 percent of approximately 100,000 tasks

were successfully assessed and approved by an experienced mentor.Level 3: After the second assessment cycle for the same popula-

tion, a 75 percent improvement in overall knowledge/implementation across all the products KLA-Tencor supports has been recorded. This spans more than 3,000 individual certifications.

Level 4: Online skill tracking and curricula improvement/streamlining efforts based on Right Person, Right Knowledge have enabled a decrease of average time in training for an engineer by 15 percent without any negative impact to service quality.

Level 5: A direct cost savings of more than $1 million per year was realized due to decreased overall training requirements implemented in the program’s first year. Additional year-over-year cost savings of $1 million are estimated due to additional continuous improvement efforts that will be identified by the Right Person, Right Knowledge program.

Verizon: Tech University (Tech U) —Deductive ReasoningWith the accelerating pace of technological change, Verizon’s Wire-less Customer Service executives were looking for a way to “future proof” Technical Support (TS)—preparing 3,880 TS representatives to support the current, as well as future unknown emerging wireless

technologies. In addition, executives were tasked with reducing costly transactions that frequently stem from ineffective TS trouble-shooting. As a result, in late 2013, a strategic business initiative, Tech Transformation, was born.

Tech Transformation is governed by executives from Customer Service (CS), HR, IT, L&D, and Marketing. A Tech Advisory Group (TAG) led by CS Operations and consisting of TS leaders and TS rep-resentatives advises and oversees the output from four workstreams: Employee Development, Knowledge Management, Diagnostic Tools, and Cross-Functional Alignment. L&D has joint accountability for the Employee Development and Knowledge Management workstreams.

TAG and L&D determined that gaps in TS representatives’ overall technical competency were leading to high and costly Remedy Ticket Volume, Certified Like New Replacement Devices / No Trouble Found (CLNR/NTF), and 3-Day Repeat Calls. Through root cause analysis, TAG and L&D determined that in order to achieve 2014 cost savings targets, TS representatives needed a new foundational troubleshooting approach, as well as improved device troubleshoot-ing and advanced network provisioning skills. As a result, L&D created Tech U to address these key technical support skill sets, accelerate employee knowledge/capability, and achieve the cost savings targets and training ROI through performance improvement.

The first Tech U initiatives developed to be delivered in 2014 were: Deductive Reasoning, Device Troubleshooting, and Network Provi-sioning. Deductive Reasoning was completed from March through June 2014. Device Troubleshooting began in August 2014 and is still in progress. Network Provisioning started in January 2015.

Program DetailsThe overall learning architecture was based on a “life cycle” of learning rather than one training event. The approach consisted of pre-learning communication to TS representatives by TS leaders to establish the “what” and “why” for Deductive Reasoning. A formal, four-hour instructor-led module was developed for the baseline learning. Within that module, recorded real customer calls and “real-plays” using Captivate simulations were used to make the learning “real world” and relevant. An online assessment was developed to assess post-training knowledge attainment.

A demonstration activity called “Prove It” was developed for TS leaders to assess TS representatives’ skill and behavior change post-training on the floor. During “Prove It,” TS representatives are given various scenarios where they have to demonstrate their deductive reasoning skills in action. TS leaders observe the dem-onstration and use a scoring matrix to evaluate the representatives and to provide feedback immediately following the demonstration. Additionally, post-training booster communications and reinforce-ment tools were developed for TS leaders.

CS executives designated the director of Technical Support as the project sponsor. CS also “loaned” a TS subject matter expert (SME) to the instructional design team for the duration of the development process. TS training delivery staff facilitated the formal learning program. The delivery approach was “top down/leaders first.” TS leaders then attended sessions with their representatives to provide




support and coaching. TS leaders also were trained to execute the “Prove It” portion of the learning process, as well as to reinforce the Deductive Reasoning concepts back on the floor.

ResultsLevel 2: 97 percent assessment average pass rate (12 percent

higher than targeted pass rate of 85 percent). Level 3: 85.5 percent of the “Prove Its” are complete with an

average pass rate of 95.6 percent. 54 percent of participants said they practice the Deductive Reasoning key behaviors more frequently post-training.

Level 4: Mid-year Remedy Ticket Volume decreased nearly 5 percent year on year. CLNR/NTF decreased 2.9 percent. 3-Day Repeat Calls decreased 2.7 percent. Verizon is tracking toward an annualized savings of more than $13 million with just one of the three Tech U modules fully deployed.

Level 5: Overall three-month ROI of training was 3.4 percent. For every $1 spent on training, $1.034 was returned to the business.

Microsoft: The Readiness Edge Always On Program Keeping Microsoft Sales, Marketing, and Services employees apprised of the spectrum of devices and services Microsoft offers is critical to helping them to promote, sell, and deploy the products.

The accelerating pace of innovation and competition created a need for a new, agile, instant publishing program that could record and distribute training content in as little as 24 hours, reaching Microsoft employees across the globe.

In response, Microsoft created the Always On Program, which publishes short videos (less than 10 minutes) throughout the year to offer just-in-time training beginning on the day new products and services are released. Always On supports all main product releases, product updates, and corporate initiatives.

Program DetailsThe Always On Program began as an extension of The Readi-ness Edge training program, which produces online, video-based courses required for the Microsoft Sales, Marketing, and Services Group’s approximately 45,000 employees. Always On expands that audience to encompass all of Microsoft (approximately 128,000 employees). The program’s audience now includes 8 percent of Engineering and 15 percent of all Microsoft employees, many of whom have viewed several videos (viewing is optional).

Always On consists of three series addressing urgent business needs:

Demo Rock Star includes product demos for both consumers and enterprise customers.Out of the Box shows the latest Windows hardware available

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Today: celebrate.Tomorrow: accelerate.There’s no better reason to celebrate than a well-deserved award. At EY, we couldn’t be happier for the Training Top 125 organizations. We hope you’ll join us in congratulating them. Cheers!

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from both Microsoft (e.g., Surface) and Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) partners.On the Edge covers breaking news and major announcements.

Strong relationships with internal stakeholders have given The Readiness Edge team a deep understanding of business needs and working closely with subject matter experts helps the team to develop the right level of content for each video. Internal processes and an informal format enable The Readiness Edge team to produce and edit videos quickly and secure final sign-off from topic owners in a short timeframe.

A channel on an internal, SharePoint-based, searchable platform hosts Always On content. Microsoft employees can access videos from outside the firewall using their Microsoft credentials, thanks to a recent migration of the delivery platform to the Microsoft Cloud.

Videos may be tagged by product, series, Microsoft organization, business group, and channel. Each of the three Always On series has its own sub-page below the channel’s main page. Always On videos may be cross-posted to other channels relevant to the content. Links to timely Always On videos appear on the Microsoft Web (MSW) home page and in the weekly MSW newsletter.

To promote awareness and consumption, Always On videos are advertised at events such as MGX (Microsoft Global Exchange) with 10,000 to 15,000 attendees. Always On periodically hosts contests requiring employees to watch a video in order to enter to

win prizes such as an Xbox or a Windows Phone. Additionally, users can provide real-time feedback using Yammer, an enterprise social networking service that is integrated with the Always On channel.

ResultsProduction time for training videos has been reduced from several months to 24 to 48 hours. For fiscal year 2014 (July 1, 2013–June 30, 2014), the goal was for Always On to deliver at least 80 videos; reach 10,000 unique users in Microsoft; and achieve 25,000 views. Since its inception in May 2013, Always On has published 143 videos that have been watched by 22,000 unique users in Microsoft, resulting in more than 67,000 views. These metrics have allowed the Always On Channel to consistently rank in the top three most popular channels on the internal platform.

The ability to provide new product training to employees on the day products launch has resulted in a surge of requests from internal business groups for the Always On modality. As such, the program has been pivotal in driving ad hoc readiness for products such as Surface 2, Surface Pro 3, OneDrive for Business, Office for iPad, Windows 8.1 Update, and Windows Phone 8.1.

Editor’s Note: Microsoft submitted its 2014 Hall of Fame Outstanding Training Initiative in September 2014. It subsequently elected to come out of the Hall of Fame as of December 2014.

Providing an extraordinary environment for senior living starts with extraordinary employees. At Vi, we’re committed to supporting the growth of our employees through engaging opportunities such as our Leadership Institute and Management Development Program. We’re proud to be honored as a leader in employee development and recognized by Training magazine as a Top 125 recipient for a fifth year in a row. But what we’re most proud of is our high employee satisfaction scores and strong employee retention rates. Vi. An exceptional place to work, learn and grow.

Our employees make a difference in people’s lives. And we’re committed to making a difference in theirs.

Learn more at ViLiving.com/Company/Careers.

1 2 Keller Williams NFP 104,102 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Realty, Inc. U.S. Austin, TX 107,565 Real Estate/Insurance Global

2 1 Jiffy Lube NFP 20,000 25/6,000/50 NFP NFP Yes Yes International U.S. Houston, TX Retail

3 3 Capital BlueCross $2B 1,725 68/4/429 $17.7M 10 Yes Yes Harrisburg, PA U.S. U.S. Health/Medical Services

4 4 CHG Healthcare NFP 1,789 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Services U.S. Salt Lake City, UT Health/Medical Services

5 9 Blue Cross Blue $21.3B 7,707 115/5/158 NFP NFP Yes Yes Shield of Michigan U.S. U.S. Detroit, MI Health Insurance


* New entry; not ranked in the 2014 Top 125

Training Company Name/ Total Budget as a Tuition2015 2014 Location/ Annual No. of No. of Trainers Training Percentage Reimburse- Training Rank Rank Primary Business Revenue Employees Full-Time/Part-Time/SMEs Budget of Payroll ment Infrastructure

RANKINGS 1-5

TOPTOPTOP125125125

Keller Williams Realty, Inc. To help real estate agents increase the profitability of their businesses, Keller Williams Realty offers BOLD: Business Objective, Life by Design. This transformative program increases sales through the relentless pursuit of leads and business-building activities. Over the course of 7 weeks, BOLD conditions agents with mindset exercises, language techniques, and lead-generation activities. Participants are assigned to accountability teams and challenged to push each other to achieve big results. BOLD attracts real estate professionals from brokerages and brands throughout the industry, many of whom sign up every time it is offered. BOLD graduates increased their income by 175% over non-BOLD agents in 2014.

Jiffy Lube International Certification in technical skills is key to Jiffy Lube’s success since technicians must be certified in order to perform a service. More than 175,000 certifications were earned in 2013 and 2.2 million hours invested in training. In the last 3 years, certification levels have gone up and the total hours of training has more than doubled. Today, 41% of all stores are at 100% certification and these stores have higher customer service scores in all 15 categories, 1.5% higher average revenue per customer, and 2% higher customer counts than the system average. OTI

Capital BlueCross Breakthrough Leadership immerses participants in leadership challenges of past leaders and applies the lessons learned to current business decisions. This 12-month journey culminates with the defining learning moment occurring at Gettysburg National Battlefield, where the behaviors and decisions of key leaders from the battle are analyzed. Metric highlights: 71% of graduates promoted; 2 promoted to the Executive Team; 100% of graduates served on a strategic advisory group to senior executives resulting in new strategic directions; and 100% of graduates were selected to lead strategy action teams designed to identify process improvement opportunities.

CHG Healthcare Services The Soar mentoring program provides growth and development opportunities to up-and-comers from 1 CHG division through hands-on project work. Accepted applicants enter a year-long program where they are paired with a mentor. The group of Soar inductees then tackles a large-scale problem facing the division that year. Division leaders provide oversight, but the Soar participants have full ownership over the project. Not only does the Soar team produce business-altering innovations each year, but this formalized roadmap for career advancement has successfully addressed the low growth and development marks on employee surveys, increasing positive responses by as much as 39%.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan To guide the organization through national health-care reform and transformational change, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan built a Leadership Competency Framework that keeps the company focused on developing the skills necessary for success in a new world. Twelve competencies are grouped under 3 themes: Deliver Results, Lead People, and Build for the Future. The framework provides alignment between training and the company’s strategic goals and also has been incorporated into performance reviews and leader development. Training is mapped by leadership competency. Each month, more than 400 company leaders voluntarily take part in a Webinar series that provides techniques for enhancing one of the leadership competencies.

NFP Information provided, but not for publication ND Information not disclosed N/A Not applicable BP Honored for Best Practice OTI Honored for Outstanding Training Initiative

eller Williams Realty, Inc., is a real estate franchise built by agents for agents, and all of its training is developed by studying and modeling the behaviors of its most successful business leaders. Clearly, this strategy is working as Keller Williams not only notched the top spot on the 2015 Training Top 125 but also increased agent count by 18 percent and saw agent commis-sions rise 16 percent. The other Top 125ers likewise demonstrated a strong focus on effective training and employee development tied to corporate strategic goals and Kirkpatrick Level 3

and 4 results. Some 27 newcomers earned a spot on the list this year, the 15th in a row Training has ranked the top companies of employer-sponsored workforce training and development.

Each Top 125 company was measured on quantitative (70 percent of total score) and qualitative (30 percent of total score) data. Factors influencing the rankings include: Training tied to business objectives

of payroll. And much, much more. An outside research and statistical data company, under the guidance of Training magazine, scored companies on this data supplied by applicants. Then, Training’s editor-in-chief and the Training Top 10 Hall of Famers qualitatively reviewed the applications.

Best Practices and Outstanding Training Initiatives also are recognized in this issue (beginning on p. 102). Learn about Genentech, Inc.’s CareerLab; Mountain America Credit Union’s Flow Philosophy Training; Rent-A-Center’s Mobile Revolution; and more. Congratulations to this year’s Training Top 125!


Additional Information

K


6 11 ABF Freight $1.7M 11,825 55/72/247 NFP NFP Yes Yes Fort Smith, AR Global U.S. Transportation/Utilities 13,609 Global

7 6 McCarthy Building $3.2B 1,542 9/13/214 NFP NFP Yes Yes Companies, Inc. U.S. U.S. St. Louis, MO Construction

8 25 Wequassett Resort $20M 395 1/14/14 NFP NFP Yes Yes and Golf Club U.S. U.S. Chatham, MA Hospitality

9 17 Capital One NFP 41,387 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Richmond,VA U.S. Finance/Banking 45,364 Global

10 39 Nationwide Mutual NFP 33,619 430/90/345 NFP NFP Yes Yes Insurance Company U.S. Columbus, OH Real Estate/Insurance

11 47 Northwestern $26B 5,000 63/85/1,000 $30M 10 Yes Yes Mutual U.S. U.S. Milwaukee, WI Financial Services

12 125 Novo Nordisk, Inc. NFP 6,533 87/0/14 $38.4M 6 Yes Yes Plainsboro, NJ U.S. Health/Medical 40,700 Services Global

13 16 Paychex, Inc. $2.5B 12,600 224/1,148/1,259 $16.9M 1.67 Yes Yes Rochester, NY Global Global Business Services

14 5 Mohawk $7.3B 19,142 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Industries, Inc. Global U.S. Calhoun, GA 32,201 Manufacturing Global

15 32 WellSpan Health NFP 11,227 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes York, PA U.S. Health/Medical Services



RANKINGS 6-15


ABF Freight ABF’s sales classes combine lecture with games, role-plays, computer work, and other activities. Changing gears every 10 to 15 minutes, the classes make it easy to learn. One class focuses on how to create value for customers by illustrating how ABF’s product, though higher in price, can be used as a strategic advantage by customers. ABF also trains on networking strategies that enable account managers to reach decision-makers within customers’ organizations with complex supply chain needs that can be satisfied with ABF’s Global product. Through this training, ABF’s Global business grew by 48% last year.

McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. McCarthy’s “Build For Life” Wellness program offers comprehensive wellness training resulting in the company’s employee-owners developing a personalized wellness plan, setting/achieving personal goals, and earning premium reductions and other rewards for participating in educational sessions. Wellness training has exploded, with virtual instructor-led training participation increasing 125%, instructor-led training 266%, and online training 215%. Through this focused effort on employee-owner education, McCarthy has achieved a 5% cost reduction between 2012 and 2013 (contributing to substantial plan savings of approxi-mately $1 million per year), and 50% reduced health-care spending (medical and prescription) from 7 to 9% to 4.8% for 2013.

Wequassett Resort and Golf Club Guests return each year due to the company’s philosophy of customer intimacy. The training provided to Wequassett’s employees creates a culture that caters to the resort’s guests and personalizes each interaction. Wequassett encourages its team to ask pointed questions to find out what makes guests the happiest and then deliver on what they find. Wequassett has created life-long relationships through this training philosophy. Customer loyalty is Wequassett’s highest revenue stream each season. Some 5,193 room nights were booked by repeat guests, the most in any market segment. These room nights combined for the most total revenue in any segment, totaling more than $3 million in revenue for the resort.

Capital One Innovation is about living and working every day in a completely new way. To achieve a new goal, Capital One’s UK business needed to change the way it approached day-to-day work. Through the Innovation Program, associates were introduced to a new methodology and asked to bring a fresh approach to their work. These associates know data, but Capital One asked them to go beyond the data to make a difference for customers and associates by asking “what if?” and solving problems creatively. One business success of the Innovation Program was a 30% reduction in customers waiting for a decision on a credit limit increase.

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company The Leadership Matters (LM) curriculum focuses on developing new Nationwide leaders and helping current leaders position their teams for success. Innovative learning techniques include two hours of coaching for each new leader, assessment tools, social media collaboration communities for leaders who have completed the program, and leadership dialogues. After 1 year of program delivery, key metrics show a 59% lower turnover for new leaders participating in LM compared to new leaders who did not participate, and improved productivity/efficiency of 8.28% for teams reporting to an LM participant as compared to similar non-participating leaders’ teams. OTI

Northwestern Mutual Faced with a mobile and independent sales force, Northwestern Mutual was challenged to provide meaningful, credible, and easily ac-cessed learning resources that would be accepted and utilized by its representatives. In 2013, it responded with the development of E3, a mobile, peer-to-peer multimedia training portal. E3 is Education + Expertise = Empowerment. It was designed to deliver timely, relevant video and audio content, on a variety of proprietary sales methods and product topics that can be experienced in as little as 5 minutes.

Novo Nordisk, Inc. Novo Nordisk places a major emphasis on development, with individual development plans and 1:1 manager discussions happening on a regular basis. Managers listen and respond to the needs of the business and all their stakeholders. Leveraging technology to include more on-demand training while lowering costs, Novo Nordisk launched The Learning Library, providing a 1-stop portal for all leadership resources. Taking social learning to new heights, it also launched MY MENTORING, a social learning platform supporting long-term and “in the moment” individual and group mentoring engagements. Most impor-tantly, Novo Nordisk takes learning and development seriously, documenting efficiency savings, effectiveness, and direct business impact.

Paychex, Inc. In fiscal year 2014, Paychex increased its Webinar offerings by 39%, with a total of 14,595 participants attending a variety of seminars. Interactiv-ity was increased through the use of chat, polling, and blackboard work. Feedback has been positive, with participants relating the interactivity to increased focus during Webinars. More than 96% indicated skill or knowledge increased. In addition to monetary savings through reduction of travel costs, employees enjoy the flexibility of virtual training, which enables them to accomplish work outside of virtual training sessions. Enrollment has increased 61% for field employees and supports the company goal of developing and retaining employees.

Mohawk Industries, Inc. Mohawk’s manufacturing facilities require employees to maintain up-to-date certifications as a component of productivity, quality, and safety goals. While Mohawk values external certification programs, the company also develops internal certifications. For instance, the “analytical methods of training” program certifies each employee as a “master” of his or her job, requiring demonstrations of proficiency for each component task that constitutes the job. Many certification programs are deployed across the enterprise, including Six Sigma Certification for Champions, Six Sigma Black and Green Belt Certifications, Lean certification in 5S Productivity, SPHR certification for Human Resource professionals, and Microsoft Office certifications for administrative professionals.

Wellspan Health WellSpan’s Nurse Residency Program assists newly graduated nurses in navigating the transition from new graduate to staff nurse. Often unprepared for the emotional demands of the job and lacking time management skills and critical thinking skills to transfer classroom learning to real-life experience, they are at high risk for resigning employment within their first year, placing a significant financial burden on the system. WellSpan’s year-long Residency program offers the customary orientation program, 12-week preceptorship, mentoring assistance, and monthly “Tales from the Trenches”/professional development sessions. As a result, new graduate turnover has decreased from 15% in 2011, prior to the implementation of the program, to 0% in 2013, resulting in a $408,517 cost reduction.






RANKINGS 16-25

16 23 Buckman NFP 478 U.S. 20/90/175 NFP NFP Yes Yes Laboratories 1,570 International, Inc. Global Memphis, TN Manufacturing

17 24 Edward Jones $5.5B 36,575 364/57/9,456 $74M 2.7 Yes Yes St. Louis, MO U.S. U.S. Finance/Banking $5.7B 38,479 Global Global

18 20 ADP, LLC $12.2B 35,615 640/10/990 NFP NFP Yes Yes Roseland, NJ Global U.S. Business Services 61,000 Global

19 14 CareSource NFP 1,944 19/4/20 NFP NFP Yes Yes Dayton, OH U.S. Health/Medical Services

20 53 University Hospitals $2.3B 17,437 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Shaker Heights,OH U.S. U.S. Health/Medical Services

21 19 Gables Residential $213.7M 1,222 11/3/75 $2.3M 3.51 Yes Yes Atlanta,GA U.S. U.S. Real Estate/Insurance

22 31 Baylor Scott NFP 33,712 NFP/NFP/NFP $115.9M 9 Yes Yes and White Health U.S. Dallas, TX Health/Medical Services

23 26 Dollar General $17.5B 101,348 77/1,805/10,790 NFP NFP Yes Yes Corporation U.S. U.S. Goodlettsville, TN 101,420 Retail Global

24 75 Birmingham Water NFP 623 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Works Board U.S. Birmingham, AL Transportation/Utilities

25 35 Walgreens $72B 240,000 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Deerfield,IL U.S. U.S. Retail



Buckman Laboratories International, Inc. A 1-week experiential leadership program for high-potential associates is built around Buckman’s vision and values. Over 8 years, this program has taken 150 leaders through a challenging set of scenarios learning about themselves and what it takes to be a leader. The program creates a development bridge for individual contributors as they become leaders. As a result, new leaders share a common cultural experience, create develop-ment plans with executive coaches, and learn how to better engage with their teams. Buckman’s Associate engagement surveys rank in the top 5% of its peer group in Associate satisfaction with managers, quality of development opportunities, and Associate connection to the organization’s mission.

Edward Jones To deliver efficient training to its largest population of 2,200 Level 4 branch teams, Edward Jones created a blended learning experience high-lighted by 8 monthly live Webinars in 2012. The just-profitable branch teams—typically 1 financial advisor and 1 branch office administrator—attend the Strive to 5 Webinars together without leaving the branch. Strive to 5 produced dramatic and sustainable business gains, and velocity in moving teams to Levels 5 to 10 quickly, as well as higher client satisfaction ratings. More than 1,000 branch teams enroll in the course annually, and the firm’s overall Level 4 branch-team performance has improved, too. ADP, LLC “Learning Bytes” are 2-minute chunks of just-in-time learning solutions targeted at precise information, available 24/7 across the enterprise. Utilizing a common platform, Learning Bytes were designed to provide clients and associates with demonstrations on various tasks, many of which are performed infre-quently. Maximizing the stickiness factor, Learning Bytes act as reminders, reinforcements, and teaching devices. Metrics of success include: reduced develop-ment time 50%; reduced client curriculum training from 24 hours to 7 hours (70% reduction); developed 500 individual Learning Bytes, available 24/7 across the enterprise; significantly reduced calls into the service center.

