CHALLENGE

Wallenius Wilhelmsen called upon SkillSource Learning Partners for an Industrial Organizational (I/O) expert to improve employee experience, reduce turnover, and facilitate cross-functional communication. They wanted the best in the business – a consultant who could investigate how the organization functioned from end-to-end, and develop solutions that would focus on organizational culture and leadership development.

APPROACH

For eight months, the SkillSource consultant worked closely with the site General Manager, Humand Resources team, supervisors, Quality team, executives and individual contributors. he performed extensivee interviews with employees at all levels of the organization, which enabled him to build rapport and develop and 360° understanding of the people, systems, processes and attitudes behind the challenges they were experiencing. Using the qualitative and quantitative data he had collected, the SkillSource consultant applied I/O principles to inform ongoing strategies which Wallenius Wilhelmsen leveraged to improve their overall work environment.

RESULTS

Working with an I/O Psychologist for the first time enabled Wallenius Wilhelmsen to truly understand how their systems and processes work together, and define how SkillSource’s solutions fit into their broader strategy. The SkillSource consultant provided a roadmap that features focus areas to improve the overall employee experience, including coaching and leadership development for ongoing sustainment.

CHALLENGE

Technology and Manufacturing Association (TMA) needed alignment and structure. TMA offers many stellar courses with expert instructors. But behind the scenes, TMA did not have a documented curriculum plan.
TMA’s Director of Curriculum contracted a top SkillSource Learning Partners Instructional Designer with experience in skilled trades apprenticeships for curriculum documentation and technical communication.

APPROACH

The SkillSource consultant partnered with TMA’s Manager of Training and Education and Instructors to identify and document the components of each course.
She evaluated the curriculum and provided strategic recommendations – including how lectures, activities, and assessments help students achieve course objectives.
In additon, she developed a style guide to bring order and structure to the project.

RESULTS

By articulating the elements of their training, TMA now has comprehensive tools featuring:
• outlines of high-level curriculum
• lesson plans for instructors
Moreover, they are beginning to look towards the future to:
• identify new ways to adapt and improve upon their existing training
• develop eLearning content
• standardize and potentially commercialize their program

CHALLENGE

IBM required a team of expert Instructional Designers for a challenging engagement.
They conducted a meticulous search for consultants that could quickly identify and understand their core needs and swiftly ramp up before deployment.
Despite fierce competition, SkillSource secured the engagement due to superior caliber of resources, high degree of responsiveness and outstanding communication.

APPROACH

The SkillSource consultants actively collaborated with multiple SMEs and led teams to develop complex eLearning courses through strategy, design, implementation and completion. In addition, the consultants attended daily scrum meetings and used an IBM proprietary authoring tool while maintaining strict adherence to scrum methodology.

RESULTS

SkillSource’s consultants surpassed IBM’s high expectations, prompting this impressive reference:
“The people we onboarded from SkillSource are top performers. They assimilated into our larger team very nicely, and have added value to our team. They are all very conscientious people and they take great pride in their work.”

CHALLENGE

Anthem sought to revamp and modernize their entire onboarding process.
They wanted to transition from instructor-led training to a blended classroom that was online/asynchronous and supported with webinars.
Due to the complexity involved with transitioning the systems and business process content, Anthem contracted a SkillSource Learning Partners expert for the project.

APPROACH

The SkillSource consultant worked closely with Anthem’s customer service representatives to evaluate the existing training and software. He focused on developing training strategies and comprehensive lesson development strategies that featured:
• streamlined content
• the development of a playbook of actual scenarios
• interactive simulations

RESULTS

Anthem’s customer service representatives are prepared to progress and interact with the software as they would on an actual real world task situation.
The SkillSource consultant’s post-rollout review and evaluation with the call center manager revealed that learner retention was significantly increased.

