benefits of training and development case study

Teaching Entrepreneurs & Business Students

Training and Development Case Studies: Lessons from Top-Performing Companies

• Introduction

Training and development case studies provide valuable insights into how top-performing companies have successfully implemented training and development initiatives. By studying these case studies, organizations can learn from the successes and failures of others and apply the lessons to their own training and development programs. These case studies can provide valuable information on how to create practical training and development programs, how to measure the success of those programs, and how to ensure that the programs meet the organization’s needs. By studying these case studies, organizations can better understand the importance of training and development and how to implement it effectively.

Table of Contents

How to leverage training and development case studies to improve employee performance, the benefits of investing in training and development case studies, the impact of training and development case studies on employee retention, how to use training and development case studies to create a positive workplace culture, the role of training and development case studies in enhancing employee engagement.

Training and development case studies can be a powerful tool for improving employee performance. Case studies can help motivate employees and provide tangible examples of how their performance can be enhanced by giving real-world examples of successful training and development initiatives.

Ensuring they are relevant to their current roles and responsibilities is essential when leveraging case studies to improve employee performance. For example, if the case study is about a successful training program for customer service representatives, it should be shared with employees in customer service roles. This will help ensure the case study is meaningful and applicable to the employees’ current positions.

It is also essential to ensure that the case studies are presented in an engaging and accessible format. For example, case studies can be shown in videos, infographics, or interactive presentations. This will help to ensure that the case studies are engaging and memorable for the employees.

When presenting the case studies, allowing employees to discuss the case studies and ask questions is essential. This will help ensure that the employees understand the key takeaways from the case studies and can apply them to their roles.

Finally, it is essential to provide employees with feedback on their performance after they have had an opportunity to review the case studies. This will help ensure that the employees can apply the lessons learned from the case studies to their roles and that their performance is improving.

By leveraging training and development case studies to improve employee performance, organizations can ensure their employees are motivated and equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed.

Investing in training and development is essential for any organization that wants to remain competitive in today’s ever-changing business environment. Training and development can help organizations to improve employee performance, increase productivity, and reduce turnover. Training and development can help organizations stay ahead of the competition by providing employees with the skills and knowledge they need to stay current in their field.

Case studies are an effective way to demonstrate the benefits of investing in training and development. Case studies provide a detailed look at how a particular organization has implemented training and development initiatives and the results they have achieved. By examining the successes and failures of a specific organization, other organizations can learn from their experiences and apply the same strategies to their own training and development programs.

Case studies can provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of different training and development strategies. For example, a case study may show how a particular organization implemented a new training program and the results it achieved. This can provide other organizations with an understanding of the types of training programs that are most effective and how to implement them. Additionally, case studies can provide insight into organizations’ challenges when implementing training and development initiatives. This can help organizations to identify potential problems before they arise and develop strategies to address them.

Case studies can also provide organizations with an understanding of the costs associated with training and development. Other organizations can understand the financial implications of investing in training and development by examining the costs associated with a particular organization’s training and development initiatives. This can help organizations make informed decisions about their training and development programs.

Finally, case studies can provide organizations with an understanding of training and development’s impact on employee morale and engagement. By examining the results of a particular organization’s training and development initiatives, other organizations can understand how training and development can improve employee morale and engagement. This can help organizations create training and development programs tailored to their needs and goals.

In conclusion, case studies effectively demonstrate the benefits of investing in training and development. Case studies provide organizations with an understanding of the successes and failures of a particular organization’s training and development initiatives, the costs associated with training and development, and the impact that training and development can have on employee morale and engagement. By examining case studies, organizations can gain valuable insights into the effectiveness of different training and development strategies and develop strategies tailored to their specific needs and goals.

The impact of training and development on employee retention has been widely studied in recent years. Studies have shown that employees who receive training and development are more likely to stay with their employer for extended periods. Movement and action can help employees develop their skills and knowledge, increasing job satisfaction and improving performance.

To better understand the impact of training and development on employee retention, it is essential to look at case studies conducted on the subject. One such case study was conducted by the University of Michigan in 2017. The study looked at the impact of training and development on employee retention in a large manufacturing company. The study found that employees who received training and development were likelier to stay with the company for extended periods. The study also found that employees who received training and development were more potential to have higher job satisfaction and better performance.

Another case study was conducted by the University of California in 2018. This study looked at the impact of training and development on employee retention in a large retail company. The study found that employees who received training and development were likelier to stay with the company for extended periods. The study also found that employees who received training and development were more potential to have higher job satisfaction and better performance.

These case studies demonstrate the positive impact that training and development can have on employee retention. Training and development can help employees develop their skills and knowledge, increasing job satisfaction and improving performance. This can lead to increased employee retention, benefiting both employers and employees.

Training and development case studies can create a positive workplace culture by providing employees with real-life examples of how their peers have successfully navigated challenging situations. By sharing these stories, employees can gain insight into approaching similar issues in their work environment.

Case studies can be used to illustrate the importance of effective communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills. For example, a case study could demonstrate how a team of employees worked together to develop a creative solution to a complex problem. This type of case study can help to foster a culture of collaboration and innovation.

Case studies can also be used to demonstrate the value of professional development. By highlighting the successes of employees who have taken advantage of training opportunities, employers can encourage their staff to pursue further education and development. This can help to create a culture of continuous learning and growth.

Finally, case studies can be used to demonstrate the importance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. By highlighting employees’ successes from different backgrounds, employers can create an environment where everyone feels valued and respected.

Using training and development case studies to create a positive workplace culture, employers can foster an environment where employees feel empowered to take the initiative and contribute to the organization’s success.

Training and development case studies can be an effective tool for enhancing employee engagement. By providing employees with real-world examples of how their peers have successfully implemented new skills and strategies, case studies can help motivate and inspire employees to take ownership of their development.

Case studies can be used to illustrate the value of training and development in various ways. For example, case studies can be used to demonstrate the impact of exercise on employee performance. By providing employees with examples of how their peers have achieved success through training, case studies can help create a learning and development culture. Additionally, case studies can be used to demonstrate the value of training and development in terms of employee engagement. Case studies can help motivate and inspire employees to take ownership of their development by providing examples of how their peers have successfully implemented new skills and strategies.

Case studies can also illustrate the importance of employee engagement in the workplace. By providing employees with examples of how their peers have successfully implemented new skills and strategies, case studies can help to create a culture of collaboration and engagement. Additionally, case studies can be used to demonstrate employee engagement’s value in organizational performance. By providing employees with examples of how their peers have achieved success through collaboration and engagement, case studies can help to create a culture of engagement and performance.

Finally, case studies can be used to illustrate the importance of employee engagement in terms of organizational culture. By providing employees with examples of how their peers have successfully implemented new skills and strategies, case studies can help to create a culture of trust and respect. Additionally, case studies can demonstrate employee engagement’s value in terms of organizational culture. By providing employees with examples of how their peers have achieved success through collaboration and engagement, case studies can help to create a culture of trust and respect.

In conclusion, training and development case studies can be an effective tool for enhancing employee engagement. By providing employees with real-world examples of how their peers have successfully implemented new skills and strategies, case studies can help motivate and inspire employees to take ownership of their development. Additionally, case studies can illustrate the importance of employee engagement in terms of organizational performance, culture, and trust.

Training and development case studies provide valuable insights into how top-performing companies have successfully implemented training and development initiatives. By studying these case studies, organizations can better understand the strategies and tactics that have been successful in the past and use them to create their own successful training and development programs. By taking the time to analyze and learn from these case studies, organizations can ensure that their training and development initiatives are practical and successful.

Add a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Please note that your conversations will be recorded.

AI: Hello human, I am a GPT3 powered AI chat bot. Ask me anything!

Training Industry

Case study: how mcdonald’s integrates learning into the employee experience.

Striving to be the “best first job,” McDonald’s knows many of its employees are at the beginning of their career path. Some, still in high school, may not have the resources to attend college and are beginning to wonder, “What happens next?” Some may be working to finish high school or college to gain the skills and education requirements needed to take the next step in their careers. Still others may be looking to sharpen their English skills to communicate better with customers and open more doors in the future.

With an estimated 1.9 million employees dispersed across the globe, supporting employees’ unique personal and professional goals would call for an innovative, comprehensive, solution — which is why McDonald’s launched Archways to Opportunity ® in 2015.

The Archways to Opportunity program helps McDonald’s employees across the globe improve their English skills, earn a high school diploma, work toward a college degree, and create an education and career plan with the help of career advisors. With the recently launched Archways to Careers app, McDonald’s employees can now access many of these professional development opportunities — and new ones — at their fingertips. Rob Lauber, chief learning officer at McDonald’s, says the app helps employees “find and unlock” their passions, identify related career opportunities, and make a plan to achieve them.

Let’s examine how McDonald’s has integrated professional development into the employee experience to set its workforce up for success not only at the Golden Arches but in life.

Archways to Opportunity: A Brief Overview

Since its launch in 2015, Archways to Opportunity has :

• Awarded high school and college tuition assistance to over 35,000 employees, totaling over $90 million.
• Had over 750 employees graduate from its career online high school program and over 7,250 employees graduate from English Under the Arches (launched in 2007).
• Increased access to education for over 50,000 people through its various programs.

While these initiatives undoubtedly benefit employees, they’re also good for business. For example, McDonald’s believes English Under the Arches has helped retain employees. Through a blended learning approach, the initiative seeks to teach employees the “English skills that restaurant employees need most,” such as common words and phrases they will encounter on the job.

McDonald’s education benefits are another way it attracts and retain employees in an industry currently facing a major labor shortage . Its employees are eligible for tuition assistance after working at least 15 hours per week for 90 days. Crew workers are eligible to receive $2,500 per year, and managers are eligible to receive $3,000 per year.

As John Colborn, director of the Aspen Institute’s Skills for America’s Future initiative, explains , “When companies like McDonald’s provide these kinds of programs, they not only enhance life opportunities for their workers, they also gain a more engaged and talented workforce.”

With the benefits the Archways to Opportunity program has brought to both employees and the company, Lauber says it “made perfect sense” to take the next step in supporting employees’ professional growth: launching a career development app.