CareSource The “Leadership Transition Coaching” (LTC) program is led by a CareSource University and International Coaching Federation Professional Certified Coach, and provides 6 months of coaching to new and newly promoted leaders. Program goals include more rapid acclimation to the CareSource culture, helping with the challenges new leaders face, and establishing a culture of high employee engagement. Leaders who have been through the LTC program scored higher in 14 of 15 areas of organizational strength and demonstrated a 91% increase in confidence to achieve expectations from the start of the program to completion. The program also identified an overall savings of $744,632 and produced a return on investment of 211%.

University Hospitals To meet the needs of its current workforce and to fill the talent pipeline with qualified candidates, University Hospitals (UH) partnered with multiple nonprofit organizations in Northeast Ohio communities to address workforce improvement and economic development needs. Through innovative approaches to education, career counseling, talent development, and training, UH is able to enhance employee engagement and drive organizational success. Programs such as Step Up to UH and Bridge to Your Future support the company’s mission to help individuals explore and pursue health-care careers, as well as to broaden their knowledge and skills that support personal and professional growth. OTI

Gables Residential Engage, Connect, Inspire (ECI) provides sales associates with a fun, interactive, and effective learning experience. ECI is delivered over 1 week with opportunities to immediately apply classroom learning in a real-world setting. Sales associates are guided to demonstrate not only the value of Gables Residential’s communities, but what it will feel like to call one of those communities home. ECI incorporates videos, some “starring” Gables Residential associates demonstrating best practices. Facilitators also use experiential learning activities, such as peeling an orange, to understand how powerful questions can peel back layers of customer information. As a result, there has been a 15% increase in customer satisfaction scores. OTI

Baylor Scott and White Health In FY’14, 420 new first-line supervisors were required to take 40 hours of blended learning instruction, and 3 e-learning courses. This in-cluded training in the 10 supervisor-level competencies, role transition, policies, systems, and tools. Courses include pre-reading, e-learning, on-demand videos, interviews with successful leaders, creation of development plans, participation in Learning Circles led by executives, classroom work, and an assessment of leadership competen-cies by the learner’s leader. Learners rated their courses 4.82 out of 5 for overall value. Their retention of knowledge was 90%.

Dollar General Corporation With the company mission of “Serving Others,” one of the main focuses of Dollar General training is to educate employees about the needs and desires of their core customers. Dollar General accomplishes this through a training program called “Know Your Customer,” which teaches em-ployees about core customer individual needs and buying habits. Employees from part-time associates to officers complete the program and are empowered to make a difference to serve Dollar General’s customers and ultimately live the mission of Serving Others. Since the inception of the program, customer satisfaction scores have risen by more than 7%.

Birmingham Water Works Board Safety is equal with production and quality at the Birmingham Water Works Board (BWWB). The organization’s Safety First mantra is communicated, practiced, and observed daily. Safety training is not only conducted for compliance requirements, it’s also conducted to help employees be successful. In FY’13, BWWB focused on safety performance rather than compliance. This disruptive thinking approach resulted in making a positive impact on BWWB’s overall safety culture. Safety training became more relevant, job performance increased, and hazard assessments improved. This also changed how employees viewed safety training. Employee engagement in safety training increased; coaching became more positive and less disciplinary; injuries decreased; and employee safety morale improved.

Walgreens Equipping and inspiring Walgreens team members to deliver “Extraordinary Customer Care” (ECC) is critical to company success. Walgreens Uni-versity delivers innovative, blended, leader-led ECC learning to 240,000 retail, pharmacy, call center, field, and corporate team members. Retail and call center leader tool kits include discussion cards about each ECC behavior, posters and reference cards for reinforcement, coaching cards for observation and feedback, and “learning bursts” (short events to reinforce ECC behaviors throughout the year). The latest effort, ECC for Everyone, challenges 5,000+ district, market, and corporate employees to internalize retail realities and set personal targets to positively affect customers. BP



26 12 Health Care NFP 18,600 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Service Corporation U.S. Chicago, IL Real Estate/Insurance

27 30 DEFENDER Direct $495M 2,100 21/18/12 $8.7M 7.1 Yes Yes Indianapolis, IN U.S. U.S. Consumer Products/ Services

28 13 Economical NFP 2,200 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Insurance Global Waterloo, ON, Canada Real Estate/ Insurance

29 122 BNSF Railway NFP 47,629 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Fort Worth, TX U.S. Transportation/Utilities 47,706 Global

30 49 Century 21 NFP 102,140 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Real Estate LLC Global Madison, NJ Real Estate/Insurance

31 36 Avanade NFP 2,000 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Seattle, WA U.S. Technology 7,000 Global

32 43 Gilbane NFP 2,448 6/12/172 NFP NFP Yes Yes Providence, RI U.S. Construction

33 * Genentech, Inc. NFP 13,561 NFP/0/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes San Francisco, CA U.S. Biotechnology/ Pharmaceutical

34 8 Coldwell Banker NFP 78,000 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Real Estate LLC U.S. Madison, NJ 84,000 Real Estate/Insurance Global

35 64 Florida Blue NFP 5,918 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Jacksonville, FL U.S. Health Insurance



RANKINGS 26-35



Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC) HCSC created a corporate goal challenging employees to be internal and external role models for wellness and community involvement. The goal was summed up by the mantra: Know Your Business, Know Your Communities, Know Your Numbers, and Make a Difference. Collaborating with senior leadership, Corporate Learning and Development defined specific role-model activities related to each element of the mantra that would fulfill the goal. Learning and Talent educated and engaged the workforce in becoming role models through the delivery of several role-based learning solutions and communications. Following the training, more than 10,000 employees have completed a role-model activity by volunteering in the community or completing wellness activities.

DEFENDER Direct “We are called to grow and inspire leaders who love and serve people, and we believe everyone is a leader.” This statement drives DEFENDER Direct’s efforts, enabling it to support each team member to realize their leadership potential in their job, family, and community. All employees participate in the DEFENDER Leadership Advantage programs to grow in emotional, physical, and financial well-being. The suite of offerings has allowed DEFENDER Direct to develop leadership skills necessary to fill every level of its leadership pipeline, from front-line to senior management, with more than 80% of its management positions filled internally.

Economical Insurance In 2014, Economical Insurance provided 25 employees from the lines of business with a job rotation opportunity in Learning and Education. It was conducted over 16 weeks with the goal of providing subject matter expertise into the development of 5 days of end-user training material, a 5-day train-the-trainer program, and facilitation of underwriting technology and process training to support the company’s new underwriting model. The facilita-tors participated in a comprehensive 1-week train-the-trainer program to kick off the job rotation at the head office. The train-the-trainer program had 3 main objectives: understanding adult learning principals, creating environments conducive to learning, and demonstrating ability to facilitate.

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway leverages coaches to accelerate development, transition leaders to new roles, and optimize performance with a results-oriented process. Leadership Insight is a 14-month program. After a 2-day assessment, leaders work with their coach to implement a development plan with support from their supervisor and HR leader; 249 leaders served in 2013. People Leader Training is a 2-day program. Annual training for 5,400 leaders includes team and 1-1 coaching (1/table of 5-6 participants). Programs strengthen leader capability and contribute to goals for development and internal promotion; 96% of senior director and above positions were filled internally in 2013. In early 2013, BNSF was recognized by the Dallas International Coach Federation for outstanding use of coaches for leadership development.

Century 21 Real Estate LLC Advance is a Century 21 University broker-owner regeneration and enhancement program. Its objective is to help affiliated compa-nies recapture market share and improve their independent sales agents’ production. It blends traditional classroom, virtual online classroom, self-paced modules, cloud-based streaming video, social learning, and, most importantly, multi-month, 1-on-1 business development calls from university advisors. Advance assists participants to increase their income through net agent growth and increased per-agent productivity. For the first few classes, sales transactions and income by companies completing Advance were significantly higher than companies not in the program (in similar markets).

Avanade The Executive Forum is designed to advance Avanade’s high-potential executives and prepare them to successfully lead global IT challenges. Nominated participants go through a 6-month journey of blended learning programs consisting of 3 classroom trainings, multiple virtual seminars, and project work. As a result of the so-far completed 6 forums, Avanade has promoted 25 percent of the participants to the next career level and launched multiple key business initiatives (an outcome of project work), including Avanade Market Place — App Store, increasing direct sales and more.

Gilbane Fast Start for New Managers is a 12-month accelerated program for new managers. They are sent a comprehensive Fast Start Handbook to use as a support tool that enables them to immediately act in their new roles. The program formally kicks off with a virtual orientation. Managers then attend “Getting Started as a New Leader: Your Leadership Journey” to develop leadership behaviors crucial to effective management. This blended approach decreases ramp-up time by giving managers the knowledge/skills to lead/coach. In the first year of the program, turnover of new managers is 5 times lower than the industry average for similar positions, and 15% of program participants have been promoted again.

Genentech, Inc. Genentech’s CareerLab is a learning resource that supports the career aspirations of all employees, from building skills to mentoring to mastery of domain knowledge in various business and scientific areas. Employees take advantage of career consultations, LearningLabs, mentoring, workshops, and online resources to further develop their careers. Demand for the CareerLab services has continued to increase, and as a result, according to a 2014 career development impact study, employees who took advantage of career development services reported a higher engagement with their work, improved career conversations with managers, stronger likeliness to remain with Genentech, and an improvement in productivity and quality. BP

Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC The Leadership Development Program is designed to increase an office manager’s knowledge, skill, and ability to lead a pro-ductive and profitable office. Participants receive assignments to prepare them for each monthly Webinar. During Webinars, participants share best practices and lessons learned. Following each Webinar, participants receive business assignments to apply what they have learned. Participants are nominated by their owner, who also serves as their coach. Coaches review work and approve actions prior to them being taken. Key performance indicators, for 2014, showed per-person dollar volume of sales was up 47%, while the number of listings taken was up 33%, reflecting a substantial increase in current and future business.

Florida Blue The Sales Talent Management Program is a multi-week training program for new telesales agents within the Blue Direct Sales Center. The program provides these new hires with the required knowledge and skills to meet changing needs of the health-care industry, and contribute increased revenue via a shorted time to competency. Program results have shown a consistent decrease in time to competency from 9 months (prior to program implementation) to 3 months for most program graduates. For 2013, 77% of new agents achieved this metric, supporting sales and revenue goals for the Center.



36 33 Afni NFP 4,834 82/191/30 NFP NFP Yes Yes Bloomington, IL U.S. Contact Center 5,435 Provider Global

37 51 Rent-A-Center $3.1B 22,000 70/600/4,500 $12.5M 1.78 Yes Yes Plano, TX Global Global Retail

38 88 DaVita Healthcare $11.7B U.S. 56,074 502/5,000/1,918 $231.94M 10.61 Yes Yes Partners U.S. U.S. Denver, CO $11.8B 57,317 Health/Medical Global Global Services

39 18 BB&T Corporation NFP 33,768 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Winston-Salem, NC U.S. Finance/Banking

40 50 ConAgra Foods, Inc. NFP 29,788 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Omaha, NE U.S. Manufacturing 32,600 Global

41 98 Carilion Clinic NFP 11,980 137/37/157 NFP NFP Yes Yes Roanoke, VA U.S. Health/Medical Services

42 7 McDonald’s USA, LLC NFP 796,843 NFP/NFP/NFP $15M NFP Yes Yes Oak Brook, IL U.S. Hospitality 1.9M Global

43 57 Blue Cross & $6.4B 4,775 66/3/27 $14.2M 3.37 Yes Yes Blue Shield of NC U.S. U.S. Durham, NC Real Estate/Insurance

44 48 Miami Children’s $571.5M 3,541 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP 10 Yes Yes Hospital U.S. U.S. Miami, FL Health/Medical Services

45 90 SpawGlass NFP 560 1/6/100 NFP NFP Yes Yes Selma, TX U.S. Construction



RANKINGS 36-45



Afni Because coaches are integral to driving performance, Afni created the AchieveMore Coach Program. Upon hire, coaches receive a series of lessons designed to orient them into the company and the coach role, and a mentor who guides them through their first days. After initial onboarding, coaches are introduced to the Afni Coaching Model and Leadership Foundations, which broadens leadership skills. During these programs, coaches participate in pre-work, workshops, and periods of in-field support. Finally, coaches establish IDPs, which take them full circle in their growth. This approach has resulted in a 20% decrease in attrition since 2011 and improved performance that led to the strategic growth of 800 call center seats last year.

Rent-A-Center The Centers of Excellence infrastructure was at the heart of Rent-A-Center’s Mobile Revolution. All content was delivered via a Samsung Galaxy Note II and focused the learning experience around the company’s sales process and new Customer Lifestyle Profiles in order to create a phenomenal customer experience. With more than 6,000 coworkers to train during 4 weeks, Rent-A-Center prepared 18 trainers through an intensive 2-week train-the-trainer program followed by 80 Webinars and 40 2-day classroom sessions. All learners used a smartphone for training and to pass certification. As a result, Rent-A-Center is delivering at 110% of its financial model. OTI

DaVita Healthcare Partners DaVita University created a revamped Basic Training program for new nurses and patient care technicians (PCTs). Onboarding new teammates is important to introduce them to the DaVita Way and give them the skills and confidence to provide the highest quality care to patients. The updated content, intuitive training materials, new personalized trainer model, and follow-up tracking will ensure all new teammates are trained to the highest standards. The Day in the Life Portal has embedded video and links to all important classes and information, with the learning structured around a nurse’s and PCT’s day. The updated program is estimated to save the company money in reduced training time.

BB&T Corporation BB&T knows that self-awareness is critical to success in all areas of life. Its Managing Interpersonal Relationships course provides all employees with a profiling tool to identify their personal communication style and then focuses on strategies for utilizing that self-knowledge to relate more effectively to their co-workers and customers. This is a transformative experience for many employees that can have a positive impact on them both personally and professionally. Recent participant feedback included, “This is very useful not only for the workplace, but also in my personal life. I’m appreciative of the opportunity to receive this type of training—it will make me a better human being.”

ConAgra Foods, Inc. As part of ConAgra Foods’ Recipe for Growth, it is creating a culture of development in which its employees can discover their talents and advance their skills. Nourishing its people gets to the heart of how employees live and work at ConAgra Foods. The Enterprise Learning Team aims to build organizational capability, grow leadership, leverage talent, and optimize learning. Learning and development is an essential part of each workday. In the last fiscal year, ConAgra Foods employees completed more than 230,000 hours of learning via more than 9,000 different learning solutions.

Carilion Clinic Teaming with clinical care providers across the organization and implementing radio frequency identification equipment tracking saved nurses valuable time in tracking down health-care equipment, resulting in reduced delays for patient treatment. Pre-implementation assessments showed that the clinical team was wasting valuable time searching for missing equipment. This often led to new equipment purchases, rentals, and replacement costs. The Training team at Carilion Clinic designed a robust educational plan during all stages of implementation. This educational initiative generated a cost savings of approximately $354,000 for just one hospital facility at Carilion Clinic, but the real value is better care and quality outcomes for patients.

McDonald’s USA, LLC English Under the Arches (EUA) is a program of English as a Second Language (ESL) courses that improve communication, performance, confidence, and leadership of high-potential shift managers. Benefits to employer and employee include: attracts and retains long-term talent: 88% employee reten-tion 1 year after graduation, 78% 2 years after graduation, and 70% 3 years after graduation; increases speed to competency among a changing workforce: 87% increase in oral proficiency (2.5 times the national average of students in federally funded ESL programs); and promotes quality service by increasing confidence and competence to communicate with staff and customers.

Blue Cross & Blue Shield of North Carolina The transformational changes the health-care industry is undergoing has ushered in a tangible opportunity for revolution-ary learning and development. In a time when learners need relevant and applicable knowledge and skill-building solutions at their fingertips, BCBSNC has successfully assembled the right combination of best practices, with state-of-the-art technology, social media, and on-the-job immersion to drive optimal workforce performance. Much like its new Customer Service Professionals Development Program, Enterprise Learning & Development (EL&D) effectively aligns with the organizational strategy to achieve measurable outcomes that positively affect the bottom line, to the tune of a $2.9 million benefit to the organization and a 57% annualized return on the investment.

Miami Children’s Hospital Emerging Leaders explore individual contributor and leadership attributes based on a leadership profile of 67 competencies. Top, medium, and low leadership behaviors are identified. Through coaching and feedback, participants develop a 24-month competency development plan that aligns with MCH’s strategic direction and top desirable leadership skills. Participants are immersed in interactive, strategic, and operational decision-making sessions facilitated by leaders. Through situational challenges, participants experience what leaders deal with and recommend 1 solution for each challenge to be presented to senior leadership for approval. 11% of eligible employees were accepted into the program, and 55% were promoted within 2 years.

SpawGlass SpawGlass’ new 2-day onboarding Boot Camp program for new team members has drastically reduced the time it takes to get a new employee up to speed to be productive on a project. Project managers and superintendents were complaining that they were losing too much productive time explaining SpawGlass processes to new employees. Boot Camp educates and trains new team members in technical areas such as scheduling and PM software, concrete, quality control processes, scheduling basics, client satisfaction, safety, and other key processes. Results: New team members are spending less time asking questions and learning SpawGlass basics and are able to be productive immediately upon being assigned to a project.




46 28 Christiana Care NFP 10,568 135/700/3,000 NFP NFP Yes Yes Health System U.S. Newark, DE Health/Medical Services 47 38 Shape Corp NFP 2,100 12/33/57 NFP NFP Yes Yes Grand Haven, MI U.S. Manufacturing 3,300 Global

48 59 Best Buy $35.8B 105,000 100/150/5,500 $80M 8.3 Yes Yes Richfield, MN U.S. U.S. Retail $42.4B 140,000 Global Global

49 41 ESL Federal NFP 686 6/0/42 NFP 2 Yes Yes Credit Union U.S. Rochester, NY Finance/Banking

50 27 Caesars NFP 68,488 62/1,060/3,345 $7.5M NFP Yes Yes Entertainment U.S. Corporation 73,488 Las Vegas, NV Global Entertainment

51 52 Bankers Life NFP 1,923 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Chicago, IL U.S. Real Estate/Insurance

52 72 BP America NFP 9,300 155/252/500 $250M 6.2 Yes Yes Houston, TX U.S. Energy 24,700 Global

53 67 Discover Financial NFP 14,700 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Services Global Riverwoods, IL Finance/Banking

54 29 Shaw NFP 22,363 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Industries, Inc. U.S. Dalton, GA 22,686 Manufacturing Global

55 110 Western Union $5.5B 10,000 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Englewood, CO Global Global Finance/Banking


RANKINGS 46-55

Christiana Care Health System The Learning Institute’s Center for Transforming Leadership is dedicated to developing leaders from a foundation of 5 Leader-ship Behaviors and evidence-based leadership competencies from the National Center for Healthcare Leadership. The LEED-R (Leadership Excellence Education for Residents/Fellows) is a 2-week “elective” allowing residents from different disciplines to have dedicated time to learn knowledge, skills, and attitudes critical to be effective leaders. Residents/Fellows completed a “Leadership Challenge” project over 6 months, designed to engage them in key Christiana Care strategic ini-tiatives such as Cultural Competency. Residents evaluated on a scale of 1 (low) - 6 (high): Learning Effectiveness: 5.75; Job Impact: 5.63; Business Results: 5.57.

Shape Corp Technical expertise is a requirement for an automotive manufacturer as there are required cost-downs every year. To ensure technical competence, more than $3.5 million was spent obtaining advanced robotics equipment and developing the Steel Technologies Engineering Program (STEP). The STEP program stresses advanced engineering concepts and hands-on application in Shape Corp’s robotics lab. Curricula immerse learners in real-world scenarios that are moni-tored for testing and feedback. STEP graduates take this knowledge back into the workforce; as a result, ultra-high-strength steel scrap was reduced from $1.5 million in 2009 to $844,000 annualized in 2014, while time to troubleshoot a machine that “crashed” went from 44 minutes in 2009 to 20 minutes in 2014.

Best Buy Consistency in message, breadth of audience reach, efficient usage of multi-unit retail leaders’ time, strengthening of vendor relationships, and cost savings are benefits Best Buy realized after the Training, Learning and Development Team implemented virtual training as an enhancement to training programs throughout the organization. In support of strategic goals to improve sales and lower cost structure, a shift from classroom to virtual facilitation occurred to reach a broader audience and increase effectiveness of resource use (labor, travel dollars, and leaders’ time). This shift to virtual facilitation saved $75,000 in travel expenses for 1 leadership training program. Appliance unit sales increased threefold as a result of 1-hour virtual trainings offered to retail employees.

ESL Federal Credit Union The Finding Teller Differences class exemplifies the day-in-the-life approach that ESL Training and Performance specialists have found particularly effective in addressing performance issues within instructor-led training settings. Before each class, these specialists review actual teller differences that each participant has experienced in his or her job and then tailor the classroom materials and hands-on activities to address these specific, recurring kinds of errors. Year-to-date results suggest this targeted approach is paying dividends. For example, a recent Level 3 evaluation found that 30 days after classroom training, participants reduced their combined teller differences by 54.4%.

Caesars Entertainment Corporation Caesars Entertainment is in the entertainment business, focused on hospitality for guests, employees, and co-workers. The Service Recovery program provides solid links to business strategies and measurably supports organizational goals to ensure guests do not have to work while on vacation by providing leaders with the tools to proactively address and empower ALL employees to prevent service breakdowns and/or recover from mishaps. Using the model of REMIND, CORRECT, & RECOGNIZE, leaders are able to provide memorable experiences, personalize rewards, and delight every time. As a result, 83% of Caesars properties have positive growth in service scores, and 8 properties have doubled their annual target with a 6% or higher shift.

Bankers Life Top Gun seeks to increase veteran agent retention by addressing barriers to success experienced by agents entering their second year. The optional program (agents must apply and be accepted), designed hand in hand with the Agent Development and Top Gun Advisory committees, spans an agent’s second year and provides multiple touch points. Blending self-study, virtual instructor-led, live workshop, and mentorship components, Top Gun is built upon 4 success drivers identified by the committees: developing a Mindset for Success, improving Prospecting, moving from transactional to Relationship Selling, and actionable Goal Setting. The program has a high participation rate, and is successful in terms of both retention and sales.

BP America The Activity Planning Accelerated Development Program spans 1 year and offers formal and informal training, advanced learning technology, and technical coaching. One component, Leading Meetings, was designed to ensure that activity sets are delivered within functional constraints and approved budgets; that scheduled activities are ready for safe, efficient execution; and that delivery risks are managed. Some 81% of respondents felt Activity Planning had significant impacts on improving reliability/operational efficiency and increasing productivity, with performance expected to improve by 16%. 3 critical major projects were implemented in 2013, with unit operating cash margins expected to double compared to 2011.

Discover Financial Services Discover uses games and simulations to drive ongoing increases in agent performance. It uses a proprietary performance-based gaming system, “Discover Rumble,” in self-paced new-to-role training programs to help drive greater learning retention. Discover Rumble allows account managers to sign up for daily and monthly missions that target Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) related to the company goal of growing Discover business. Teams can challenge each other to performance-based competitions and participate in Rumble tournaments. Game credits earned on Rumble can be redeemed for company merchandise in the online Company Rewards Store.

Shaw Industries, Inc. With more than $1 billion invested in new equipment, new technology, and new processes over the last few years, almost every job at Shaw—from designers and data scientists to machinists and managers—requires a higher skill level than before. As a result, Shaw has helped develop an array of education programs to ensure the company has the highly skilled workforce necessary to meet current and future business demands. From reading to robotics, these partnerships with state and local governments, academic institutions (K-12 and higher ed), and local communities are addressing the growing skills gap in U.S. manufacturing.

