Chief Learning Officer - January 2008 - (Page 22)

environment in practice: Sips of Knowledge at E. & J. Gallo Winery Charlie Gillette It was distracting, and I felt that being forced to use it was a waste of my time. Presentation style matters with nontraditional methods of training such as Web-based instruction. Will Rogers once said, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” If learners aren’t engaged by their visit and subsequent experience with the course site, they are unlikely to return. Push learning in this environment would include a dry list of properly written training objectives, each specifically stating how the learner’s behavior is expected to change once the course is completed. With pull learning, content is compelling. Learners feel they are acquiring something useful that’s relevant to the job. This can be accomplished in online learning with the use of a visually compelling image or short animation. When a participant sees it and reacts with a “Wow, that’s cool,” the task at hand has been achieved. Levels of appropriate interactivity should be created by using compelling graphic design throughout the course. Avoid pages of text linked by the “Next” button. Audio, drag-and-drop quizzes, role-play scenarios, pop-ups and other interactive elements serve as a magnet for learners and address the different modes of learning. This certainly does not deny the fact that objectives are critical for guiding the development of the learner in the training environment, but when the content is delivered in a compelling and creative way, the participant’s attention is captivated, thereby helping ensure the information is absorbed. E. & J. Gallo Winery, one of the largest winemaking operations in the world, was faced with the classic sales education problem — ensuring its sales team and distributors were knowledgeable about its products. Gallo needed to provide information about its wines and reinforce a customer perception of Gallo as a supplier of world-class wines, not just the “best priced” wines. The company also saw the need to educate anyone in the industry on wines and wine making. This would help Gallo achieve its goal of becoming a resource for the entire wine community. Previously, Gallo used instructor-led training and came face to face with some classic problems with this approach. These included an inability to train more than a fraction of its audience; an inability to reach all distributors, given their geographic locations; high travel costs for instructors and participants; and reduced sales productivity due to time spent training rather than selling. As Gallo struggled to reach its own people through the classroom, the company also was falling short of its goal to educate the entire wine community. In response to these issues, Pat Dodd, Gallo’s director of marketing, fine wine education and training, created an online sales training site: the Gallo Wine Academy. In April 2002, Gallo launched the first training module, for its Rancho Zabaco Zinfandel. Gallo then compared sales of Rancho Zabaco in regions that received the training against sales in a control region that did not receive training. Gallo was pleased to see there was a significant increase in sales in the regions that received training. A little over five years later, the Gallo Wine Academy has more than 9,000 users (with participation doubling during the past two years) and has courses about multiple Gallo brands and 10 wine-producing regions, as well as courses about wine varieties, wine sales and service, wine growing and wine making. Several factors have contributed to this success, but the most important factor has been the content of the courses, which was immediately beneficial to the distributors, focusing on the knowledge they needed to best represent the Gallo brand in the marketplace. Content is updated frequently, ensuring the Wine Academy remains current, as well as encouraging revisitation to the site. An “Ask an Expert” feature allows students to submit a question to a wine expert. The Wine Academy is designed for busy wine distributors. Because the training is online, it is easily accessible and can be taken as time is available. Online learning is the only way to economically reach so many people. Also, a bookmarking feature allows learners to leave the course and then automatically return to the place they left off — an important feature for a busy distributor. Additionally, Gallo’s partnership with the Society of Wine Educators (SWE) also has driven the success of the program. Students use the Gallo Wine Academy to prepare themselves for the SWE’s Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW) exam. This incentive draws many wine experts to the Wine Academy and lends the Wine Academy credibility in the wine community. Push and pull worked together here. By developing a course that met learning needs by partnering with the Society of Wine Educators, Gallo was able to achieve high levels of participation and equip Gallo distributors with critical knowledge they needed in order to be effective. Learning 2.0 In some of my favorite college classes, I had friends or classmates with whom I could study. In those situations, I tended to get better grades, and the classes were more fun. While a social support group like this is harder to create in a corporate environment, it can prove to be beneficial. Think back on some of your favorite corporate training classes, and you’ll probably find many of them focused on group projects and discussions, rather than entirely lecture-based material. Group projects are a great way to break up the monotony, and they leverage the skills, knowledge and experience of everyone in the class. You don’t just learn what the instructor knows — you have the opportunity to learn what everyone knows. People can share and discuss best practices, tips and war stories. It’s more difficult to reproduce this environment online. Learners are often physically dispersed and (for asynchronous courses) taking the training at different times. But it can happen and is happening. Online training now can incorporate blogs, wikis, discussion boards and other more socially engaging January 2008 I www.clomedia.com I Chief Learning Officer 22 http://www.clomedia.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Chief Learning Officer - January 2008

Chief Learning Officer - January 2008 Editor’s Letter Table of Contents Imperatives Selling up, Selling Down Strategies Take Five Environment Sips of Knowledge at E. & J. Gallo Winery CLO Profile Productivity UST Global: Opening Employees’ Eyes to New Learning Tactics Applying CRM Concepts to E-Learning Human Capital Capital One: Experiences in Innovation Learning Solutions Macy’s: Using Feedback to Develop One Leader at a Time Case Study Business Intelligence Advertisers’ Index Editorial Resources In Conclusion

Chief Learning Officer - January 2008

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