Building an LMS for the Future of Work

November 10, 2020 | 1248 Views

Building an LMS for the Future of Work

Sarah Greesonbach

Writer | Wisetail

Click HERE for a PDF of this blog.

Like many frontline customer-focused businesses, Krispy Kreme had to throw out all the rules when it came to COVID-19. Employees were working fewer hours and working less and less onsite—and yet Senior Instructional Designer Tim Gwynn and Training Specialist Toni Lamb still had critical training content to deliver.

Why the rush? Krispy Kreme was on the verge of opening five new store locations in New York City, including its flagship Times Square store that saw enormous amounts of foot traffic each day.

Opening a new store is a cause for excitement and celebration—but it also comes with pressure to train employees on-time, socially distanced, and in compliance with strict rules and regulations specific to New York City.

Drawing on years of instruction experience, the Krispy Kreme learning and development team dove into this challenge, ultimately creating an online learning ecosystem that surpassed their expectations.

Here’s how they worked with Wisetail to embrace change and pivot to digital training:

"Navigating training during the pandemic so positively has opened our team up to online learning. Our staff members are excited to see Krispy Kreme-branded training content, which helps us bring our iconic, legacy brand to life." - TIM GWYNN, SENIOR INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGNER AT KRISPY KREME

Krispy Kreme’s LMS Checklist

DoughPro Portal Homepage

Moving On-Site Staff Online

The first challenge Krispy Kreme’s L&D team tackled was transitioning an entirely onsite training experience into a virtual format with the Wisetail Learning Management System (LMS). The team named their platform “DoughPro”—a nod at the training’s ultimate goal of developing the next generation’s doughnut artists.

Using digital tools to engage and train their staff remotely, the team was able to quickly develop, distribute, and update important training content—a process that was often challenging in a busy retail environment.

DoughPro Organizing by Role

"With DoughPro, we are resetting the old mindsets and perception about online versus in-person learning. Employees can seamlessly fit learning into the  normal day instead of waiting for a convenient time to schedule a dedicated training session." - TONI LAMB, TRAINING SPECIALIST AT KRISPY KREME

Digitizing Bulky Paper Records

In the first iteration of its training, Krispy Kreme implemented training onsite in individual retail stores. This was a paper-heavy process that required managers and trainees to navigate bulky paper records—sometimes getting confused about the content and taking too much time to complete the training.

By moving employee training online, Krispy Kreme was able to digitize its training content into a format that added efficiency, accessibility, and customer safety.

“Our allergen training program was quite costly, and it placed the burden on managers to manually disseminate the information to the rest of the employees,” Toni explains. “By organizing this content by job role on DoughPro, and equipping each retail shop with tablets for employees to use, we’ve been able to make a large volume of paper-based training content easily accessible online."

“Employees are now able to focus on completing the training that is pertinent to their role, and managers can focus on implementation and follow up, rather than the delivery of the content."

DoughPro Working Remotely

Expanding Valuable Reporting and Operations Capabilities

On the hunt for an LMS partner, Krispy Kreme was especially interested in platforms that could easily navigate the complexities and unique training needs of retail and quick-service restaurant companies. Wisetail was the top choice because of the implementation team’s breadth of experience in these industries and the unique tools and features that added valuable reporting and operations capabilities.

“With Wisetail’s robust reporting capabilities, our managers can pull custom reports each day and receive automatic prompts to assign learnings,” says Tim. “We’re seeing people reconnecting with each other, asking questions, and getting inspired about training. This is the type of feedback and data we did not get before DoughPro.”

Building an LMS for the Future of Training, Connection, and Work

As the Krispy Kreme L&D team continues to add more content to the Wisetail platform, its application for future training opportunities continues to expand. From rolling out a new and highly visible kudos recognition program, to expanding the social community by inviting part-time employees to participate online, it’s clear that Krispy Kreme has built an LMS for the future of training, connection, and work—not just COVID-19.

Sarah Greesonbach is a writer for Wisetail. By analyzing and condensing cutting-edge research and data, she helps L&D pros develop their instincts and arrive at actionable insights for employee engagement and training. She loves to consider the possibilities of humanizing, organizing, and minimalizing all things HR.

Want to find out how Wisetail can help you shape your organization’s future? Click here to get in touch or request a demo.

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