Western Union To increase revenue in support of Western Union’s growth priorities, its CEO and CHRO prioritized global sales training. Sales Force Excellence was established enterprise-wide to build alignment and sales capabilities with a cross-functional team of sales managers, front-line associates, and Training. The program involved deploying consultative and strategic sales methodologies with a gamified sustainment plan. Training content aligned to global business realities was delivered to 200 high-performing sales professionals. By allowing participants of the Sales Excellence Program to nominate how they “learned to earn” sales, Western Union has been able to document how the program resulted in increased revenues for the company and garnered significant return on investment.





56 120 La Quinta Holdings NFP 8,277 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Irving, TX Global Hospitality

57 89 BKD, LLP $429M 2,206 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Springfield, MO U.S. U.S. Professional Services

58 92 Iron Mountain, $2.2B 9,750 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Incorporated U.S. U.S. Boston, MA $3B 19,500 Records and Global Global Information Mgt.

59 114 One Nevada $47.5M 252 1/2/37 $448,000 2.6 Yes Yes Credit Union U.S. U.S. Las Vegas, NV Finance/Banking

60 37 Aetna Inc. $47.3B 47,445 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Hartford, CT Global U.S. Finance and 48,107 Insurance Global

RANKINGS 56-60 Training Company Name/ Total Budget as a Tuition2015 2014 Location/ Annual No. of No. of Trainers Training Percentage Reimburse- Training Rank Rank Primary Business Revenue Employees Full-Time / Part-Time / SMEs Budget of Payroll ment Infrastructure

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La Quinta Holdings La Quinta’s new training initiative, Q-Tubes, are short, to-the-point e-learning courses that play much like a fast-paced video. The language is light and conversational, and written to make learners feel as if they are being trained by a peer or team leader. Accessible on La Quinta’s learning management system, Q-Tubes deliver fast, just-in-time training in easily digestible bites. Each Q-Tube has an unscored knowledge check and provides corrective feedback. Since the launch of the first Q-Tube, completion rates for general managers increased by 92%. Among other team members, completion rates soared 484%.

BKD, LLP BKD new hires complete Camp BKD, a week-long orientation that provides technical and non-technical training to enhance client service behaviors and results. It helps kick-start their careers and gives them the tools necessary to excel. During Camp BKD, learners interact with firm leaders, partners, and instructors, all of whom model exceptional client service. The experienced professionals introduce campers to the firm’s culture, making them aware of BKD’s “unmatched client service” (UCS) standards and helping them tackle new responsibilities with confidence and clarity. Post-camp evaluations indicate that 98.5% of attendees find the training useful and feel prepared to perform their duties in line with UCS standards.

Iron Mountain, Incorporated Iron Mountain developed the Sentinel Program to prepare newly hired front-line employees to work safely, independently, and accurately. As a standardized learning program, Sentinel uses a blended approach that includes e-learning, on-the-job training with a certified peer coach, and knowledge and performance assessments. From day one, Sentinel’s learning roadmaps guide new employees through the knowledge, skills, and attitudes they need to perform their daily roles and responsibilities. Not only does Sentinel produce job-qualified front-line employees, the program has reduced turnover by 40% and saved the company $10.5 million in Worker’s Compensation claims. BP

One Nevada Credit Union With more than 20 corporate departments and 15 branch locations, One Nevada believes the benefits of job rotation/cross training is vital. Employees who are well versed in the different aspects of One Nevada’s business and the financial services industry possess a well-rounded skill set that allows them numerous career opportunities and allows the company to tap into their talents when needed from a business operations perspective. As a result, 39% of current employees submitted a job rotation request last year. The cross-training segment is a supportive factor in the 2014 ONCU Employee Loyalty Matrix in which 72% of all employees are classified as “committed loyalists”—beyond the U.S. norm of 52%.

Aetna Inc. When member dissatisfaction was increasing repeat calls, Aetna designed an innovative approach to increase empathy and ownership and positively influence the member experience. A blend of engaging animated videos complements the 3-day instructor-led training program that uses role-play, group activi-ties, and scenarios to identify the caller’s expectations and apply call-handling techniques to display caring, empathy, and ownership to each member’s unique situation. The results showed Aetna engaged employees and effectively changed call-handling behavior. First-session participants had a 6.4 percentage-point improvement in customer satisfaction scores, and first call resolution improved 1.29 percentage points over peers’.


When We Think about Priorities, We Always Come Back to One Thing

Our people. They’re always number 1. In every business decision we make,

what’s best for them is what’s most important. chghealthcare.com


61 60 CarMax, Inc. $12.6B 20,200 2,313/1,347/577 $39.5M 3 Yes Yes Richmond, VA U.S. U.S. Retail

62 42 Wells Fargo $83.8B 262,267 NFP/NFP/NFP $239M 3 Yes Yes San Francisco, CA Global U.S. Finance/Banking 271,613 Global

63 104 Mountain America NFP 1,339 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Credit Union U.S. West Jordan, UT Finance/Banking

64 * Leading Real Estate NFP 85 U.S. NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Companies of 90 Global the World Chicago, IL Real Estate/Insurance

65 91 G4S Secure NFP 45,675 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Solutions (USA) Inc. U.S. Jupiter, FL 618,000 Private Security Global Solutions


Congratulations to our entire Training & Development team

for being recognized as one ofTraining magazine’s Top 125 companies

for the ninth consecutive year!1-866-735-9418

[email protected]

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Solutions for a Safer World ®

RANKINGS 61-65



CarMax, Inc. Networking Forum is a 6-month program in which participants meet monthly for an opportunity to build relationships throughout CarMax. While participating in the program, employees learn how to collaborate to solve problems, the importance of building an internal network, and how to build a mentor/mentee relationship between executives and new leaders. The program comprises 4 development sessions led by Vice President of Investor Relations Katharine Kenny and select executive guest speakers. Participants also attend 3 “bonus events” focused on applying networking best practices. An example of one of these events is a happy hour at a local restaurant with approximately 50 associates ranging in level from individual contributors to executives.

Wells Fargo The Technology and Operations Group created the Operations Career Education & Awareness Network (OCEAN) to retain talent. OCEAN has a portal that gives Operations team members an opportunity to learn about the various functional areas and potential career options. Site visits average 1,000 per month, with hits averaging 3,500 per month. Level 1 satisfaction is 92%. Level 3 feedback indicates managers feel equipped to use the development tools. Some 65% indicated OCEAN affected their decision to seek a job opportunity at the bank vs. applying outside the company. For positions tracked, almost half (47%) were filled by team members who attended OCEAN events. The engagement ratio increased from 6.2:1 to 23.0:1.

Mountain America Credit Union Beginning in 2013, Mountain America Credit Union partnered with the Westminster College in Salt Lake City to offer an MBA-level certificate program to a group of up-and-coming leaders throughout the organization. Mastering Leadership program participants worked through this 10-month, project-based program, meeting 1-on-1 with members of the senior leadership team. As part of this formal mentorship program, participants met with senior leaders in different areas of the credit union to network and to gain their insights on homework assignments. Since implementing this program, 96% of the graduates are still working for Mountain America and 24% have been promoted within the last 18 months. BP

Leading Real Estate Companies of the World The Institute’s Sales Manager Series delivers group coaching for Leading RE’s front-line supervisors, sales managers. Comprising 7 turnkey modules on topics proven to help sales associates build business, from business planning/budgeting to communications and customer relationship management, the series offers professionally produced introductory and instructional videos, workbooks, e-mail templates, presentation slides, syllabi, industry articles, and corresponding Institute courses/materials for assignments between sessions. Peer accountability and collaboration inherent in group coaching leverage managers’ time, increase production, and strengthen loyalty to the manager and team.

G4S Secure Solutions (USA) Inc. G4 Secure Solutions’ Career Counseling Development Review (CDR) process allows managers/supervisors to provide meaningful guidance to their employees regarding goals and objectives, i.e., feedback on things they are doing well and areas for improvement to ensure continued professional and personal growth. In addition to receiving initial counseling after hire, employees also receive CDRs annually on their anniversary of hire or promotion date, when they are recommended for promotion, and to provide feedback on superlative performance or substandard performance. G4 is committed to advancement from within whenever practicable, as evidenced by 225 internal promotions as of fall 2014.

At Owens & Minor, we are passionate about professional development. The value we bring to the healthcare

supply chain is increased through education and open communication with our

teammates and supply chain partners. This is evident in the programs and outreach of

Owens & Minor University (OMU), where our teammates and customers have numerous

opportunities to learn, teach and progress. www.owens-minor.com

SUPPLIER MANAGEMENT | DISTRIBUTION & LOGISTICS | ANALYTICS | RESOURCE MANAGEMENT & CONSULTING | CLINICAL SUPPLY MANAGEMENT

Congratulations to our teammates and all of Training magazine’s 2015 Top 125 honorees.


66 56 Tandus Centiva NFP 1,056 6/8/85 NFP NFP Yes Yes (A Tarkett Company) U.S. Dalton, GA 1,323 Manufacturing Global

67 69 PPD NFP 7,500. 110/568/3,000 NFP 0.01 Yes Yes Wilmington, NC U.S Health/Medical 13,000 Services Global

68 63 TD Bank NFP 26,606 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Cherry Hill, NJ U.S. Finance/Banking

69 85 Sonic Automotive $8.8M 9,750 46/10/8 NFP NFP Yes Yes Charlotte, NC U.S. U.S. Retail

70 66 NewYork- NFP 21,112 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Presbyterian U.S. Hospital New York, NY Health/Medical Svs.

To learn more about the Edward Jones way of doing business, visit www.careers.edwardjones.com.

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We are honored to be named to Training magazine’s list of top trainers for the 15th consecutive year. At Edward Jones, we promote learning as an investment in the future of our firm, which ultimately benefits our clients. And every person who works at Edward Jones has the potential to become an owner of our firm.

RANKINGS 66-70 Training Company Name/ Total Budget as a Tuition2015 2014 Location/ Annual No. of No. of Trainers Training Percentage Reimburse- Training Rank Rank Primary Business Revenue Employees Full-Time/Part-Time/SMEs Budget of Payroll ment Infrastructure


Tandus Centiva (A Tarkett Company) A strategic account selling course reaped outstanding sales results by creating a shift in the way the sales team thinks about the selling process. This 3-day program, customized to fit Tandus Centiva’s business and selling model, allows salespeople to evaluate a business opportu-nity and choose an appropriate strategy. Components include compiling customer profiles; conducting opportunity assessments; determining the customer’s key requirements; identifying key players, influencers, and decision-makers; analyzing competition; and developing a final strategy. 100% of projects identified during the program pilot resulted in project wins. The company now has a more than 85% close rate for large projects where the account executive has utilized the plan.

PPD Clinical research associates (CRAs) participate in an intensive study of clinical trial conduct and monitoring based on ICH Guidelines and FDA Regulations. CRAs are an essential role in the pharmaceutical research industry. This training program is an intensive 6-day course that teaches the skills required to perform trial monitoring tasks such as protocol review and monitoring informed consent. Some 89% of PPD’s CRAs successfully complete the training, which helps clients deliver safe and effective therapeutics as it ensures all CRAs are thoroughly trained and competent to successfully work on research studies.

TD Bank Newly refreshed in 2014, TD Bank’s Contact Center New Hire Training focuses on the Employee Experience, building confidence and proficiency in TD’s sales and service model, customer security, and skillful call handling by balancing foundational learning, simulation, and daily immersion into the environment in which employees will work. New agents are better equipped to meet TD Bank’s high customer service standards and more confidently doing so as best illustrated by the 7% reduction in new employee attrition, 10% more call production, and an 11.3% increase in sales revenue.

Sonic Automotive Sonic Automotive trained its salespeople to use iPods and iPhones with proprietary applications focused on enhancing the customer experi-ence. Now, instead of putting a car buyer through a stressful ordeal, salespeople to tell the customer up front, “We believe you should lead your own purchase process.” Customer are encouraged to accomplish what they want during their visit. The process eliminates back-and-forth negotiations, and pricing is based on accurate data. The company trains managers first and salespeople a week later, measures effectiveness 1 month later, and then repeats the training in 30 days. The results: a shorter buying process, increased ROI, greater market share, and happier investors.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital To prepare for the changing health-care environment, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital created a cohort-driven, 18-month development process for high-performing managers. “Building Tomorrow’s Leadership” has executive sponsorship from NYP’s president and an executive com-mittee that oversees every program detail. There are 3 phases: classroom learning based upon the leadership competency model and the group’s collective development needs, action learning where teams work on hospital projects, and executive forums. Throughout the program, participants are assigned senior-level mentors. 360-degree assessments show program participants had better employee and patient satisfaction scores than the rest of the institution.

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71 46 Morrison $1.3B 25,500 25/0/4,767 $5.7M 1 Yes Yes Atlanta, GA U.S. U.S. Hospitality

72 116 Haskell NFP 783 U.S. NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Jacksonville, FL 816 Construction Global

73 74 Vi NFP 2,946 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Chicago, IL U.S. Health/Medical Services

74 83 Bass & NFP 71 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Associates, P.C. U.S. Tucson, AZ Law Firm

75 105 RE/MAX, LLC NFP 412 U.S. NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Denver, CO 432 Real Estate/Insurance Global


Morrison The Patient Program Certification Course (PPC) exemplifies Morrison’s commitment to learning and aligns with its business priorities. This 4-day course is designed to train new directors, managers, and supervisors on 2 Patient Services programs used in hospital accounts. Morrison had more than 20 PPC classes last fiscal year, with approximately 400 managers/supervisors attending from 192 accounts. Turnover rate for accounts who had employees attend PPC was 6.12%. Client retention rate in accounts where at least 1 person attended PPC was 99.46%. Accounts that had 2 people attend PPC had a client retention rate of 100%. This training program will continue to help Morrison maintain its 97.3% client retention rate.

Haskell Management Series is a 3-part training comprising 30 sessions. Nominated participants learn to effectively manage in everyday situations while acting strategically to support the company’s corporate objectives. Highlights include an executive profile conducted by a peer and executive leadership forums. Profiles include interviews with supervisors, direct reports, and peers, and are meant to be a complete insight into participants, while also allowing them to learn how to conduct an interview on a peer. Executive leadership participates in multiple sessions in open forum sessions to discuss career development and their impact on strategic alignment with the corporate vision in open dialogue. Some 43% of participants have been promoted into supervisory positions.

Vi Leadership Institute Program participants engage in a variety of assessments, professional coaching, mentoring, and complementary virtual learning and study groups. Participants attend a week-long discovery program led by Vi’s Executive Management Team around the company’s leadership competencies. In addition, participants engage in a 6-month complementary virtual learning program through Harvard Business Publishing. Each program participant receives tools, resources, and executive coaching to develop and execute an action plan for integrating program concepts into a personal development plan.

Bass & Associates, P.C. Orientation at Bass is not just about getting policies signed and tax forms completed. It is about setting up each employee for success in his or her new position. Each day in orientation is designed to help determine the learning style of the new hire. On day 1, new hires spend the majority of the day in a classroom atmosphere. Day 2 is primarily self-paced online study, and day 3 is hands-on learning of Bass’ account system. This variety and focus continues throughout the 90-day program. The Training and Development manager observes and then writes a report for the new hire’s supervisor describing what training technique likely will be most effective.

RE/MAX, LLC A key to technology innovation for leads and referrals is Leadstreet, Web-based technology that RE/MAX agents and broker/owners have used with dramatic results. The company created 9 e-learning simulations, all of which are mobile compatible. These have had the highest take rates at 2,610 completions. A broker/owner in Kansas City has been on the system since 2005 via training. To date, he has made $1.2 million+ in commissions directly from Leadstreet leads, with most of his commissions made during the recession. He was an early adopter of this technology and continues to be engaged as RE/MAX refines its techniques.



76 93 Valvoline Instant NFP 2,200 9/0/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Oil Change U.S. Lexington, KY Retail

77 44 Cerner Corporation NFP 12,921 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Kansas City, MO U.S. Health-Care Information 15,205 Technology Global

78 96 New York Community $1.4B 3,626 28/15/341 $4.9M 2.7 Yes Yes Bancorp, Inc. U.S. U.S. Westbury, NY Finance/Banking

79 70 USAA $21B 27,058 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes San Antonio, TX U.S. 27,177 Financial Services Global and Insurance

80 81 VSP Global NFP 4,103 30/10/50 NFP NFP Yes Yes Rancho Cordova, CA U.S. Health/Medical 5,158 Services Global

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Valvoline Instant Oil Change The Valvoline Instant Oil Change SuperPro certification process is the cornerstone of the company’s hourly training program. Every process is taught via a defined training program, demonstrated by the learner, and certified by a manager. Certification consists of three components: 1) Complete all required training for the task (online, ILT, and hands-on) 2) Pass the online assessment 3) Demonstrate the process with 100% accuracy. Processes are grouped together into roles, so that team members who are certified in all the component processes are said to be certified in that role. The roles in which an employee is certified determine job titles, promotions, and compensation.

Cerner Corporation The RevWorks Certificate Sales course familiarizes members of the workforce with the health-care revenue cycle, as well as the Cerner Revenue Cycle brand. Through associate surveys before and after the class, trainers analyze how the course enables associates to have strategic and confident conversations. Taught 19 times in 2013 and educating more than 370 associates, data show an average increase of 62% in associates’ self-perceived ability to present the value of Cerner’s Revenue Cycle to a CFO. The pipeline of potential deals nearly tripled from the inception of the course in March 2013 to the end of 2013.

New York Community Bancorp, Inc. The success of New York Community Bancorp’s Elite Program relied heavily on the training, which provided participants with the information, tools, and skills needed to launch the program. The training was developed to mirror the same extraordinary “white-glove” service employ-ees provide every day. Guest speakers came dressed in tuxedos and served breakfast as they greeted participants. By raising the bar in training, the company showed employees that they could do the same with the service they provide. As of September 2014, NYCB had invited 31,058 customers to join the Elite Program and successfully enrolled more than 20%. USAA “Going above for those who have gone beyond” is a calling that resonates with every employee at USAA. The mission unifies the company’s actions; it drives employees to raise the bar on performance every day by reinventing the ways they learn; it lays the groundwork for creating a Gallup Great Place to Work. As a privately held company, all of the energy USAA puts into making learning better is focused on improving the lives of its members and their families. BP

VSP Global VSP Global recently implemented a talent pipeline process that is 4 levels deep in its 6 lines of business—CEO through supervisors—helping it differ-entiate high-potential and high-professional employees in order to ensure VSP Global is enabled to drive growth and operational excellence, sustain its competitive edge, and strategically develop its leadership bench strength. With the pipeline squarely focused on agility, those pipeline candidates will be poised to move throughout the organization, into any job within any of VSP’s lines of business.

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We train the best. That way you can, too.Hold your next event at an MGM Resorts International Destination.

As one of the 2015 Training Top 125 Winners, we take particular pride in the training of our team members. We’d like you to experience that level of excellence first-hand by booking your next leadership convention or training sessions at one of our world-class resorts.Our commitment to training gives us a unique perspective when it comes to providing the utmost in excellence at your event. Talk to us, and we’ll begin creating something amazing today.




350 Lincoln Street, Suite 270 Hingham, MA 02043781.741.8883 [email protected] mcbride-lucius.com

McBride&Lucius is honored to be Capital’s learning and development partner as they fearlessly develop and deliver cutting edge learning programs.

Th anks for your partnership and congratulations on a FOURTH consecutive year on the Top 125 list!

John McBride & Sharon Lucius Managing PartnersMcBride&Lucius

www.trainingmag.com

81 86 Navy Federal NFP 1,2215 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Credit Union U.S. Vienna, VA 12,705 Finance/Banking Global

82 40 U.S. Security $1.2B 46,000 14/140/9,800 $4.2M 0.5 Yes Yes Associates, Inc. Global Global Roswell, GA Business Services

83 76 Tech Mahindra Ltd. $1.4B 6,036 NFP/2,694/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Pune, Maharashtra, U.S. U.S. India $3.1B 63,606 IT Services Global Global & Solutions

84 * Tenaris $10.6B 3,669 U.S. 107/0/1,401 NFP NFP Yes Yes Luxembourg Global U.S. Manufacturing 27,400 Global

85 61 EMC Corporation $23.2B 60,000 NFP/NA/NA NFP 3.45 Yes Yes Hopkinton, MA Global Global Technology



Navy Federal Credit Union Navy Federal leadership in Training departments across the enterprise vocalized a need for in-house trainer training. Motivators for creation of the program included accessible networking and developmental opportunities for trainers and standardization of practices across the organization. Based on the objectives and audience, the approximately 40-hour programs use a blended approach, including classroom instructor-led training (ILT), virtual ILT, e-learning, breakouts, gamification, assessments, scenario-based activities, threaded discussions, job aids, white papers, and current/capstone projects.

U.S. Security Associates, Inc. At USA Security Academy, certified training professionals provide nationwide instruction through live interactive platforms, flexible recorded sessions, and user-friendly Web modules. Leveraging the expertise of its subject matter experts, U.S. Security Associates delivers industry-unique value to its clients with training programs customized to specifications, job complexity, and level of responsibility. It supports accountability and accuracy with technol-ogy such as the Daily Trainer, a proprietary site testing tool, and its learning management system, which provides evaluation and storage of defined metrics. USA’s investment in training supports its goal of 100% client satisfaction and retention.

Tech Mahindra Ltd. The Project Management for Practitioners (PMfP) program was implemented to re-skill project managers (PMs) to handle new challenges. New role-based, competency-aligned content; flexible delivery; and systemic changes made the program relevant and sustainable. Classroom, weekend, virtual, and modular batches provided delivery flexibility, and e-learning modules provided self-paced learning. Tech Mahindra measured effectiveness through 6 indicators pre- and 2 months post-training. PMfP was linked with career progression for baselining of PM capability. Some 1,300 PMs have been trained through 52 batches conducted by 210 practitioners, yielding 76.08% average knowledge gained, 47% reduction in RED projects, and 47% improvement in project maturity.

Tenaris Tenaris University, working with the Field Services director, set up a training program to certify employees who assist in the customer rig site during the running of tubes. This certification includes courses as well as on-the-job training, working side by side with an expert on at least 6 jobs. Certified employees are valued by customers as they verify well integrity and proper installation, thereby avoiding costly remakes and accidents. Due to the increased knowledge of Field Service specialists and the good reputation Tenaris has achieved through its ever-more qualified team, invoicing levels for running assistance jobs increased 41% from 2012/2013 to 2013/2014.

EMC Corporation In June 2014, EMC upgraded its collaboration platform and integrated its intranet to create a new place for employees to learn about cor-porate news and to learn, share, and collaborate across borders and organizational boundaries. The goal was ambitious: to change the way EMC works. Within 2 weeks, employee users grew from 44,681 to 61,004 users, a 27% increase. EMC also has seen a 535% increase in documents created, a 250% increase in discussions created, and a 112% increase in replies to discussions.

Training is part of our recipe.We start with the best people. Add training at the right time and place. Then let our customers enjoy the results.

Guckenheimer. We make food to come to work for.

www.guckenheimer.com


BUSINESSES DON’T GROW, PEOPLE DO!

At DEFENDER, we are called to a greater purpose. We exist to grow leaders.

Our people are leading families, kid’s soccer teams, volunteer organizations and church groups. Our people are building homes for the underserved in third world countries, working in homeless shelters and doing so much more.

DEFENDER develops leaders not just for today, but for the future. The principles that DEFENDER teaches and the generations imprinted with those lessons will endure. This is our only sustaining legacy.

DEFENDERDIRECT.COM

86 54 Quicken Loans Inc. NFP 11,549 226/0/165 $27.5M 9 Yes Yes Detroit, MI U.S. Finance/Banking

87 65 MasterCard NFP 4,400 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Purchase, NY U.S. Technology 9,300 Global

88 80 Cartus NFP 2,130 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Danbury, CT U.S. Relocation 2,985 Global

89 * Ricoh USA NFP 27,000 238/0/3,144 NFP NFP Yes Yes Malvern, PA U.S. Technology 10,800 Global

90 71 Choice Hotels NFP 1,198 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP No Yes International U.S. Rockville, MD 1,463 Hospitality Global



Congratulations to the learning professionals at Genentech!

