The challenge

Audi approached us with a complex issue: workers were not excited to come to training and advancement sessions. They wanted to reimagine the workshop portfolio so it would appeal to the workers of the company and allow for better integration into their everyday roles following the session.

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The process

Upon examining the problem, we jointly discovered that the main issue was’t with the training material itself. In fact, despite how engaging and well made the materials were, workers arrived at sessions uninterested and disengaged.

The logical next step was to examine the customer journey and it’s pain points. Where did the process go wrong? Why did workers arrive disengaged and how might we turn them into more engaged and satisfied customers who benefit Audi long term?

The one-week-long sprint began as a strategy session but took a turn when the new direction was discovered. The unexpected finding was that since workers usually got sent to training sessions by their bosses and had no control over the topic of the workshop, they weren’t invested. Despite the frequently updated website, the workshops continued to be selected through very old flyers. Most were not engaging with the website and the people attending felt they had no control. Additionally, some bosses viewed training as an unnecessary burden of losing their employees for a day without any resulting benefits. This notion was perpetuated by the learned information not getting built into the roles of the trainees after the workshops, since their disinterest meant they did not view it as relevant or practical to their jobs.

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After identifying the underlying issue successfully, our consultant encouraged focusing on the issue even though it meant stepping away from the original idea of a strategy formulation session. Equipped with a list of ideas to explore further, one was selected for immediate prototyping while the rest were shelved for the following year. The selected idea turned nto a tangible product: a workshop fair. A prototype was easily organized in the lobby of Audi, where different workshop leaders stood behind tables with trinkets attracting those who passed by. When approached, the leader was able to explain how the particular session would be applicable to the worker and capture their interest successfully.

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The impact

The results were immediately tangible. Workers approached their bosses requesting sessions they were interested in. They felt they had a say in the direction their professional development would take which meant they were invested and excited to go to the training sessions.

The insight here was to invest energy where the pain point truly is. It did not matter how great the training sessions or advertising materials were for them, if they did not reach the target audience and if the target audience arrived already uninterested. By focusing on how to get this information to the people it needed to reach, the company was able to revolutionize their workshop series and make impactful skill advancement opportunities happen.

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