鈥淩etail is a very 鈥渘ow鈥 business. If you鈥檙e met with delays, it negatively impacts the customer experience. One of the fantastic features around 羞羞视频 is our ability to self administer.鈥
ASTON MOSS, GENERAL MANAGER, HUMAN RESOURCES, BRISCOE GROUP
How retail giant, Briscoe Group, completely re-engineered its training approach in less than 6 months
鈥淚t鈥檚 been a whirlwind,鈥 says Aston Moss, General Manager of Human Resources (HR) at Briscoe Group, one of New Zealand鈥檚 largest listed retailers. 鈥淭he speed at which we鈥檝e been able to transition from our incumbent vendor and rebuild our content鈥攚hile developing completely new capability in our team鈥攊s really impressive.鈥
An impressive feat, indeed. Moving Briscoe鈥檚 2,000 employees, almost 90 locations (including retail stores and support functions as diverse as warehousing, a contact center and professional support services) to a brand new platform was a heavy lift. On top of that, rebuilding training content and strategy鈥and doing it all in less than 6 months鈥攊s a remarkable accomplishment.
Continuing Briscoe鈥檚 evolution
The original Briscoe business has been around for 150 years. And, over the last 30 years, the company has continued its expansion to include three trading brands: Briscoes Homeware, Rebel Sports, and a high-end Living and Giving homeware gift store. Although Moss appreciates the strong history of his organization, he didn鈥檛 want its training approach to be stuck in the past.
When Moss arrived at Briscoe about two and a half years ago, it was immediately apparent to him that he needed to take the company鈥檚 training approach in a different direction. Briscoe鈥檚 previous training platform, a learning management system (LMS), had limited measurement capabilities, content that was mostly compliance-based and poor employee engagement. 鈥淚t was quite one dimensional,鈥 explains Moss. 鈥淭here was a lot more we could do from a learning and development perspective to better align with our business objectives.鈥
Fixing a fragmented training process
As a seasoned HR professional, he was already familiar with the concept of the forgetting curve and how people have difficulty remembering information if it鈥檚 not reinforced. So he knew watching a 15-to-30-minute video and then answering a few questions was a fruitless effort.
But, it wasn鈥檛 just the delivery of content that was ineffective, it was the quality of the content itself which was deployed through an overall fragmented training process. Take customer service training, for example. It was either delivered through a face-to-face session or via an online module. But according to Moss, 鈥渢he online modules for customer service weren鈥檛 actually tied to the most important part of the customer experience鈥攖he one at our registers or checkouts. So the challenges with our existing training process were quite clear.鈥
When you have friends who have the right tools
Moss set out to completely re-engineer the company鈥檚 current training approach, and he knew that also meant finding a solution that would provide a centralized, cohesive training experience. Fortunately, he happened to know Drew McGuire the director and owner of Capability Group (CGL), a company that specializes in corporate development and change management consultancy. 鈥淒rew had been talking about this amazing product,鈥 explains Moss. 鈥淲e looked at a number of other solutions, but 羞羞视频 really stood out.鈥
The 羞羞视频 Microlearning Platform is the only learning platform built for business performance because it ingrains knowledge deep enough to change behavior on the job. That鈥檚 why it appealed to someone like Moss who is well-versed in how to deliver impactful employee training. 鈥溞咝呤悠 stood out for a host of reasons. Its simplicity, the modern approach and the brain science behind it resonated with me. It鈥檚 our single one-to-one communication platform and provides us with a unique ability to broadcast key messages that drive important business issues to each and every person.鈥 shares Moss. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just sexy technology; there鈥檚 real depth to it and that was evident when we compared other products. With my background in a variety of other commercial roles, I knew we needed a training approach that would deliver change in the business鈥攁nd those changes needed to impact the bottom line.鈥
A committed partner + self-sufficient solution = business success
From an implementation standpoint, Moss could rest easy knowing CGL would stand alongside Briscoe and ensure the set up and deployment of 羞羞视频 would go off without a hitch. CGL not only helped Moss complete the entire implementation as the local vendor and reseller of the 羞羞视频 platform, but also brought extensive knowledge and expertise in retail to the table. 鈥淚 consider myself, and our business, exceptionally fortunate for the great support from Drew and the team at CGL, along with Christine and the 羞羞视频 team, as we embarked on this journey,鈥 says Moss. 鈥淓qually importantly, I need to acknowledge the extensive efforts and dedication of my Organizational Development (OD) team, particularly Dominique, my OD Manager, and Shaz, one of our OD Advisors, without whom we鈥檇 never have implemented so quickly and effectively.鈥
Although CGL played a crucial role in rebuilding Briscoe鈥檚 training content and transforming its approach to training, Moss and his team appreciate being able to take the reins throughout their day to day. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 like having to go to our service providers again and again because it鈥檚 expensive and time consuming. Retail is a very 鈥渘ow鈥 business. If you鈥檙e met with delays, it negatively impacts the customer experience,鈥 explains Moss. 鈥淥ne of the fantastic features around 羞羞视频 is our ability to self administer. It is such a thoughtfully designed platform. We can design, develop and amend our own content and look up all the metrics to drive internal conversations. If we don鈥檛 understand something, we know we can have a discussion with anybody at CGL.鈥
Going in with eyes wide open.