Genentech is honored to be among the Training Top 125 companies.

For more than 30 years, we've been following the science,seeking solutions to unmet medical needs.

As a proud member of the Roche Group, we make medicinesto treat patients with serious medical conditions.

Quicken Loans Inc. The Journey is a leadership development program designed for any level of leadership in a scalable way. It aims to help lower turnover rates and increase interest in leadership roles. The program has 6 levels and supports growth as employees journey along their career path. The Journey has a social media element that allows sharing of learning from participants and leaders alike through an online community page. Quicken Loans makes leadership develop-ment accessible in all of its company locations, creates partnerships between team members and leaders, and utilizes its brightest leaders to teach the next generation of leaders what they know.

MasterCard The Reverse Mentoring program has played a vital role in MasterCard’s success, helping it to overcome barriers and misplaced generational stereotypes, and, as a result, gain a mutual understanding and respect in working together toward the corporate mission. In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, MasterCard Chief Human Resources Officer Ron Garrow described how he was paired up with a Millennial employee, Rebecca Kaufman, at MasterCard, who helped him build a presence on social media. This has created an opportunity in building relationships between Millennials and senior staff—with both parties benefitting from providing or sharing their expertise and/or experiences with each other.

Cartus Cartus introduced a mentoring program in which interested employees can apply to be either a mentor or a mentee. Applicants complete a profile of interests, expertise, and experience, and the system matches mentors and mentees based on that information. Once matched, the pair makes arrangements about goals and relationship structure; afterward, they receive system prompts that track their progress throughout the 6-month relationship. Participation in this program has been strong, with 77% of participants confirming their goals had been met.

Ricoh USA Throughout Ricoh’s transformation to a services-led business model, Ricoh Learning Institute has been positioned as a driver of change. This is demonstrated through cultural alignment training, which resulted in increased understanding and confidence in the new strategy. In addition, the Portfolio Training Initiative enabled the salesforce to articulate to customers the services-led model that drove increased Professional Services revenues. Finally, Sales leaders were developed to meet the new leadership requirements of the transformed organization. This leadership training resulted in meaningful improvement in both Enterprise Sales and Equipment Sales.

Choice Hotels International Choice Hotels International understands the pace at which change occurs, especially as it pertains to technology learning needs. To address and overcome these challenges, the Talent Development team set out to design, develop, and implement a solution that allows associates the ability to build and manage their individual learning paths. This new solution is called Choice GPS or Gateway to Performance Solutions. In partnership with a third-party software-as-a-service (Saas) solution, Choice GPS provides associates a social learning and collaboration system that connects people and professional develop-ment through the use of content curation.




91 100 ValleyCrest $1B 11,210 6/64/90 $3.8M 1.2 Yes Yes Companies U.S. U.S. Calabasas, CA Landscape Services

92 115 Allianz of. $7B 4,496 54/0/35 $1.3M 0.02 Yes Yes America, Inc U.S. U.S. Minneapolis, MN Real Estate/Insurance 93 * Sacramento $1.4B 2,026 26/4/24 $15M 8 Yes Yes Municipal Utility U.S. U.S. District SMUD) Sacramento, CA Transportation/Utilities

94 * MasTec - NFP 2,200 14/16/80 NFP NFP Yes Yes Utility Services U.S. Group Coral Gables, FL Construction

95 103 Owens & Minor, Inc. $8.7B 4,900 8/45/30 $4.5M 1.5 Yes Yes Mechanicsville, VA U.S. U.S. Health/Medical $9B 1,800 Services Global Global

RANKINGS 91-95



ValleyCrest Companies Field training focuses on practical, on-the-job training in a group setting of 12 to 15 for 3 to 4 hours. This field training is conducted within 1 week of the traditional training to reemphasize the content. Choosing a field platform benefits both the employees and customers by solving routine and non-routine challenges on-site where a majority of ValleyCrest’s business is conducted. As a result of this training, 91% of the participants surveyed have requested additional training on different topics in the same format.

Allianz of America, Inc. The “Informal Presentations: How to Prepare, Present, and Persevere” learning program aligns to one of Allianz of America’s key priorities: employee development and recognition. This 3-part series uses a blended learning approach, providing an opportunity for real-time practice of new skills/knowledge and coaching/feedback for learners. Exceeding all metrics (Level 1- Level 3), this program closed a skill gap in the Operations group. One learner stated, “This series has been an outstanding learning experience. The constructive feedback is delivered in a safe learning environment, and each participant has an opportunity to apply tips and techniques to improve presentation quality. I use these skills in my everyday job to work more effectively with project stakeholders.”

Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) “Building Leadership Talent” is a 12-month experiential learning program that integrates psychometrically validat-ed assessments, individual development plans, a group community project, and peer-to-peer team presentations. As part of the self-discovery phase, participants take 7 assessments, including a 360-degree feedback survey based on leadership competencies. Participants also develop and manage a large-scale community project. The 2013/2014 team’s project focus was the St. John’s shelter for women and children in Sacramento. This is the seventh consecutive year SMUD has delivered the Building Leadership Talent Program. Some 48 percent of all participants received promotions following program completion.

MasTec - Utility Services Group A New Employee Orientation program rolled out as reinforcement to the “Safety Is You” initiative. The campaign communicated and emphasized the importance of each employee’s commitment, involvement, and accountability around working safely. This initiative and subsequent training rollout has had a positive impact on the organization’s safety record, and ultimately, the bottom line. MasTec’s Utility Services Group saw a year-over-year 60% decrease in OSHA recordable incidents and a significant decrease in the severity of incidents. Additionally, the group saw an 81% decrease in incurred Workers’ Compensation claims.

Owens & Minor, Inc. Driving Operational Excellence is designed to improve productivity through a warehouse simulation. It is designed for 8 people who work in teams of 4 on a typical warehouse task such as boxing, transporting, and storing packages. As 1 group participates, the other group observes and prepares to provide feedback. After the simulation, teams self-examine and debrief what they did. They also receive feedback from the observing team. Each team is given an opportunity to improve its processes during a second round, which is made more challenging because the behaviors and rules have changed. Early results indicate a 9% increase in performance.

WellTrained.WellSpan is proud to be a learning organization that is front and center

in the efforts to improve the health of the communities we serve.

We are honored to have been chosen by Training Magazine as a Top 125

www.WellSpan.org



RANKINGS 96-100

96 124 Consigli Construction NFP 680 2/2/35 NFP NFP Yes Yes Company, Inc. U.S. Milford, MA Construction

97 62 Allied Global NFP 113 U.S. NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Newmarket, ON, 1,230 Canada Global Business Services

98 101 American Fidelity NFP 1,709 12/1/142 NFP 3 Yes Yes Assurance Company U.S. Oklahoma City, OK Real Estate/Insurance

99 95 Healthways, Inc. $663.3M 2,604 40/5/50 $4.7M 2.1 Yes Yes Franklin, TN Global U.S. Health/Medical 2,804 Services Global

100 107 Microchip $365.6M 2,714 33/16/442 $5.3M 2 Yes Yes Technology Inc. U.S. U.S. Chandler, AZ $1.9B 5,012 Technology Global Global

Congratulations to

We at Dale Carnegie Training, Rochester are proud to be your partner!

on crashing through on theTraining Top 125!

www.conserve-arm.com www.dalecaranegie.com

Copyright © 2015 Dale Carnegie & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. congrats_010615_rochester


ConServe’s World-ClassTraining TeamFor more than 30 years our sole

focus has been on providing successful accounts

receivable management solutions. Our training

professionals provide world-class training for all

employees and our Clients, thereby empowering them

to deliver exemplary service in a consistent, compliant

and professional manner.

Learn more about our award-winning culture at www.conserve-arm.com/top125

CONGRATULATIONS ON BEING NAMED TO THE TRAINING TOP 125

Consigli Construction Company, Inc. Consigli Construction designs and develops its own Web-based courses for employees to have on-the-job and just-in-time training. The WBT library hosts courses that provide new information such as “LinkedIn 101: What is LinkedIn and how can it be used at Consigli?” and “Landmark Restorations Principles,” courses that supplement instructor-led training such as the series of courses called “Let’s Review Lean” (which quiz employees on class content to highlight and reinforce the most important concepts), and video demonstrations for software rollouts (Procore Project Management tool, Gateway App for iPads) and changes to processes (how to submit a performance review, how to access important forms on the intranet).

Allied Global Mentoring happens as part of Allied Global’s Coaching Culture and consists of its managers, program leads, and/or executives being paired up with individuals who are assessed for strengths and weaknesses. This journey will demonstrate the individual’s ability to learn new skills and grow into future roles. The company has found that this type of mentoring has led initiatives to engage its agents, helping them improve their skills and get involved and interested in the business beyond their usual duties. This, in turn, has assisted in improving Allied Global’s retention rate.

American Fidelity Assurance Company American Fidelity Assurance implemented a new Customer Service Certificate. To earn the certification, colleagues must take 5 online customer service courses in addition to an instructor-led course. There are knowledge tests along with each course to be sure colleagues are learning the content. Colleagues from customer service or any other area of the company can earn the certification. Colleagues can voluntarily sign up to earn the certificate or it can be assigned as a task by their managers.

Healthways, Inc. Healthways’ AIM HIGH program recognizes, develops, and retains female executive leaders. This high-potential professional development program builds momentum among executive women, connecting them more intentionally. The program also creates specific opportunities for participants to pay it forward by coaching, mentoring, developing, and supporting other high-potential women critical to the company’s future success. A key component to the success of the program is the mentoring pairings—12 mentors and their mentees connect frequently for the purpose of networking, best practice sharing, and career development. Retention is 100% for this group, plus 2 of the 24 participants have moved into new key seats.

Microchip Technology Inc. Microchip’s Large Account Management Process (LAMP) sales training consists of 6 weeks of pre-work on a high-priority “live account” by a cross-functional team, including sales leaders, plus 2 days of classroom training. During short sessions that are tied to Microchip’s selling approach, participants identify and define relationship position, then create a comprehensive sales strategy and plan that is “pressure-tested” by all the class participants in a formal process. With manager support and coaching, the plan is executed immediately with key accounts. An example of LAMP training success includes being awarded one of the largest single pieces of business in Microchip’s history.




RANKINGS 101-105

101 112 Cognizant NFP 30,010 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Technology Solutions U.S. Teaneck, NJ, 171,400 Technology Global

102 97 Kimberly-Clark $10.5B 13,000 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Corporation U.S. U.S. Roswell, GA $21.1B 45,100 Manufacturing Global Global

103 94 New York Life $36B 9,356 231/15/416 NFP 5 Yes Yes Insurance Global Global Company New York, NY Real Estate/Insurance

104 * PAREXEL NFP 4,164 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes International U.S. Waltham, MA 16,299 Health/Medical Global Services

105 * Cisco $27.8M 28,566 32/1/0 $33.5M 0.5 Yes Yes San Jose, CA U.S. U.S Technology $47.1B 75,725 Global Global

Thomas Johnson-Bean

Insurance Agent | Charlotte, NC

LIFE | HEALTH | LONG-TERM CARE | ANNUITIES

“ Bankers Life gave me the foundation to have a successful career while helping people in a real and meaningful way.”

We’re proud to be amongTraining Magazine’s

Top 125 training companies

Administrative offi ce: Chicago, IL

BankersLife.com

159333

Congratulations to

for Its Top 5 Performance!

From the IMA Team,your change management partner.


Cognizant Technology Solutions CasKade is a futuristic IT capability and proprietary assurance-based learning framework that assures skill improvement through structured assessment. The CasKade journey involves 3 stages: Diagnostics Phase: Skill gap assessment; Capability Development Phase: Personalized learning for workforce capability management; Assurance Phase: Certifying through skill assessments, SMART goal tracking, and SKI shifts. CasKade offers a cost-effective framework that assures capability uplift through its modularized and tailored learning curriculum. It promotes self-directed learning and enables improved predictability of performance through skills audit and profiling.

Kimberly-Clark Corporation Kimberly-Clark will deliver better results once every member of its team is focused on personal accountability, giving honest feedback, and working on bringing its “One K-C” vision to life. The “One K-C Culture of Accountability” initiative drives that. How employees operate with one another and with their customers is as important as what K-C makes. Nearly 90% of salaried employees globally, and more than 95% senior leaders (directors and executives) have completed the training. As a result, the overall engagement score rose 2 points, from 75 in 2010 to 77 2013, and the enablement score rose 4 points, from 68 to 72.

New York Life Insurance Company Promoting a culture of accountability in a sector that demands specialized knowledge and capabilities necessitates a customizable approach. To better align professional skills training with performance management, New York Life continues to utilize a new online tool allowing each employee to create a plan for managing their career development. Understanding employees’ unique learning profiles, “My Development Blueprint,” offers 3 integrated paths to knowledge: learning through experiences, learning through relationships, and learning through education. The tool provides employees with access to thousands of activities outside of a classroom setting; this solutions-based approach continues to successfully promote engagement and development.

PAREXEL International PAREXEL’s Site Manager Basic Training (SMBT) supports Clinical Research Associates (CRAs) as they learn the most critical functions that their clients depend on. The 9-day onboarding training is built around all the phases of a clinical study. Through discussion, coaching by managers, online sim-ulations, and role-plays, CRAs experience not just the content but the context of their job. The business goal is to have the CRAs 90-95% billable (able to perform work that is billed for) in their first 60-90 days. Within the U.S., billability numbers for new hires have reached a steady 92-95% within the first 60-90 days of hire.

Cisco Leadership Breakthrough is a high-potential leadership development experience for directors and principal engineers in Cisco’s Development Organization. The program strengthens leadership capability in customer centricity, shaping strategy, building capability, leading change, and developing self. Directors are challenged and developed through a 6-month journey that includes assessment against Cisco’s leadership competencies, simulation, residentials, executive coaching, and action learning projects. Business Impact study results reveal that 73% of participants have increased the engagement of their team members, 71% have built better relationships with key stakeholders, and 78% have demonstrated a greater focus on Cisco customers.

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HONORED AND PROUDTo the Training Top 125, we are honored to be in your company.

To those whose work earned us a place in the Top 5, we are so proud of you.

To our customers, our commitment to leadership and talent development is a reflection of our dedication to servingyou with excellence.




RANKINGS 106-110

106 109 Special Response $10.2M 331 23/8/4 $500,000 5 Yes Yes Corporation Global U.S. Hunt Valley, MD 332 Emergency Security Global Services

107 * Navient $2.3B 6,200 56/169/240 NFP 0.45 Yes Yes Newark, DE U.S. U.S. Loan Management/ Asset Recovery

108 * ConServe NFP 595 11/0/30 NFP NFP Yes Yes Fairport, NY U.S. Finance/Banking

109 * Dominion Enterprises NFP 3,136 47/14/70 NFP NFP Yes Yes Norfolk,VA U.S. Technology, Internet 3,215 Advertising and Global Marketing

110 * NIIT NFP 82 U.S. 10/55/35 NFP NFP Yes Yes Atlanta, GA 2,642 Business Services Global

It’s another year of legendary service.And people, too.

We’ve been named by Training Magazine as a Training Top 125 company for the eighth straight year. We’re continuing to build a better bank through better training.


Special Response Corporation During first quarter 2014, Special Response Corporation completed 3 training classes. For 1 training class in Tampa, FL, 20 students had the opportunity to attend both the 40-hour Florida State-mandated security training and the 60-hour Special Response Corporation Basic Security Training. Attendees also had the opportunity to learn from experienced supervisors and fellow team members. This specialized training allowed these individuals to transition straight to an active job assignment. 75% of the students who attended this training are still active employees currently.

Navient “Developing Future Managers” is specifically designed for Navient representatives and is the first step in the supervisory development process. It aims to develop leadership “bench strength.” Participants are those who have expressed an interest in management and also have been identified by management as high-potential employees. 9 1-hour modules are delivered on a monthly basis. Representatives are introduced to a variety of skills that will help them transition into more responsible positions. In the last year, of the representatives who participated in this program, 41% were promoted to senior collector, 15% were promoted to supervisor, and 9% were promoted to unit collection manager.

ConServe ConServe University is creating a world-class culture through its partnership with Dale Carnegie Training of Rochester, NY. To measure the effectiveness of each class, Dale Carnegie provides 360-degree assessments, along with a Learning Transfer System Inventory (LTSI) report. On a scale of 1-5, in the area of motivation to transfer these skills, ConServe has seen an average score of 4.21, and its average positive personal outcome score is 4.14.

Dominion Enterprises In early 2014, Dominion Enterprises launched a set of online tools that can be used in different ways to support the ongoing develop-ment of technical staff, including tools they can use to think about and plan for their own career development. Dominion provided formal training to managers to prepare them to use these tools to discuss employees’ future career development and build appropriate development plans. This initiative involved developing a framework based on best practices and describing what a “good job” looks like at each level in one’s career.

NIIT The company continues to incorporate tested models in evaluating and assessing the impact of the learning function. It uses a four-fold process of evaluating learning outcomes: 1) Collating participants’ response 2) Analyzing learning outcomes 3) Tracking the impact of knowledge transfer to workplace reality 4) Mapping impact on quality, productivity, and growth. For trainings where the feedback score is 4.3 or below, NIIT does a root cause analysis to identify the causes of a failure in training by discussing with the trainer and speaking to the participants. It then decides on the appropriate action, which may involve a rein-forcement session or assignment or change in content or design.


DRIVING REAL ResultsNOT JUST TRAINING!

www.tsgresults.com | [email protected] | 732.961.3704

We drive the transformative results that are REALLY Most ImportantTM for your organization and your customers that your people WILL Take Ownership of and replicate going forward.

We do this by fully optimizing and aligning your strategy, culture, and people.

@JackGottlieb1 TSG ResultsJack Gottlieb

Congratulations to Mountain America Credit Union and All of the Top 125 Winners Who Understand

at the Core that it is All About...

End-to-End Consulting, Training, & Coaching that Works



RANKINGS 111-115

111 * MGM Resorts $6B 62,000 100/1,000/25 $4.1M 1 Yes Yes International U.S. U.S. Las Vegas, NV $9.8B 68,000 Tourism Global Global

112 * Office of the NFP 3,903 NFP/NA/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Comptroller of U.S. the Currency Washington, DC Government and Military

113 * Ascend Federal NFP 407 7/8/58 NFP 3.39 Yes Yes Credit Union U.S. Tullahoma, TN Finance/Banking

114 * PetSmart $6.8B 50,639 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Phoenix, AZ Global U.S. Retail 54,406 Global

115 * EMD Millipore NFP 4,570 6/4/20 NFP NFP Yes Yes and EMD Serono U.S. Rockland, MA Health/Medical Services

Visit DaVita.com to learn more.

© 2014 DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc. 8871

We’re honored to be named as one of

Training Magazine’s Top 125 organizations

for over 10 years. Congratulations to all of

this year’s winners! And it’s working. For the second year in a row, Sonic Automotive is honored to be one of Training Magazine’s Top 125 for training and development. We believe our commitment to our people is at the heart of our success.

Sonic Quick Facts:

If you’d like to reach your full potential, visit jobs.sonicautomotive.com

We stand behind our associates and let

them blaze a trail.


MGM Resorts International “Inspiring Our World” is a training method MGM Resorts uses to inspire employees and deliver the company mission: 3 days, 9 shows (written and performed by employees with a personal appearance by the CEO at each), delivered to 41,000 employees. The show was a musical journey, including costumes, choreographed routines, and songs conveying MGM Resorts’ company initiative of diversity, sustainability, and corporate social responsibility. As a result, all employees leave “Inspiring Our World” as a “Diversity Champion.” Employee Opinion Surveys show increases in employee feelings and attitude toward the company. The show was performed by invitation at the CR Commit Forum Conference in New York City and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Business Civic Leadership Center in Washington, D.C.

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency Continuing Education’s mission is to develop a competent workforce by providing the right training, at the right time and cost. To meet these goals, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) implemented a Web-based solution that meets the requirements of the Fair Lending course. The course is designed as a blended learning course combining 2 modes of instruction: online modules and exams, and facilitated virtual class sessions with a geographically dispersed audience. The OCC acquired Adobe Connect to support its efforts to improve and expand the use of virtual classroom technology to develop a competent OCC workforce and reduce travel-related expenses. This initiative has resulted in an annual savings of $204,000.

Ascend Federal Credit Union Ascend Federal Credit Union recognizes that its members’ experiences create its brand, and serving members effectively is each employee’s top priority. Sales and Service training teaches employees to consult with members and develop relationships, allowing the organization to identify their needs. AFCU does not simply sell products or services to members to meet a quota, but educates members on what best meets their needs and helps improve their financial lives. Since beginning Sales and Service training, AFCU has seen an 8% increase in the number of members, with current memberships topping 147,000. The most recent member service survey reported a 94% satisfaction rate.

PetSmart LEAD (Leadership Excellence Assessment & Development) is a 5-day leadership development program for store and distribution center leaders. Par-ticipants travel to PetSmart’s headquarters and are exposed to a multitude of foundational leadership concepts, such as Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Model, delegation, change management, developing individuals to build high-performing teams, and getting business results. Senior leadership team members help deliver messaging and serve on panel discussions on leadership lessons. PetSmart facilitates multiple team activities to inspire creative thought in exemplifying and applying leadership lessons taught. Level 4 results indicate that LEAD participants delivered a 5% increase in both operations and behavioral performance.

EMD Millipore and EMD Serono The Management Development Programs accelerate business decisions, increase innovation and the ability to lead change, and drive higher organizational performance. Both the Advanced Management Program and the Managerial Foundations Program take a blended learning approach of classroom training, e-learning, and peer or leadership coaching. Individuals are nominated to participate in both programs, which consist of 2 modules covering topics such as team performance, change management, strategic thinking, and innovation. Previous graduates are asked to be sponsors and act as informal mentors. Programs effectiveness has been 90%, and a few participants have been promoted to new roles since the session.


Continuing our heritage of

Strength, Stability and Service,

one employee at a time.

At NYCB Family of Banks, we are proud to be a 2014 Training Top 125 Award Winner.

Congratulations to this distinguished group for their achievement.

New York Community Bank and New York Commercial Bank are Members FDIC

Novo Nordisk is excited to announce that our Talent Management Team has been recognized as one of Training magazine’s Top 125… for the third straight year!

At Novo Nordisk, we’re committed to preventing, treating and ultimately curing diabetes — as well as creating the best possible environment for our employees to grow, both personally and professionally.

For more information:Visit www.novonordisk-us.com or follow our news in the US on Twitter: @NovoNordiskUS

Excellence...Our Commitment to

2015 winner


Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network are nonprofit corporations and independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

We’re proud to be in such good company. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is proud to be in the top five of Training magazine’s Training Top 125. This recognition is a tribute to our outstanding employees and their tireless commitment to the people we serve.

April 26-29, 2015 Pre-Conference Programs:April 24-26 Principles & Practices InstituteApril 25-26 Workshops

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RANKINGS 116-120

116 * Tata Consultancy NFP 24,379 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Services Limited U.S. Mumbai, Maharashtra, 300,464 India Global Technology

117 * Guckenheimer NFP 2,500. NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Redwood Shores, CA U.S. Hospitality

118 * Monitronics $451M 1,066 15/0/60 $1.2M 3 Yes Yes International, Inc. U.S. Global Dallas, TX $449M Alarm Monitoring and Global Security Services 119 * Otsuka America NFP 700 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Pharmaceutical, Inc U.S. Princeton, NJ 24,595 Pharmaceutical & Global Medical Devices

120 * ERA Franchise NFP 50 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes Systems LLC Global Madison, NJ Real Estate/Insurance


Tata Consultancy Services Limited An important tool in creating a collaborative learning culture is the proprietary social learning application, Knome (pro-nounced “know-me”). The organization’s marriage of the social media connection for its employees results in people naturally forming communities to get things done, to discuss ideas, and to have fun. Nearly half of the 300,000 employee population actively participates in social learning on the job, making it the biggest social learning community. With 75,000+ employees on the Learning & Sharing community, collaborative learning through social networks is a large differentiator, placing Tata Consultancy Services on the path of innovation and growth.