CHALLENGE

Lululemon is growing fast and exceeding expectations. This can be a challenge.
The heads of Global Learning and Leadership recognized that even with a talented in-house team, they could benefit from an expert’s point of view – one from outside of the company.
As a result, they contracted a SkillSource Learning Partners consultant to develop several standardized models of management and build a global training program.

APPROACH

Through trust and collaboration, the SkillSource consultant gained a well-rounded understanding of their issues and built a workable strategy.
His strategies established change management and best practices models for:
• global learning operations
• programs and projects
• community of practice

RESULTS

Now, Lululemon’s team issues are not only validated but also addressed on the company’s internal Single Point of Truth (SPOT) site.
The SkillSource consultant’s global learning operations rollout proves how learning operations continuously and positively affects Lululemon’s business.

CHALLENGE

Amazon required a team of 40 Industrial/Organizational consultants to drive a foundational research project involving expert ratings for their proprietary pre-hire assessment. As a result, Amazon engaged SkillSource Learning Partners to build a team of I/O experts and supervisors to complete several thousand ratings over a 6-month period.

APPROACH

SkillSource sourced, interviewed, and coordinated a fully outsourced solution for Amazon that was empowered to:
• assess goals
• administer workload
• respond to and escalate questions
• ensure the Quality Assurance (QA) of the ratings
• track completions

RESULTS

Through an effective partnership and deep understanding of internal processes, SkillSource delivered for Amazon by:
• triaging rater availability
• managing rater communications
• ensuring inter-rater reliability
• recommending enhancements to process and workflows
• achieving deadlines

CHALLENGE

SAP had an urgent training dilemma. In the face of COVID-19, they were challenged with virtualizing 100% of their training which previously was delivered in a traditional classroom setting. Even though SAP had 18 full-time faculty members, none had internal instructional design expertise or VILT acumen.
SAP called upon SkillSource Learning Partners for an expert who could not only design and facilitate customized VILT workshops but also champion sales enablement and project management duties to keep the project on track and turn deliverables around in only 4 weeks.

APPROACH

SkillSource’s consultant had a very short amount of time to achieve her goals with little room for error. Plus, a global group of new hires was coming in that needed to be onboarded.
The consultant immediately partnered with the key SME’s that were chosen for each of the 7 programs and began:
• prework that was relevant and meaningful
• translating ILT activities to vILT
• developing and refining dated materials
• establishing consistency within the decks
• revamping workshops
• implementing the use of current technology like
Kahoot, Menti, and MURAL

RESULTS

The collaboration with SAP demonstrated that despite the challenges of a global pandemic, tight deadline and project demands, the SkillSource Learning Partner expert effectively provided a fresh point of view and educated her client about best practices. The consultant was flexible in the inclusion and exclusion of these practices, recognizing that some were unnecessary, unfeasible, or impractical. New hire training was conducted as planned and participants confirmed that the courses were engaging and highly interactive.

CHALLENGE

Arrow was lacking a consistent coaching culture. Their customers didn’t know the entire “Arrow story” and as a result, did not think about Arrow when they had an emerging need.
The head of Learning and Development (with a focus on Sales) called upon SkillSource Learning Partners for an expert consultant in coaching and management services. They needed someone that could customize their existing coaching program to be more robust, develop job aids and put into practice a measurement system.

APPROACH

SkillSource’s consultant led the project and partnered with Arrow’s L&D professionals to deliver jointly developed programs, processes, and tools. Sales leaders were interviewed as a firm foundational starting point and a “design team” – made up of sales managers added confidence and credibility to the process. Arrow’s team were fully engaged partners throughout the process who not only valued the SkillSource consultant’s fact-based decision making skills but also stepped in when they needed to meet compliance or lend relevance.