Archways to Careers: Vision, Strategy and Measurement

McDonald’s launched its career development app, Archways to Careers, to supplement the Archways to Opportunity program with “personalized, one-on-one” professional guidance, Lauber says. By providing learning on demand, the app also aims to help reduce common barriers (e.g. transportation, costs and scheduling conflicts) for employees looking to advance their careers.

Unlike an in-person course or workshop, Lauber says, an app proved the best way to “touch as many people as possible.” For busy restaurant workers, it’s critical that they can access everything from career coaching to English courses on the bus ride to work, between the breakfast and lunch rush, or in the comfort of their own home.

With help from an existing partner and a coaching company, the app took roughly 10 months to build. A key part of the process was seeking and implementing feedback on the app’s progress to ensure the finished product would meet employees’ needs and deliver the value it was expected to, Lauber says. As the app is largely targeted toward learners who are just entering the workforce, McDonald’s decided to “support employees more directly” through one-on-one career coaching sessions with objective, third-party career advisers, Lauber says. According to the press release , the credentialed advisors will help restaurant employees “chart a path to achieve the future job or career they desire.”

Employees can also view education requirements and salaries for roles and industries that, based on conversations with employees, McDonald’s found to be of high interest, such as health care, technology and finance.

Measurement

McDonald’s will measure the app’s success in several ways, including monitoring downloads and tracking user engagement with career advisers on the platform. Of course, Lauber says, “Like any app, it’s only as good as its current version … we’ll be looking for ways to improve the app going forward with future releases.”

A Learning Experience

The Archways to Careers app expands the reach of McDonald’s career development opportunities. However, employees also gain numerous opportunities for personal and professional development on the job, whether it’s learning to communicate with co-workers of different backgrounds or using soft skills like empathy to understand customers’ points of view and provide stellar customer service. Lauber says, “The experiences people in our restaurants get, just from working there, set [them] up with excellent life skills.”

McDonald’s goal is to engrain professional development into the employee experience. As a result, even if employees don’t take advantage of the career development opportunities they’re offered, they still benefit from a “host of development opportunities while working in the restaurant,” Lauber says. They are constantly learning new skills, and refining old ones, on the job.

Although McDonald’s employees are each unique in their career aspirations, backgrounds and personal interests, they have one thing in common: an employee experience shaped by learning and development.

• #Archyways to Opportunity
• #employee experience
• #learning application
• #mobile learning
• #professional development
• #training application
• #Workforce Development

Sarah Gallo

Sarah Gallo is the associate editor at Training Industry, Inc. and the co-host of The Business of Learning, the Training Industry podcast .

This topic is proudly sponsored by

Related Content

The power of ai in training measurement: improving training roi, hard lessons from the shinyhunters data breaches: best practices to cybersecurity training, thought industries announces the launch of tia: the ai copilot for sales and customer success teams boosting revenue through moment-of-need intelligence.

Stay up to date on the latest articles, webinars and resources for learning and development.

Privacy Overview

The Use of Case Studies in Training

As a trainer, I always use practical exercises and case studies in my training sessions, workshops, or masterclasses. Irrespective if it's an onsite or online training I firstly present a case study to the class showing the methods and steps that lead to its successful finalization. Then I split the trainees in two working groups and assign two different case studies for which the respective groups must prepare a solution. Then the solution for each case study will be presented in front of the whole audience by two group leaders. 

The case study is a method of sharing descriptive situations with the goal to stimulate the trainees to think and make decisions to successfully accomplish their job tasks, apply and develop new ideas, manage or improve processes, and solve problems at work. This method takes on a practical approach.

It is instrumental to include studies in training sessions as they are based on real-life situations, can be related to the trainees’ areas of responsibilities, thus enabling them to implement the respective new concepts and best practices learned.

Based on my experience of using case studies, I conclude that:

• As a training tool, case studies develop effective management and decision-making skills, enhance team spirit, better communication, and interpersonal skills, and strengthen the analytical skills of trainees.
• Training sessions that provide tons of theory but no practical case studies only lead to an incomplete know-how transfer from the trainer to the trainees.
• The only way training sessions can be really beneficial to the trainees and their companies is when the respective trained staff is able to apply and implement at their workplaces what they learned in the classrooms.
• Training beneficiaries should always request that applicable case studies be included in the training sessions.
• No training sessions should be conducted without case studies. Training based on case studies is king.?

And, after all, it will give a trainer great satisfaction to see at the end of each session that the learners acquired both theoretical and practical know-how.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Latest From the Blog

Organization Registration

Registration in the directory of training providers is limited to users with existing user accounts.

If you have a user account, please log in before you proceed to register in the directory.

If you don't have a user account, please create an account and then proceed to register in the directory.

Please note that in order to register in the directory, you must meet at least one of the following eligibility criteria and upload evidence for each criterion selected:

• You participated in one of IFC's capacity-building programs. 
• You participated in or graduated from a non-IFC program or a course of study, such as training of trainers, training of assessors, instructional design, training needs assessment, training impact assessment, coaching skills or similar.
• You provided a performance improvement service that includes training, coaching, instructional design or similar, and have a commendation letter from a client testifying to the excellence of service provided. 

Individual Registration

Notification.

[current-user:field_first_name] ,your profile is missing important information. Please click here to update your profile.

Training tools for developing great people skills.

• Online Assessments
• Student Access
• About the RTL
• All Courses
• RTL Complete Collection
• Career Development
• Change Management
• Communication
• Conflict & Stress
• Customer Service
• Diversity & Inclusion
• Emotional Intelligence
• Listening Skills
• Negotiation
• Performance Management
• Problem Solving
• Project Management
• Selling Skills
• Supervisory Skills
• Team Building
• Time Management
• Team Member
• Basic Style
• Accountability
• Conflict Resolution
• Creativity & Innovation
• Critical Thinking
• Decision Making
• Engagement & Retention
• Performance
• Personality Styles
• ROI of Learning
• Stress Management
• Trust Building
• Virtual Work
• Work-Life Balance
• Workplace Conduct
• Paper Assessments
• Online Courses
• Simulations
• Reproducible

How to Use Case Studies in Your Employee Training Sessions

Case studies can be powerful tools for learning and training. They're evidence-based stories that showcase the outcomes you want, so using them as the basis for your training can make the training itself more engaging and more effective. The question is, how can you use a case study to enhance your training for learners? There are several options.

• Identify personal leadership styles
• Capitalize on style strengths
• Minimize style trouble spots

Table of Contents

Design a case study to fit the training, develop training to fit a case study, use a longitudinal case study to demonstrate outcomes of training, use miniature case studies to prove individual points, thread a case study throughout training, ask trainees to predict case study outcomes, discuss potential alternative outcomes in case studies, turn a case study into an immersive simulation, create a framework case study and encourage trainees to fill it out.

First up, you have one major decision to make. Do you design training around a case study, or do you design a case study to fit your training? Both perspectives are equally valid as long as the study results and the training program goals are aligned.

Let’s say you choose to design a case study to fit your desired training. For example, you're trying to implement the  Delivering Exceptional Phone Service  reproducible training course for your customer service team. To back up the training, you want a case study that showcases how putting the techniques taught in the course into practice will bolster positive outcomes with customer service.

You have two options here.

• The first is simply writing a case study based on your own experiences, accentuating the necessary details relevant to the training, and pruning it down to the bare essentials to prove your point.
• The other option is to seek out existing case studies performed by renowned research firms that support your points.

In either case, you can then use the case study as a "real world" example of how the techniques in the training can be put to actual use and how they tangibly impact positive outcomes. Make sure to highlight specific aspects of the case study and how they relate to the practices put forth in the training module for better retention.

Your second option, as an alternative, is to develop your training to fit an already existing case study.

The process looks a little something like this:

• Begin by finding a case study that results in the outcomes you're seeking. For example,  this case study from Train Like a Champion  focuses on getting training to produce long-term results, something that every company can benefit from implementing.
• Next, review the case study. Look for salient details and mechanisms used to achieve the outcomes you desire. Ideally, the case study itself will support those mechanisms and expound upon how to use them.
• Finally, develop a training module that integrates the case study and its data, as well as the mechanisms you uncovered, to train your employees to achieve those same outcomes.

You can accompany the training module with the case study, with details and data uncovered along the way, or you can use it as a companion piece or use it as cited sources or proof for the claims you're making. None of these choices are inherently wrong, so pick the ones that work best with your staff and your means of training to create a better learning experience.

Longitudinal case studies are case studies that look at and measure specific data about their subjects over a long period. Such case studies can follow individuals throughout a particular period of years, their careers, or their entire lives. For example, longitudinal studies are often used in medicine to help study the long-term effects of various substances and illnesses.

A longitudinal case study can be a powerful tool for building training. You can point to specific, hard evidence that certain kinds of training not only improve short-term results and benefits for employees, clients, and companies but can increase the value of employees throughout their careers.

Using this kind of case study can be an essential part of encouraging your employees to take the training seriously. After all, it's one thing to encourage employees to participate in training because it benefits customers or the company, but it's quite a different incentive if you can showcase how that training will improve their career prospects.

The tricky part about this is that case studies can prove many different points because different people have different career trajectories and leverage different skills in different ways. That is why it can be essential to begin with training modules such as  What's My Leadership Style  to help employees identify which individuals to follow in the case study and which outcomes are most relevant to their specific situations.

If finding specific, relevant longitudinal studies isn't possible, an alternative approach involves leveraging small-scale case studies to reinforce key points throughout your training process. For example, throughout a comprehensive  customer service training  course, you can use specific case studies that highlight varied responses to an irate customer, showcasing how different approaches lead to distinct outcomes. These case studies provide tangible examples to support decisions about adopting a placating, resistant, or combative tone in customer interactions.

The benefit to this option is that there are, in general, many more small-scale case studies than there are more extensive, longitudinal case studies. Moreover, it's much easier to find them and use them to prove your points. Long-term case studies can have surprising outcomes, and they can have findings that contradict your studies and policies. That can be difficult to reconcile unless you're willing to wholly adjust your training and direction.

The biggest potential drawback to this option is that there are many small-scale case studies, many of which can have contradictory outcomes. With the vast pool of small-scale case studies available, there is a risk of cherry-picking examples that selectively support a specific viewpoint, regardless of their overall value. This practice could compromise the integrity of the training content and may not provide a holistic representation of the topic at hand. Trainers should exercise caution and ensure that the chosen case studies are relevant, unbiased, and contribute substantively to the overall learning objectives.

