Recognised as one of the country’s largest retailers and most trusted brands, Woolworths Group is an Australian and New Zealand based employer, committed to supporting thousands of local farmers, producers and manufacturers.
With Woolworths key business objectives including a core focus on improving end-to-end operational processes in their stores and enhancing the customer experience, they communicated the need for a training and coaching program to help support this strategy.
Targeted at improving the overall performance of store managers by ensuring that in-store tasks are carried out efficiently and consistently, Guroo Learning created a blended learning suite intended to deliver on the aforementioned organisational objectives.
Problem:
Woolworths Group is a national leader in the retail industry and as such there exists a need for the organisation to continually seek ways to enhance their internal functionality in order to remain competitive within a growing market.
To help support this organisational goal, Woolworths highlighted the need to improve the capability and confidence of their store managers in four key areas; rostering, people management, store standards and retail essentials, therefore providing managers with the practical skills necessary to support the day-to-day running of their stores.
Solution:
Employing both digital and face-to-face learning methods, Guroo Learning created a blended program intended to be delivered to all store managers within Australia. Leveraging the capabilities of LRS and xAPI technology, an online learning portal was created to support the face-to-face component of the training allowing Woolworths to measure improvements in capability and confidence, and record the overall business impact of the training program.
The digital component of the program consisted of several learning modules designed to train managers on the four focus areas, through consumption prior to and following the facilitation process. The implementation of this pre and post program learning methodology alongside the inclusion of xAPI technology allowed coaches to tailor workshops and facilitation materials to meet the specific needs of their group, therefore personalising the learning experience.
Goals and Objectives:
Management Training
- Train store managers in four key areas: Rostering, People Management, Store Standards and Retail Essentials
- Using collected data, inform upper management on participation rates, assessment results, confidence levels and confirmed actions of store managers
- Initiate practical changes to business operations
Personas
- Personas were created to reflect the psychographic and demographic of four key audiences: Store Managers (Digital and Face-to-Face learning programs), Coaches (Reporting Dashboard), Senior Managers and the Learning department (Results)
- Considering the differing managerial and coaching experience across the board, each aspect of the program was designed to appeal to the specific members of these select groups
Program Requirements
- The creation of two full day workshops and an accompanying online digital experience
- Reporting dashboard to quantify data
- Completed within a 4 week period
The Learning Journey
Employing the latest xAPI technology, Guroo Learning created an eLearning experience capable of analysing and reporting on the effectiveness of the program, and initiating real world organisational change.
The overall experience consisted of four elements; pre-work and post-work digital learning paths, workshops and a post-program follow up session. Google sign in and G suite were used for identity management and to simplify the learning journey.
Incorporating free form questions, graded assessments, confidence surveys and an agreed list of actions, the pre and post workshop modules were designed to educate and test participants, while tracking their learning experience before and after the completion of the 2-day workshops.
Locks were used to provide a linear learning pathway, preventing participants from skipping ahead in their digital training without having attended the workshop, while dashboards showcasing results equipped coaches with the data necessary to target and personalise their workshops, thus creating a tailored learning experience. Following the programs completion, an action plan was initiated to determine whether agreed upon changes were applied in-store, with rates then assigned to the actions to measure their overall business impact.
Results:
Through the programs structuring and the subsequent incorporation of xAPI and LRS technology, the Store Management and Knowledge Share program produced an array of comprehensive and measurable results. While the post-program follow up sessions are ongoing, the digital and workshop components produced key insights demonstrating the scalability and overall impact of the program on store managers competence and confidence.
- Created and deployed over a 3 week time period.
- Delivered to 1200 Store Managers over 3-4 months.
- Store Manager competence across Australia increased by approximately 8%.
- Store Manager confidence increased by approximately 10%.