BEST PRACTICES
ESL Federal Credit Union: E&I Academy
ESL Federal Credit Union’s E&I Academy aims to cultivate an equitable and inclusive workplace for all. It begins with a one-day instructor-led workshop, in which employees explore unconscious biases through group discussions, videos, and self-reflection exercises.
Next, employees are randomly assigned to cross-functional small groups that meet once a month for six months. In these groups, using tools such as TED talks, videos, and related readings, they explore individual, interpersonal, and organizational frameworks that lead to exclusionary and inclusive practices.
Concurrently, employees are encouraged to participate in ESL’s network of Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) or form a new one. The ERGs plan, organize, and host several events throughout the year, including the Queer Formal, movie nights featuring films that showcase differences, employee participation in civic events such as the Pride Parade, and community outreach activities. Drop-in centers provide spaces for underrepresented employees and allies to engage and collaborate in support of career development. An available DEI app delivers daily micro-lessons on equity and inclusion.
Results: Since launching the E&I Academy, managers report a 60 percent overall decrease in the use of potentially offensive language. In 2024, ESL achieved a 24.3 percent overall workforce diversity demographic compared to the Greater Rochester area and 12 percent diverse employees in manager roles.
Forvis Mazars, LLP: STAR Integration
STAR Integration Training was designed to train team members to effectively use Forvis Mazars LLP’s new platform for time entry, expense management, and billing. The program employed a comprehensive, multi-channel approach to delivery, beginning with a Change Champion Network, which provided informal, on-the-job training and support organization-wide. Firm leaders led recorded live virtual sessions.
The firm used a nano-learning platform (FLIP) for most of the training materials, which included a learning library comprising digital flashcards organized into key content areas and a mobile app for users. The planning team used generative AI tools to aid in the development of training materials, particularly video and audio recordings. Weekly firmwide communications included frequent reminders, updates, and tips and tricks.
To evaluate the effectiveness of the program, Forvis Mazars’ Firm Technology Services team created a separate support ticket category to track STAR-related technology challenges.
Results: As a direct result of the STAR Integration Training, support ticket submissions dropped more than 90 percent in several categories (contacts, billing, reporting, time and expense). And the firm saw a direct impact on billing efficiency: a 6.4 percent increase in average collected rate.
JLL: One Team S.A.F.E.R. Together (OTST)
One Team S.A.F.E.R. Together (OTST) is the core of JLL’s Health, Safety, Security, and Environment (HSSE) program. The OTST program consists of a nine-minute HSSE Global Introduction eLearning course, followed by a two-hour interactive workshop featuring breakout sessions and a game show, Who Wants to be a Million Times Safer? For the game show, participants answer multiple-choice questions related to critical safety topics and have access to lifelines such as “Phone-a-Friend” and “Poll the Audience.”
Role-play also is part of the workshop with participants acting as an incident investigation team to identify root causes in a simulated incident. The OTST workshop concludes with an interactive Safety Wheel activity in which teams match programs, policies, and systems to their corresponding Cardinal Rule. Learning is reinforced by a series of five 15-minute eLearning modules known as “Nudges.”
Results: The training has resulted in a 3 percent increase in completed and closed Corrective Action/Preventative Action (CAPA) tasks from 2023 to 2024 and a 95 percent reduction in incidents resulting in time off work due to injury.
Johns Hopkins Medicine: Patient Access: Practical Application Training
Practical Application Training at Johns Hopkins Medicine: Patient Access is a five-day course that integrates new Patient Access staff members into the call center by giving them the opportunity to learn and apply key concepts of customer service, Epic (electronic medical record), and insurance.
Other healthcare companies typically offer classes on individual job components, which then are pulled together by shadowing coworkers on-the-job. That format can leave learners confused when they try to pull all the individual components or tasks together in a real-world environment. Instead, Johns Hopkins offers a week-long class that ties all tasks together, along with the soft skills needed to offer its patients a world-class patient experience. New hires gain confidence within a “safe haven” where they practice in a simulated environment. After the class, the new hire is paired up with a peer mentor and also assigned a Quality Partner in the Quality Assurance program.
Results: The average quality score in fiscal year 2024 for all departments was 87.05 percent, surpassing the goal, with 17,000-plus calls evaluated (more than 2,400 than the previous year). For fiscal year 2024, calls were answered within 30 seconds nearly 62 percent of the time, up almost 12 percent from fiscal year 2022.
Walden Security: Shield360 Officer Training
With Shield360 Officer Training, Walden Security provides its officers with a complete 360-degree customizable training program that prepares them for every challenge—whether it’s routine patrols, crisis management, or delivering legendary customer service. The program covers mastery of legal compliance, proactive safety and defensive skills, effective communication and customer service, advanced crisis response, bias awareness and cultural competence, and technology and equipment mastery.
Shield360 Officer Training features instructor-led and virtual instructor-led training, hands-on practice and simulations to apply skills in real-world scenarios, videos and eLearning, and physical skills evaluations to ensure competency in critical areas such as use of force and safety protocols. The firm invested in building learning labs equipped with cutting-edge technology, industry-standard security equipment, and realistic setups that replicate real-world environments.
As participants progress into the practical learning stage, their coaches reinforce key concepts covered in previous lessons. The firm measures each officer’s understanding through physical skills evaluations, digital exams, and oral quizzing.
Results: The firm’s c lient satisfaction rate a veraged 92 percent in 2023, and the client retention rate was 96 percent. Employee turnover rates decreased by 7 percent in 2023.
