Guroo Pro - Customer Stories

Ampol- Store Management Program

Written by Donna Hanson-Squires | Sep 30, 2019 3:09:27 AM

Ampol is a leader in the petroleum industry providing one third of Australia’s national fuel needs. They are also a convenience retailer supplying groceries, food, drink, magazines and other products to on-the-go Australians.

Collectively, Ampol employs over 3,500 people across their service stations located nationwide. With employee progression in mind, Ampol sought to implement a program that would support Customer Service Attendants and Assistant Store Managers to transition into more senior roles.


In order to bring this vision to life, Ampol solicited Guroo Learning’s services to create a blended learning program that would rapidly grow and extend their convenience retail capability.

Their ambitious talent acquisition strategy was intended to attract Retail Operations talent, with an agenda for transformation. This strategy needed to be balanced with building internal capability from the frontline up, to ensure a sustainable pipeline of future retail leaders.

Problem:

To prepare employees for the role of Store Manager, Ampol opted to create a learning experience that educated prospective applicants on the people and practices within the organisation, elevated their product knowledge and management skills and improved the customer experience as a whole.

Solution:

A comprehensive, blended learning program consisting of face-to-face workshops, pre-facilitation digital components, post-class assignments and resources.

In order to ensure that the outcomes of the program translated into behavioural change, we developed a work-integrated approach to design that incorporated practical and active learning methodologies.

The overall approach was to present required knowledge in the eLearning pre work, so that process and practice would be understood prior to attending the face-to-face session for each topic.

Goals and Objectives:

Store Training

  • Educate Service Attendants and Assistant Store Managers on the people, practices and products within Ampol
  • Improve the management skills of applicants
  • Enhance the overall customer experience
  • Develop functional tasks and practical capabilities via eLearning and onsite training
  • Capstone development with soft-skill training

Learner Personas

  • Learning was targeted at Assistant Store Managers and Service Attendants
  • Two personas, Isabella and Nathan, were created to represent the prospective candidates for the Store Manager position

Program Requirements

  • Incorporate three days of face-to-face learning
  • Three eLearning modules to be developed, one per topic, to be completed prior to the face-to-face sessions
  • eLearning to be hosted on Ampol’s established LMS

 

The Learning Journey:

Guroo Learning developed a three-day system block, with each day exploring one of the the key topic areas - product management, people practices and the customers experience. Pre-class digital learning and post-class assignments were included in the learning design to develop participants functional/soft skills and practical capabilities, resulting in improved operational outcomes.

Workshops included learner-centric activities that fostered reflection, problem solving and collaboration. This proved encouraging for aspiring managers, activating their understanding through practical application to various theoretical situations.

Through the creation of a blended learning experience, facilitators were afforded the opportunity to tailor workshop content to suit the needs of individual learners, while students were equipped with foundational knowledge and resources.

 

The digital component of the program encompassed scenario-based learning, knowledge checks, metrics, personalised feedback and badges allowing learners to test and assess their skills within the safe confines of an online environment. Post-learning action plans and practical assignments boosted student capabilities by equipping them with strategies for implementing theoretical knowledge into the workplace.

All content was branded to suit Ampol’s visual guidelines and interactive screens and animated illustrations were used to engage and guide learners throughout the online experience.

Results:

The Ampol Store Management Program has produced excellent feedback since its induction in 2018 resulting in the program being re-implemented in 2019 with a steady stream of over 300 learners enrolled annually.

Responses from both program participants and Ampol noted a measurable impact on the learners functional skill development. This was achieved through the program structure and practical approach to learning which allowed for the information and capabilities obtained throughout both the workshops and digital training to translate into the workplace.

  • Improved focus on functional skill development
  • Almost 700 learners engaged over the 2018 - 2019 period.
  • Program flexibility has enabled better forward planning in people development
  • 65% of learners said they would be extremely likely to recommend the program to others