TrainingPros, in collaboration with a renowned beauty company, has been awarded the 2023 Brandon Hall Group Gold Award for Best Learning Program Supporting a Change Transformation Business Strategy. 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

TrainingPros, in collaboration with a leading beauty company, has been awarded the 2023 Brandon Hall Group Gold Award for Best Learning Program Supporting a Change Transformation Business Strategy. This prestigious recognition celebrates the strategic success of the Manager Training Program, designed to support the company’s aggressive expansion goals. The program was instrumental in upskilling leaders at all levels to help the company achieve its vision of increasing locations nationwide by 500%. TrainingPros played a key role in developing this transformative program by providing critical instructional design expertise.

The Challenge

In 2018, the beauty company, with 600 locations across the U.S., was acquired by a private equity firm. As part of the acquisition, new goals were set to drive the company’s expansion, specifically to grow from 600 locations to 3,000 nationwide. This rapid expansion presented a challenge: How could Learning and Development help support the leadership growth needed to manage the fivefold increase in locations?

Franchise owners were enthusiastic about the expansion and quickly moved to purchase additional locations. However, this growth required a redesigned organizational structure, with new leadership roles, such as District and Regional Managers, to manage multiple locations. Upskilling existing Center Managers and equipping them for new responsibilities became essential. 

To meet this challenge, the Learning and Development team, supported by TrainingPros, needed to create a leadership development curriculum that would provide existing managers with career growth opportunities while also preparing new hires to lead in a high-growth environment. The program had to address diverse learning needs, varied experience levels, and changing generational demographics in the workforce.

The Solution 

The Manager Training Program was developed to address these complex needs and align with the company’s change transformation strategy. The solution incorporated several key elements:

• Comprehensive Needs Analysis: The design process began with extensive interviews across the organization, including Franchise Owners, Center Managers, and Business Franchise Consultants. This analysis identified the need for a leadership curriculum that would support franchise growth and address the diverse demographics of the workforce, including Millennials and Gen Z, who make up a growing share of the team.
• Leadership Competency Model: A competency model was developed to provide a roadmap for leadership development. The model was organized into four pillars: Leading Self, Leading Your Team, Leading Operations, and Leading Results. Each competency was further broken down into three levels—foundational, skilled, and advanced—to help guide learners in their self-development journeys.
• Curriculum Design: The program was structured into three key pathways: Center Manager, District Manager, and Regional Manager. Each pathway included a blend of eLearning, scenario-based learning, and real-world practice. The design emphasized microlearning to cater to the fast-paced, digital-native workforce, with a Netflix-style catalog allowing learners to access content on demand.
• Humanized Content and Real-Life Scenarios: The program used relatable, diverse characters to guide learners through real-world scenarios, allowing them to practice decision-making in a safe environment. Additionally, seven “Real Leaders” from the franchise network shared best practices through brief, interview-style videos that were woven into the curriculum to bring authenticity to the learning experience.
• Ongoing Learning and Support: The curriculum wasn’t static. After the initial 90-day training, ongoing learning opportunities were offered through webinars, mentorship, and brag sessions, ensuring that managers continued to build on their skills and adapt to new challenges as the company grew.

The Result 

The Manager Training Program was highly successful in supporting the company’s business transformation. Key outcomes include:

• Leadership Development: The program successfully upskilled Center Managers, enabling them to step into District Manager roles, while District Managers were prepared for regional leadership positions. This helped the company build a strong leadership pipeline capable of managing rapid expansion.
• Improved Business Metrics: Data from the program’s rollout showed measurable improvements across the organization. A survey of 300 locations revealed a 73.13% increase in adjusted sales and a 24.5% improvement in utilization rates. Centers also saw significant gains in ticket counts, rebooking rates, and wax pass sales, all contributing to a stronger bottom line. 
• Widespread Adoption: Thanks to a robust marketing and communication campaign, the program achieved high levels of adoption across franchise locations. Franchise Business Consultants played a key role in promoting the training, and ongoing feedback from learners helped continually refine the content.

The Manager Training Program was a critical component in helping the company navigate its business transformation. By aligning leadership development with business goals, the company was able to maintain its high standards of service and operational efficiency, even as it expanded across the country. TrainingPros is proud to have contributed to the success of this program by providing instructional design expertise that enabled the company to achieve its growth objectives.