Just Launched: Affinity Express Learning Center

Our CEO, Ken, mentioned in the last post that we consider training a very important factor towards quality improvement. One of our recent initiatives to improve training has been the launch of the Affinity Express Learning Center, a powerful online system that can be accessed by employees anytime, anywhere.  It tracks coursework, tests competencies and ensures consistency across the company. To date, the training team working on this project has passed some significant milestones:

• Established and set up the design of the Affinity Express Learning Center, including a welcome message from CEO Ken Swanson
• Created documentation and the training overview
• Introduced the first graphic design training module to pilot users and solicited feedback
• Incorporated feedback into the system and created a module for the online/interactive group. A team has just completed training on this module
• The next module to be released will be a training program on U.S. orientation and culture, which is critical for all designers in our platforms who create and deliver work for our clients every day.  With new clients in Canada, there are plans to expand the content to cover the whole of North America. Some areas of focus in this module include:  U.S. history, culture (e.g., retail, fashion, health care, arts and crafts, auto, etc.), geography, festivals and holidays, cuisines and landmarks

The Affinity Express Learning Center is a tool that gives us a distinct competitive advantage in the same way as our IDEA order management and Affinity Express Service Bureau systems.  More importantly, it is one that enhances our people.  A company is only as strong as its people and the Learning Center is a way for us to ensure that we are greater than the sum of our individual parts. What kind of training programs do you have at your organization--or at your vendor's? What would you like them do include that they currently don't? Do drop in a comment below to share your thoughts.