RESULTS

In addition to the major changes to the program, the SkillSource and Arrow collaboration was the perfect balance of outside influence with inside relevance.
Over the course of a year, the SkillSource Learning Partner expert has held weekly, and semi-monthly “drumbeat” calls with the L&D team to prebrief and debrief interactions with sales leadership, sales managers and salespeople. Consistency is driving the embedding of the thriving coaching culture

CHALLENGE

The University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC) was experiencing overarching communications issues within their organization. The key talent review messaging was disjointed and irregular; teams were not operating under the same brand banner and most messages were simply getting lost in the electronic shuffle.
UCMC’s Organizational and Talent Management leaders contacted SkillSource Learning Partners for an expert consultant — one who could revise and develop strategies, and build new, consistent communication pathways

APPROACH

The SkillSource consultant immediately established weekly meetings with key stakeholders and introduced a system to plan upcoming communication needs and deliverables for weeks in advance.
Expectations were aligned toward the newly branded outgoing messaging and the importance of reducing email clutter to the organization. The team quickly adapted and began to embrace the template and cadence of the new communication messaging. This banding allowed for greater visiblity and message traction.

RESULTS

The SkillSource consultant developed trust with UCMC with clear communication strategies and practical examples. This helped the team to feel confident with the new, improved direction through:
• the ability to plot and course yearly communications
• aligning outgoing electronic cadences
• new branding standards Through biweekly communication and establishment of analytics, SkillSource enabled a scalable and sustainable communication strategy for UCMC
Through biweekly communication and establishment of analytics, SkillSource enabled a scalable and sustainable communication strategy for UCMC.

CHALLENGE

Architectural Surfaces (AS) sought to reimagine their sales training program and set new goals to deepen their talent investment.
AS called upon SkillSource Learning Partners for an expert in Learning Strategy to deliver forward-thinking onboarding design methodologies, combined with mastery in sales talent to:
• enhance learning paths
• expand product knowledge
• onboard top sales talent
• capitalize resources

APPROACH

The SkillSource consultant had just 6 months to develop custom, fast-paced solutions for a consistent onboarding experience for AS’s domestic sales team.
The consultant skillfully balanced the perspectives of Human Resources, existing high-performers, and sales leaders. She designed fresh processes that engaged AS’s stakeholders through experiences, observation, education and meaningful connections.

RESULTS

The collaboration between AS and SkillSource produced an effective new learning strategy whereby new AS sales cohorts tap into programmed sales onboarding resources such as workbooks and branded templates to deliver early business impact.

CHALLENGE

Bumble’s marketing group lacked confidence. The group struggled with negotiating and managing conflict to find win-win solutions for its team and the projects they were supporting.
The Marketing and Analytics head at Bumble ‘swiped right’ for a SkillSource Learning Partners expert to help improve the department.

APPROACH

The SkillSource consultant was empowered to create change from the initial meeting. She worked with the client directly to ensure participants’ concerns would be addressed and understand their business model.
She utilized the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to gain additional insight on the teams’ differences and hone in on behavior patterns.

RESULTS

The marketing team at Bumble thrives from the programs the SkillSource consultant implemented.
The consultant tackled the issues that the client wanted solved using multiple approaches:
• coaching
• learning programs
• assessment
• redesigning performance systems

CHALLENGE

SRP’s team of drivers needed support to maintain safety standards. Reports that monitor the employees’ driving records revealed the importance of continually learning and maintaining safe driving practices.
SPR’s managers sought an expert in this field and contracted a top SkillSource Learning Partners Instructional Designer to develop a training program.

APPROACH

The SkillSource consultant had about six weeks to develop and create eLearning modules that would meet the distinct needs of:
• employees that drive vehicles
• supervisors
• management
• union officials
The consultant provided innovative systems training using Telematics – a method of monitoring vehicles by using GPS technology and on-board diagnostics to plot the vehicle’s movements on a computerized map.

RESULTS

Today the SRP’s team of drivers and managers have more relevant and effective techniques to improve performance.
The programs the SkillSource consultant implemented allow the team to:
• respond to new data
• assess challenges
• adjust training
• maintain safety standards

CHALLENGE

Amazon Pay was struggling with how it communicated with its customers. They aspired to lead value-based conversations and match the right value talk track with the customer’s business driver but were unable to accurately meet those objectives.
The head of Sales Readiness and Enablement turned to SkillSource Learning Partners for an expert consultant in Sales Training and Instructional Design. They needed someone that could train their staff to flip customer objections, and better articulate as well as demonstrate how Amazon Pay is better than the any of its competition.

