TrainingPros, in collaboration with a renowned beauty and fitness company, has been awarded the 2023 Brandon Hall Group Gold Award for Best Advance in Creating Custom Content. This prestigious recognition highlights the exceptional partnership in designing an innovative Manager Training Program that empowered center managers to excel in leadership roles, supporting the company’s rapid growth and expansion across its nationwide locations.

Executive Summary

The Beauty Company and TrainingPros have been recognized with a Gold Brandon Hall Group Award for Excellence in Learning and Development in the category of Best Advance in Creating Custom Content. This award highlights the Manager Training Program, a custom learning initiative designed to upskill managers across over 850 locations nationwide. TrainingPros provided the instructional design expertise to ensure the program was not only engaging and practical but also aligned with the company’s rapid growth goals, including the opening of 91 new locations in 2022.

The Challenge

With a growing network of locations, the company faced the challenge of maintaining operational consistency while fostering leadership skills at all levels of management. The key objectives were to upskill new and existing center managers, support their growth into higher roles like District and Regional Managers, and reduce the time required for new managers to reach full proficiency.

The company needed a custom content solution that would engage a diverse group of learners, many of whom came from different professional backgrounds, and ensure the content was accessible and impactful. The program had to be flexible enough to cater to learners with varying levels of prior management experience, while also being practical for on-the-go learning in a high-paced work environment.

The Solution

TrainingPros collaborated with the company to develop an interactive, learner-centric Manager Training Program designed to meet these objectives. The solution incorporated several innovative elements:

• Character Development & Storytelling: The training content featured a set of relatable, diverse characters representing real-world scenarios. Each character had a detailed backstory, including DiSC styles, generation group, gender, and previous experience, helping learners see themselves in the training and making the lessons more engaging. These characters were integral to scenario-based learning, where learners were guided to make decisions in challenging, real-life situations. 
• Humanized Content: To further enhance engagement, the program incorporated interviews with seven real leaders from the company’s network. These brief, 60-second video segments shared leadership tips and best practices, bringing an authentic, human touch to the content.
• Bite-sized Learning: A microlearning approach ensured that the content was accessible, easy to digest, and fun. Learners could consume training in short bursts, which was particularly important given the fast-paced nature of the fitness industry.
• Flexible Learning Pathways: Recognizing that learners came from different backgrounds, the training program allowed them to navigate their own learning journeys. This learner-centric approach meant that participants could focus on the areas they needed most, while still having access to a complete curriculum.
• Comprehensive Workbook: A New Manager Workbook was developed as a one-stop-shop for all training materials. It included roadmaps, lesson indexes, self-assessments, and job aids, ensuring learners could easily reference materials throughout the program.

The Result 

The Manager Training Program achieved outstanding results, fully aligning with the business’s growth strategy and learning objectives. The program’s interactive, relatable, and learner-centric design contributed to several key outcomes:

• Faster Proficiency: New Center Managers were able to reach proficiency faster, reducing the time it took for them to effectively lead their teams and locations.
• Leadership Development: The program successfully upskilled center managers, enabling a smooth transition into District and Regional Manager roles, supporting the company’s long-term leadership pipeline.
• Engagement and Completion: The fun, engaging, and humanized approach to learning led to high completion rates and increased learner engagement.
• Scalability: With over 850 locations and 91 new openings in 2022 alone, the program was able to scale across the company’s entire network, ensuring a consistent approach to leadership training at all levels.

This award-winning program reflects the power of combining innovative instructional design with learner-centered principles to drive measurable business impact. As the Beauty and Fitness Company continues to expand, the Manager Training Program sets a new standard for leadership development and custom content creation. TrainingPros is proud to have played a key role in this success, offering the expertise needed to design and deliver impactful, scalable learning solutions.