OUTSTANDING TRAINING INITIATIVES
Carilion Clinic: Advance Care Planning
To prepare care teams and community to engage in end-of-life care planning, Carilion Clinic launched an Advanced Care Planning (ACP) curriculum that includes opportunities for clinical staff—broadening the spectrum beyond physicians, who typically initiate such conversations.
The Respecting Choices classroom offering emphasizes meaningful conversations among patients, families, and healthcare providers, promoting shared decision-making that honors patients’ values, goals, and wishes. Next, facilitators can participate in the ACP Lunch and Learn series that promotes multi-disciplinary discussion around topics such as code status, portable medical orders, ACP documentation, and patient capacity.
To support the facilitation of bedside conversations, clinicians can access tip sheets, scripting, and microlearning videos. Annually, learning is reinforced through an online module that covers aspects of palliative care and advance care planning. And the end-of-life care index uses AI to alert clinicians to patients who can most benefit from ACP conversations and directs them to the tools to support those conversations.
Results: In addition to an 18 percent decrease in the number of code status safety events, Carilion Clinic improved its Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAPHS) scores in the Staff Compassion domain by nearly 19 percent for the item “Information provided on advance directives.”
Dexian: Center of Excellence (COE)
Dexian’s Center of Excellence (COE) is a two-day New Product Lines sales workshop covering three product lines: IT Solutions, Talent Development, and International. Prework for each participant includes researching marketing content on the offerings and bringing an account plan for their top accounts. The workshop features a brief overview of each product line, followed by a series of facilitated discussions and role-plays focused on uncovering client product needs and the advanced sales skills needed to have these interactions. On day two, participants break out with the SVP or VP of their division to create a plan for their sales strategy. They also are broken up into three groups to participate in a sales competition.
For their role-plays and presentations, participants are provided access to and required to use a walled-garden AI retrieval augmented generation (RAG) tool that has product line knowledge, proprietary sales strategies, example questions to ask, and responses to overcome objections.
The COE director and individual VPs hold required monthly roundtables to conduct a review of initial account plans and identify areas where learners need further assistance.
Results: More than 50 percent of COE participants identified and met with a prospect, target, or customer and presented one of the three new product lines and made proposals for a solution based on their findings.
Gilbane Building Company: Baseline Operations Training Initiative
Gilbane Building Company’s Baseline Operations Training originated from the organization’s need to standardize processes for employees, clients, and partners. The largest new training initiative (outside of new employee orientation training) undertaken at Gilbane in recent history, this training targeted 15 core aspects of the business that are key to Gilbane being the overall best choice for potential clients, with safety being a top priority.
Gilbane developed a collaborative peer group comprising executive leaders, internal stakeholders, and the Learning and Talent Management team to design and implement a Baseline Operations Playbook and companywide training initiative. It included Baseline Operations and Expectations, a virtual instructor-led course facilitated by the president and CEO and other executives; Regional Baseline Follow-Up Trainings, a series of in-person instructor-led courses tailored to regional project delivery and execution considerations; and Baseline Operations Video Series, a series of 15 videos that summarize key information from each chapter of the playbook.
Regional directors facilitated a series of in-person instructor-led courses roughly every three months after the main course.
Results: In 2023, the company achieved an employee Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR) of 0.10 and a Lost Time Incident Rate (LTIR) of 0.03, surpassing its goals.
Mariner Finance LLC: Virtual New Hire
Virtual New Hire is an accelerated onboarding curriculum that allows participants to complete their training quickly while also having access to the social and coaching components integral to Mariner Finance LLC’s traditional onboarding program, Welcome Aboard.
The program uses the following to streamline the learning process while maintaining the learner’s ability to participate in daily branch operations:
- A virtual sandbox environment
- Field trainer coaching sessions
- Manager check-ins
- Formative and summative assessments
New for Mariner Finance, Virtual New Hire uses a virtual sandbox with live interactive training by certified trainers. This mimics the company’s live system to allow for training, practice, and real-time assessments and eliminates the worry of creating errors in the live system.
Reminders, job aids, and tips are sent to participants at intervals after their session to reinforce, remind, and promote use of the skills learned and channels explored during their session.
Results: The training has helped new hires to be ready to participate in the branch production two months earlier, representing an average 60 percent reduction in time to proficiency. In addition, Virtual New Hire has helped drive down new hire turnover rates to exceptional levels.
Michigan State University Federal Credit Union (MSUFCU): Superior Service Microlearning Series
The Superior Service Microlearning Series (SSMS) is a multi-step eight-month program designed to support Michigan State University Federal Credit Union (MSUFCU) member service initiatives and prevent escalation in member interactions. This was the first time MSUFCU piloted a program with its largest member-facing team of 264 branch employees.
Four major superior service behaviors were identified and broken down into several skills. Learning & Development provided branch management with an activity or discussion prompt to introduce each new behavior to their team. This was followed by an eLearning preassessment to create a baseline measurement for each skill. Gamified challenges, such as Bingo, were used to reinforce each skill over a span of two to six weeks. Employees participated in the game individually or as a team by tracking the use of a skill or set of skills. This was the first time MSUFCU gamified a full experience outside of an eLearning or activity within a course.
Score updates for each game were sent weekly with cumulative results at the end of each game. Along with announcing the winners of each game, a summary of the superior service behavior and skills learned was sent to branch teams.
The program also included microlearnings within the larger scope of MSUFCU’s organizational core value to “provide superior service.”
Results: MSUFCU achieved 98 percent member satisfaction, surpassing its goal.