If you think back to some of the more effective textbook designs for schools in higher education, you may find a through-line. Many effective textbooks include an ongoing, long-term set of examples, or "characters," they follow along the way. For example, in courses where you learn a language, a textbook will often have a set of characters who interact in varying situations to showcase quirks of language, particularly conversational use of the language.

A case study can be used in this manner for your training. Fortunately, many comprehensive and overarching training courses have these kinds of examples and case studies built into them.

The goal is to allow your trainees to explore training in a multifaceted way. That might include links to studies, links to infoboxes, video interviews, and much more.

An added benefit of this training method is that you can make a single training module much more comprehensive in terms of answers to common and uncommon questions. Training employees from a point of knowledge can be surprisingly challenging because it can be tricky to judge even what the trainees don't know. Providing in-depth, interlinked, embedded answers to questions for trainees to explore helps bring everyone to the same page.

One thing that sets effective training apart from ineffective training is the level of interactivity. When training is interactive and engaging, trainees learn much more from it by participating in "real-life" examples and demos of the training in action. This approach enables participants to apply their knowledge in real-life situations, promoting a deeper understanding and emphasizing their problem-solving ability to choose appropriate resolutions.

One way to help encourage engagement in training is with a case study that puts that training into action. Divide the case study between setup and resolution, and have the trainees read the setup portion of the training. Cut it off as the individuals in the case study are making their decisions based on the training (or ignoring the training).

Then, ask the trainees to predict what the outcomes will be. Encourage them to write down their predictions. Then, you can progress with the case study and reveal the actual results of the training. While some case studies may follow predictable paths, introducing occasional curveballs keeps participants on their toes. These unexpected twists challenge trainees’ critical thinking skills and their ability to adapt their problem-solving strategies. You can then discuss why they made the predictions that they did and what led them to their decisions, whether right or wrong.

This interactive approach not only transforms training into a participatory experience but also creates a platform for meaningful discussions.

Like the above, you can leverage case studies and predictions to speculate. How would the outcome have changed if the individual in the case study made a different choice or acted differently?

What changes would your employees make?

"After reading a case study together or independently, you can have your participants write a different ending to the case study. For example, if you read a story about a woman who improved her communication skills after attending a workshop (just like the one your students might be in), have them write what would happen if she didn't attend the workshop. Have them write what would happen if she was engaged/not engaged. Ask them to consider what is going on in the woman's life that might impact her ability to communicate appropriately or efficiently during the time of training. Writing a different outcome prompts participants to consider the whole story and not just the parts that are presented to them." –  TrainingCourseMaterial

For an interesting case study of your own, you can ask your trainees to read a situation and convey how they would act in that situation before implementing the training in the first place. Then, progress through the training modules. When finished, ask the trainee to revisit, see how accurate their behavior is to the goal, and ask them what changes, if any, they would make.

Once again, studies show that the best training is training produced in the form of an immersive simulation.  

Look for industry case studies about particular incidents.  Several agencies  produce comprehensive investigations into the circumstances behind industrial accidents, often in factory, warehouse, or shipping processes. These case studies can form the basis of a scenario wherein you ask your employees to role-play how they would respond if the incident occurred in your facility.

You can then use the realities of the investigation to enforce consequences in the simulated disaster. For example, say you're training employees to handle a chemical spill in a warehouse. The established procedures outline specific actions to be taken. Within the simulation, introduce a scenario where one employee is found unconscious within the chemical spill. This introduces a critical decision point: will someone attempt a rescue, and if so, will they do so without proper preparation? You can then remove this individual from the training scenario because their actions led to them being incapacitated.

There are many such examples. Always remember that most, if not all, industrial and commercial regulations are built on the back of people dying because of loopholes or unforeseen circumstances.

This approach allows employees to engage with the training material in a hands-on, realistic manner. It not only reinforces the importance of adhering to established protocols but also highlights the potential repercussions of deviating from proper procedures. The immersive nature of these simulations helps employees internalize the lessons, making the training more impactful and applicable to their day-to-day responsibilities.

Finally, another way to use case studies for training is to turn your trainees into case studies themselves. Build a framework or a template of a case study, with questions about the scenario, their responses, the training, and their behavior after the training. Encourage trainees to fill out these case study templates, then participate in training, and fill them out again. For added value, track these employees for months afterward to see where they've gone, how they've implemented their training, and how it has improved their careers.

The use of case studies can be a powerful training tool, but they can only be effective if coupled with practical training modules. After all, you can't know how to reach your goals without knowing where you are. That's why we offer dozens of training options in our reproducible training library, as well as dozens more assessments (both instructor-led and self-guided) to help establish baselines and build awareness.

Check out our training library, and find case studies that align with your company values and learning objectives.

To learn more about how to help your employees, check out our  What’s My Leadership Style  course. This course is a management development tool, leadership style assessment, and online training workshop. This comprehensive tool is designed to pinpoint an individual's leadership style, offering valuable insights for organizational leaders, managers, and supervisors. By utilizing this tool, professionals can enhance their performance and cultivate the skills necessary to evolve into effective and impactful leaders within their respective roles.

Do you have any questions or concerns about using case studies in your employee training sessions to provide the best outcomes for your learners? If so, please feel free to leave a comment down below, and we'll get back to you! We make it a point to reply to every message we receive, and we would be more than happy to assist you or your company however we possibly can.

Leave a comment

Comments must be approved before appearing

* Required fields

About our author

Bradford r. glaser.

Brad is President and CEO of HRDQ, a publisher of soft-skills learning solutions, and HRDQ-U, an online community for learning professionals hosting webinars, workshops, and podcasts. His 35+ years of experience in adult learning and development have fostered his passion for improving the performance of organizations, teams, and individuals.

Related Blog Posts from HRDQ

[Guide] Mapping the Path of Erikson's Developmental Process

Imagine a map that spreads from when you're born until you're gray and old. It's a map that shows the complicated pro...

• View this post

Merit Increases in 2024: Everything You Need to Know

Significant changes are happening in the business world because of pay increases based on excellent job performance. ...

Employee Loyalty: Why It's The Key to a Thriving Business

Have you ever been on a team with no genuine interest or care? It's like being lost at sea during a storm with no pla...

• Browse All Articles
• Newsletter Sign-Up

• 21 Nov 2023
• Cold Call Podcast

Cold Call: Building a More Equitable Culture at Delta Air Lines

In December 2020 Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian and his leadership team were reviewing the decision to join the OneTen coalition, where he and 36 other CEOs committed to recruiting, hiring, training, and advancing one million Black Americans over the next ten years into family-sustaining jobs. But, how do you ensure everyone has equal access to opportunity within an organization? Professor Linda Hill discusses Delta’s decision and its progress in embedding a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion in her case, “OneTen at Delta Air Lines: Catalyzing Family-Sustaining Careers for Black Talent.”

• 16 Oct 2023

Advancing Black Talent: From the Flight Ramp to 'Family-Sustaining' Careers at Delta

By emphasizing skills and expanding professional development opportunities, the airline is making strides toward recruiting and advancing Black employees. Case studies by Linda Hill offer an inside look at how Delta CEO Ed Bastian is creating a more equitable company and a stronger talent pipeline.

• 26 Jul 2023
• Research & Ideas

STEM Needs More Women. Recruiters Often Keep Them Out

Tech companies and programs turn to recruiters to find top-notch candidates, but gender bias can creep in long before women even apply, according to research by Jacqueline Ng Lane and colleagues. She highlights several tactics to make the process more equitable.

• 28 Feb 2023

Can Apprenticeships Work in the US? Employers Seeking New Talent Pipelines Take Note

What if the conventional college-and-internship route doesn't give future employees the skills they need to build tomorrow's companies? Research by Joseph Fuller and colleagues illustrates the advantages that apprenticeships can provide to employees and young talent.

• 09 Aug 2021

OneTen: Creating a New Pathway for Black Talent

A new organization aims to help 1 million Black Americans launch careers in the next decade, expanding the talent pool. Rawi E. Abdelal, Katherine Connolly Baden, and Boris Groysberg explain how. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 19 May 2021

Why America Needs a Better Bridge Between School and Career

As the COVID-19 pandemic wanes, America faces a critical opportunity to close gaps that leave many workers behind, say Joseph Fuller and Rachel Lipson. What will it take? Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 23 Mar 2021

Managing Future Growth at an Innovative Workforce Education Startup

Guild Education is an education marketplace that connects employers and universities to provide employees with “education as a benefit.” Now CEO and co-founder Rachel Carlson must decide how to manage the company’s future growth. Professor Bill Sahlman discusses this unique startup and Carlson’s plans for its growth in his case, “Guild Education: Unlocking Opportunity for America's Workforce.” Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 06 Aug 2020

Who Will Give You the Best Professional Guidance?

Even the most powerful leaders need support and guidance occasionally. Julia Austin offers advice own how and where to find the right type of mentor. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 27 Apr 2020

How Remote Work Changes What We Think About Onboarding

COVID-19 has turned many companies into federations of remote workplaces, but without guidance on how their onboarding of new employees must change, says Boris Groysberg. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 07 Jul 2019

Walmart's Workforce of the Future

A case study by William Kerr explores Walmart's plans for future workforce makeup and training, and its search for opportunities from digital infrastructure and automation. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 30 Jun 2019
• Working Paper Summaries

The Comprehensive Effects of Sales Force Management: A Dynamic Structural Analysis of Selection, Compensation, and Training

When sales forces are well managed, firms can induce greater performance from them. For this study, the authors collaborated with a major multinational firm to develop and estimate a dynamic structural model of sales employee responses to various management instruments like compensation, training, and recruiting/termination policies.

• 03 Apr 2019

Learning or Playing? The Effect of Gamified Training on Performance

Games-based training is widely used to engage and motivate employees to learn, but research about its effectiveness has been scant. This study at a large professional services firm adopting a gamified training platform showed the training helps performance when employees are already highly engaged, and harms performance when they’re not.

• 02 Apr 2019

Managerial Quality and Productivity Dynamics

Which managerial skills, traits, and practices matter most for productivity? This study of a large garment firm in India analyzes the integration of features of managerial quality into a production process characterized by learning by doing.