Guckenheimer Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) is based on 7 steps to analyze barriers to performance improvement, prioritize the barriers, and develop a plan to overcome them, thus improving the process and performance. The training process started at the top with a seminar for the Executive Team that included workbooks, activities, and role-plays. Classroom training then was scheduled in 7 geographic areas for front-line supervisors. Once training was completed, each participant had to use the process in addressing a real-life operational problem. The CPI team evaluated the completed exercise. In some cases, the CPI team visited the site to provide individualized coaching and feedback.

Monitronics International, Inc. In 2013, Monitronics redesigned its new hire training program, including overhauling and rebranding the existing online help systems; initiating a mentor program; writing knowledge checks aimed at assessing higher orders of thinking; and creating corresponding participant workbooks, facilitator guides, and visual aids. This redesign led to shortened class lengths, contributing to a 30% reduction in labor costs associated with training, as well as expanded the role of active learning (games, simulations, and role-play) to minimize information transmission and emphasize skill development. This initiative directly contributed to increasing new hire retention rates by 14% and exceeding learner performance goals by 11%.

Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. Otsuka Business Institute (OBI) is a mobile platform-based corporate virtual university that delivers required and on-demand learning and development solutions. The OBI technology platform integrates multiple learning delivery and management technologies, artificial intelligence capabilities, a recommendation engine, a gamification framework, and social media-like learning support tools. Learners also can build their own simulations or games. All skills, learner requirements, and preferences are tracked and monitored by the OBI Artificial Intelligence engine that enables adaptive learning paths, comprehensive learning analytics, and socio-cognitive scaffolding.

ERA Franchise Systems LLC Leadership Academy uses all methods of teaching, including live, virtual, and self-paced. Companies that went through Leadership Academy had an 18% increase in the number of productive agents in their company compared to an increase of 5% for the rest of ERA companies. There was also a Leadership Academy increase of 17% in per person productivity versus a 6% increase for all other ERA companies.


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, LLC

We’re one of Training magazine’s 2015 Top 125 Companies for Training Excellence.

Thank you to the CarMax managers, mentors, and field facilitators who have made us a

top-tier training organization.

CarMax, a Fortune 500 company and one of the FORTUNE100 Best Companies to Work For®,

is the nation’s largest retailer of used cars.

The way car buying should be.®

Congratulations, CarMax!


800.248.2878 | TANDUS-CENTIVA.COM

Complete training from the classroomto the factory. That’s how we keep our

Eighth Training Magazine Top 125 Award.

Rent-A-Center is on a mission to improve the quality of life for our coworkers and customers.

Congratulations to our Training and Development team on winning the 2015 Most Outstanding Training Initiative Award, and continuing our mission across North America!


RANKINGS 121-125

121 * Enterprise Holdings $17B 72,500 NFP/NFP/NFP NFP NFP Yes Yes (Enterprise Rent Global U.S. A Car) 85,000 St. Louis, MO Global Transportation/Utilities

122 * Hagerty Insurance NFP 617 U.S. 6/4/35 NFP NFP No Yes Traverse City, MI 650 Real Estate/Insurance Global

123 * Pacific Gas $15.6M 22,000 134/50/1,687 NFP NFP Yes Yes & Electric U.S. U.S. San Francisco, CA Transportation/Utilities

124 * Health Decisions, NFP 70 NFP/NFP/NFP $440,500 NFP Yes Yes CRO+ U.S. Durham, NC Health/Medical Services

125 * PPL Electric Utilities NFP 2,292 31/0/0 NFP NFP Yes Yes Allentown, PA U.S. Transportation/Utilities


Enterprise Holdings Open Minds Open Doors diversity training begins in new hire orientation with an introduction to diversity; employees complete 2 additional modules within the first year. Newly promoted supervisors complete Cross-Cultural Communication, and newly promoted managers complete Cross-Cultural Lead-ership. Topics include: diversity mission statement, business case, company initiatives, mentoring, cross-cultural communication with employees and customers, coaching a diverse team, sustaining an inclusive work environment, and supporting equal opportunity for career advancement. Since the program’s implementa-tion, Enterprise has achieved a 13 percent increase in women and an 11 percent increase in minorities in top management positions.

Hagerty Insurance Hagerty doesn’t just insure classic cars, it fuels its clients’ experience of ownership and engagement, and promotes the cultural value of collecting globally. To deliver on its vision, Hagerty provides all of its employees with the experience of restoring a classic vehicle; 69% of the participants in 2013 were client-facing employees. Participants spend time at the Hagerty Garage working alongside fleet specialists who provide all of the tools and instruction for the day’s events. Projects include cleaning, sanding, body work, paint, installing engine and transmission, and installing interior components. To date, 3 Employee Vehicle Restoration Projects have been completed, including a 1930 Model A that was driven by an employee for a full year (www.365daysofa.com).

Pacific Gas & Electric PG&E Academy virtual learning courses leverage direct video and audio connectivity, student polling and assessment questions, hands-on application sharing, video playback, screen layout changes, and student status reactions (such as agree/disagree). Time in training also is adjusted, from multi-day instructor-led training to short-duration virtual learning sessions that are blended with other training delivery types as needed to ensure the highest learning impact over time. To date, in moving from physical classroom sessions to instructor-led virtual sessions, PG&E Academy has calculated cost savings for the business in the amount of $699,011 due to reduced miles driven and elimination of hotel and conference room charges.

Health Decisions, CRO+ Health Decisions identified possible operational cost savings by boosting employee telecommuting participation. Executive leadership collabo-rated with the Training department to support this initiative. Using ADDIE methodology to analyze enterprise needs, training was assigned to both managers and general employees. The end product was a blended learning approach that began with instructor-led manager training delivered 30 days prior to the start of employee training. Us-ing the LMS, staff reviewed online course material and then reviewed department-specific requirements with their managers in a 1-on-1 setting. As a result, Health Decisions now provides telecommuting to more than 42% of employees at least once per week, and will use post-training surveys to assess training’s long-term effectiveness.

PPL Electric Utilities Storm Damage Assessors are the first line of information during a storm. These individuals are tasked with patrolling PPL Electric Utilities lines and identifying damage to the system. The initial training is a 1-day classroom session that introduces students to devices, their operating statuses, patrol-ling techniques, and reporting. Assessors then are required to attend a JPM class where they visit a simulated down line in PPL’s physical training yard and must perform a patrol and written assessment of the line. A yearly refresher course is required and delivered via Web-based training. Storm Damage Assessors also are invited to participate in PPL’s system-wide biannual storm drill.

Haskell is honored to be one of Training magazine’s Top 125. We appreciate the committed professionals who elevate us to the top of our industry. With client service and value creation as top priorities, Haskell’s culture is responsive, entrepreneurial and collaborative. Excellence and delivering successful results are only possible with a cast of talented and creative professionals.

architecture engineering constructionmaster planning steel fabrication

Can training transform your potential?we make it certain.

www.haskell.com

MasterCard: Leading By InnovationWhere learning is an essential element of how we transform careers and promote an environment of motivated innovation. As a result, our talent, our learning resources, and our solutions, help to create opportunities and prosperity for individuals, businesses, and communities around the world.

Congratulations to the Global Talent Team, our leaders and our partners who helped us achieve this coveted position as a Training Top 125 organization.



BEST PRACTICESGENENTECH, INC.: CAREERLABGenentech, Inc.’s CareerLab was launched as a resource to support the career aspirations of all employees. The business projected an initial flat growth in promotional opportunities and suggested an opportunity to focus on “mastery in role,” job enrichment opportunities, and lateral moves as opposed to pro-motions as the only career opportunity.

CareerLab’s mission is “to focus on internal positive devel-opment with empowering employees to own their career with management guidance.” CareerLab is built upon a framework that balances individual and organizational needs, instills a sense of ownership, and provides supporting tools and resourc-es. The core services designed around this framework include:

Career consultants provide up to five annual 45-minute, confidential career consultations (in-person, via phone, or on Skype).

Two-hour Webinar and in-classroom ses-sions cover an array of topics that are accessible to all employees.

CareerLab offers a formal Mentoring Program and Mentoring Tool Kit for individuals to form

their own mentoring partnership. Five online assessments provide

employees insights about personal style, values, skills, strengths, and interests.

Short online video content to inspire em-ployees to think differently about their careers, the CareerMinute features blogs written by organizational career development experts and animated podcasts.

percent—far below the industry average of 11 percent—

candidates.-

ees whose positions were being eliminated find new roles in the company. This translates into a retention cost sav-

career development services (1:1 Career Consultations, Learn-ingLabs, and Mentoring Services) and found:

-main with Genentech/Roche.

Training editors and Top 10 Hall of Famers recognize innovative and successful learning and

development programs and practices submitted in the 2015 Training Top 125 application.

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T i i dit d T 10 H ll f Ff

BEST PRACTICES AND OUTSTANDING

TRAINING INITIATIVES

-tations were worth their value in terms of time investment (salary) and necessary to reprioritize their work.

IRON MOUNTAIN, INCORPORATED: SENTINEL

-ous challenges:

-ing pieces of customer information annually

personnel (the company’s largest employee base responsible for

standardize both operations and cultural norms, prepare new employees to work safely and efficiently, and provide remedial training to the existing workforce.

Iron Mountain enlisted working groups of senior executives, operations managers, HR representatives, and training profes-sionals to identify key performance and logistical issues, skill and knowledge gaps, and talent needs. This multi-month col-laboration birthed the linchpin of the program—developing a cadre of peer coaches to deliver it. These “Certified Coaches” would benefit from extra pay, but more importantly, a unique development opportunity, recharged engagement, and the po-tentially life-changing chance to move from hourly to salary positions as supervisors and managers.

largest front-line workforce: Transportation. Sentinel includes an employee training program and a train-the-coach curricu-lum. In just six months, the learning team created the former, a blended learning solution including two immersive simulations,

-ing station computers to field locations. The train-the-coach

executive participation via video conferencing.To ensure realistic, hands-on learning, an interdisciplinary

team brainstormed ideas to arrive at a cost-effective solution:

replicates Iron Mountain’s operations facilities.

-cent

percent per month

by biennial sPEAK surveys

been promoted to coordinators, supervisors, and managersIn addition, Sentinel has expanded to four front-line opera-

tions business lines and been adopted by the UK and Europe operations divisions.

MOUNTAIN AMERICA CREDIT UNION: FLOW PHILOSOPHY TRAINING

assistant manager, Kimberly Boettcher, attended the Experience Learning Live! Conference. In one of the breakout sessions, she learned about the concept of Flow: “an optimal state of intrinsic motivation, where the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing.” The Flow Philosophy is commonplace in the video game industry: Video games begin with a built-in tutorial; gam-ers receive prompts as they progress through the initial levels of the game; and the objectives become incrementally more chal-lenging. This is how the software captures gamers’ attention and motivates them to continue.

Training. As it crafted test accounts and scenarios, the team built micro-level, mid-level, and end-level goals into the cur-riculum. The team created characters who could interact with trainees. Each character has a backstory, and with each interac-tion, the tellers learn more about the member’s needs, wants, and expectations. As trainees gather more information and ex-plore new areas of Mountain America’s core processing system, their scenarios and transactions become increasingly complex.

To gauge the effectiveness of the new Sales Training approach, Mountain America monitored the average monthly

-ployment (that is when employees are required to complete their Teller Training post-work courses). Ten of these employees who attended Teller Training before Mountain America implement-ed the new approach were called the Traditional group. Twenty of these employees who attended Teller Training after the imple-mentation were called the Express group.

During the first month of employment, the average monthly

than the Traditional group’s. During the first month of employ-

per month, while the full-time Express group averaged 11.4

month of employment, the Traditional employees averaged 5.5

USAA: CONSUMER LENDING ACQUISITION PIPELINE REINVENTION

-tives is to support the member’s acquisition of consumer loans for a variety of products such as autos, boats, recreational vehi-

pipeline training program with two design goals: increase the


proficiency of graduates and reduce the length of the program if possible.

The new program retains the same basic structure as the original. There are still 20 days of classroom-based activities followed by guided practice to proficiency through a nesting/coaching program. The difference between the programs is in the content. The new program substitutes hands-on train-ing for lecture whenever possible by using a combination of Captivate emulations, simulations, and proctored live work. As a result, students are much more proficient in tasks and procedures than before. This allowed USAA to reduce the length of the live call nesting/coaching segment by 17 days, while seeing a significant decrease in time to proficiency. An intangible, but still important result of the new training pro-gram is the confidence that member service representatives feel coming out of training.

Results:

Efficiency: The new pipeline, from Day 1 through graduation to Phase 2, is now 49 days vs. the original 66.

Effectiveness: At graduation, students of the new program are producing 38 percent more loans and pre-tax income than graduates of the original program. More importantly, they are producing 6 percent more than incumbents with at least a year of experience.

Business results: Taking all results together (increased loans, increased loan value, sales during training, earlier shift to pro-duction, and earlier performance at a proficient level), each class of 16 graduates returns $958,000 of pre-tax income and cost savings back to the association.

WALGREENS: LEADING WELL AT WALGREENSWalgreens’ goals to Create a Well Experience, Advance Com-munity Pharmacy, and Create a Winning Culture required transformative executive development. In 2011, Walgreens’ “Top 250” leaders especially needed clear, consistent direc-tion on making the new strategy a reality. Complicating matters:

collaborative matrix organization.-

tives were company veterans.

or expectations. These needs led to the creation of the Walgreens Leadership Model (WLM) and with it Leading Well at Walgreens (LWW), a blended learning experience to bring senior executives, and the company, to the next level. Designed with C-level input (includ-ing frank assessments of all their team members) and guidance from a management guru, LWW brings together cohorts of 20 to 24 participants from across the business for nine days of formal learning over three sessions. Key LWW components include:

Executives explore the WLM and competencies in-depth through topics such as global

workforce trends, human capital planning, decision pro-tocols, replenishing one’s physical resources, and building intellectual agility. Senior executives deliver keynotes, facilitate some sessions, and network with participants. Evening social events promote relationship building.

Cross-functional teams of five to eight executives research and analyze a current, stra-tegically aligned business challenge outside their area of expertise; analyze, debate, and debrief findings and im-plications; and propose a plan to a senior executive panel. Participants each dedicate 100 to 150 hours to group and individual project work between sessions.

per participant reinforce learning and support individual development.

equip executives to share learning with direct reports.

on Walgreens’ social learning/collaboration site encourages discussion and insight exchange.

enables continued learning and networking.

Based on early success, Walgreens immediately expanded LWW to its Top 400 leaders (a third were set to graduate last year).

Results:

-pared to control stores, thanks to market-specific health services such as hypoglycemia awareness, travel immuni-zations, and “My Diabetes” workshops.

than 20 percent two years ago to approximately 80 percent today, positioning Walgreens to negotiate better terms.

-dation to delay implementation of an unproven/expensive new technology.

merchandise impulse center at the main store check-out area.

-ary 2013.

surveys, the score for “In the past year, I have had oppor-tunities to learn and grow” increased from 4.19 in 2012 to 4.33 out of 5, exceeding Gallup’s North American 4.0 mean for all retail executives.

OUTSTANDING TRAINING INITIATIVESGABLES RESIDENTIAL: GABLES LEADERSHIP INSTITUTEIn 2012, Gables Residential faced an urgent and costly problem: Its senior leadership pipeline was all but empty. The answer was the creation of the Gables Leadership Institute (GLI), a yearlong


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blended learning program centered around four three-day ses-sions co-developed with expert facilitators. GLI features:

Includes a personality assessment and the book, “StrengthFinders.”

Leadership strengths and how they add value to your team and organization, facilitated by an executive coach/organizational consul-tant. A sandcastle-building activity highlights leadership styles.

Facilitated by the Assistant Dean for University of Maryland’s School of Business, and including a 360-degree assessment, conflict resolu-tion style assessment, and major highlight: a 12-hour experience in Gettysburg, “In the Footsteps of Leaders,” in which inspired attendees happily volunteer to march a mile through 30-degree temperatures, sleet, slush, and mud and still proclaim it “literally the best leadership ex-perience I have ever had.”

Conducted by a psychologist and Georgetown professor with expertise in developmen-tal cultures. A cooking class with three senior leaders yields many coachable moments.

Making the most of available resources without dependence on senior leaders, facilitated by another U of M business school professor. A survival exercise concludes this session.

Senior vice presidents share personal leadership journeys and answer questions (sessions are recorded and made accessible).

During each ses-sion and at a welcome dinner attended by every top Gables leader—unprecedented at this highly decentralized company.

The course concluded in October. Three of the 12 par-ticipants already have been promoted as senior leaders vs. one such promotion at the same time in 2013. Results from the most recent company survey reflect overall satisfaction up 2 percent, and senior management turnover has decreased 12.1 percent.

By promoting internal candidates, Gables Residential saved an estimated $900,000, conservatively using two times an-nual salary in recruitment, hiring, and training costs for three senior managers. GLI costs were $60,600 including design, development, and delivery of four sessions (facilitators, travel/accommodation, special programs), yielding an ROI of 1,385 percent.

JIFFY LUBE INTERNATIONAL: LEADERSHIP TRAININGBecause of its desire to help the 45 percent of its employees who desire to continue their education, in 2011 Jiffy Lube In-ternational (JLI) went through an accreditation review with the American Council on Education (ACE). ACE awarded Jiffy Lube University (JLU) with seven hours of college credits. In the review, ACE recommended that JLI make changes to its man-ager training to improve it and to earn more ACE credits.

Rather than tweak the existing content, JLI conducted a study to determine the skill and content gaps so it could significantly improve the training. Working with its Fran-chisee Training Committee, JLI Operations, and the JLU Learning Team, JLI conducted an in-depth study of top- and average-performing store managers. JLI then developed an observation and interview tool and selected stores for the survey. Each member of the team visited four top- and four average-performing stores, completed the observation form, and interviewed the managers. From the data, the team learned that top managers spent 22 percent of their time—double the time of average managers—in training and developing their team members.

Armed with this critical information, the team developed two major initiatives:

JLU updated old cours-es and converted several topics from the old instructor-led training (ILT) class. New video was shot and the courses were made more engaging and effective. A proficiency examination was added to the 14 e-learning courses to create a new and com-prehensive Management curriculum.

JLU consid-ered some of the best books on leadership and business, along with assistance from several industry experts, to put together a new three-day class that focused on developing employees. The name was changed to Leadership Training, and the class incor-porated training on the Building Blocks of a Successful Team, Performance Management, Training & Coaching, Change Management, and more.

After two months of pilot classes, JLU incorporated all the feedback and began offering Leadership Training classes in March 2014. JLU also introduced an electronic online follow-up system to encourage students to apply the learning from the class and to gain support from their supervisor. The system communicates to students and their supervisor the day after class and again at 30, 60, 90, and 180 days to ask them to assess their development as a leader.

Finally, JLU added an online simulation game as the final step in the Leadership Certification. The learner must resolve 32 real-life scenarios, gaining points based on the quality of the response. The game must be successfully completed as the final component of Leadership Certification. A leaderboard was added to JLU to highlight the top 100 scores to encourage competition.

In the first nine months, more than 35,000 man-agement e-learning courses have been completed, with 3,000 certifications earned. Level 1 student evaluation of these courses has gone from the bottom 25 percent to the top 25 percent. More than 1,000 students have completed Leadership Training ILT class and the simulation. Level 1 student evaluation scores on a 5-point scale have improved from 4.67 to 4.82 for the quality of the content. Approximately 50 percent of the students are utiliz-ing the electronic follow-up system.

Managers who completed the new training during the first quarter of last year note customer counts 10 percent higher in

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the second quarter and 11 percent higher than system average.

than the system average. -

NATIONWIDE MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY: FAST-START FOR AGENTS

-

wanted a “fast-start” solution for new agents. The redesigned curriculum cut two weeks from the original school and add-ed more time taking live calls. Flipped classroom concepts were incorporated into the new curriculum. As part of this approach, agents are asked to complete several assignments, including shadowing an experienced agent/listening to calls and calling competitors to get an auto quote, evaluating their

Additional learning strategies include gamification (an interactive game covering the life cycle of a policy and an animated simulation involving preloaded customer profile scenarios), video flashcards with roving hot spots that dis-play content, a scavenger hunt to develop critical thinking/locating information, and quick access “learning snacks.”

Experiential/discovery-based learning and social collabo-ration are introduced after each major product introduction. Coaches observe calls and provide immediate feedback at the time of the call. The instructor sets up a private collaboration site for the class and their supervisors. Some of the posts are taken directly from the curriculum, but also include tips and tricks, experience sharing, and contests/incentives. A skills matrix is used with agents during the learning experience

selling, product knowledge, and quoting.

are Yield Rate and Agent Awareness Report (AAR). Yield rate is the number of individual policies sold bound by pay-ments made divided by number of phone calls made/taken.

are expected to meet Agent Awareness Report minimums. Agents receive a score based on the number of policies with errors divided by number of policies reviewed by qual-

accuracy.

Yield Rate significantly exceeded the Yield Rate for agents who

three months faster than their predecessors.

RENT-A-CENTER: MOBILE REVOLUTIONIn an effort to significantly increase its customer base, Rent-A-Center decided to occupy the smartphone space. The company not only designed and developed all of the training materials in

In an effort to implement a successful change management program in regard to the smartphone rollout, Rent-A-Center built a deployment strategy that blended Webinars, face-to-face instructor-led training (ILT), and videos. The company branded it the Mobile Revolution. Several key components con-tributed to success:

-lence coaches—as instructors to deliver the two-day presentation.

Expense Management, Human Resources, and Corpo-rate Strategy, to ensure the success of the ILT events.

a tiered schedule to build the presenters’ proficiency through presentation, practice, application, and feed-back.

to prepare stores and leadership for deployment.

around which to build the sales training.

for training in order to gain buy-in and utilize them as table facilitators.

program.

-fice, and a Samsung AllShare Cast.

coworkers for the upcoming training and rollout.-

phone and spent two days interacting with the phone through activities, application, and knowledge checks.

post-training survey that they were extremely satisfied with the training they received and it helped them prepare for their job. Level 4 results show that the company sold more

-cent of its expectations.

UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS: STEP UP TO UHUniversity Hospitals’ main campus is located in Cleveland’s University Circle area, standing as a multi-billion-dollar entity surrounded by neighborhoods where poverty and un-employment are high. Launched in 2013 as part of the Greater University Circle Initiative, Hire Local, Step Up to UH is a re-cruitment and pre-employment training program developed by UH and its collaborative partners, Towards Employment (TE) and Neighborhood Connections (NC). This program was designed to address barriers to employment and provides residents of the high-poverty neighborhoods surrounding the hospital with the training and support necessary to be-come eligible candidates for entry-level positions within the UH health system and remain employed once hired.

UH and its partner nonprofit organizations charted a course to develop a “funnel before the funnel” to assist neighborhood residents to qualify for targeted entry-level positions within the hospital system. UH identified the posi-tions within the health system pipeline and mapped out the competencies required for each vacancy. TE designed an out-reach, screening, and training program to recruit and prepare neighborhood residents who have an interest in working for the UH hospital system. NC reaches out to the community to recruit participants to learn about the opportunity. UH

is committed to drawing entry-level staff from this pool of candidates in addition to coordinating and overseeing the collaboration and training efforts.

To successfully implement Step Up to UH, UH gathered health system leaders to change protocol and policy neces-sary to hold vacancies in the target departments that could be filled by program participants. This included obtaining buy-in from hiring managers and HR to allow for longer hir-ing turnaround times or holding open positions longer.

