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Toyota Adds the "Wow" That Drives Learning Home
When traditional training needs "some zip and some wow" to drive the message home, whom do you call?
That was the situation faced by Toyota University’s Associate Dean Dave Medrano and Business Unit Liaison Manager Vince Harris.
Toyota had provided legal training every two years to associates who represented the company to dealers. The lecture-based training was delivered by a well-respected member of the Toyota legal team. But was the training having the desired effect? Harris created a needs assessment of 10 nationwide field offices to find out. Results showed that associates still had a poor understanding of legal concepts and obligations. "Our legal training had relevance, but it just wasn’t compelling enough to ensure that associates would retain these crucial hard skills," Medrano recalls.
Medrano and Harris turned to Advantage partner Mike Castling for ideas. "Mike really understands how to blend hard skills in the context of soft skill learning," Medrano says. "He helped us close the circle and create a class that was extremely compelling in the way that it delivered practical skillbuilding along with the legal theory."
Training with "Wow" Makes Stunning Debut
That class was Legal Insights, whose innovative flair was delivered by Real Learning Company lead designer, Jim Barger. Medrano says, "Jim is the absolute master of the learning map. He crafts the visual experience, blending the best of learning map methodology with the nitty-gritty of hard skills." A retired member of the Toyota legal staff was tapped to write new case studies and facilitate the program.
Legal Insights would present the same high-quality subject matter, but in a far more memorable manner. "This is an example of taking traditional, nuts and bolts subjects and delivering them via the experiential methodology for which Real Learning is known," says Castling. "That methodology made this a tremendously engaging program." The program includes a mock trial and lots of wrestling with the issues during self-practice. People were blown away by the learning experience. "The pilot was probably one of the best reactions to a new program that I’ve ever seen."
Legal Insights helps associates navigate through every business relationship, learning what they can and cannot say in a positive—and a legal— manner. During the mock trial, teams presenting their case might be asked to recall a verbal statement they made eight years ago, or the context in which they wrote a particular dealer contact report. "The mock trial really captures everybody’s attention," says Medrano. "We get the more seasoned associates up on the witness stand and there’s lots of sparring back and forth. It’s done with a lot of fun in a non-threatening environment, but also has a serious side. People are usually stunned by the potential legal impact of their actions."
By 2004, the entire Toyota field force will have gone through the training. Medrano says, "This new program adds the zip and wow that we needed to drive the learning home. Our people really love it. It’s another example of a partnership that takes the best of Toyota’s operational expertise and blends it with the insight about our organization and the creative learning methodology that only the Advantage-Real Learning team can bring."
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