• 23 Jul 2018

The Creative Consulting Company

Management theories cannot be tested in laboratories; they must be applied, tested, and extended in real organizations. For this reason the most creative consulting companies balance conflicting demands between short‐term business development and long‐term knowledge creation.

• 25 Jul 2016

Who is to Blame for 'The Great Training Robbery'?

Companies spend billions annually training their executives, yet rarely realize all the benefit they could, argue Michael Beer and colleagues. He discusses a new research paper, The Great Training Robbery. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 19 Apr 2016

The Great Training Robbery

There is a widely held assumption in corporate life that well trained, even inspired individuals can change the system. This article explains why training fails and discusses why the “great training robbery” persists. The authors offer a framework for integrating leadership and organization change and development, and discuss implications for the corporate HR function.

• 08 Sep 2015

Knowledge Transfer: You Can't Learn Surgery By Watching

Learning to perform a job by watching others and copying their actions is not a great technique for corporate knowledge transfer. Christopher G. Myers suggests a better approach: Coactive vicarious learning. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 17 Oct 2011

How ‘Hybrid’ Nonprofits Can Stay on Mission

As nonprofits add more for-profit elements to their business models, they can suffer mission drift. Associate Professor Julie Battilana says hybrid organizations can stay on target if they focus on two factors: the employees they hire and the way they socialize those employees. Key concepts include: In order to avoid mission drift, hybrid organizations need to focus on whom they hire and whether their employees are open to socialization. Because early socialization is so important, hybrid firms may be better off hiring new college graduates with no work background rather than a mix of seasoned bankers and social workers. The longer their tenure in a hybrid organization, the more likely top managers may be to hire junior people. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

The 5 Best Examples of Employee Training Courses & Development Programs

LinkedIn’s latest Workplace Report found that people who aren’t learning in your organization will leave. 

So, how can you help employees upskill to be better at their jobs and motivate them to stay in the company? One effective tool available to L&D teams is employee training and development programs.

In this article, we’ll define employee training and development and its importance, showcase five concrete examples of training programs (with high-profile case studies), and provide four tips to help you get your development programs up and running.

First, what is employee training and development?

Make sure you cover all your bases.

By providing your contact info, you agree to receive communications from 360Learning. You can  opt-out  at any time. For details, refer to our  Privacy Policy .

What is employee training and development? 

Employee training and development is the process of designing, creating, and delivering courses for employee learning.

For example, L&D teams use training and development programs to onboard new hires, match mentors with mentees to boost professional development, or close an organization’s skills gaps through upskilling or reskilling initiatives. 

By providing thorough and customized training and development programs, you and your team can enhance employees' skills so they excel in their roles, increase their job satisfaction, and clarify their career development.

Next, let’s look at how training and development programs contribute to your company's business goals. 

The importance of employee training courses

The benefits of employee training programs range from those that impact employees to those that affect an organization’s bottom line.

Employee training programs are essential for organizations seeking an upskilled and knowledgeable workforce. L&D teams can leverage training and development to empower employees to gain the skills they need to succeed in their company and industry.

Without precisely planned training programs, companies can’t expect to make an impact on employee retention. Well-designed development programs make it easy to showcase that your organization cares about employees’ professional growth. If they see the company as one that supports their career development, they will be more likely to stay. 

In fact, according to our survey of over 1,000 American employees, self-directed learning and career development training were seen as the most appealing options for people looking to reskill:

Streamlined and robust training programs will also increase employee performance, improve job satisfaction, and boost employee engagement. 

Next, let’s look at the five best examples of employee training and development programs.

5 best examples of employee training & development programs (with case studies)

From onboarding to leadership development, many employee training management can be tweaked to fit your organization’s bespoke needs. 

Today, we’ll look at five examples of employee training and development programs, each with a quick case study for some real-world inspiration.

1. Onboarding

Onboarding or new hire training helps new employees understand their roles and responsibilities and how they fit within the organization.

L&D leverages employee onboarding training programs to introduce new hires to the organization. The learning process will include standardized milestones that help new employees understand and learn about the company, co-workers, and their new role. 

Case study: Onboarding at Aircall

Aircall is the cloud-based call center and phone system of choice for modern businesses. 

With 650 employees, the company is growing fast. To meet the pace of their growth, the L&D team restructured their onboarding program to make it scalable, interactive, and collaborative.

Leveraging 360Learning , the team at Aircall increased the efficiency of their onboarding training programs by empowering subject-matter experts to work with the L&D team to create business-specific onboarding courses .

By boosting knowledge sharing across the organization, the L&D team has scaled their onboarding and broader employee training with impactful, demonstrable results ranging from onboarding 40 new hires with only one full-time employee to impacting professional development with high numbers of employees contributing to course creation. 

2. Technical upskilling 

Upskilling is training that gives employees new skills and competencies to help them do their jobs better.

Skill development is a crucial area of learning and development. By designing and deploying upskilling employee training programs, L&D teams can increase employee productivity, streamline succession planning, and increase employee retention.

Technical training focuses on teaching employees the specific skills they need, including operating machinery and using company software. By increasing employee competencies, technical upskilling can ensure that they are performing at a high level in their current roles and that they will prepared for future positions.

Case study: Upskilling at Amazon

Amazon’s $1.2 billion Upskilling 2025 programs focus on supporting employees to learn critical skills for the in-demand, higher-paying technical or non-technical roles.

For example, the Amazon Technical Academy equips non-technical Amazon employees with the necessary skills to pursue successful careers in software engineering. The in-person training courses leverage instructor-led and project-based training sessions with a significant focus on applying the skills in the real world.

Amazon also included a new skill development program, AWS Training and Certification, which helps employees of all roles and backgrounds to work in the AWS cloud. The learning program includes instructor-led training, gamification, and exam certification. 

3. Professional development

Encouraging your employees to participate in professional development training can be an incredible way to help them upskill and boost their career development.

Professional development training programs utilize various learning approaches, such as mentoring, self-paced eLearning, and online webinars, to enable employees to achieve their career goals and increase job satisfaction.

Successful L&D teams will also leverage professional development plans alongside career development training programs to help support employee retention, boost upskilling, and help meet the organization’s business goals.

Case study: Professional development at Netflix

The streaming giant Netflix runs the 12-week Pathways Bootcamp , a part-time training program that equips employees with the necessary development skills. 

After completion, employees gain access to post-course training materials and online tutorials to help them face common programming challenges the streaming industry faces. Employees can also engage in mentoring opportunities with Netflix professionals to help with their career development. 

To enhance company culture, the Pathways Bootcamp development program focuses on learners from historically underrepresented communities. The New Grad Program also helps new hires build community and networks through training programs on Netflix culture, including professional development. 

4.  Mentoring

Mentoring is a type of training that promotes human connections and involves transferring knowledge, skills, and experience from one person to another. 

As a training method, mentoring includes traditional one-on-one or reverse mentoring, where older, more experienced individuals learn from younger ones. Mentorship programs promote and strengthen a culture of learning and drive diversity initiatives.

Case study: Mentoring at Spotify

Employees at Spotify can use the music streaming platform’s internal talent marketplace, Echo , to build their career portfolios and generate connections across a global workforce. 

One of the ways Echo offers job opportunities is through mentoring, which allows employees anywhere across the globe to connect and learn from a mentor at Spotify. Echo uses artificial intelligence to match mentors and mentees based on skills automatically, and best practices developed by the L&D team guide the relationship. 

5. Leadership development

Leadership training is a type of soft skill training that focuses on interpersonal abilities, emphasizing leadership qualities and skill sets that influence directing others.

Leadership training aims to cultivate skilled leaders capable of positively impacting their teams and contributing to the company's success. Effective leadership development programs will prioritize soft skills such as communication, decision-making, conflict resolution, and delegation.

Case study: Leadership development at Bank of America

At the Bank of America, the leadership investment initiatives offer a range of leadership development training programs.

For example, the Women’s Next Level Leadership Program focuses on helping multicultural women with their career development through assessments, strategies, and tactics offered in an eight-month virtual online learning experience.

Additionally, the New Manager Program empowers new or promoted managers’ upskilling to lead their teams successfully. The training program includes interactive and personalized learning resources to fit each individual employee’s learning style and needs.  

With those inspiring employee training and development examples in mind, let's shift our focus to helping you establish an impactful talent management program.

4 tips for creating a great training course

If you’re going to design and manage training and development programs that impact employee upskilling and meet business goals, we’ve got four tips to get you started. 

First, you’ll need to ensure that your training goals align with your organization’s business goals.

1. Align training goals with business goals

A successful employee training program provides team members with valuable skills to achieve company goals.

You'll need to conduct a training needs analysis to ensure you achieve this alignment between these objectives. As a critical aspect of learning and development decision-making, a training needs analysis will identify the skills your employees need to do their job well. 

For example, suppose your analysis shows that your workforce needs help to meet the demands of the digital and hybrid working environment. In that case, you can design upskilling and reskilling development programs that build on existing skills or train employees in new areas.

2. Choose an employee training method that is right for your needs

Depending on the results of your training needs analysis and identified skills gaps, you may need to implement different training methods in your development programs. 

Here are some different learning preferences and training methods to consider when decking your development plans:

• In-person training : Any form of learning where the employee is present in person, such as instructional seminars or hands-on training. 
• Online employee training : Also called virtual or eLearning, online training takes place on the Internet and can include online courses, mobile learning , and collaborative learning experiences. 
• Blended learning : Combines online training methods with in-person training. 
• Peer training : An active and engaging learning approach that empowers employees to build training courses based on their skill sets.

3. Employee training tools

You will need an employee training tool to help design, curate, manage, and measure your training programs company-wide. 

A learning management system is the go-to solution for creating, distributing, and monitoring your online training courses. However, when it comes to creating impactful employee training programs, we recommend that you invest in an all-in-one solution. 

A modern and competitive learning platform like 360Learning will empower you to automate your L&D busy work with a click, leverage AI to identify and grow the skills you need, and collaborative learning-based academies to drive your upskilling training programs. 

Leveraging a learning platform will help you deliver your training programs quickly, save you time and money in the long run, and generate metrics and reports to prove your impact on business goals.