Results: Outcomes of the program in its pilot phase in fall 2013 include:

first six months to ease job transition.

After receiving additional funding in May 2014, UH re-implemented this program and is on target to hire an ad-ditional 60 people from high-poverty neighborhoods in the next year. Since July 2014, UH has hired an additional 13 people, with new rounds of training and hiring occurring every other month. The first 10 hires from the pilot phase are reaching their first year of employment and are working with the UH Career Coach to determine next steps in their train-ing and development. t


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Why Can’t We All Be Happy at Work?

Today we are at a crossroads in scientific management—advancing a strategic solution for leading organizational effec-tiveness and efficiency in a knowledge-driven economy. Recent management technologies, including Total Quality Manage-ment, Six Sigma, and Lean, have been successful in tangible

settings, such as manufacturing. However, these technologies have been far less effective when applied to our intangible assets—primarily human motivation and behavior. We now face the critical challenge of effectively managing and enabling human beings; this is the path we must create for the next big pay-off in modern industry. Notably, current data suggest this is only possible if leaders and their organizations choose happiness.

www.trainingmag.com110 | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015 training

Although scientific support for the benefits of happiness is mounting, creating a happy and engaged culture requires a new kind of organizational learning.

Training Exclusive

By SHAWN ACHOR (With Contributions from the ITLN Research Teamled by MATTHEW DELLA PORTA, PH.D.)

In a recent study conducted in 142 countries, Gallup found that only 13 percentof employees worldwide are truly engaged in their jobs. These data couldn’t bemore alarming and serve as a serious indictment of global workplace leadership;indeed, they call into question the most basic assumptions we tend to make aboutthe practice of management. The report has more bad news: 63 percent of employeesworldwide are not engaged in their jobs and an additional 24 percent are actively

disengaged—these employees are miserable, and they cometo work and spread their negativity toward others! Gallupestimates that active disengagement costs the U.S. alonemore than $500 billion annually—hardly a figure to ignore.In 2008, I started talking in earnest to leaders around theworld about the potential of positive psychology. Among oth-er fascinating findings, this emerging science shows a clearconnection between happiness and optimal performance forindividual employees and their organizations.

A lot has happened in the field of positive psychology, and tome, since then. I have traveled to 50-plus countries and workedwith more than a third of the Fortune 500, helping them con-nect the dots between happiness and success. Gallup’s 2013State of the Global Workplace report revealed a stunning arrayof benefits for happy organizations, including higher customerratings, profitability, and productivity, as well as lower turn-over and absenteeism. Overall, organizations that put intopractice what I’ve dubbed the Happiness Advantage are proofpositive that a happy, engaged employee is the greatest com-petitive advantage in our modern economy.

Last year, I was invited to work alongside Training magazineto conduct research on the benefits of happiness in the work-place, using volunteers from the Training community, as wellas employees being instructed in corporate classroom set-tings. We published the results last February, clearly showingthat it is possible to raise happiness through training andpositively affect business outcomes as a result.

However, despite rigorous science showing that happiness im-proves virtually every business outcome, a crucial question stillremains:

Why is it so difficult for peopleto be happy at work?

The reason happy cultures are difficult to build and sustain istwofold. First, organizations must change the prevailing socialscripts that undermine positive environments and behaviors.Second, business priorities must demonstrate a real commit-ment to happiness as a strategy for success.

Unwritten RulesSocial scripts are unwritten rules that dictate how we behavewhen others are present. These are the cultural norms, goodor bad, that determine the rules of engagement inside ourorganizations—they become institutionalized patterns ofbehavior. In some workplaces, the prevailing social scriptsmay influence employees to be “all business” during conver-sations at the water cooler and to focus on solving problems,thus, practically eliminating the role of emotions in theworkplace. However, at some progressive organizations suchas Zappos, CHG Healthcare, and Google, the social scriptsare much different, encouraging employees to express posi-tive emotions, be more socially invested in co-workers, andconsequently more innovative in their job performance.

The typical social scripts of management scienceshave made problem-solving the primary orientation insidemany organizations (see Figure 1, above, right). In turn,

employees learn to focus on problems: how to identify them,define them, research them, and solve them.

Although we must continue to find solutions to prob-lems, our social scripts must balance this problem-focusedapproach with a simultaneous focus on creating positiveworkplace environments and emotions that foster optimalwork performance (Figure 2).

Priority CheckToo often, managers are in no position to devote time andenergy to developing a strategy based on positive psychology.They are overly busy, up against capacity limitations, facing


Shawn Achor spent 12 year at Harvard University, winning more than a dozen distinguished teaching awards, before traveling to 50-plus countries bringing his positive psychology research to more than one-third of the Fortune 100. He is the author of The New York Times best-selling books “The Happiness Advantage” and “Before Happiness,” as well as his popular business parable, “The Orange Frog.” His research on happiness has made the cover of Harvard Business Review, and his TED talk is one of the most popular of all time with more than 8 million views.

To participate in future research on workplace happiness,

write to [email protected].

FIGURE 1

FIGURE 2

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aggressive deadlines, and have upper management breathing down their necks. Management at all levels must understand that the benefits of happiness in the workplace often take time. Indeed, when we focus on the long-term success of our organizations, we will find that a priority shift toward happi-ness is a firm foundation on which to build our future plans.

Here, we profile two organizations—Nationwide Brokerage Solutions (NBS) and T-Mobile—that are beginning to rewrite their social scripts and make happiness a top business priority. They have generously shared their journeys up to this point and how they plan to drive their happiness initiatives forward.

Happiness Journey: Nationwide Brokerage Solutions (NBS)When Gary Baker became president of Nationwide Broker-age Solutions (NBS), he quickly began changing the course of the company culture to embrace the Happiness Advantage. We first featured Gary 12 months ago to learn about the NBS

happiness journey. Now a year later, his team has seen a lot of change, including impressive growth, profitability, and stag-gering improvement in Gallup’s Q12 engagement scores. They also have seen the resolve required from senior management to keep the spirit of happiness alive. Recently, I spoke with Gary about some of the experiences and strategies at NBS as it effectively “doubles down” on its investment in happiness.

SA: Gary, how have you decided to capitalize on the Hap-piness Advantage for NBS?

GB: Last year, one of our biggest successes was our huddle boards. This is a daily work routine composed of several differ-ent activities such as sharing our goals for the day, reviewing the prior day’s activities, discussing new business items, and so on. [Author’s note: Work routines are repeatable sequences of practices used to efficiently achieve a result. Work routines are the foundation of organized work.]

Into this routine we added a new practice of checking the team’s mood barometer and sharing our personal happiness levels right

before starting the meeting. By adding this simple (and seemingly unnecessary) practice to this impor-tant business routine, everyone on the team began to see that happiness was a business priority for us. Also, they found a way to share positive emotions across the team and express care for each other, which has led to better teamwork, stronger social investment in others, and more positive social scripts inside NBS.

SA: What else have you done that has helped build momentum behind your happiness initiative?

GB: We created the Empowerment, Diversity, and Inclusion team to show organizational sup-port for employees being happier and performing to their full potential. Creating a new team with this charter was a major shift for us; it was an ac-tual change in our structure. This team came to symbolize to all of our associates that happiness was important to us as a business priority. Shift-ing the structure of the business went a long way toward showing people that how they behave and what they think really matters, as well as proving that this initiative is here to stay.

SA: You must have encountered some obstacles or frustrations along the way?

GB: Of course. When we conducted a first-year re-view, we found many opportunities where we could have done better: Many of the biggest wins for people never got reported; changes we made to support this effort weren’t recognized; natural pressures to revert to old social scripts weren’t confronted; and some people saw this as a faltering commitment. During this same period, we went through gut-wrenching changes to our business processes and were understaffed. Yet, we still had record financial results and the best im-provement in engagement scores of any division, with significant improvement in 11 out of 12 categories. So we are going to push even harder this year to

Profile: Nationwide InsuranceAfter starting as a sales offering at the Nationwide Sales Academy, the Hap-

piness Advantage Orange Frog training is now in demand at other areas of the

company, as well. Senior consultant Julie Hoover has shifted from the Sales

Training organization to the Sales Talent Development area of the Nationwide

Academy to meet this demand and provide broader strategic focus to the hap-

piness effort. Before this, Hoover described the unorthodox manner in which

she was able to get the happiness initiative started: She carried an orange frog

up and down in the building elevator and encouraged others to ask questions

about her new training initiative. This strategy resulted in enough employee

interest for executive leadership to fund the effort.

Since then, Hoover has taken note of the obstacles she needed to overcome

to sustain the new happiness strategy. “It just takes time for people to believe

that the happiness advantage is something more than a fad,” she says. “Our

early adopters helped create a groundswell that changed how people perceived

this initiative. This led to a tipping point within various units in our organiza-

tion and within our organization as a whole. For example, Gary Baker’s team

provided a model that inspired many leaders to ‘buy-in.’” Once other leaders

saw the results of a sustained commitment to happiness, it became easier for

them to make a commitment, as well.

“One group led by an AVP formed its own team and created its own Happi-

ness Mission, its own Yammer site, and was even able to get the company to

agree to repaint the walls on three floors of its corporate office to reflect that

team’s brand of happiness on those floors.

“Employees also needed to see the link between the training workshops and

our overall business strategy,” Hoover adds. “We continued to articulate that

connection until it finally started to catch on.”

And catch on it did! Hoover now helps oversee the rollout of a happiness

training that is in high demand. “Over the last 60 days, I have had more than

700 requests for the Orange Frog training,” she notes. “Keep in mind, this is

genuine interest—not people being pushed into a class. Now we are answer-

ing the phone every day and planning for potentially another 1,000 associates

wanting to go through the training in 2015. We are developing our Orange

Frog Facilitation team and adding resources to support this delivery as we look

forward to spreading more Orange across the Nationwide business.”



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communicate and sustain the Happiness Advantage at NBS.SA: So what’s in store this year?GB: To start with, we have done extensive surveys to find

out what practices worked well over the last year. We also asked our people to examine their work routines, which we analyzed to identify the ones that had the highest potential to improve happiness if we made them more positive, like we did with our huddle boards.

Also, we committed to systematically implementing our 2015 Happiness Playbook. We took into account more than 800 submissions of work routines and de-veloped a host of “plays.” Each play is a team-developed combination of an existing work routine embedded with a “positive practice” designed to make work a more positive experience. We will run plays at regular intervals and then review the “game tapes” to evalu-ate each play’s effectiveness. This is quite a bit of work for us and a significant commitment of time, but we expect to learn a lot and reinforce our commitment to happiness as a business priority.

Happiness Journey: T-MobileIn the fast-moving mobile marketplace, T-Mobile is a positive outlier. Last year, Jennifer Falkenberg and a few folks on her team from T-Mobile’s Customer Service Learning & Development group attended my

keynote at the Training 2014 Conference. Among other things, I shared with the audience that we were continuing to advance the research on positive psychology in the workforce. Jennifer ap-plied to be part of that research.

In her application, Jennifer suggested that happiness might be exactly what her organization needed as an enabler to deliver on T-Mobile’s Un-carrier promise to employees and custom-ers. She saw happiness as the DNA in the “how” we achieve

great results. T-Mobile’s mission is to revolutionize the wireless industry by providing its customers with simple, straightforward experiences—where oth-ers offer rules and restrictions. I recently spoke with Jennifer to find out how her happiness initiative was affecting progress at T-Mobile.

SA: What originally inspired you to want to be part of our research project?

JF: After listening to your talk at Training 2014 and reading your article in the January/February 2014 issue of Training, I saw a connection between two complementary initiatives at T-Mobile. As a bold company with a fresh attitude, we’re not like any other wireless company, and we’re proud of that. We’re changing the game in the wireless in-dustry and how we play in it. The first connection was to Un-carrier—this is our CEO’s determina-tion to upend our efforts in mobile and refocus on “what matters most to our customers” by changing wireless for the better. Simply put, we’re all about the customer. Tying the Happiness Advantage to Un-carrier fits nicely with the focus on the experi-ence of the customer and the employee.

The second connection was that of a new mind-set that unleashes our Un-carrier promise—“How We Play”—how we achieve results and do business. Like your message about happiness, both initiatives are based on simple principles that make sense, but nonetheless things get in the way. We felt if we could

SOCIAL SCRIPTS promoted at NBS encourage employees to express positive emotions, be socially invested in co-workers, and be more innovative.


Profile: T-MobileFor Jennifer Falkenberg, each day is a balance between handling the business

pressures of leading a Training department and focusing on initiatives such as

building a happiness advantage inside of T-Mobile.

“There are numerous trade-offs you must make daily,” she admits. To assist

with this challenge, Falkenberg recently brought a new training team on board.

“I am hoping this will give us the capacity we need to focus on deploying hap-

piness through training,” she says. “We also have chartered a team to guide

the implementation of our happiness initiative.”

An important strategy for carrying the Happiness Advantage forward in any

organization is clarifying the connection between happiness and business

priorities. For Falkenberg’s team, extra measures were taken to drive this point

home. “We drafted an operational charter to explain the connection between the

Happiness Advantage and T-Mobile’s business initiatives,” she explains. “To en-

sure consistency, all members of the team have it memorized. It reads: We are driving Un-carrier from the inside out by embedding happiness into our DNA—to create a T-Mobile where customers rejoice, employees thrive, and we change the industry forever. I love how the charter points to happi-

ness as the way T-Mobile will make a game-changing impact on the world.”

In the midst of implementing a happiness initiative, many organizations col-

lect data and track their progress to uncover the impact happiness makes on

engagement and performance. “We’re tracking metrics and collecting evidence

that will give us an empirical basis to support this charge,” Falkenberg says.

“Over time, I think the numbers will speak for themselves. Right now, every-

one involved in this new initiative agrees that happiness really does make a

difference in our lives—at home and at work, too.”


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At Northwestern Mutual, success is built on our biggestasset: our people. That’s why we’re committed to training and

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research how to deploy happiness to drive Un-carrier and fuel our How We Play culture, we could advance both missions si-multaneously.

SA: In terms of the connection between happiness and your Un-carrier initiative, what has transpired to date?

JF: For starters, we needed to build the right support among our leadership team to ensure that the Happiness Advantage principles resonated with our culture and could gain traction through a clear connection to our business agenda. So far, we have run multiple sessions to test these new ideas with various leaders, and the feedback has been tremendous. Unfortunately, it feels like we are moving slow-er than I thought we would.

SA: To what do you attribute this slower progress?JF: There are a few reasons. First, our Un-carrier moves in

the marketplace take precedence over most anything we do, which causes us to constantly rethink and reprioritize our day-to-day business activities, so there is an issue balancing time, bandwidth, and resources. I also have my “real” job, which is running a Training organization that supports more than 10,000 employees. That, as you can imagine, requires a majority of my time and focus. So what little bandwidth I have left goes toward special initiatives such as spearhead-ing our happiness initiative and championing the research. Needless to say, there’s not much left in my tank when I get to those things.

The second is clarifying the connection between the Hap-piness Advantage and our business initiatives. People seem to intuitively “get it” in our workshops. I mean, it’s happiness—what’s not to get? Our challenge, which I’m sure is not unique to T-Mobile, is how do you easily articulate the direct con-nection of happiness to business initiatives? We can articulate why happiness is important abstractly, but getting people to clearly see the connection as they decide business priorities day-to-day on the firing line is not ingrained.

SA: Have you found solutions or strategies that you are using?

JF: Leading from the front! As an organizational leader and L&D professional, my tendency is to focus on what I can do to lead change in my orga-nization. One of the “ahas” I walked away from the workshop with was that I need to lead by example first, and my organization will change later as a re-sult. At T-Mobile, we decided we needed to keep the pressure on, so we chartered a team that will lead by example to organize and sustain the rollout. For example, we’ve created a new social script around taking time to eat lunch. I know, it’s basic, but how many folks really take lunch? Sitting at your desk combing through hundreds of e-mails while shov-eling food into your mouth doesn’t count. Our team is taking steps to usher in this new social script, and we are all visibly taking lunch breaks. Most importantly, it’s not about telling people they need to take lunch so they’ll be happier, it’s about

getting caught taking a lunch break and not feeling guilty about it. And if I can demonstrate to those around me that it’s OK to take a lunch break, then eventually, they’ll start doing it, too.

We are beginning to realize that even simple solutions can take time to implement. We must be patient. Our CEO once said, “We’ll know we are doing something right when others start to copy us.” This Happiness Advantage is a movement, and a movement needs some time to gain momentum to be successful. Like Un-carrier, this isn’t about defining a finish line, it’s about becoming part of our DNA—it’s about infusing Happiness Advantage as part of our business leadership. We are starting to see some of this happen internally on our happiness journey as employees observe and hear about the benefits of our first test groups; they want to know what those groups did so they can do the same.

If Happiness Is a Business Strategy, Treat It Like OneOrganizations must equip their managers with the tools nec-essary to lead positive change. It is simply not enough to have managers read a book or attend a seminar. Instead, manag-ers need to be fully convinced of and prepared to articulate the benefits of happiness. In sum, our experience over the last year indicates the following requirements:

This involves writing new ones that advocate and promote the link between happiness and success at work, as well as visibly removing social scripts that do not.

-ganic, employee-driven growth within the organization.

with positive practices to create positive emotional experi-ences at work.

-ness to live, especially for new teams and necessary time


PEOPLE LOVE the Orange Frog workshops, but getting traction takes more than just a workshop, notes T-Mobile’s Jennifer Falkenberg.



commitments.

the benefits of the Happiness Advantage. They must walk the talk!

change is happening. Painting the walls is a simple and direct way to broadcast this message (see the Nationwide Insurance sidebar on p. 112 for more detail).

-mal training systems, consider implementing coaching, mentoring, or organized volunteer programs.

Ongoing Research Directions for Happiness at WorkThere are many exciting possibilities on the horizon to assist organizations in creating a new, happy culture for their employ-ees. I believe the most promising approach is to focus on how we do business each day. By targeting our most important work routines and embedding more positivity into them, we move beyond talking about happiness and into making it a genera-tive, powerful force at work.

Recall the example Nationwide’s Gary Baker gave us. His em-ployees had an existing, daily work routine: the huddle board. Broken down into individual parts, this work routine is com-posed of several different practices. Gary and his team decided to introduce a specific “positive practice” to the routine, which

made this part of the workday a more positive experience. Through our research efforts, we intend to determine

whether different types of work routines are better than others for creating positive emotional experiences, depend-ing on which types of positive practices are combined with them. For example, sharing a humorous story as part of a “team routine” in which everybody is well acquainted with one another may be much more appropriate and effective than sharing that same story as part of a “client routine” in which a more formal tone of discourse is expected.

To this end, in collaboration with Training, we recently asked volunteers from the Training community to categorize their work routines according to which people are involved in them. Survey participants did this by choosing one or more of the following categories for each of their work routines: one team, multiple teams, employees ranked above or below one another (cross-level), other organizations, customers/clients, or just one person doing the routine alone.

Our survey also gave participants an opportunity to choose which practices they thought would make the biggest posi-tive impact on their work routines. Some of the most popular practices among our survey respondents were taking a short walk, sharing media (e.g., TED talks, songs, quotes of day), and giving/receiving recognition for a job well done.

In future research, we will test whether certain positive practices are more effective than others based upon work

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routine frequency. For example, giving a small gift may work perfectly well in a quarterly routine, but would be burden-some in a daily routine.

In addition, we are interested in the long-term relationship be-tween work routines and social scripts. If we successfully instill positivity into a few of our work routines now, will it change our social scripts over time? Furthermore, will these changed social

scripts facilitate integration of bolder positive practices that would not have been previously acceptable? Per-haps organizations can use the concept of Zorro Circles (gaining momentum through fast, small wins) to get an early competitive lead in harnessing the science of happiness in their culture change efforts. Building off of this early lead, these organizations will be more ca-pable of accelerating positive change in the future.

Ultimately, our research aims to make happiness a

deeply embedded component of daily life at work. This approach ensures that organizational commitments to happiness are sustainable and demonstrate real change to employees. We’ll continue to publish our latest re-search results in future issues of Training magazine.

We stand on the verge of what may well be the biggest opportunity in the history of modern industry. By capitalizing on the science of happiness, employ-ees at all levels can help their organizations become more successful than ever and enjoy the well-being

that accompanies high engagement and job satisfaction. Senior leaders who choose happiness, and make the required commit-ment, stand to create organizations that learn how to optimize the benefits of positive emotions and have this learning spread throughout their organizations and outward to their customers. This marks an opportunity not just to make companies more profitable, but to make the world a happier place. t

WIDESPREAD, VISIBLE COMMUNICATIONS are key to conveying to employees that change is happening. Painting the walls, as Nationwide Brokerage Solutions did, is a simple and direct way to broadcast this message.


Stop by the KnowledgeVision Booth #623 at Training 2015 Expo and get a free $2 bill

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Turtle Bay Turnaround

Perched on the northernmost end of the pristine coastline of Oahu, HI, newly relaunched 840-acre Turtle Bay Resort does not want to be known as a “fly-and-flop” vacation destination where guests spend their entire time on the is-land just lounging by the pool. “We want to inspire and

enlighten our guests and make them part of the Hawaiian community, and we want the community to trust us and partner on this,” explains Michael Coyle, CEO of Replay Resorts, which took over the management of Turtle Bay Resort in 2010. “The idea is inclusiveness instead of exclusiveness and helping our guests see Turtle Bay through the eyes of the locals.”


Training fortified by open communication, leadership involvement, and the development of core values is helping Turtle Bay Resort surf a new wave of success. BY LORRI FREIFELD

Training Exclusive

Manifested in a sleek pipeline wave logo and tagline—“ANew Wave: More Ways to Play”—this tidal wave of changerequired a major mindset shift for employees and locals,alike. Turtle Bay Resort had gone through numerous own-ership changes over the years, resulting in disengagedemployees buffeted by inconsistent standardsand values and angry islanders worried abouta new owner that might “pave paradise andput up a parking lot.”

Despite a $40 million investment in propertyrenovations and rebranding and a promise tothe community to curtail development, thenew management team knew it wasn’t goingto be an easy transition. But they also knewsuccess was possible with the right training—training fortified by open communication,leadership involvement, and the develop-ment of core values. As such, “we dedicated41 percent of our Human Resources budgetto training and will continue to do so in thefuture,” says Turtle Bay Resort GM/VP DannaHolck. “We find that investing in our employ-ees translates to happier employees and happy/satisfied guests.”

Living the 6 ValuesBefore getting started, Holck and Turtle BayResort CEO Drew Stotesbury spent two weekstalking to all 500-plus employees in groups offive to 10. Holck says the most surprising thingshe heard was the emotional connection em-ployees have to the resort. “Many employeeshave family members working at Turtle Bay andmany have a multi-generational family historywith Turtle Bay,” she notes.

But the most valuable thing Holck and Stotes-bury learned was “the importance employeesplaced on values and beliefs, particularly Aloha(love, kindness, and compassion) and Malama(caring for others).”

With the employee input, Holck and Stotes-bury formulated Turtle Bay’s 6 Values that setthe standard by which the staff operates andserves its guests. These values have been incor-porated into all Turtle Bay Human Resourceactivities, including training, which typicallyis delivered via classroom sessions, role-play,video, and social learning. The 6 Values andsome associated employee practices include:

Manawa (time)Respect others’ time.Greet guests promptly.Demonstrate urgency in responding torequests.Contribute to productive meetings.

Pono (goodness)Treat everyone with dignity and respect.Stay positive.Lead by example.Act in ways that build trust.


My Turtle Bay ExperienceIn the interest of full disclosure, I was invited to visit Turtle Bay Resort as part of a

press trip to cover the relaunch (further disclosure: It was my first time visiting Hawaii).

