Your employees keep your business running, which is why it is important to invest in their success – if they’re successful, so are you. One method for increasing the likelihood of success is the development of customized learning paths to provide employees with the training they need to perform their jobs to the best of their ability.
How Do Learning Paths Improve Convenience Store Training?
Custom learning paths help you organize the delivery of your employee training. Goal-oriented learning paths increase operational efficiency, establish training consistency, promote a positive environment, and provide employees with a sense of purpose.
How Do I Build a Custom Learning Path?
Follow the best practices below to build custom learning paths that are tailored to your business.
1. List training topics: Create a complete list of the training topics every employee in your store needs – from compliance training, to sweeping the floors, to fire safety.
2. Next, list your employee positions: Create a list of all the positions employees hold within your store – from the bottom rung of the ladder all the way to the top.
3. Write down any specialty training topics: For each position within your store, think about what training topics are specific to that position. Not every position will have topics specific to it but create lists for those that do.
4. Begin to organize: For each position, put together the list of general training every employee needs along with the job-specific training. Consider each topic and begin to put together a flow.
5. Think about timing: Do all these topics need to be covered during onboarding? Can they be spaced out over the course of several weeks, a month, or even the first year? Begin to plan out a schedule of training for each position.
6. Consider refreshers and recertifications: Is there any training that needs to be done on a recurring basis, such as alcohol or harassment training? Include those in your schedule.
7. Don’t forget on-the-job training: Learning on the job is important, so make sure you don’t get too focused on eLearning modules or classroom training – leave room in your learning path plan for the employees to get actual experience through blended learning.
Once you’ve completed all these steps, you now have a solid outline of learning paths for each position within your store!
Other Custom Learning Paths for Convenience Stores
New Hire Learning Path: Take the general topics that every employee needs to know, such as safety, customer service, and security, and use those to create a learning path specific to new hires that spans the onboarding period for employees at your store.
Compliance Learning Path: This learning path will cover all the compliance regulations that govern your convenience store, such as age-restricted sales, PCI compliance, and GHS labeling. Outline all the training employees will need to start, what they’ll need to retake annually or semi-annually, and build out a learning path for them to follow. If you can, automate assignments or reminders for the training for each employee so certifications don’t expire.
Management Learning Path: Create a management track that promotes career growth in your convenience store by incorporating certain leadership and skills training into an employee’s learning path. This way, when a position opens, you’ll have employees with necessary skills already trained, allowing you to promote from within.
Build Custom Learning Paths in Your LMS
If you’re using a learning management system (LMS) to provide your training, implementing learning paths becomes even easier. An LMS typically includes features that allow you to build out training schedules by job, making it easy to simply assign a job to an employee and then the LMS takes care of the rest. You can also set up automatic schedules for your compliance learning paths so you don’t miss an upcoming recertification requirement.
Gears to Your Career®
Programs like Gears to Your Career, that lay out career paths for your employees, can have a huge impact on retention rates in any industry. Employing custom learning paths and the Gears to Your Career philosophy with the trainingGrid® LMS can prepare employees for promotion and leadership roles, making transitions much easier on both you and your team.
