Vital Learning’s Leadership Courses Ignite SMS Leaders

Growing a Business with the Best Leaders Across the globe millions of people rely on the heavy equipment that SMS Equipment provides and services. Just as its customers rely on their products, SMS Equipment heavily relies on all of its 2,500 employees and it’s success was dependent upon their ability to get managers and future managers the skills required to be better leaders. Moving to a Leadership Development Program The company wanted to continue their growth in the marketplace and they knew that they would need talented leaders to get the job done. That is where Louise Meier, Senior Training and Development Specialist came in. Meier analyzed the challenges and along with Senior Management launched a 2-year Leadership Development Program in 2011 that leveraged the blended format of Vital Learning’s Leadership Courses as its foundation. The program has three primary phases: • Phase 1: The eLearning component of Vital Leadership

courses. SMS Equipment enrolls employees in eight of Vital Leadership – Essential Skills courses. The Vital eLearning courses enable students to access the eLearning course their own branded campus on the Vital Learning – Learning Management System (LMS) as well as allow for administrative tracking and reporting.

• Phase 2: Classroom based facilitated courses expanding on the content from the same eight Vital eLearning courses employees completed. (Classroom facilitation enables employees to review, ask questions about what they learned in the eLearning course and then apply what they learned in skill practice and behavior modeling sessions.)

• Phase 3: Includes a mix of additional facilitated classroom as well as eLearning training in safety, technical support and job specific training.

About SMS Equipment www.smsequip.com Provide 120-400 ton payload truck equipment to mining, forestry and construction industries 2,500 employees

The Challenges

Large skills gap within organization Newly promoted managers and supervisors lacked leadership skills

The Solutions

Developed a two year Leadership Development Program Implemented Vital Learning’s Leadership blended learning courses as a cornerstone of the Program

The Results

Graduated 40 employees in 2013 20% of graduates have been promoted to leadership roles Class of 2015 enrollment increased 150%

CASE STUDY

 

About Vital Learning www.vital-learning.com Denver, CO Vital Learning’s courses teach managers, supervisors and team leaders to motivate and lead their employees with finesse and respect. By improving team leader-team member relations, organizations can improve productivity, enhance employee motivation and retention and develop employee work habits and potential. Vital Learning’s courses are in four different formats: classroom, eLearning, blended learning or mobile learning.

“Vital Learning provides a successful mix with their blended learning approach. The eLearning backed up with the in class sessions are pivotal to our success. The participant workbooks are a great in class tool and as well as an excellent reference point back on the job. Several of our graduates have had advancement success in the organization due to the improvement in their leadership abilities based on what they learned and applied from the Leadership Development Program.” – Louise Meier, Senior Training and Development Specialist A Leadership Development Program With Accolades Since implementing the Leadership Development Program at SMS Equipment 20% of their employees have been promoted to leadership roles after graduating. Forty people graduated from the first Leadership Development Program and the tremendous benefit of completing the program spread throughout the organization. As one employee stated, “I had an opportunity to deal with a real world performance issue. I used the open communication, clear and concise messages, maintain self-esteem, focus on behavior rules and the discussion was a success.” Meier currently has 100 supervisors enrolled in the Leadership Development Program. This program is allowing SMS Equipment to promote technicians to supervisors and managers that are ready to apply the skills that they learned from the Vital Leadership courses.