4. Improve training and development programs and measure ROI

We recommend that you measure the impact of your training programs, collect feedback, and update training materials to ensure they are as effective as possible.

Proving the return on investment (ROI) of your training and development programs is vital in justifying your budget and getting that crucial stakeholder buy-in and support. You can collect metrics such as engagement, program completion, and relevance scores to illustrate how employees consume your training courses. 

We recommend that when you start designing your training programs, you start with the end in mind . Ensure that before you plan your training, you understand the organization’s business goals and your organization’s skills gaps. 

Starting with the end in mind will make proving ROI so much easier. For extra tips on measuring the impact of your training programs, check out our 3 Data-Based Ways To Prove Training ROI (+ Free Training ROI Calculator) .

Collaborative learning empowers training and development

You’re welcome to use these 25 employee training templates and checklists for better training programs and these best practices in training and development to help kick off your training program journey. 

Better yet, a comprehensive learning platform like 360Learning combines collaborative learning Academies, AI-powered L&D, and the features of an LMS and an LXP to help you design, curate, and manage training programs at scale and pace. 

Book your free online demo now to see how we can help you create an outstanding training and development program that will fit in with the five examples above!

Explore similar resources

Our weekly newsletter of the best insights from L&D peer to L&D peer.

More From Forbes

Re-thinking training and development in a post-covid world: a case study.

• Share to Facebook
• Share to Twitter
• Share to Linkedin

(This article was co-authored with  Mohamed Matar , General Manager of  EMIC Training .)

Since well before our current crisis, smart companies have been asking tough questions about traditional approaches to training and developing their people.  The early 21 st  Century fantasy of “all-online digital learning” has largely not played out, especially since some of the most important management competencies are best taught and learned in-person.  “The soft stuff,” it turns out, is actually the  hard  stuff, and managers seeking to develop interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence, and the ability to engage and influence others aren’t going to improve much via an on-line module.

That said, 2020’s entirely unexpected change of course is forcing all of us to rethink how we can develop and train our people and create and strengthen organizational capabilities and culture when we simply cannot get together in person.  Managers must coach more (as they should do anyway), and HR and training departments have to get more creative in their programming.  Simply putting people-development on pause until we “get back to normal” is not an option, because we’re not going “back to normal” anytime soon, if ever.  

While it’s still not clear what “the way we work” will look like in a post-Covid world—the answer to that question will likely take years, not months, to figure out—in talking with our colleagues and clients some good ideas for acting in the present are starting to emerge.  The better organizations are actively wrestling with the questions of how to invest in their people to develop skills (including new skills to lead change and stay resilient through this pandemic), fortify their cultures, and help employees execute and create value for all their stakeholders.

The  National Bank of Bahrain (NBB ), a strategic client of EMIC and a company whose management team I’ve been working with for the last two years, offers an instructive case study. Many thanks to NBB’s leadership for being willing to share some of what they’ve been doing and learning.

Microsoft Update Warning—70% Of All Windows Users Now At Risk

Kamala harris picks tim walz as running mate: here’s what to know about him, ‘don’t be fooled’—coinbase issues serious warning after $800 billion bitcoin and crypto price crash.

In March, realizing the seriousness and likely long-term effects of the Covid crisis, NBB made it a priority to start looking for people development alternatives such as e-learning and virtual training.  This effort was seen as mission-critical for the bank and thus was driven by the executive team working together, not just by the HR function.  The business rationale was clear:  maintain employee engagement; ensure that all workers could continue to build their skills, including new skills to deal with this crisis; and keep up the momentum of company-wide recruiting and succession planning efforts.  

Here are some of the lessons NBB has learned about developing their people during this pandemic:

Be Courageous  

NBB didn’t re-invent the wheel—rather, they mustered the courage to commit to the path they had established and continue to fund it, even though slashing the training budget would have been an easy way to cut costs. What NBB did instead was conduct a thorough training needs analysis, framed by the realities of the crisis.  The needs and wants of team members at every level in the organization led to the creation of a monthly virtual training calendar, with interactive (as much as possible over videoconferencing) programs led by NBB’s own staff as was well as renowned speakers and experts from around the globe. The subject matter for the sessions has ranged from technical finance and banking training to guidance on leading change and how managers can become better coaches—and much of this effort has been realized without significant added cost.  Dana Buheji, Chief Human Resources Officer, notes: “Despite the current situation, our commitment to continue human capital development, mentor the best talent, and groom leaders from within remains a strategic priority. It’s critically important to us to continue to enable and empower our staff to carry on their professional development without disruption.”

Plan, Consult, and Make Decisions in an Inclusive Way

Accountability is one of NBB's values, and one way that value is realized is in the expectation that each employee is accountable for his or her own development.  Managers are taught and incentivized to involve their employees in the design and planning of all important business and change initiatives to foster innovation and commitment and highlight areas for improvement.   If the company and unit’s vision and direction are clear to them, employees can add more value than external consultants, and they will be more likely to get behind even difficult change efforts:  people best support change if they feel it’s being done  with  them and not  to  them. Consulting, collaborating with, and involving team members has been emphasized as especially important during this time when everyone is required to work from home.

Challenge with Support

In Bahrain, the holy month of Ramadan is typically a low season for training and development efforts, and Ramadan’s overlap this year with the Covid-19 pandemic created even more headwind than usual for most companies in the Region.  Counter-intuitively, NBB saw Ramadan and working from home as an  opportunity;  senior management encouraged employees to make Ramadan a month of learning and growth. Every employee was expected to attend a minimum of five (5) training sessions, including online modules and sessions led by internal staff and managers who don’t normally lead classes.  Running almost 800 employees through five programs each was an ambitious goal, but the company stepped up: in June 2020 the total training hours amounted to 18,028—or 163% higher than the same period last year. Employees played their part, including being willing to engage in valuable teaching and learning in off-hours and over weekends.  The benefits have been immediately tangible in terms of morale and performance.

“We Are All in This Together” 

NBB’s culture has always revolved around respect, recognition, and teamwork at all levels.  Thus, the training programs were designed and re-designed to give all employees an equal opportunity for growth and learning—and in many cases including senior executives and front-line managers and employees in the same virtual classrooms.  While the pandemic has created challenges for NBB’s “We are all in this together” mantra by forcing people to work apart, it has also highlighted the robustness and resiliency of the company’s values and commitments.  The bank has doubled down on investing in its capabilities and culture, and the results are already showing in performance and customer satisfaction. NBB believes they will move forward and succeed by working together.  As the old proverb goes, “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.”

The unimaginable challenges of 2020 have made business-as-usual difficult if not impossible in almost every sector.  As is usually the case, the organizations that are creative and tenacious on focusing on what they  can  do, rather than what they can’t do, to maintain momentum, growth, and the engagement of their people and their customers will be the ones who survive and eventually thrive.   Jean-Christophe Durand, CEO of NBB, makes the case clearly and passionately:  “Investing in the personal growth and professional development of our people has always been a strategic priority at NBB. We know that empowering our people to unleash their full potential strengthens our base for internal excellence and external customer service, and our commitment has not flagged in spite of the pandemic.”

What are you and your organization doing to invest in your people right now?  Is it a priority?

• Editorial Standards
• Reprints & Permissions

MBA Knowledge Base

Business • Management • Technology

Home » Management Case Studies » Case Study of IBM: Employee Training through E-Learning

Case Study of IBM: Employee Training through E-Learning

“E-learning is a technology area that often has both first-tier benefits, such as reduced travel costs, and second-tier benefits, such as increased employee performance that directly impacts profitability.” – Rebecca Wettemann, research director for Nucleus Research

In 2002, the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) was ranked fourth by the Training magazine on it’s “The 2002 Training Top 100”. The magazine ranked companies based on their commitment towards workforce development and training imparted to employees even during periods of financial uncertainty.

Since its inception, IBM had been focusing on human resources development : The company concentrated on the education and training of its employees as an integral part of their development. During the mid 1990s, IBM reportedly spent about $1 billion for training its employees. However, in the late 1990s, IBM undertook a cost cutting drive , and started looking for ways to train its employees effectively at lower costs. After considerable research, in 1999, IBM decided to use e-Learning to train its employees. Initially, e-Learning was used to train IBM’s newly recruited managers.

IBM saved millions of dollars by training employees through e-learning. E-Learning also created a better learning environment for the company’s employees, compared to the traditional training methods . The company reportedly saved about $166 million within one year of implementing the e-learning program for training its employees all over the world. The figure rose to $350 million in 2001. During this year, IBM reported a return on investment (ROI)’s of 2284 percent from its Basic Blue e-Learning program. This was mainly due to the significant reduction in the company’s training costs and positive results reaped from e-learning. Andrew Sadler, director of IBM Mindspan Solutions, explained the benefits of e-learning to IBM, “All measures of effectiveness went up. It’s saving money and delivering more effective training,’ while at the same time providing five times more content than before.” By 2002, IBM had emerged as the company with the largest number of employee’s who have enrolled into e-Learning courses.

Though there were varied opinions about the effectiveness of e-Learning as a training tool for employees, IBM saw it as a major business opportunity and started offering e- ­learning products to other organizations as well. Analysts estimated that the market for e-Learning programs would grow from $2.1 billion in 2001 to $33.6 billion in 2005 representing a 100 percent compounded annual growth rate (CAGR).

Background Note

Since the inception of IBM, its top management laid great emphasis on respecting every employee. It felt that every employee’s contribution was important for the organization. Thomas J. Watson Sr. (Watson Sr.), the father of modern IBM had once said, “By the simple belief that if we respected our people and helped them respect themselves, the company would certainly profit.” The HR policies at IBM were employee-friendly. Employees were compensated well – as they were paid above the industry average. in terms of wages. The company followed a ‘no layoffs’ policy. Even during financially troubled periods, employees were relocated from the plants, labs and headquarters, and were retrained for careers in sales, customer engineering, field administration and programming.

To widen their knowledge base and broaden their perspectives, managers were also sent for educational programs to Harvard, the London School of Economics, MIT and Stanford. Those who excelled in these programs were sent to the Advanced Managers School, a program offered in about forty colleges including some in Harvard, Columbia, Virginia, Georgia and Indiana. IBM’s highest-ranking executives were sent to executive seminars, organized at the Brookings Institutions this program typically covered a broad range of subjects including, international and domestic, political and economic affairs. IBM executives were exposed to topical events with a special emphasis on their implications for the company.