I was something of the odd duck in the gaggle of 30-plus luxury travel, wedding, and

golfing journalists reporting on the reborn resort. So while my colleagues were asking

about the number of guests the wedding pavilion could hold or the custom oil infusions

for the deep-tissue massage, I wanted to know about best practices for training and

employee engagement.

I thoroughly enjoyed my first helicopter ride (which included landing on a ledge in

the middle of the mountains and drinking a mimosa), first massage (yes, my feet are

still ticklish), first horseback ride along the coast (thank you, Nick, for not dumping me

on my butt), and first official luau (the fire dancers were hot!). But I was even more

intrigued by Turtle Bay’s concept of “Talk Story” as we at Training magazine believe

storytelling is an integral part of successful training.

Cultural educator Kahokule’a Haiku told Hawaiian legends around the luau firepit about

Honu the turtle and how the coconut got its face. Cultural advisor Pohaku explained how

he was building a special temple between the sea and mountains. I learned about the

Eddie Aikau surfing tournament that is only held if the waves are more than 20 feet. A

famous waterman, Aikau and a few friends went boating, but the boat started sinking and

he paddled off to get help. A Hawaiian Airlines plane happened to be delayed and saw the

folks in the water and sent help, but the selfless Aikau was never seen again. I met Kimi

Werner, a spear fisherwoman and free diver who can hold her breath for 4 minutes, 50

seconds and has dived down as far as 149 feet. She grew up poor in a shack and taught

herself to spearfish after watching her dad. She started competing on the pro spearfishing

circuit but found herself looking at fish as points. Today she only fishes for food.

Everywhere I went, Turtle Bay Resort employees—including Jay, the trainer from the

Fitness Center; Vera, the horseback riding guide; Stacy the masseuse; and Mary the

photographer who was getting married on the helicopter landing ridge the following

week—shared their stories and their love of the North Shore.

They certainly were well trained on the value of Kama’aina and helped me take home

more than just pretty pictures of an island paradise.

www.trainingmag.com

Malama (caring for others)Respect Turtle Bay’s environment, assets, and location.Buy locally. Participate by getting involved in the community. Hold others accountable.

Hanai (support of family)Encourage and participate in teambuilding activities. Help a new employee. Embrace guests as part of your family. Demonstrate genuine interest in your co-workers.

Aloha (kindness)Engage guests and co-workers. Practice the “Golden Rule” of treating others the way you would like to be treated. Handle complaints and problems with empathy and compassion. Demonstrate genuine care and interest in others.

Kama’aina (local)Be a North Shore “expert.” Create a comfortable and differentiated environment for guests. “Talk story” with guests and co-workers by exchanging stories about Turtle Bay, the North Shore, and Hawaii, and sharing personal experiences.Treat locals as guests and guests as locals.

The Turtle Bay Values training program is required for every employee. During this training session, Turtle Bay’s mission, vision, and values are explained. Each department was required to create a Values implementation plan with the help of HR. These plans were implemented and then reviewed and updated by HR after six months.

“Our Values continue to be the framework for all of our HR initiatives,” explains HR Director Noel Marquardsen. “Individual managers were given instrumented feedback from their employees, peers, and manager, along with a self-rating on their application of the Values practices. They were required to develop an individual improvement plan, and their progress in implementing their plan formed a major component of their year-end performance review. Hourly employees were required to complete a self-assessment on their application of the Values practices and were required to complete a personal improvement plan.”

Holck adds that Turtle Bay’s performance management system is based on job goals and, to an equal extent, the application of the company’s Value practices.

Customer ServiceAn extension of the Turtle Bay Values program, Laulima (which means “many hands working together”) is a service quality training program designed to create a unique and dif-ferentiated experience for guests. The program is separated into four modules that focus on

1. Greeting 2. Service delivery 3. Service recovery 4. Knowledge (facilities, food and beverage options,

experiences, history, and culture)To create a differentiated guest experience (one that includes

everything from farm-to-table cuisine, surfing and stand-up paddling, horseback riding and Segway tours to helicopter adventures, deep-tissue massages, and trips to town for shave ice), Marquardsen says the Training team needed to increase employees’ knowledge in several areas, including job expecta-tions, guest expectations, and product and brand knowledge. Laulima was developed using input from a group of 12 “best practice” employees who were selected as the best guest ser-vice providers among Turtle Bay employees.

Each module has an associated workbook that guides em-ployees through a variety of exercises. For example, Module 1/Greeting walks employees through “Feel It” (having the right attitude), “See It” (making eye contact), “Show It” (smiling), “Say It” (knowing what to say), “Do It” (offering to help), and “Own It” (next steps).

Employees also needed to become familiar with Guide-post, the new in-lobby experience center that consolidates all concierge and activity guest services into one easy-to-use interactive space that allows guests to review, discuss, book, and connect with the North Shore’s many activities. The Guidepost includes expert guides, iPads, and large touch-screen panels for viewing activities.

Because nature is such an important part of the Turtle Bay


Turtle Bay Turnaround

Let’s Go on Workation!As part of its rebranding, Turtle Bay now offers corporate organiza-

tions a “Workation” program that allows them to bring the entire

office to the beach for work, play, and custom teambuilding experi-

ences. Participants can catch dinner using traditional Hawaiian

fishing practices, master that yoga move in private wellness classes,

and enjoy a workspace with panoramic ocean views.

According to Cate Thero, EVP, Replay Resorts, the Workation

program is designed to:

Portland, OR-based e-commerce company TheClymb.com has

chosen the Workation program for several recent back-to-back annual

getaways. TheClymb.com uproots its entire office to Turtle Bay, where

the company’s 70 employees work from “crazy early in the morning

until midday and then we enjoy the North Shore all afternoon,” says

TheClymb.com co-founder Cec Annett.

The team enjoys surf and stand-up paddling lessons, snorkeling in the

calm waters near Turtle Bay, hiking, and skydiving in addition to meet-

ing up after-hours at the resort’s Surfer, The Bar. As an e-commerce

company, Annett says TheClymb.com can easily operate from any-

where, setting up Internet lines and customer service lines seamlessly

at Turtle Bay, so customers don’t notice a thing.

Way, the organization tries to incorporate it into its training programs. “During the three-day new hire orientation, new employees are sent out on a scavenger hunt that covers the majority of the property,” Marquardsen says. “Our fitness manager has morning stretches on the lawn overlooking the ocean with our staff on Tuesday and Thursday at 8 a.m. We also conduct a beach cleanup held on the third Wednesday of every month. All employees are invited to participate.”

Leadership’s RoleAnother key to successful training is leadership participation, with Holck noting that “we expect our managers to participate in the delivery of our training programs.”

Marquardsen and her team likewise quickly realized it was “critically important that our leaders embrace the changes we were going through and that they were involved in im-plementing those changes.” So Turtle Bay holds structured quarterly leadership conferences that are designed to keep leaders up to date on all of the changes that are occurring.

In addition, the organization currently is developing its own, Turtle Bay-specific, leadership development program called LCC, which stands for Leadership, Communications, and Coaching. The objectives of the program are to:

1. Develop a strong cohesive executive team 2. Improve communication throughout the resort 3. Attract, develop, and retain the brightest and most

capable middle managers 4. Have a credible succession plan

Measuring SuccessTurtle Bay uses several metrics to measure the success of its training programs, including:

Guest satisfaction: This is perhaps the most important mea-sure that can determine progress being made in continually improving the guest experience at Turtle Bay, Marquardsen says. “We use several methods to measure our success, in-cluding social media tools such Revinate, TripAdvisor, and Market Metrix to identify the impact on service and the guest experience.”

Values practices application: “This is our own Values feed-back system, which shows how departments, functions, managers, and employees are applying the Values practices and where improvement is required,” Marquardsen says.

Financial measures: These include occupancy rates, capture rates, market share, sales performance, internal promotions, and turnover.

Employee engagement: “We have developed our own, Turtle Bay-specific employee feedback system,” Marquardsen says. “We conduct two surveys per year and pay particularly close attention to the changes from survey to survey. Our last em-ployee engagement survey was in September 2014. Our next survey is in March 2015.”

Marquardsen points to employee engagement is the most important driver of guest satisfaction. Turtle Bay’s efforts in this area include:

Ho’ohana Awards: A Turtle Bay Value-based program that

recognizes employees for exceptional service for guests and employees. Employees receive a POG, which they can redeem for prizes/gifts that include meal tickets, hydro flasks, and Turtle Bay logo merchandise.

Employee picnics/parties: Turtle Bay actively seeks ways to improve its corporate culture, Marquardsen says. “Some of the activities we conducted this year were an employee golf tournament, employee volleyball tournament, employee pic-nic, and an employee end-of-the-year celebration.”

Ali’i and Ilima Awards: Every quarter, three employees (manager, front of the house, and back of the house) are rec-ognized for exceptional service. Each employee recognized during the year automatically is entered for the Employee of the Year award.

Best of the Best award. This is a perpetual award given sparingly to exceptional employees who demonstrate ex-traordinary service on a daily basis.

Going forward, Marquardsen says, “now that we have devel-oped a service quality program, the challenge is to keep the momentum in every department. In order for the training to have a long-term effect, we will work with each manager to create action plans and systematic processes that will help us achieve our goals.” t


Guidepost allows guests to review, discuss, book, and

connect with the North Shore’s many activities.

following sections present the results. A companion article in the next issue of Training will provide broader insights into the roles of trainers in the process of purchasing technology.

GROUP 1: TECHNOLOGIES USED FOR COURSES AND E- AND M-LEARNINGThis first group of technologies is used for courses and simi-lar e- and m-learning projects and includes authoring tools, social media, and apps (applications that run on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets).

Prices for authoring tools are generally the highest of the group; individual licenses for some products can run as high as $2,000 (though most are much lower). Prices for many social media applications are the lowest: Many are free, al-though site licenses for private applications can run into the thousands of dollars. Individual licenses for apps are typically low, either free or less than $10, although some specialized apps can cost more, especially customized apps.

In general, awareness of the technologies of authoring tools, social media, and apps is high, though comfort with—and participation in—the purchasing process is lower.

AUTHORING TOOLSMost participants (76.2 percent) correctly responded that an authoring tool is “software used to create online courses.” A slightly smaller majority—70.5 percent—feels comfortable us-ing and defining the term with groups outside of Training. See Tables 1 and 2 for a summary of participants’ ability to cor-rectly identify the definitions of technologies and comfort in using the terms with groups outside of Training.

Participants primarily play an advisory role (61.2 percent) in the decision to purchase authoring tools, either serving as a primary advisor to the decision-maker (35.1 percent) or


A recent Training magazine survey found that participants have a firm grasp on purchasing learning technologies used for courses and similar e- and m-learning projects. But grasp of technologies used to manage various aspects of the training function is more mixed. BY SAUL CARLINER, PH.D., CTDP, AND DAVID WILLIAM PRICE

The Training team wanted to find out. So we conducted our first survey about technology from the consumer’s perspective. We looked at two groups of technologies:

1. Ones used for courses and similar e- and m-learning projects —authoring tools, social media, and apps.

2. Ones used to manage various aspects of the Training function, including learning management systems, course management systems, learning content management systems, content manage-ment systems, and talent management systems.

To explore knowledge of technologies, we asked participants to match the technologies with their definitions, their ability to dif-ferentiate products and services in a given category, and to name some of the key products in a given category. To assess skills, we asked about their awareness of technologies and prices for each technology. To assess experience, we asked people about their role in the purchasing process for a given technology.

In general, we found that the 300-plus participants in the study have a firm grasp on purchasing in the first category of technolo-gies: ones used for courses and similar e- and m-learning projects. Grasp of the second category—technologies used to manage various aspects of the Training function—is more mixed. The

Training Exclusive

How Much Do You Know About Learning Technologies?

In its heyday, the tagline of one of the larger off-price retailers was: “An educated consumer is the best consumer.” Given that trainers are in the education business, how “educated” are we about one of our

most significant purchases: technologies for learning?

Saul Carliner, Ph.D., CTDP, is Research director for Lakewood Media and an associate professor of Educational Technology at Concordia University in Montreal.

David William Price is a Ph.D. student specializing in Educational Tech-nology at Concordia University.

offering suggestions on a purchase (26.1 percent). See Table 3. Nearly half, 46.7 percent, can easily differentiate products and

services among vendors of authoring tools. Nearly a third, 31.9 percent, can differentiate some, but not all, of the products and services among vendors in this category. See Table 4 on p. 126.

In terms of awareness of authoring tool brands, two domi-nate this category: Articulate (publisher of both Presenter and Storyline), with more than 70 mentions, and Adobe (publish-

er of Captivate), with more than 30 mentions. Also receiving several mentions were Camtasia and Lectora.

Comfort level with purchasing authoring tools is somewhat higher than other technology products. Some 50.4 percent feel they sufficiently know the technology and the prices to knowl-edgeably make a purchase (see Table 5 on p. 126).

SOCIAL MEDIA Nearly 93 percent of participants correctly determined that so-cial media refers to software used to easily share content and communicate with people and provide status updates. And 83.2 percent are comfortable using and defining the term with groups outside of Training. However, fewer than one-third of participants—29 percent—feel they can easily differentiate products and services.


TABLE 1: IDENTIFYING CORRECT TECHNOLOGY DEFINITION Percentage correctly

Technology choosing the definition

Technologies Used for Courses and

Similar E- and M-Learning Projects

Authoring Tools 76.2Social Media 92.5Apps 95.5

Technologies Used to Manage

Aspects of the Training Function

Learning Management Systems 76.0Course Management Systems 17.5Learning Content Management Systems 33.6Content Management Systems 60.4Talent Management Systems 94.2

TABLE 2: COMFORT USING TERMS

Technology



Authoring Tools 4.4 8.4 16.8 70.5Social Media 2.0 6.0 10.4 83.2Apps 0.7 5.5 10.9 83.2

Technologies Used to Manage Aspects

of the Training Function

Learning Management Systems 2.0 3.3 9.0 85.6Course Management Systems 13.7 19.1 22.5 44.6Learning Content Management Systems 10.4 13.7 21.1 54.7Content Management Systems 10.4 19.1 20.5 50.0Talent Management Systems 16.1 17.8 18.8 47.1

TABLE 3: ROLE IN THE PURCHASING DECISION







I am NOT familiar with the term

I under-stand the term for my own purposes

I feel com-fortable using the term in conversa-tions with peers in Training but NOT outside

I feel comfortable using and defining the term with groups outside of Training

Technology

I make the final purchasing decision

I am a pri-mary advisor to the deci-sion- maker

I have offered sug-gestions on a purchase

I have NOT played a role in such a purchase

Survey MethodologySeveral e-mail messages were sent to members of the Training magazine community to invite their participation in the study dur-ing a five-week period between November and early December 2014.

To reflect the needs of different stakeholders, we offered three versions of the survey: one for Training practitioners and man-agers, one for vendors (who sell the technologies and related services), and one for full-time instructors and researchers.

We received 526 responses, of which 322 were usable: 11 from academics, 17 from vendors, and the rest from training practitio-ners and managers. The responses reported here are from the third and largest group.

Three brand names dominate in social media. With more than 70 mentions, Facebook had twice as many mentions as the next two brands, LinkedIn and Twitter, with just over 30 mentions each. No other brand scored more than three mentions.

Of those making the purchase, only about a quarter feel they sufficiently know the technology and its prices to knowledge-ably make a purchase.

APPSWhen asked to define “app,” the overwhelming majority of participants responding (95.5 percent) correctly identified it as the name for software programs that run on mobile devices. A slightly lower percentage of participants, 83.2 percent, feel com-fortable using and defining the term with colleagues who work outside of Training.

Slightly fewer than a third feel they can easily differentiate among products and services among vendors in this catego-ry. No app received more than 10 mentions. Those receiving multiple mentions are general purpose apps such as iTunes and iBooks that were not designed specifically for training.

Participants primarily play a consultative role (45.7 percent) in purchasing apps for training. Slightly less than one-quarter of participants feel they sufficiently know the technology and its prices to knowledgeably make a purchase.

GROUP 2: TECHNOLOGIES USED TO MANAGE ASPECTS OF THE TRAINING FUNCTIONThis second category of technologies is used to manage various aspects of the Training function, including enrollments, student records, classrooms, and content that will be reused and tailored to the unique needs of learners. Specific technologies include learning management systems, course management systems, learning content management systems, content management systems, and talent management systems. Further complicating this group of technologies is the fact that many systems in one of these categories have capabilities that overlap other categories.

Prices for this group of technologies generally are significantly higher than for the first group, usually starting near $10,000 and, for a large organization, running in excess of $1 million. Even when open-source (free) software is available, it requires complex (and costly) customization and technical support.

In general, comfort with the purchasing process for all cat-egories of technology in this group is mixed.

LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEMSThe majority of participants, 76 percent, properly defined a learning management system as a system that automates the


TABLE 4: DIFFERENTIATING AMONG PRODUCTS AND SERVICES







Technology

I easily dif-ferentiate products and ser-vices from among vendors in this category

I can dif-ferentiate SOME of the products and services among ven-dors, but NOT all in this category

I have difficulty dis-tinguishing differences among products and services from differ-ent vendors in this category

I have NOT partici-pated in a purchase in this category

TABLE 5: COMFORT WITH KNOWLEDGE OF TECHNOLOGY AND PRICES



Authoring Tools 50.4 19.3 4.4 5.5 20.4Social Media 24.4 20.0 5.5 6.9 43.1

Apps 27.7 20.8 4.0 9.4 37.9



Learning Management Systems 32.8 30.3 3.6 5.8 27.4Course Management Systems 13.1 28.5 3.3 14.9 41.2Learning Content Management Systems 16.8 33.9 2.2 1.2 35.4Content Management Systems 12.8 29.6 2.9 13.1 41.6Talent Management Systems 9.5 26.6 2.5 10.6 50.7

Technology

I feel that I suf-ficiently know the technol-ogy AND the prices to knowl-edgeably make a purchase

I feel that I know the technology but NOT the prices, which affects my ability to knowl-edgeably make a purchase

I feel that I know the prices but NOT the technol-ogy, which affects my ability to knowl-edgeably make a purchase

I feel unaware of BOTH the technol-ogy and the prices, and cannot knowledge-ably make a purchase

I do NOT make this purchase

Learning Technologies

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management of administrative tasks for training, including enrollment, reminders, and class lists. And 85.6 percent feel comfortable using the term with people outside of Training.

Only 37.6 percent feel they can distinguish among the prod-ucts and services provided by vendors, while nearly 32 percent feel they can differentiate some of the products and services but not all. Participants were most aware of five names. Moo-dle was the most cited, with more than 20 mentions, followed by SumTotal, Saba, Cornerstone, and Blackboard.

Of those who participate in the purchasing decision, the ma-jority (65.3 percent) serve in advisory roles. Approximately a third of participants feel they sufficiently know the technology and prices to knowledgeably make a purchase. But a similar percentage feels they know the technology but not the prices.

COURSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMSOnly 17.5 percent of respondents correctly identified a course management system as a system that lets instructors distrib-ute materials to learners online, as well as conduct online discussions with learners. Fewer than half, 44.6 percent, feel comfortable using the term outside of Training.

Only 9.5 percent of participants feel they can easily dis-tinguish products and services in this category. Two brand names dominate this category: Blackboard with more than 30 mentions and Moodle with nearly 15. The other brands received fewer than five mentions, and many of them are

actually learning management systems. Half of the respondents do not participate in purchasing

course management systems. And only 13.1 percent feel they understand both the technology and the prices for course management systems.

LEARNING CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMSOnly 33.6 percent correctly defined a learning content management system as a system that stores digital files for courses and also generates a course from these materials on the screen for users. Larger percentages of participants mis-defined the term as either course management systems or content management systems. Nevertheless, 54.7 per-cent feel comfortable using the term with people outside of Training.

Participants do not feel confident differentiating products and services among vendors of learning content management sys-tems. Only 14.8 percent feel they can easily differentiate products and services among vendors. Xyleme had the largest brand rec-ognition among participants (more than 20 mentions), followed by Saba (15-plus), then SumTotal and IBM Kenexa (roughly 10 mentions each). Blackboard received nine mentions.

Only 16.8 percent of participants feel they sufficiently understand the technology and prices to knowledgeably pur-chase a system.


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CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMSSome 60.4 percent of participants correctly defined a contentmanagement system as a system that stores digital files of orga-nizational materials such as procedures, catalogs, product plans,and communications materials; manages the approval processfor these materials online; and presents them online either oncomputers or mobile devices. Half of the participants feel com-fortable using the term outside of Training.

Only 12.8 percent feel they can easily differentiate productsand services among vendors of content management systems.Receiving nearly equal numbers of brand mentions wereMicrosoft Sharepoint, Drupal, and Wordpress (close to 15 each).Receiving more than five mentions were Joomla and Documen-tum. Participants also named some learning management andlearning content management systems on this list.

Only 12.8 percent of participants feel they sufficiently under-stand the technology and prices.

TALENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMSNearly all of the participants, 94.2 percent, correctly defineda talent management system as a system that manages all em-ployee information, including address, employment records,resumes, performance plans, performance evaluations, andeducation records. Approximately half of the participants,47.1 percent, feel comfortable using the term outside ofTraining.

Only 14.8 percent of participants feel they can easily differen-tiate products and services among vendors. Taleo had the mostbrand recognition, with 19 mentions. Cornerstone PeopleSoft,and Saba had approximately 10 mentions apiece, and Halogenand Saba each received seven mentions.

Of those who play a role in making decisions on talent man-agement systems, 32.6 percent play an advisory role. Only 14.8percent feel they sufficiently understand the technology andprices to knowledgeably make a purchase.

CONCLUSIONSThe data from this survey suggest that, in terms of awareness,trainers have a strong general familiarity with many of the mostwidely mentioned technologies: authoring tools, social media,apps, LMSs, and talent management systems. But confusionexists around several categories of enterprise technologies, in-cluding course management systems, content managementsystems, and learning content management systems.

The data also suggest the possibility of a lack of awarenessamong consumers about technologies, products, and prices. Per-haps this is because only about half of trainers play any role inthe selection of any given technology used in their work. In mostinstances, that role is an advisory one.

The next report from this study will offer additional insightsby providing more data about the roles of trainers in the processof purchasing technology and their spending authority. t



When we get to a point where learning activities are anchored around people, and systems deliver a personalized learning experience in both academic and corporate worlds, we are all going to be much better off. BY DON KELLER

In my previous article, “Shifting from the Traditional LMS” (Training magazine, November/December 2014), I pointed out that learning management systems (LMSs) should be in the business of managing

“learning,” but sadly the LMS domain remains largely centered on authoring, managing, and delivering courses and content.

Don Keller is the former vice president of Global Education and Marketing at SCC Soft Computer, a member of the Training Top 10 Hall of Fame.

Training Exclusive

Desperately Seeking a

PART 2:

to see the number of parallel themes emerge—particularlythose I had just written about—facing industry-centeredtraining and development.

WE’RE ALL IN THE SAME BOAT NOWIn my previous article, I noted that the obsessive focus vendorsplace on adding new “bells and whistles” to learning man-agement systems simply to maintain market relevance hascome at the expense of the learner. More bells and whistlesdo not necessarily make for a better, or more useful, LMS.

Results of the Educause study show that few users are tak-ing full advantage of their systems or using them to their fullcapacity. At a time when LMSs are used so widely, but at thesame time so widely underused, the continued focus on nov-el features and functions is absurd.

It seems the academic domain shares the same issues wedo in industry, and it comes back to the same underlyingproblem: These systems are not designed to manage “learning”;they manage courses and content.

Don’t believe me?

As that article was being published, the results from a sur-vey titled Study of Students and Information Technology 2014,conducted by Educause Center for Analysis and Research(ECAR), were just being released on technology experiencesand expectations in higher education. The study revealedsome startling statistics on the status and future of learningmanagement systems in higher education. I also was amazed

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engaging students and more on sharing content.

