Blended and Social Learning ??? Using technology !!!

The sales and management training we have been offering our teams is 95% classroom training. Since most adults only get about 15% of what they learn from structured training and they get 85% of what they learn from informal learning sources we are changing learning at AutoNation.

Our manufacturer partners have used blended learning approaches for years, combining online training, with live events and in-dealership consultations. We have the later two covered very well but haven't used online training to suppliment and compliment our classroom training as effectively as we could/should. That is changing.

We have been using a bit of webex training for Phone, eCommerce and software training. Now we're going expand the blended learning approach to many more areas of our business. Leveraging technology in learning just like we do in every other area of our business.

As we all know, the really good learning comes from our successful peers. Those who do what we do rather than the training "expert." There are many tools out there to facilitate peer-to-peer social learning across entire organizations. Why wait until peers have an opportuntiy to get together face-to-face? Why wait for 20 group meetings to learn things from other dealerships? Can we leverage our considerable talent pool to help each other get better all the time? The answer is yes.

I'd love to hear what other dealerships are doing to use technology to help make their training programs and the learning and development of their teams more efficient and effective. Who is having success using online training for other things besides product knowledge? Who, if anyone, is using technology to facilitate social peer-to-peer learning?

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Sally Whitesell on September 20, 2010 at 6:53pm

Hi Ken, I am not a dealership but a service advisor trainer and fixed ops consultant. I started using web ex training webinars for advisors a few months ago. Although I have found it challenging to get managers to pull advisors off the drive for these live sessions, (30-60 minutes) they are very productive. A lot of individual participation required in each session. They all reap great benefits from listening to each other sell, writing and delivering word tracks and discussing current issues. It is so much more effective than listening to boring recorded sessions. Everyone knows they have to come prepared. No one is allowed to sit by and just watch. While I am not thrilled with the service I receive from WebEx, I think it is a great way to let a professional lead and direct training consistently for a minimal cost.

The next question I would submit is how do we get managers to understand how much this consistent exposure is worth.

Permalink Reply by Kenneth Gregson on September 21, 2010 at 9:36am

Sally, thank for sharing. Fixed Ops is definately an area where Instructor-Led WebEx training could be used. We haven't done as much in online training in Fixed but we are going to do a lot more in 2011. Interesting comment about WebEx service and support. We just signed up with them. We were using GoTo Meeting but our new LMS integrates wih WebEx not GoTo. What kind of service issues have you had?