APPROACH

The SkillSource consultant quickly connected with the key stakeholder and his philosophy on sales training. They worked at a highly collaborative level – held twice a week meetings, and weekly SME calls with individuals at different levels and in various roles.
The consultant focused the training on achieving objectives and creating sustained behavior changes such as:
• manager preparation
• participant pre-work
• expert facilitation
• group discussions
• gaming activities, drills, role-play, case studies
• follow-through reinforcement
• job aid

RESULTS

The SkillSource and Amazon Pay collaboration taught the stakeholders curriculum design discipline, useful learning tools and connection to principles that allows for deeper exploration of the value-based selling framework. A scale was built for the reps to benchmark their skills before a module and rank themselves after completing the module.

RESULTS
19%
increase in skill ability/development
17%
increase in value proposition skill
21%
increase in resolving objections

CHALLENGE

A designer was developing a game aimed at reducing biases, stereotypes, and microaggressions in the workplace.
The Senior Vice President contracted a SkillSource Learning Partners expert in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion through Industrial and Organizational Psychology to strategically evaluate and improve the content of the game while being sensitive to the target audiences.

APPROACH

The SkillSource consultant collaborated exclusively with the creator of the game to verify facts from theory. She supported them through data and relevant research articles. Those concepts were applied through the game, and platform design.
In addition, she provided solutions on how to make the game more engaging to all within an organization and not just a selected group.

RESULTS

The Biased Out game successfully launched and received accolades for its innovative approach as a fun, affordable training tool.
The SkillSource consultant was not only essential in the game’s development, but also helped the client plan for the next steps of growth and development.

CHALLENGE

Cognizant’s Instructional Systems Design (ISD) and technical teams were lacking in various areas and had insufficient internal resources to remedy their issues.
Cognizant’s Tower Leads, and Subject Matter Experts (SME) were very discerning in their search and rejected a dozen internal and external candidates. They sought not only an expert in Instructional Design, eLearning Development, and virtual training, but also a person with the perfect mix of professionalism, credibility, and charm. SkillSource Learning Partners delivered exactly that person.

APPROACH

The SkillSource consultant applied her vast and varied expertise to provide fresh perspectives, and creative problem-solving approaches.
She partnered closely with Cognizant through intensive team meetings and was trusted to access internal resources to deliver viable solutions to both the functional teams and PMO (project and business leadership).
Most importantly, she clearly understood her target audience needs and effectively addressed them in classes.

RESULTS

Cognizant greatly benefited from the SkillSource consultant’s achievements by receiving:

• successful training delivery
• enhanced learner experiences
• stellar client feedback

In fact, the SkillSource consultant earned the highest learner satisfaction scores (of the four instructors) from the after-class survey.

CHALLENGE

The American Automobile Association (AAA) needed to create a new, modern training program for their Sales team.
The Change Management Specialist and Project Manager in the AAA Smart Home division contracted a SkillSource Learning Partners expert to support and lead their team for implementation and deployment as well as guide other training initiatives across the organization.

APPROACH

The SkillSource consultant partnered with AAA and devised a comprehensive strategic plan that included:
• knowing what they do, who they support, their products and key stakeholders
• understanding objectives and challenges
• communicating how their sales teams can problem solve through utilizing job aids and training documentation
• showing the user the value of the new system and how it makes challenging tasks easier

RESULTS

The SkillSource consultant closed out her assignment with a custom training playbook featuring:
• step by step instructions on how to kickoff training
• tools to develop effective training plans from inception to delivery
The AAA team demonstrated new confidence thanks to the SkillSource consultant’s mastery in training, content development and project management.