Challenge
A luxury goods retailer experienced a significant drop in consumer spending. This challenging environment had caused a decline in employee morale, with leaders struggling to motivate employees and drive business performance.
To combat these factors, the client wanted to create a management learning program that would improve leadership and communication skills within its retail staff and establish the strategic thinking necessary to compete in this rapidly changing market.
Leaders within the organization identified three key learning objectives that would help managers overcome these challenges and drive retail business:
- Improve Managers’ Ability to Build High-Performing Teams: Managers needed to build trust and align their teams with the correct goals, processes, and working methods to succeed. A big part of this involved engaging with younger generation employees to create connections that drive effective collaboration, generate business results, and maintain team morale.
- Enhance Managers’ Communication and Influencing Skills: Managers needed to develop the key communication skills needed to engage, inspire, and influence employees. The ability to adjust one’s communication style to fit different employees and situations was deemed to be especially critical.
- Create a Mindset that Embraces Change by Identifying Uncertainty and Strengthening Resilience: Managers had to develop the ability to recognize how teammates are feeling and provide them with the guidance needed to manage their stress and remain motivated in difficult situations.
Solution
The client worked with GP Strategies to create a highly customized learning journey that would teach managers the leadership and communication skills necessary to drive positive business growth. GP adopted a blended learning approach that would engage learners and help them retain key information. The course offerings include a mix of videos, case studies, group discussions, learning scenarios, role-playing exercises, improvisational drama, and real practice opportunities.
The course consists of three modules, each focusing on one of the chief learning objectives and featuring its own blend of media and learning activities. Each module is supplemented by its own on-the-job assignment and virtual team coaching session. These additional sessions allow learners to share progress, celebrate successes, gain additional feedback, and apply what they’ve learned to workplace-specific situations.
At the end of the program, learners are assigned a group project where they must apply what they’ve learned by driving a positive business change within their store location. These final projects are presented to the top management team before the participants graduate from the program.
The management learning program was well-received by learners, team members, and senior leadership, and will be continued in the future.
Results
- The program received an overall average course satisfaction score of 4.87 (out of 5) from participants.
- Senior leaders recognized the positive impact of the program, particularly in the areas of “team spirit building” and “embracing change to drive business.”
- In an interview with the participants’ peers and line managers, 90% of interviewees believed the participants’ leadership skills had improved significantly.
This program has been honored with a 2024 HCM Excellence Award by the Brandon Hall Group: Gold Award for Best Advance in Leadership Development.