-

SHIFTING THE FOCUS-

A SHIFTING LANDSCAPE

-

-

1. -

2.

-

-

-t


Part 3 of this series will appear in the March/April 2015 issue of Training.

Few users are taking full advantage of their learning management systems or using them to their full

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best practices


Acquiring cultural intelligence is an ongo-ing and interactive pursuit, so the learning process supporting that knowledge trans-

fer should be, as well. Today’s smart organizations expect cross-cultural training to be interactive in the (literal or virtual) classroom and then con-tinuous for each learner beyond the program. Tomorrow’s even smarter organizations will take the next step and make the continuous learning interactive, too.

By leveraging the process of social networking and critical thinking, organizations can formalize a method for continued guidance and support among coworkers, ongoing employee and team develop-ment, and metrics of an organization’s (or team’s or individual’s) evolving cultural intelligence.

HOW IT CAN BE DONE

Measure cultural intelligence? Yes, but we need to take a step back first. Here is an example of how the measurement (and the interactive continuous learning) can be done:

Let’s say an organization decides to roll out a course on “Building a Global Mindset.” First, that organization would need to do its homework, pars-ing out the particular skills associated with a global mindset that are most important to the company. For example, it may decide on empathetic listening, inclusiveness in discussions, mindfulness of time zones, awareness of holidays around the world, and demonstration of curiosity about others.

Next, the organization can get a baseline met-ric on learners’ competence in these areas. This is done by creating an online employee evaluation of the various skills to be measured in a 360- degree format, with employees completing the self-assessment before it is sent to colleagues (and managers and employees) for their assessment. The Best Practice Institute, an association of ex-ecutives and leadership experts, does just this with a social collaboration platform called Skillrater, which employs a model called ARAD (apprecia-tion, rating, advice, and discussion.) In the case of Skillrater, the employee selects the individuals he

or she wants to complete the assessment. Then, the results of the assessments are lever-

aged by both the “Building a Global Mindset” facilitator and the participants, potentially guiding the material and hopefully arming the learners with objectives and motivation going into the program.

During and after the program, employees restart the 360-degree process, first reassessing themselves and then asking for their stakeholders’ input.

The ratings serve as a metric to illustrate changes, and the descriptive feedback serves as a sustained learning tool for the participants. Those completing the ratings and providing that advice are benefiting, as is the organization, which is evolving to become a coaching culture.

THE NEW NORMAL

“This is the new performance appraisal— traditional performance appraisals are dead,” says Best Practice Institute President and CEO Louis Carter. “Companies are throwing away the year-ly or quarterly performance appraisal (where they talk behind the backs of employees and then lay it on them once or twice a year) and replacing it with this tool and methodology, which gives the power to the employee to ask for feedback consistently—in an open and transparent manner backed by positive dialogue—and receive appreciation—which makes it less destructive and much more human. The em-ployees who ask for the most feedback get noticed and get better over time. It then creates a culture of coaches to each other.”

Before, during, and after a program, participants continually should dialogue with each other so they can get better over time. After the “Build-ing a Global Mindset” program is complete and an employee has received post-program feedback, the process continues. The advice piece of the as-sessment may lead the participant to seek out a new course on communicating with people from a specific culture. That course comes with a new 360-degree assessment for completion before and after that course, and the cycle begins again.

Continuously Collaborative Cross-Cultural CurriculaOrganizations need to formalize a method for continued guidance and support among coworkers, ongoing employee and team development, and metrics of an organization’s evolving cultural intelligence. BY NEAL GOODMAN, PH.D.

Neal Goodman, Ph.D.,

is president of Global

Dynamics, Inc., a

training and development

firm specializing in

globalization, cultural

intelligence, effective

virtual workplaces, and

diversity and inclusion.

He can be reached at

305.682.7883 and at

ngoodman@global-

dynamics.com. For more

information, visit www.

global-dynamics.com.

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How long can we use willpower to force ourselves to pay attention to something that’s just not that interesting? By Julie Dirksen

I

Julie Dirksen is an instructional designer, author, speaker, and big nerd about all things learning-related. She wrote “Design For How People Learn.” For more information, visit www.usablelearning.com.

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Tony O’Driscoll is

regional managing

director of Duke CE in

Singapore, where he

focuses on identifying

and implementing

next-generation

learning strategies

and approaches

that accelerate the

development of

Leadership Sense-

Abilities in this rapidly

growing part of the

world.

Many industries run on heuristics: rules of thumb that curious and insightful pioneers have studied in depth and sim-

plified into succinct formulas, rules, or ratios that become part of the vernacular in a given sector.

In this respect, the training industry is no differ-ent. Thanks to thought leaders such as Alan Tough, Michael Lombardo, Robert Eichinger, Gloria Gery, Jay Cross, and Charles Jennings, the 70-20-10 ratio has become part of the lingua franca of learning.

According to the ratio, 70 percent of learning happens through work experience. Some 20 per-cent comes from learning through others who are kind enough to provide us with feedback and guidance as we climb our professional learning curves. That leaves a mere 10 percent allocated to formal training activities.

DON’T LEAVE IT UP TO CHANCE

The 70-20-10 ratio often is depicted as a continu-um or scale where 90 percent of the learning that happens in the organization is categorized as in-formal and the remaining 10 percent is reserved for the formality of the classroom.

But as Peter Henschel, former executive direc-tor of the Institute for Research on Learning, put it: “If more than two-thirds of the learning in or-ganizations happens informally, can we afford to leave it up to chance?”

In recent work with clients, we have found it beneficial to reframe the 70-20-10 ratio by de-picting it as a development system with three learning gears that represent the different learn-ing contexts (see graphic above, right).

The first, and smallest, gear represents what people must know in order to perform and is achieved by learning through training. The sec-ond, and biggest, gear represents what people must do in order to perform and is achieved by learning through experience. The third gear repre-sents what people must believe in order to perform and is achieved by learning through others.

In representing the 70-20-10 ratio as a set of gears within a larger developmental system, we can start to explore the key linkages between each of

the distinct learning contexts defined by the ratio. More important, in this rendering of the ratio, the fact that the training gear is the smallest creates a

leverage point that can engage the two other learn-ing gears within the development system.

ENSURING OPTIMAL SYSTEM PERFORMANCE

The key to ensuring that the development system stays in gear and delivers optimal performance lies in asking six critical questions:

1. What must performers do more, better, or differently to improve their performance?

2. What kinds of practices and routines must be institutionalized in the workplace to achieve and sustain the desired performance?

3. What do the performers need to know to perform at peak levels?

4. What authentic problems or challenges can you, the L&D professional, bring from the work-place into the classroom to better contextualize formal training activities?

5. From whom do the performers need to receive real-time feedback on their work performance and how will it be delivered?

6. What kinds of assessments and coaching are re-quired to enable performers to recognize the role their behavior plays in improving individual and organizational performance?

By reframing the 70-20-10 ratio as a system, we can ensure that learning through training becomes a flywheel in developing the capabilities required to drive performance.

Getting Training in Gear It’s time to reframe the 70-20-10 ratio as a system and engage in inquiry from the perspective of what a performer needs to know, do, and believe. BY TONY O’DRISCOLL

learning matters


Bob Pike, CSP, CPAE,

CPLP Fellow, is known

as the “trainer’s trainer.”

He is the author of more

than 30 books, including

“Creative Training

Techniques Handbook.”

You can follow him on

Twitter and Facebook

using bobpikectt.

“Getting by” calls for answering some age-old questions in a brand-new year. As the American economy continues to try

to recover, many workers begin to wonder if anoth-er round of layoffs will occur in their companies. While jobs are being added in the government sec-tor, the growth of new jobs in the private sector has been slow. Businesses, even those doing well, have shown a reluctance to invest when there are so many uncertainties.

I know that’s not a cheery statistic to be spouting right after the holiday season, but the sad fact is that these sorts of layoffs and downsizings began to hit closer to home than ever this past year. The com-mon myth is that in tough times, training is the first thing cut. The reality is that training is no more or less likely to be hit when an organization is looking to trim the fat.

Economic uncertainty does cause organizations to be cautious about spending any money, even if the company itself is doing well financially. But the fact of the matter is that when training is seen as an investment that gets a return, rough times have lit-tle impact. If we want 2015 to be a banner year, we must, as trainers and training functions, solve prob-lems and deliver results.

ANSWERING AGE-OLD QUESTIONS

The start of a new calendar year is a good time to make sure we’re doing the kinds of things that will allow us to sleep at night and avoid getting kinks in our necks as we look back to see if the

ax is swinging our way. We need to ask ourselves those age-old questions that make training and individual trainers invaluable parts of an organi-zation looking to “do more with less.”

Questions that often aren’t considered until

it’s too late include:-

porate mission by getting out of the classroom and talking to supervisors, managers, and floor-level employees about what training can do for them?

-ment as trainers, and consistently working to improve ourselves, as well as the employees to whom we supply training? (I recently did a Webinar for TrainingMag Network, which is available on replay at http://www.trainingmagnet-

work.com/welcome/bobpike_nov12 with a useful handout. It is called “10 Steps for Getting the Most Out of Any Conference or Learning Event.” You can apply the strategies to any learning event you are doing for yourself—and help your participants get the most out of the training you offer.)

for training that will do nothing more than overextend us and lead to lower levels of per-sonal performance? Better yet, are we helping people making requests analyze what the problem actually is? Are we helping them examine solutions that will solve the prob-lem? That may include a change in systems, a change in policies or procedures, better re-cruitment and placement strategies, or maybe some just-in-time coaching.

-out, and are we ready to take action to get out of

the loop for a while if need be?Doomsaying? I don’t think so. Because in

good times or in bad, these are the sorts of considerations that help us make a differ-ence in our organizations. And while the prospect of layoffs perhaps isn’t the best reason in the world for any of us to get go-ing on these issues, it’s at least better than

nothing. Maybe out of these tough times, good habits will develop that will carry through into a better economic era.

Until next month—continue to add value and make a difference.

Training in Tough TimesWe need to ask ourselves those age-old questions that make training and individual trainers invaluable parts of an organization looking to “do more with less.” BY BOB PIKE, CSP, CPAE, CPLP FELLOW

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We once lived within four hours of Niagara Falls on the Canadian side of the border. When our five children

were young and living the regular family life at home, the TV was sometimes on for short stints. Writing this article triggered memories from that time of a commercial for Marineland. This was back in the mid- to late 1980s and it had a catchy jingle that started off with, “Happiness is…” and finished off the line with “Happiness is Marineland.”

WHAT IS HAPPINESS?

Obviously, happiness is more than just a place (and I am not here to question the potential in-humane treatment of sea mammals and other animals at Marineland). However, there is an interesting shift with happiness going on in the workplace, where we are moving from happi-ness as well-being and feeling good, to making sure we are doing the right things.

Perhaps we have been enamored by the idea that happiness must consist of feeling positive-ly about work, or having a strong purpose or cause in our jobs, and being genuinely satisfied with the work we do. But like the famous Peggy Lee song, we might begin to think, “Is That All There Is?” Yes, songs do seem to resonate with me!

DISCONNECT WITH CSR

There’s a movement afoot in a few companies, typically those that focus on corporate so-cial responsibility (CSR) and those exploring new ways of incentivizing top performers. In Canada, where I live, the statistics show nearly a third of companies have policies and procedures regarding employee volunteering. They are taking happiness in a whole new direction to change it from feeling good to ac-tually doing what is right and developing one’s skills and talents, regardless of how you may

feel at any given time. Too many companies have taken the CSR fo-

cus as purely a corporate good thing to do in society activity because it is great for business. True, companies that operate in an economi-cally, socially, and environmentally responsible manner tend to be more successful. But that doesn’t necessarily bring happiness or make employees feel happy about themselves. Being socially responsible sometimes can be so oper-ational in nature that we can lose sight of the human connection. And employees will feel less engaged or connected to the contributions their company makes. Their employer may look good in the sustainability report but not have much of an employee footprint.

DOING GOOD IS GOOD

Essentially, the new happiness movement is about employer-supported volunteerism where employees are the ones involved in doing good in their immediate communities or in the global arena. This is where companies permit volunteerism by encouraging employees to give their time to community causes. This can be done on company time or supported through the company giving money or resources, often matching the time employees donate. The bot-tom line is employees want to be able to do good things that are right.

The benefits are tremendous. Not only does research show that 80 percent of employer- supported volunteers believe group volunteering strengthens relationship with colleagues, it also helps develop talents and learning of new skills. And the recipients of the employee volunteerism often are tearfully grateful and form friendships with employees that can last a lifetime.

MAKING GIVING REWARDING

Incentive travel companies are emerging in the wake of this identified need to do good by

Happiness Is…Doing What’s Right

Roy Saunderson is

author of “GIVING

the Real Recognition

Way” and Chief

Learning Officer of

Rideau’s Recognition

Management

Institute, a consulting

and training firm

specializing in helping

companies “get

recognition right.” Its

focus is on showing

leaders how to give real

recognition to create

positive relationships,

better workplaces, and

real results. For more

information, contact

RoySaunderson@

Rideau.com or visit

www.Rideau.com.

The new happiness movement is about employer-supported volunteerism where employees are the ones involved in doing good in their immediate communities or in the global arena. BY ROY SAUNDERSON


providing volunteerism away from home turf.This is where top performers may end up goingto an exotic location as their reward but withthe ultimate goal to serve others while theyare away. Besides teambuilding opportunities,these travel companies organize local projectsaligned with a company’s vision and values andthat challenge employees to grow and developtogether.

Whether in the U.S. or another country in theworld, volunteer travel offers community de-velopment projects that can lift both employeesand the people they serve. Projects may include:

as done by Habitat for Humanity

impoverished school

sustainable water source

MAKING IT HAPPEN AT WORK

Even if incentive travel does not exist to sendpeople to a luxury destination along with a

worthy cause, companies need to draw uponhappiness being more about doing good, by in-corporating various policies and procedures toenable employees to make a difference.

Often, formal support mechanisms need to beset up to allow employees to change their workhours in order to group people together to workon a community project. Some companies havepermitted volunteerism by giving paid timeoff to perform these volunteer duties or use ofworkplace facilities where needed. And wherecompanies are small and resources are tight, atbare minimum, leaders need to acknowledgethe contributions of their employees by formallyrecognizing the good that is being done.

Leaders and L&D professionals will have anincreasing responsibility now and in the futureto help employees be happy at work. Loyalty toemployers will continue to decline as we witnessaverage tenure sink lower than in days gone by.

Perhaps looking at happiness as being more aboutdoing good than simply how employees feel willgive us the direction we need to help motivate em-ployees to be happy for the long term. t


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A: First, you are not alone. Even low-stakes ne-gotiations evoke feelings of nervousness in many people. In fact, research shows that the most common emotion associated with negotiating is anxiety.

Yet, anxiousness can have adverse effects on one’s negotiation results. When we get anxious, blood flows away from the parts of the brain that help us think creatively, evaluate effectively, and make sound decisions. We can find ourselves making hasty concessions, disadvantageous agreements, and premature exits.

Not surprisingly, a more positive reaction to negotiation opportunities can lead to better re-sults at the table. Here are some things you can do to manage your anxiety and enjoy better outcomes:

Surprisingly, research shows that most people enter negotiations with-out having performed any advance preparations. Feeling unprepared and not knowing what steps to take during the negotiation can augment feel-ings of nervousness and anxiety. So take time in advance of the negotiation to think through how you will present your ideas, respond to pushback, and navigate the conversation. If possible, role-play the negotiation with a friend or colleague, using the practice and their constructive feed-back to hone your skills and readiness.

Your anxiety might be the product of the hip-pocampus and amygdala regions of your brain subconsciously associating an upcoming nego-tiation with negative memories associated with

past negotiations. By bringing positive experiences into your consciousness, you can short-circuit the negative reaction you otherwise might experience, namely anxiety.

-

Your fo-cus affects your emotions. So rather than

adopting a negative mindset driven by thinking about potential negative outcomes, concentrate on your opportunities for success in the nego-tiation. Doing so will spawn creative energy and positive results.

Rather than trying to sup-press the physiological byproducts of anxiety (by trying to calm yourself down), reframe the heightened arousal as “excitement.” One way of doing this is by verbalizing it—telling yourself and others, “I am excited about this negotia-tion.” Hearing yourself say the words can trigger authentic feelings that, in turn, will help you do better in the negotiation.

There are many things you can do at the table to influ-ence the negotiation process and the results. For example, something as simple as shaking hands at the outset of a negotiation has been shown to lead to more balanced agreements and value cre-ation. Research shows that more favorable deals are struck between counterparts who like, trust, and respect each other. So simply adopt behav-iors that evoke those reactions.

All too often when negotiating, we convince ourselves that we have to come to an agreement at the conclusion of the conversation. Removing time-related pressures can alleviate anxiety. So resign yourself to take as many breaks as you need throughout the negotiation, and consider delaying commitment to another time, until after both sides have had time to weigh their options and come up with even better, more creative proposals. t

Overcoming Performance AnxietyWhen we get anxious, blood flows away from the parts of the brain that help us think creatively, evaluate effectively, and make sound decisions.

Q I get anxious before I negotiate—sometimes for hours or days leading up to the conversation. The result is that I shy

away from negotiating, knowing that my anxiety stands in the way of me performing well. Are there any tricks for getting over my anxiety?

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BONUS! You’ll receive a 101-page participant guide containing job aids, examples, worksheets and key points for you to use as you design and develop your courses. You will have the opportunity to submit your project work during the certificate program for feedback by your instructor.

This certificate is designed for those on the front-line of designing, developing, writing, and delivering training through instructor-led, eLearning, and blended methods.


4 SESSIONS STARTING JUNE 2 OR NOVEMBER 10, 2015

NEW Maximizing Adobe Connect for Training Certificate

Margaret Uhrich, Certified Adobe Connect Trainer, Certified Synchronous Facilitator and Expert Synchronous Producer. MS in Instructional Technology Management

While many who use Adobe Connect are aware of the functionality this platform offers, few truly understand how and when to use all of the feature-rich tools available to allow them to deliver maximally effective synchronous training programs. Learn how to maximize Adobe Connect’s robust platform to deliver a technologically seamless experience. Margaret will share her expertise, along with insider tips and tricks, to help you engage your learners by becoming proficient with Adobe Connect’s tools. You will gain experience customizing the learner viewing experience; understanding and working with pods; creating and running polls; sharing files with learners; managing and facilitating breakout rooms; sharing applications; creating layouts; setting up and customizing meetings; creating course templates; exploring help and resources for Adobe Connect and more.

BONUS ITEMS! You will receive a Participant Guide to use during the sessions and for future reference. Successfully complete this course and earn CEUs! InSync Training is authorized by IACET to offer 1.0 CEUs for this program.


3 SESSIONS STARTING OCTOBER 13, 2015

Social Media for Trainers CertificateDr. Jane Bozarth, Author,Social Media for Trainers

Social media is no longer seen as a fad —it’s a revolution. Whether you work in a traditional or virtual classroom, social media provides a low-cost way to broaden your reach and increase the impact of your training. Based on the bestselling book Social Media for Trainers, this interactive certificate invites you on a guided tour of several popular and powerful social media tools such as Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs, Wikis, microblogs (Twitter) and explores concrete, specific ways to incorporate them into your own training practice. You’ll examine their unique features, discuss how to leverage the strengths of each, explore which best fit your training needs and learn how to set up your own accounts. Appropriate for classroom and virtual classroom facilitators, and instructional designers, the course also covers the basics of social learning, informal learning, and communities. While you’ll discuss concepts such as learning communities and overcoming barriers, the focus of this program is on specific training activities that can be facilitated using social media tools.

This certificate program is designed for classroom and virtual classroom facilitators, and instructional designers.


3 SESSIONS STARTING OCTOBER 26, 2015

Training Live + Online certificate programs are pre-approved by the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI). Earn up to 12 points towards your CPT re-certification with any Training Live + Online certificate program. For more information visit www.ispi.org/cpt.

eBadges: You’ve Earned ItWhen you successfully complete a Training Live + Online certificate program, you’ll also

receive a digital credential (eBadge). eBadges are transforming how your hard-earned achievements are recognized, shared and rewarded. You can showcase eBadges in your email signature line or on social media sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Enhance your reputation and signal clients, collaborators, and employers that they should take notice of you!

NEW

Upon successfully completing your certificate program, you will receive a professionally produced Certificate of Completion signed by your instructor and suitable for framing.

NEW Articulate Storyline Fundamentals Certificate

Trina Rimmer, Owner, Chief Instructional Design Consultant, Rimmer Creative Group

Kevin Thorn, Chief NuggetHead, NuggetHead Studioz

To keep pace with today’s fast-moving world, training organizations are increasingly including the use of more technology — especially eLearning. Articulate Storyline is an eLearning authoring tool built from the ground up with the goal of making the process of designing, developing, and implementing eLearning faster, easier, and more affordable. Using an intuitive interface, Articulate Storyline is easy enough for novices to learn quickly and powerful enough for advanced developers to build highly sophisticated and interactive eLearning. With its easy to use features (no programming required) and robust capabilities, Storyline lets you focus on what’s most important: delivering more effective and appealing eLearning that saves your organization time and money.

BONUS ITEMS! This is the only Articulate Storyline course offering you:

• Dozens of free Storyline source files for self-paced learning.

• Detailed step-by-step exercises for hands-on practice.

• Facilitated labs so you can learn and practice with the support of your instructors.

• Instruction blended with practical design and development guidance from two award-winning eLearning developers with a combined 30+ years of industry experience.

This certificate program is designed for non-programmers who wish to learn basic to intermediate authoring features of Articulate Storyline. A basic understanding of computing concepts and of eLearning is helpful. Managers may also benefit from seeing the creation and development process so they may more accurately estimate course development time and cost. Already have basic Articulate Storyline experience? Consider registering for our “Articulate Storyline for Next Level Design Certificate.”

You’ll also receive a customized character packet by:


4 SESSIONS STARTING JANUARY 20, MARCH 16, MAY 4, JULY 7, AUGUST 3, SEPTEMBER 9 OR NOVEMBER 2, 2015

NEW Developing Small Bites Learning Certificate

Ray Jimenez, Author, 3-Minute e-Learning, Scenario-Based Learning: Using Stories to Engage e-Learners and Do-it-Yourself e-Learning: 100 Ways to Simplify Design and Development. Ray is the systems architect for Vignettes Learning and Training Magazine Network.

Learners and managers are demanding more effective and efficient learning times due to rapidly changing topics, on-the-job performance needs, an abundance of mobile learning tools and faster and more reliable Internet connections. This interactive certificate invites you to “rethink” and “invigorate” the design of your current content for faster development and easier learning suited for those who are on-the-move, on-the-job and connected with mobile technologies. You’ll examine the methods of micro-learning content design and delivery that facilitates quick transfer of knowledge and application. This certificate is appropriate for those who design and implement rapid eLearning, mobile learning, performance support learning, and collaborative learning environments.

BONUS ITEMS! You will receive a FREE copy of Ray’s book 3-Minute eLearning: Micro-Learning Design and Development. You’ll also receive 15 models for micro-learning: live demos and examples that you may download and own as part of your in-house references.


3 SESSIONS STARTING JANUARY 21 OR JUNE 15, 2015

Tight Travel Budget? No Problem!

Log In LearnAbout Online ProgramsTraining magazine’s online certificate programs take place entirely online with a range of features, including interactive webcasts, group discussions, and asynchronous and collaborative activities with your peers to give you practice and help absorb and integrate information from each session. These online programs are designed with your busy schedule in mind, while still providing the top‑notch content you seek. By the end of each program, you will have jump‑started your career and enhanced your professional know‑how.

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Documents

Training Magazine Names Keller Williams #1