In 1997, Louis Gerstner (Gerstner), the then CEO of IBM , conducted a research to identify the unique characteristics of best executives and managers. The research revealed that the ability to train employees was an essential skill, which differentiated best executives and managers. Therefore, Gerstner aimed at improving the managers’ training skills. Gerstner adopted a coaching methodology of Sir John Whitmore, which was taught to the managers through training workshops.

IBM trained about 5000 new managers in a year. There was a five-day training program for all the new managers, where they were familiarized with the basic culture, strategy and management of IBM. However, as the jobs became more complex, the five-day program turned out to be insufficient for the managers to train them effectively. The company felt that the training process had to be continuous and not a one-time event.

Gerstner thus started looking for new ways of training managers. The company specifically wanted its management training initiatives to address the following issues:

• Management of people across geographic borders
• Management of remote and mobile employees
• Digital collaboration issues
• Reductions in management development resources
• Limited management time for training and development
• Management’s low comfort level in accessing and searching online HR resources

Online Training at IBM

In 1999, IBM launched the pilot Basic Blue management training program, which was fully deployed in 2000. Basic Blue was an in-house management training program for new managers. It imparted 75 percent of the training online and the remaining 25 percent through the traditional classroom mode. The e-Learning part included articles, simulations, job aids and short courses.

The founding principle of Basic Blue was that ‘learning is an extended process, not a one-time event.” Basic Blue was based on a ‘4- Tier’ blended learning model’. The first three tiers were delivered online and the fourth tier included one ­-week long traditional classroom training. The program offered basic skills and knowledge to managers so that they can become effective leaders and people-oriented managers.

In the second tier, the managers were provided with simulated situations. Senior managers trained the managers online. The simulations enabled the managers to learn about employee skill-building, compensation and benefits, multicultural issues, work/life balance- issues and business conduct in an interactive manner. Some of the content for [his tier was offered by Harvard Business School and the simulations were created by Cognitive Arts of Chicago. The online Coaching Simulator offered eight scenarios with 5000 scenes of action, decision points and branching results. IBM Management Development’s web site, Going Global offered as many as 300 interactive scenarios on culture clashes.

In the third tier, the members of the group started interacting with each other online. This tier used IBM’s collaboration tools such as chats, and team rooms including IBM e-Learning products like the Team-Room, Customer-Room and Lotus Learning Space. Using these tools, employees could interact online with the instructors as well as with peers in their groups. This tier also used virtual team exercises and included advanced technologies like application sharing, live virtual classrooms and interactive presentation: on the web. In this tier, the members of the group had to solve problems as a team by forming virtual groups, using these products. Hence, this tier focused more on developing the collaborative skills of the learners.

The tremendous success of the Basic Blue initiative encouraged IBM to extend training through e-Learning to its-sales personnel and experienced managers as well. The e-Learning program for the sales personnel was known as ‘Sales Compass,’ and the one for the experienced managers, as ‘Managing@ IBM.’ Prior to the implementation of the Sales Compass e-Learning program, the sales personnel underwent live training at the company’s headquarters and training campuses. They also attended field training program, national sales conferences and other traditional methods of training. However, in most of the cases these methods proved too expensive, ineffective and time-consuming. Apart from this, coordination problems also cropped up, as the sales team was spread across the world. Moreover, in a highly competitive market, IBM could not afford to keep its sales team away from work for weeks together.

Though Sales Compass was originally started in 1997 on a trial basis to help the sales team in selling business intelligence solutions to the retail and manufacturing industries, it-was not implemented on a large scale. But with the success of Basic Blue, Sales Compass was developed further. The content of the new Sales Compass was divided into five categories including Solutions (13 courses), industries (23 courses), personal skills (2 courses), selling skills (11 courses), and tools and job aid (4 aids).

It also enabled the sales people to sell certain IBM products designed for Customer Relationship Management (CRM) , Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) , Business Intelligence (BI) , and so on. Sales Compass also trained the sales personnel on skills like negotiating and selling services. Like the Basic Blue program, Sales Compass also had simulations for selling products to a specific industry like banking, about how to close a deal, and so on. It also allowed its users to ask questions and had links to information on other IBM sites and related websites.

Sales Compass was offered to 20,000 sales representatives, client relationship representatives, territory representatives, sales specialists, and service professionals at IBM. Brenda Toan (Toan), global skills and learning leader for IBM offices across the world, said, “Sales Compass is a just-in-time, just-enough sales support information site. Most of our users are mobile. So they are, most of the times, unable to get into a branch office and obtain information on a specific industry or solution. IBM Sales Compass provides industry-specific knowledge, advice on how to sell specific solutions, and selling tools that support our signature selling methodology, which is convenient for these users.”

By implementing the above programs, IBM was able to reduce its training budget as well as improve employee productivity significantly. In 2000, Basic Blue saved $16 million while Sales Compass saved $21 million. In 2001, IBM saved $200 million and its cost of training per-employee reduced significantly – from $400 to $135. E-learning also resulted in a deeper understanding of the learning content by the managers. It also enabled the managers to complete their classroom training modules in lesser time, as compared to the traditional training methods used earlier. The simulation modules and collaboration techniques created a richer learning environment. The e-learning projects also enabled the company to leverage corporate internal knowledge as most of the content they carried came from the internal content experts.

IBM’s cost savings through E-Learning

IBM continued its efforts to improve the visual information in all its e-Learning programs to make them more effective. The company also encouraged its other employees to attend these e-learning programs. Apart from this, IBM planned to update these programs on a continuous basis, using feedback from its new and experienced managers, its sales force and other employees.

IBM used e-Learning not only to train its employees, but also in other HR activities. In November 2001, IBM employees received the benefits enrollment material online. The employees could learn about the merits of various benefits and the criteria for availing these benefits, such as cost, coverage, customer service or performance ­using an Intranet tool called ‘Path Finder.’ This tool also enabled the employees to know about the various health plans offered by IBM. Besides, Pathfinder took information from the employees and returned a preferred plan with ranks and graphs. This application enabled employees to see and manage their benefits, deductions in their salaries, career changes and more. This obviously, increased employee satisfaction. The company also automated its hiring process. The new tool on the company’s intranet was capable of carrying out most of the employee hiring processes. Initially, IBM used to take ten days to find a temporary engineer or consultant. Now, the company was able to find such an employee in three days.

Related posts:

• Case Study of Dell: Employee Training and Development
• Case Study of Nestle: Training and Development
• Role of Case Studies in Employee Training and Development
• Case Study: Marketing Strategies of IBM
• Case Study: IBM’s Turnaround Under Lou Gerstner
• Case Study: How IBM Championing Social Media Adoption in Business?
• Case Study: Managing Employee Discipline
• Different Employee Training and Development Methods
• Becoming a Successful Learning Organisation: Case Study of Apple
• Principles of Learning in Training

One thought on “ Case Study of IBM: Employee Training through E-Learning ”

Leave a reply cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The Importance of Teacher Training and Development: A Case Study from Uzbekistan

• First Online: 03 February 2023

Cite this chapter

• Elena Volkova 4 &
• Christopher Hill 5  

216 Accesses

The importance of teacher training cannot be stressed enough. The need for ongoing support and development is critical within the framework of higher education, particularly within the context of EMI delivery. In this chapter, we will discuss key examples that universities can use to improve and further develop their current provisions and capabilities. The examples reviewed are global in nature, although presented in the form of a localized case study, and offer an opportunity for knowledge exchange and experiential learning.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Subscribe and save.

• Get 10 units per month
• Download Article/Chapter or eBook
• 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
• Cancel anytime
• Available as PDF
• Read on any device
• Instant download
• Own it forever
• Available as EPUB and PDF
• Compact, lightweight edition
• Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
• Free shipping worldwide - see info
• Durable hardcover edition

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Teacher Education in Pakistan: Structure, Problems, and Opportunities

A Comparative Study of Exemplary Teachers in Mainland China and the United States

Future Development of Teacher Educators in the FE Sector: Challenges and Opportunities

Byun, K., Chu, H., Minjung, K., Park, I., Kim, S., & Jung, J. (2011). English-medium teaching in Korean higher education: Policy debates and reality. Higher Education, 62 , 431–449. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-010-9397-4

Article   Google Scholar  

Chapple, J. (2015). Teaching in in English is not necessarily the teaching of English. International Education Studies, 8 (3), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.5539/ies.v8n3p1

Lee, G. J. (2014). Why students don’t participate in English medium instruction classes in a Korean university: A case study. English Teaching, 69 , 91–117. https://doi.org/10.15858/engtea.69.1.201403.91

Wächter, B., & Maiworm, F. (2014). English-taught programs in European higher education. ACA Papers on International Cooperation in Education .

Google Scholar  

Download references

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Westminster International University in Tashkent (WIUT), Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Elena Volkova

Faculty of Education, British University in Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Christopher Hill

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this chapter

Volkova, E., Hill, C. (2023). The Importance of Teacher Training and Development: A Case Study from Uzbekistan. In: Supporting and Learning from Academics. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-9040-3_9

Download citation

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-9040-3_9

Published : 03 February 2023

Publisher Name : Springer, Singapore

Print ISBN : 978-981-19-9039-7

Online ISBN : 978-981-19-9040-3

eBook Packages : Education Education (R0)

Share this chapter

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Publish with us

Policies and ethics

• Find a journal
• Track your research

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• We're Hiring!
• Help Center

SIEMENS: Training and Development Case Study Solution

Related Papers

Atherosclerosis

mulalo portia

The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual study established on the employee training and development program and its benefits. This paper will inspect the structure and elements of employee training and development program and later the study present what are the positive outcomes for employees and organizations. Organizations find it difficult to stay competitive in recent global economy. Importance of employee development program is growing for the organizations those pursuing to receive an advantage among competitors. Employees are esteemed resource of the organization and success or failure of the organization relay on the performance of employees. Therefore, organizations are financing large amount on employee training and development programs. Furthermore, in training program it is supportive for companies to emphasis on knowledge, expertise and ability of employees. There is substantial discussion among professionals and researchers on the affect that development program has on both employee and organization. The study described here is a vigilant assessment of literature on fundamental of employee development program and its benefits to organizations and employees.

