Delaware North Companies Inc (DNC) is a leading global provider of hospitality and food services, with operations in the lodging, sporting, airport, gaming and entertainment industries. Generating over $2 billion in annual revenue, the family-owned company employs over 50,000 people worldwide.
With a highly diverse workforce, DNC needed to deliver cost-effective global learning with greater consistency across the organization. The desired model needed to conform to their regional training approach as they continued to develop aspects of their internal employee development system, called DNC Virtual University. A partner of Element K for several years, the company already used KnowledgeHub, Element K’s learning management system (LMS) to deliver e-Learning. DNC wished to gain economies of scale from the services of their learning provider for their management and leadership curriculum program called The Pinnacle Program. This program would be part of the DNC Virtual University, relying heavily on a mix of instructor-led training (ILT), mentoring, and online materials.
| | “A training organization must be fluid to provide effective learning solutions – a one size fits all approach does not work. Nor does a singular modality.”
- John Kist, Senior Manager of Talent Development at DNC.
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“We wanted to make it easy for organizations to blend both classroom and online modalities. The online component needed to support and reinforce classroom learning, and provide more flexible tools for people who delivered the training,” said John Kist, Senior Manager of Talent Development at DNC.
The Pinnacle Program for management and leadership development ties closely with DNC business strategies, with an aim to recognize, develop and promote talent from within the ranks of the business. Participants in The Pinnacle Program must meet certain criteria, such as a minimum number of years service, job grade, scope of responsibility, behavior traits, and responses to a questionnaire aligned to the objectives of the series. What’s more, there are a limited number of openings each year, and only employees nominated by their manager may apply.
The program has four individual series, with each track catering to the experience of the employee. Series One focuses on Emerging Talent, Series Two on Management Development, Series Three on Leadership Evolvement, and Series Four an Executive Management curriculum – though this last series is still in the pre-launch phase. Each series blends Element K’s online Business Skills curriculum with ILT training sessions.
All ILT components are handled virtually for the first series. However, the Management Development series blends traditional classroom training and targeted e-Learning courses together. The approach provides learners with multiple resources for enlarging their managerial skill set. A major component of Series Two involves the learner tackling an issue currently faced by DNC, with input from trainers and supervisors alike. “We create assignments to reinforce the learning, and intertwine emotional intelligence into each series. A constant question we ask ourselves is ‘how can we educate the workforce on what’s important in the real world?’” notes Kist. The third series again draws on Element K leadership curriculum and traditional classroom exchanges, bridging a person’s success as a manager and a leader. The fourth series will provide an individual training program unique to the executive in order to align curriculum with corporate strategies.
The program utilizes the credential component featured within KnowledgeHub. Whether it’s online course content delivered by Element K, or an assignment or activity required by DNC, all online and ILT training components are reported on and tracked in the LMS.
Now in its second year, The Pinnacle Program is gaining momentum at DNC. Out of the 250 people accepted into the emerging talent series last year, 85% graduated. Series two and three accepted far fewer, typically less than twenty in the course of 18 months, but have seen similar success. Each series runs for an average of six months.
After graduating from Pinnacle, there is an initial supervisor evaluation. Six months later, a learning assessment is conducted, comparing the graduate’s understanding to a similar assessment completed just before they started the program. “We want to see what type of learning has been cemented, what behaviors have changed, and which concepts have been put into practice,” said Kist. Assessment results are presented at the executive level, since the organization is committed to the success of the program, and interested in the areas of greatest and least retention.
Given the amount of interest at upper levels and the growing prestige of The Pinnacle Program, results over the past two years have been promising. Recently a Pinnacle graduate moved from a director level position to Vice President, and numerous employees have made vertical job moves within the organization. In 2006, 52% of DNC’s management workforce was using Element K training. This number has risen to 70% today, with growing numbers of employees enrolling in The Pinnacle Program.
Said Kist, “In and outside of Pinnacle, people are accessing more of the tools. Our employees are not just using self-paced courses, rather they’re setting up virtual classrooms, creating online guides, and collaborating with multiple modalities.” Kist and his team have also worked with Element K to offer services helping trainers better use the learning tools at their disposal. He goes on to say, “Three years ago we offered only e-Learning from Element K, now we feature virtual classrooms, customizable courses, customizable home pages, classroom materials, and credentials. Element K is constantly rolling out new ways to align training with the business.”
DNC recognizes the dramatic change occurring in the training industry, and is always working to improve their training model, providing flexibility with the business as it changes. Kist concludes: “A training organization must be fluid to provide effective learning solutions – a one size fits all approach does not work. Nor does a singular modality. Element K tries to understand our business needs, and anticipate how best to blend resources for the most appropriate solution. We have a true relationship, and the outcome has been a great benefit to learners and the workforce in general.”
