This morning I had a discussion with a member who had missed our announcement regarding the new 180 Skills online training program. After a brief discussion about it she asked, “how are members using it?” It was such a good question that I thought I would blog about it.

Since the 180 Skills program was launched at the start of January, we have had a strong response from members both big and small. While many of these members signed up and are utilizing the program without much interaction from FPSA staff, one in particular stands out, as they have asked for coordination of the program by FPSA staff, refined it according to the specific needs of each employee, and even surveyed each one to gauge the effectiveness of the program to meet their professional development goals.

This member is a prominent food processor with multiple plants in various states. The head of Organizational Development from this company reached out to me in December, to inquire if a handful of staff in each plant could sample some courses to see if 180 Skills would meet their needs. After a two-week trial period, she conducted a survey to get their feedback.

She shared the results with me, and I have to admit I was impressed by how organized her organization was and how seriously her staff took this test of the platform. Some of the highlights of this survey include:

• 90% of respondents felt the coursework was relevant to their work in manufacturing
• 90% felt that it was a good tool which is easy to use and has a wide variety of subjects
• Many of the respondents from technical job titles enjoyed the soft skills courses as they focus on important skills in dealing with customers and/o co-workers

Soon after, this member reached out to me to inquire about the process of tracking their employees’ progress. That’s easy I told her. She will be set up in the 180 Skills platform as her company’s Team Leader. In this role, she’ll get to track the progress of each employee and issue certificates for each course or Learning Path completed for their files.

That helped her decide to proceed with the program and secure a large number of user licenses for each plant but then came the next issue. How do we organize the courses for each user? That too is easy. FPSA staff is able to customize each user’s 180 Skills portal to highlight individual courses or Learning Paths that the user chooses as per the professional development plans for that employee. With that in mind, this company moved forward and is now in the process of initiating training for many of their employees. In a few months, she expects another round of sign-ups for additional employees.

In short, this is one example of how a member is taking advantage of 180 Skills to mold it to its training and development program. I’d be happy to answer any questions about how the program can work for you. Just let me know.