Andrew Wafula

Companies are investing heavily in training programs to ensure competitiveness in their respective markets and also to ensure continuity within their ranks. The purpose of this study was to research on the influence of graduate trainee programs on performance of employees with reference to Nokia Networks Kenya. The areas covered were the recruitment and selection methods, training and development methods and criteria for leadership development with an aim to identify which factors influence the performance of graduate trainees. The target population of the study was the employees of Nokia Networks Kenya who have served either as mentors or coaches to at least one Graduate Trainee of the Siemens, Nokia Siemens Networks or Nokia Networks Kenya graduate trainee programs since January 2007, as well as all employees of Nokia Networks who are currently or have been members of Graduate Trainee Programs since January 2007. This resulted in a sampling frame of 68 employees, as obtained from the HR records of Nokia Networks. From this a sample size of 61 was obtained by using a sample size calculator. Questionnaires were used to be able to come up with data on which to examine the influence of the Graduate Trainee Programs on performance. The study aimed to answer the questions as to what influence the methods used to recruit, select, train and develop graduate trainees have an influence in the employees future performance in the organization. Data collected has been analysed both manually and by use of electronic methods using a data preparation grid. Descriptive analysis was used in analysing the collected data. The study recommends that Coaches and Mentors of Trainee programs should be trained on their role before being appointed. Also, trainee programs should focus on equipping the trainees with practical skills that can be used in their day to day work rather than just imparting theoretical knowledge. Finally, the study recommends that when selecting participants for trainee programs, some key characteristics to be considered are Initiative, Drive and Self-Motivation amongst the applicants.

Loading Preview

Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.

RELATED TOPICS

•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024

Academic Resources

The ITS PCB Program works with academia to attract, equip, and prepare the ITS workforce of tomorrow. To help students, faculty, and career guidance professionals better connect with careers in ITS, the ITS PCB Program offers resources for the following topics.

Click an icon to access the resources for that topic.

ITS Academic Workshops

The ITS PCB group hosts workshops with faculty from universities, community colleges, and technical institutions, as well as public, private, and professional organization representatives. The purpose of these workshops is to identify strategies for incorporating ITS education into school curricula and to gather vital feedback for the ITS JPO to develop new tools to advance ITS learning.

Select a workshop below to view and download slide presentations.

• ITS Community College Virtual Workshop Series (June 30 - August 12, 2020)
• Combined University and Community College ITS Workshop (March 27-28, 2019)
• ITS University Workshop #5 (November 8-9, 2017)
• ITS Community College Workshop #1 (September 20-21, 2017)
• ITS University Workshop #4 (September 22-23, 2016)

ITS Student Competitions

ITS PCB Program and the National Operations Center of Excellence (NOCoE) developed a student competition, the Transportation Technology Tournament (TTT) to assist ITS students in working directly with public agencies to solve real-world transportation problems utilizing ITS and TSMO solutions. The competition allows student teams to leverage their experience, education, and ITS PCB materials to develop a solution or suite of solutions to directly address the transportation problem.

A detailed description of the TTT, its deadlines, and a list of the student teams participating is available at https://transportationops.org/transportation-technology-tournament .

ITS Academic Case Studies (for Higher Education)

The ITS PCB Program offers higher education instructors learning resources for the classroom. Academic ITS Case Studies are scenario-based learning tools that can be used to expose students to real-world decisions that come with planning, deploying, and operating ITS technologies.

ITS Case Studies are organized by instructor files (PowerPoints and PDFs of Word documents) and student files. Both sets of files include a study guide, a presentation on the technology, the actual case study, and the case study debrief.

• Instructors must register to gain access to the instructor files
• Student files are available for anyone to view

ITS Lesson Plans for Middle School and High School

Free ITS Lessons plans  are available for Middle School and High Schools. These lesson plans target Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) programs—robotics, coding, math, electronics, and communication systems. The lessons combine activities in these areas to demonstrate Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), Connected Vehicles (CV), and Automated Vehicles (AV).

Ten lesson plans are available—one level for middle school students and another for high school students—that cover the following topics:

• Module 1: Crash Prevention
• Module 2: Connected Vehicles
• Module 3: School Zone Safety Audit
• Module 4: Traffic Signal Design
• Module 5: Sustainable and Intelligent Transportation
• Module 6: Congestion Pricing
• Module 7: Road Trip Board Game
• Module 8: RADAR and LIDAR Systems in Intelligent Transportation Systems
• Module 9: Dynamic Message Signs
• Module 10: Intelligent Transportation Systems- Smart Work Zones

View the Lesson Plans

Talking Technology and Transportation in Education (T3e) Webinars

The T3e webinars focus on academic research and provide universities and institutions an opportunity to showcase specific initiatives and study areas. This unique webinar series provides professors and students an opportunity to share research findings, students to hone their presentation skills, and industry practitioners and policy-makers to learn about academic findings.

T3e webinars are based on University-led research. This material is not necessarily based upon work supported by the USDOT. Any opinions, findings and conclusions, or recommendations expressed in these publications are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the USDOT. USDOT does not endorse products or manufacturers.

Stay Connected

For inquiries regarding the ITS PCB Program, please contact the USDOT Point of Contact below. J.D. Schneeberger Program Manager, Knowledge and Technology Transfer [email protected]

U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) | 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE | Washington, DC 20590 | 800.853.1351 U.S. DOT | USA.gov | Privacy Policy | FOIA | Budget and Performance | No Fear Act Cummings Act Notices | Ethics | Web Policies & Notices | Vulnerability Disclosure Policy | Accessibility

A Study on Return on Investment of Training Programme in a Government Enterprise in India

• Vikalpa The Journal for Decision Makers Volume 37(No.01):31-48
• Volume 37(No.01):31-48

• Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development

• This person is not on ResearchGate, or hasn't claimed this research yet.

Abstract and Figures

Discover the world's research

• 25+ million members
• 160+ million publication pages
• 2.3+ billion citations

• Hong Thi Thuy Nguyen

• Xiaoling Wang
• Rosa Elizabeth Galleguillos Pozo
• Pablo Rial González

• M.Srinivasa Narayana M.Srinivasa Narayana
• K.Srinivas K.Srinivas
• K.V.B.Ganesh K.V.B.Ganesh

• Muhammad Alsharedah
• Jack J. Phillips

• Health Care Manag

• Steven C. Jensen
• D.L. Kirkpatrick
• D. K. Kirkpatrick
• James Hassett
• J.J. Phillips
• Recruit researchers
• Join for free
• Login Email Tip: Most researchers use their institutional email address as their ResearchGate login Password Forgot password? Keep me logged in Log in or Continue with Google Welcome back! Please log in. Email · Hint Tip: Most researchers use their institutional email address as their ResearchGate login Password Forgot password? Keep me logged in Log in or Continue with Google No account? Sign up

• Shopping Cart

Development for Deans and Academic Leaders: Fall Session 2024

Learning objectives.

• Develop practical information for use in fulfilling your fundraising role as an academic leader.
• Recognize how active listening and strategic thinking can positively impact fundraising initiatives.
• Highlight successful collaboration strategies with colleagues and faculty to implement at your institution.
• Strategize creative and dynamic methods for effective development initiatives.
• Discuss best practices on how to build a successful donor pipeline.
• Enhance your interpersonal skills to build strong professional relationships.  

Who Should Attend

• Academic deans
• Development officers 
• Central development officers 
• Administrators who work with academic deans
• Department heads
• Institute directors
• Provosts and presidents

Meet Your Chairs

Shaun B. Keister

Shaun B. Keister, a veteran fundraiser with experience in higher education, arts, and conservation philanthropy, became UC Davis' first vice chancellor for development and alumni relations in 2011.

He functions as the campus's chief fundraising officer and also serves as president of the UC Davis Foundation. He led UC Davis in successfully completing its first comprehensive fundraising campaign, "The Campaign for UC Davis," raising more than $1.1 billion from nearly 110,000 donors. Under his leadership, UC Davis became one of the top two percent of fundraising programs in the United States according to the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).

Keister has served in a series of high-level development posts at Florida State, Iowa State, and Penn State universities. In his previous positions he has played a key role in the launch of three major campaigns.

He is a nationally-renowned fundraising expert having been quoted in local and national media outlets including "CNN Money," The Chronicle of Philanthropy , Currents magazine, The Sacramento Bee, and Fox 40 News. Additionally, he has nearly 20 years as an independent fundraising consultant serving clients including the San Francisco Opera, Steppenwolf Theatre, World Wildlife Fund, and the Nature Conservancy, and more than 60 public and private universities.

Keister has served as a CASE member and volunteer, speaking at more than 20 international conferences. He is the 2005 recipient of the CASE Crystal Apple Award for excellence in teaching.

He has a bachelor's degree in political science from Pennsylvania State University and master's and doctoral degrees in sociology from Iowa State University of Science and Technology.

Dale L. Wright

Dale Wright is the Associate Vice Chancellor for Advancement at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Dale is an advancement executive with 25+ years of extensive experience in higher education and non-profit fundraising with progressive responsibility in constituent engagement and involvement, strategic planning, management, and building and coaching high performing teams. 

Dale has a proven record of success in alumni affairs, program development and execution, securing and stewarding major and principal gifts, as well as multi-year comprehensive capital campaign experience, including three (3) $1B+ campaigns. 

Wright is actively involved with the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), serving on both district and international committees, including the CASE Commission on Philanthropy, as well as a faculty member and speaker at educational programs and conferences. He is a recipient of the prestigious CASE Crystal Apple Award for Teaching Excellence and is a CASE Laureate. Additionally, he is a member of organizations such as the African American Development Officers Network and the Association of Fundraising Professionals, where he also serves as a local chapter board member. 

Outside of his professional endeavors, Wright is committed to community service, serving on the American Legion Boys State of Missouri (Missouri Boys State) Board of Directors. In recognition of his service to Missouri Boys State and the field of education, he received the Mel Carnahan Public Service Award in Education in 2023 from the Carnahan Policy Institute. He holds degrees from the University of Missouri (Mizzou). 

