TrainingPros Wins Brandon Hall Group Gold Award for Best Use of a Blended Learning Program in 2026
Quick Answer: TrainingPros won a 2026 Brandon Hall Group Gold Excellence Award® for Best Use of a Blended Learning Program for its work with a national insurance client. The award-winning program combined instructor-led learning, eLearning, interactive activities, and live on-the-job practice to accelerate employee proficiency. The program achieved a 38% faster ramp to business proficiency targets, exceeding its original goal of a 20% improvement.
TrainingPros has earned a Gold Brandon Hall Group Excellence Award® in the Best Use of a Blended Learning Program category for its work with a national insurance client.
The award recognizes a redesigned training program created to prepare customer advocates for a more complex role while improving speed to proficiency, maintaining strong customer experience and quality measures, and providing a scalable training experience for a high-volume contact center.
Connecting Learning More Closely to the Work
The insurance client faced a significant change in how customer advocates were hired and prepared for their roles. Under the previous approach, learners completed their training before transitioning to live customer calls. That transition could be stressful for learners, and performance gaps sometimes became apparent only after substantial time had already been invested in training.
The redesigned program took a different approach: learning and real-world performance were intentionally interwoven throughout the training experience.
The blended learning solution combined virtual instructor-led training, instructor-led training, eLearning, multimedia and interactive activities, and on-the-job learning through live call handling. Rather than completing all training before applying their skills, learners progressed through a series of learning segments. After learning a specific type of customer interaction, they applied that knowledge in a controlled live environment before returning to training to develop the next level of skill.
This progressive approach allowed learners to build both competence and confidence while gradually taking on more complex customer interactions.
TrainingPros’ Role in the Award-Winning Program
TrainingPros provided experienced learning and development consultants who worked alongside the insurance client’s Talent Development team and business stakeholders to redesign and develop the blended learning program.
The team helped transform an existing training approach into a progressive, performance-based learning experience that more closely connected learning with the work employees needed to perform. The redesigned program intentionally sequenced instructor-led learning, eLearning, interactive activities, performance support, and live call practice so learners could build knowledge, apply it on the job, receive feedback, and then progress to increasingly complex skills.
Rather than simply developing new training content, the work focused on aligning the learning experience with the client’s operational goals. The program was designed to accelerate proficiency while maintaining customer satisfaction and quality and helping employees transition more confidently from training to job performance.
That collaboration resulted in a blended learning solution that connected instructional design decisions directly to measurable business performance including a 38% faster ramp to proficiency than the legacy approach.
Exceeding the Business Goal
From the beginning, the program was designed around measurable business outcomes. The primary goal was to improve speed to proficiency by 20% while maintaining or improving quality and customer experience.
The results exceeded that goal.
The pilot cohort achieved a 38% faster ramp to business proficiency targets compared with the legacy training approach. Learners also demonstrated strong call quality and customer satisfaction outcomes, developed call-handling capability earlier in their tenure, and required less post-training coaching from supervisors.
The pilot cohort reached key customer satisfaction, adherence, and phone-quality targets approximately 112 days after hire, compared with about 180 days under the legacy approach.
A Blended Learning Program Built Around Performance
The program demonstrates how blended learning can go beyond combining different learning modalities. By intentionally sequencing learning, practice, feedback, and live application, the solution connected training more directly to the work employees were expected to perform.
The approach also strengthened the connection between learning and operations, enabling employees to contribute to live operations earlier while receiving structured support as their skills developed.
“This award is especially meaningful because the program was designed around a business result, not simply a learning deliverable,” said Lori Fancher, TrainingPros Relationship Manager. “The team created a learning experience that gave employees opportunities to learn, apply, receive feedback, and then build on those skills. Seeing the program exceed its speed-to-proficiency goal while supporting quality and customer experience is exactly the kind of impact we want learning programs to have.”
The Brandon Hall Group Best Use of a Blended Learning Program category recognizes workplace learning programs that use multiple delivery methods and demonstrate a learner-centered integration of digital and instructor-led learning.
For TrainingPros, the Gold award reflects the value of combining strong instructional design with a clear understanding of the business problem the learning program is intended to solve.
About TrainingPros
TrainingPros is a woman-owned Learning and Development consulting and staffing company. Since 1997, TrainingPros has helped Fortune 1000 companies connect with highly skilled consultants in instructional design, eLearning development, facilitation, leadership development, performance consulting, and emerging learning technologies.
By combining industry expertise with a personalized approach, TrainingPros helps organizations find the right L&D consultant to start their projects with confidence.
Why Blended Learning Makes Business Sense
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Ready to Build a Custom Blended Learning Solution?
An effective blended learning program does more than combine different learning modalities. The right blend connects learning to the work employees need to perform, using each modality where it can have the greatest impact.
TrainingPros connects organizations with experienced L&D consultants who can help design and develop custom blended learning solutions, including instructor-led and virtual instructor-led training, eLearning, simulations, performance support, and on-the-job learning experiences. Whether you are redesigning an existing program or building a new learning solution, our consultants can help create an approach that fits your learners, your work environment, and your business goals.
TrainingPros is a learning and development company that connects organizations with experienced instructional designers, contract facilitators, and virtual classroom producers. We’ve been named a Top 20 Staffing Company by Training Industry and a Champion of Learning by the Association for Talent Development (ATD), recognition that reflects our commitment to delivering high-quality, tailored learning solutions.
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