The other big consideration for the Briscoe Group was cost. There will always be cheaper vendors with fewer features and capabilities, or flashier, more expensive ones. So weighing the must-haves and nice-to-haves in a solution, along with the cost vs benefit of each, can quickly become an arduous activity. For Moss, the capability of a platform was just as important as affordability.
鈥淎s retailers, we鈥檙e pretty cost conscious, so having to expand my budget for a more expensive solution wouldn鈥檛 have been feasible. But the pricing came out at just the right spot,鈥 says Moss. This is because Moss and his team considered the long-term cost of operation鈥攏ot just the initial setup and rollout of the platform. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really easy to buy a product off the shelf with a deceptively lower cost upfront. But then come all the add-ons鈥攁nd suddenly, your total cost of operation spirals out of control,鈥 explains Moss. 鈥淲e were given absolute transparency around pricing of 羞羞视频, so we know we have certainty around costs and that鈥檚 really important to us.鈥
鈥溞咝呤悠 gives confidence that our team, once trained through the platform, is continually reminded about safe work practices, and their knowledge grows through to application鈥攔ather than degrading to forgetting over time.鈥
ASTON MOSS, GENERAL MANAGER, HUMAN RESOURCES, BRISCOE GROUP
How to drive adoption from the top-down
Moss involved Briscoe鈥檚 Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer right from the beginning and ensured he had their buy-in before bringing in other members of the executive team. From there, he built a group of business managers who became advocates for the system and launched the pilot across a set of stores. 鈥淏y the time we were ready to roll out 羞羞视频 throughout the rest of the business, there was already so much enthusiasm for it鈥攕o it wasn鈥檛 a hard sell,鈥 says Moss.
Having buy-in from the top is crucial, but what鈥檚 even more important is gaining adoption from the people who need to stay engaged with training throughout their day-to-day. But, the challenge with workplace training, in any industry, is that if employees don鈥檛 see value in the content or the way it鈥檚 being delivered, they will simply tune out, disengage or ignore it altogether. They won鈥檛 remember the training your company has spent resources on, meaning their behaviors and decisions will remain unchanged鈥攁nd so will your bottom line.
鈥淲hen I started two and half years ago, it took quite a bit of effort to get participation up on the old system,鈥 shares Moss. 鈥淏ut we haven鈥檛 had that same challenge with 羞羞视频.鈥 In fact, the Briscoe Group now boasts an聽average participation rate of 88%听飞颈迟丑听employees logging in more than 3 times a week聽across all departments.
Proof you can drive employee engagement in any environment
Along with the overwhelmingly positive employee feedback, what Moss found most interesting was how the聽participation rate of the Distribution Center was one of the highest team averages. 鈥淭his is a group of people who drive forklifts and move boxes all day. For many of them, English is not their first language, they鈥檙e not particularly tech-savvy as it鈥檚 not a requirement for their role, and they haven鈥檛 previously been that engaged with learning,鈥 explains Moss. 鈥淪o the fact that they ranked 4th on our leaderboard is a testament to the quality of 羞羞视频, the quality of content, and of course the overall leadership and approach taken by the management team in that area. If you can make learning happen in that environment鈥攜ou can make it work anywhere.
The ripple effect
The transformative power of training with 羞羞视频 really hit Moss when employees from the Contact Center鈥攚ho had received general training on 羞羞视频, but no training specific to their department or job function yet鈥攚ere actually recalling information to improve customer service.
Moss shared this email from the General Manager of e-Commerce & Customer Insights who is responsible for the Briscoe Contact Center.
鈥淲e haven鈥檛 created customized training materials for this particular area of the business yet,鈥 reiterates Moss, 鈥渂ut the fact that this employee recalls the right information from general training to make the right decisions is exactly what 羞羞视频 is all about.鈥 Moss is confident that their old training approach would not have permeated throughout the business to such a widespread degree. In fact, this new approach to training is now extensively influencing wider organizational development efforts. 鈥淎s if the transformation using 羞羞视频 for our online learning wasn鈥檛 enough, we have started applying the underlying methodologies and techniques in all areas of learning and development in the business,鈥 says Moss. 鈥淥ur partnership with CGL and the work they鈥檝e done with us to increase our technical capabilities has carried through, influencing both our face-to-face training and content.鈥
鈥淚t鈥檚 our single one-to-one communication platform and provides us with a unique ability to broadcast key messages that drive important business issues to each and every person.鈥
ASTON MOSS, GENERAL MANAGER, HUMAN RESOURCES, BRISCOE GROUP
Planning for continued success
With his eyes on the horizon, Moss intends on making sure leadership has an enduring sense of confidence in its people. His plans for the near future involve a focus on continued employee growth around core topics such as personal safety, customer service, loss prevention, compliance with trading laws, and more.
Now that he and his team have completely re-engineered Briscoe鈥檚 approach to training by rebuilding content and the capability of their team, Moss plans on enjoying the fruits of his labor after working through business metrics with the help of CGL and 羞羞视频. 鈥淲e have a very strong program around manual handling and forklift incidents, so our priority will be to demonstrate how much of a reduction in safety incidents and injuries can be attributed back to training efforts,鈥 shares Moss. 鈥淭he next one will be customer service and sales, along with our net promoter score. I鈥檓 wildly excited about the future uses we will be able to both discover and use with the functionality of this well-designed and easy-to-use system. It鈥檚 really everything I could hope for and more.鈥