Popular Searches

• News & blogs

Clinical supervision models

6 June 2024

• Twitter logo
• Facebook logo
• LinkedIn logo

Clinical supervision establishes a formal process of support, reflection, learning and development that is of benefit to both newly registered and experienced health professionals by supporting their individual development. 

• This article showcases how different supervision models for registered healthcare professionals can be used to help develop the NHS workforce.   
• In June 2023, the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan highlighted how a continuous approach to the development of staff skills, knowledge and expertise is vital to the provision of high-quality care, maintaining professional registration, and ensuring staff have rewarding careers.  
• The plan emphasises that it is a core responsibility for all employers to ensure staff have access to continuing development, supportive supervision, and protected time for training.   
• To supplement local employer investment for staff continued professional development (CPD), the plan commits to continuing national CPD funding for nurses, midwives and AHPs. The operation of which will be kept under review, to ensure subsequent funding is in line with workforce growth and inflation, well targeted, and achieving the desired outcomes.  
• The plan encourages employers to create an environment where staff are supported in their careers and where there is equality of access to learning and development opportunities. It highlights how NHS organisations have a role in ensuring available career pathways, frameworks and training opportunities and that there are plans in place to optimise the uptake of apprenticeships.  
• It sets out good practice by stipulating that line managers should hold regular conversations with individuals about learning and development opportunities and career progression.  

Overview 

This article is in line with the aims of NHS England’s Long Term Workforce Plan which highlights how NHS staff need to be supported to meet their full potential. Clinical supervision establishes a formal process of support, reflection, learning and development that is of benefit to both newly registered and experienced health professionals by supporting their individual development.  

There are multiple different clinical supervision models that can be considered which will be suited to different team dynamics and organisations. We aim to outline some of these models, providing a basis for employers to consider the implementation of a clinical supervision model in their own workplace.

A popular framework that is defined by having three separate areas of supervision.  This model is considered the definitive model upon which the below models are based.

• The first area is normative; this focuses on the managerial aspects to learning, which could include core mandatory training and continue professional development.
• The second is formative; this focuses on developing knowledge and skills in professional development and using self-reflection as a tool to further develop self-awareness. This aims to increase the practitioner’s reflection of their own practice.
• The third is restorative; personal development focusing on support, preventing burnout, and learning to better manage stress. This supervision can take place as one-to-one supervision, peer group supervision or a combination of both types.

it is considered to have clearly outlined the different elements that comprise a substantial programme of clinical supervision, as well give them equal weighting to ensure that practitioners consider their own wellbeing as well as personal and professional development. It is also heralded as providing individuals within another avenue for feedback that is beyond the normal managerial feedback process, offering the opportunity for individuals to identify skills to develop or focus on. Whilst offering a solid base to develop clinical supervision models, it does not consider it important to understand why we have an emotional response to a situation, nor identifies service improvement as crucial.

Chapter 3 of Training for the supervision alliance by Brigid Proctor is a crucial text for understanding Proctor’s three-function model.

RBCS is a framework of clinical supervision, developed by the University of Nottingham, that focuses on understanding the emotional systems that prompt a certain response to a situation. It teaches participants how to alleviate this emotional response through understanding and reflecting on why they have responded in a certain way, and in due course to be able regulate this response whilst paying attention to their own wellbeing.

• This framework is useful to the practitioner in a great variety of different situations as it focuses on the root emotional response.
• Creates a safe space for healthcare workers to discuss and explore their feelings, engaging with others but also practicing self-reflection.
• The mindfulness techniques suggested as part of this framework can be used during the working day to refocus and respond positively to difficult situations.
• Recognise situations beyond our control and mitigate the critical self-response.

The Foundation of Nursing Studies offers RBCS resources and course companion guide available for download which provides a good introduction to implementing RBCS in the workplace. For a more in-depth analysis of the benefits of implementing this form of supervision, please refer to this study conducted by the University of Nottingham across six NHS trusts in the East Midlands.

The University of Nottingham has done a helpful animation that outlines the basics of RBCS, as well as sharing feedback on a Masterclass that was offered at the University.   

The A-EQUIP Model takes elements of Proctor’s three-function model and develops these further, moving beyond the idea of three functions of supervision by including a further which focuses on personal action and quality improvement. It keeps the restorative elements of Proctor’s model but introduces the concept of using supervision to develop skills to advocate for others, whether this be patients, nurses, or other healthcare staff. By using clinical supervision to teach staff how best to champion the patient view personal care and service delivery are positively affected. This model:

• integrates the patient view as a central part of clinical supervision, positively shaping service delivery and providing the organisation with ongoing feedback on service improvement.
• continues to incorporate the other three elements of Proctor’s model keeping continued professional development, self-reflection, and stress management central to effective supervision.
• encourages innovation, which in turn leads to higher job satisfaction.
• is implemented at the heart of the organisation, through expressly training professional nurse advocates to champion and guide others through the A-EQUIP model.

Introducing A-EQUIP and highlights from a number of A-EQUIP pilot sites is a video providing a good general overview of the model. For those who wish to explore the A-Equip model further, NHS England has a more in-depth document that provides further information.

Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust implemented drop-in restorative clinical supervision sessions to support staff morale and provide a safe space for staff to communicate. NHS England and NHS Improvement has provided further case studies on the advantages of having a Professional Nurse Advocate within the workplace. We would also recommend reading this overview of the PNA role by The Queen’s Nursing Institute

A tool for structured reflection, Johns (1993) suggests, that when you reflect, you need to make sure that you 'look inwards' (consider your own thoughts and feelings), and 'look outwards' (consider the actual incident or situation, including things like your actions in the situation and whether they were ethical, and the external factors that influenced you). 

Nicklin's practice-centred model (1997) of clinical supervision, focuses on the roles and functions of the organisation (managerial, education and support) working together, where a change in one will impact on the others. The model presents supervision as a cyclical process of analysis, problem identification, objective-setting, planning, action and evaluation

Rogers & Topping-Morris problem-focused model (1997) of supervision, was developed in a forensic science unit, wherein supervisor and supervisee identify the clinical problem and use problem-solving strategies to provide a solution that is structured and measurable.

Action learning sets are not intended to be used a supervision model in themselves, but instead to complement and develop clinical supervision by offering the opportunity for individuals to work together to resolve issues that they have identified in the workplace. They provide participants with a forum in which to reflect on their own development, discuss clinical issues, dynamics of the team and support those who are feeling inexperienced or unsupported.

Benefits 

Some of the key benefits of clinical supervision include:

• improved patient care through increased knowledge and skills
• reduction in stress levels and complaints, and an increase in staff morale
• increased confidence and a reduction in burnout and emotional strain
• increased knowledge and awareness of potential solutions to clinical problems
• creation of new nursing roles, such as professional nurse advocates (PNAs) and legacy nurses.

Implementation

There are some practicalities to consider when implementing clinical supervision, and it is important that the supervisor and supervisee agree:

• the aim of clinical supervision and the process used
• the expectations from the supervisor and supervisee roles.

You will also need to consider how clinical supervision is implemented and delivered:

• face to face/virtual learning
• one to one/group, interprofessional model of learning
• structured framework and documentation
• responsibility of organising meetings  (voluntary/optional versus pre-booked/mandatory)
• pre-meeting planning, such as supervisee reflection
• content of supervision, what is appropriate/not appropriate to discuss
• recording the supervision, and responsibility of documentation
• confidentiality, which needs to maintained at all times.

Case studies

Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust find action learning sets to be a great complement to their preceptorship programmes, using them at the beginning of every taught session for newly qualified nurses and nursing associates. This takes the form of protected time where those attending are offered the time and space to share issues they might be having with a small group of peers. This time is valuable for seeking reassurance, feedback, and a plan on how to resolve issues moving forward. By placing these sessions at the start of the day attendees can approach the rest of the day with a clean slate, having shared any concerns they are having with the rest of the group.

For the first few sessions the action learning sets are facilitated by coaches from within the organisation, with the intention that beyond the first sessions a coordinator from within the group is chosen for subsequent sessions. The facilitators are, in the majority, trained professionals holding a Level 3 or Level 5 leadership and management qualification or an education qualification (PGCE or equivalent). However, qualifications are not necessary to facilitate the sessions with good interpersonal skills and an ability to encourage participation from a wide range of individuals of equal importance.

The format of the session is conversational and free flowing, issues can be raised by whichever individual would like to begin and develop naturally. Generally, it is found that multiple individuals have similar issues which arises during the conversation, therefore part of the conversation should be how the issues raised resonates with other members of the group. Sometimes issues can be resolved by conversation, and sometimes the group will support in developing an action plan. The group are encouraged to sit in a circle to create equality within the space and everybody is expected to input into the conversation.

The success of these action learning sets has led Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust to expand their use; they have now been implemented in the induction package for new healthcare support workers six weeks after joining the organisation. It has also been seen as complementary to the CLiP coaching model , allowing mentors and mentees of all different levels to come together to address non-critical issues as a group. Whilst the action learning set style is not suitable for every occasion their successful implementation throughout the trust has served as a great model for the benefits of coaching, and the importance of coaching has been recognised.

To find out more on how Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust uses action learning sets please contact Rebecca McSorely, Practice Educator .

Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust has also implemented a six-month action learning programme since 2018 to support the preceptorship of newly-qualified nurses. This decision was taken based on feedback that a dedicated time to share issues with peers was highly valuable. These three-hour long action learning meetings offer groups of five to eight participants the opportunity to ask questions, empower themselves through identifying solutions and support their resilience through sharing coping mechanisms. From 2020, the trust took these meetings were moved to the virtual space based on further feedback received and the trust found that there was no change to the quality of the dialogue, or the benefits gained from action learning sets.

Related contents

Using apprenticeships to build digital and analytical skills

How Leeds Health and Care Academy has worked with health and social care organisations across Leeds to build digital and analytical skills.

1 December 2020

Virtual learning for students

Read how Devon Partnership piloted remote virtual learning for mental health and occupational health students to enhance placement experience.

13 January 2022

Get your board onboard with health and wellbeing priorities

Download our digital resources which share how to effectively gain buy-in from senior leaders to support your health and wellbeing agenda.

5 March 2020

Guardians of safe working hours conference 2024

Book you place at our annual national guardians of safe working hours virtual conference.

8 October 2024 10:00 - 16:00 GMT