Establishing a learning culture.
Master Electronics strives toward achieving business goals, while empowering team members’ success via learning and development delivered through Adobe Learning Manager.
Cultivates a learning culture in the workplace
Objectives
Promote a learning culture throughout all levels of employees
Reduce time spent developing attractive and effective learning modules
Include multiple file types in a seamless learning environment
Results
Cultivates a learning culture in the workplace
Incorporates any type of file or content
Motivates through certificates and gamification
Improves management by tracking learners
“Adobe Learning Manager is incredibly intuitive for both learners and administrators. I can deliver learning modules with nearly any type of content in a fraction of the time.”
Thomas Harrell
Talent Development Specialist, Master Electronics
Success in a competitive industry
Competition in the electromechanical parts distribution industry is fierce. Customers are always on the lookout for the lowest prices, and it’s often up to sales representatives to create win-win situations for both customers and the company.
Master Electronics is a Tier 1 authorized electronic components distributor for the industrial, aerospace, semiconductor equipment, transportation, and consumer industries. Master Electronics is franchised for more than 250 suppliers including world-class brands such as Honeywell, ITT Cannon, Panasonic, and TE Connectivity.
“In a highly competitive industry, we believe that one of the keys to our success will be the continued learning and development of our team members,” says Thomas Harrell, Talent Development Specialist at Master Electronics. “Entrepreneurship rests in the DNA of our company. We believe we find success by empowering team members to engage with our customers creatively and intelligently.”
Senior Vice President of Product and Sales Riad Nizam believes in the benefits of a dedicated learning function. He hired Harrell to create the talent development department. Soon thereafter, they both realized they needed to replace the existing learning management system (LMS) as it didn’t have the features needed to support the learning culture they envisioned.
“Our first LMS had two major problems,” says Harrell. “First, the learner’s experience was awkward, which would have discouraged adoption. Second, it took me hours to create and upload simple learning content. We needed a robust and modern LMS to help reach our learning goals and satisfy learners’ and executives’ expectations.”
Harrell vetted more than a dozen LMSs including Moodle, Docebo, Bridge, Litmos, and Cornerstone, before testing Adobe Learning Manager. After a solo and a user-group test, Harrell and his team knew they had found the right fit.
“Adobe Learning Manager is incredibly intuitive for both learners and administrators,” says Harrell. “I can create learning modules and then courses with nearly any type of content in a fraction of the time.”
“One thing that sets Adobe Learning Manager apart from the competition is its flexibility. Everything is displayed through the Fluidic Player, not multiple pop-up windows, which results in a better interaction for learners.”
Thomas Harrell
Talent Development Specialist, Master Electronics
Learner and admin interface made easy
One unique feature of the Master Electronics learning program is that it aims to reach learners horizontally, not vertically. While specialized learning modules are being created for sales and product management teams, a large number of modules focus on soft skills, leadership skills, software application skills, negotiation tactics, and other skills that can benefit anyone in the company, no matter what their position.
“It’s our philosophy that people succeed when they truly understand skills such as how to handle setbacks and get a sales deal back on track, or how to bring a positive mental attitude to each new challenge,” says Harrell. “These are skills that can help develop the career of any team member.”
The Adobe Learning Manager learner dashboard is intuitive. Learners can browse more than 135 learning modules and determine their progress from their dashboard. Some modules stand on their own, others are compiled into courses and often those courses are combined with in-person training for a blended learning experience. Learners reinforce lessons or refresh their memories with modules after an in-person learning and development session, or use modules to gain a solid background before an in-person workshop starts, also known as Flipped Learning. The Fluidic Player further improves the learning experience by displaying almost any type of content through a single, seamless interface.
“One thing that sets Adobe Learning Manager apart from the competition is its flexibility,” says Harrell. “Everything is displayed through the Fluidic Player, not multiple pop-up windows, which results in a better interaction for learners. I can include nearly any type of content in modules, including PDFs, Microsoft Word documents, and Microsoft PowerPoint presentations.”
Adobe Learning Manager is also one of the few LMSs that supports learning content written in both SCORM and AICC standards. This is important for Master Electronics as it uses the “BBB” or “Build, Borrow, Buy” method to support growing needs for learning content. In addition to creating content in-house using Adobe Captivate, Harrell works with the firm Envisionary Development Consulting for learning strategy and talent development consulting, as well as to build original eLearning content. He also curates freely available learning content, and buys professionally developed video-based content from third-party vendor, BizLibrary. Using the BBB method is helping Master Electronics quickly create a varied learning library. Working with Adobe Learning Manager allows Harrell to carefully curate top-quality content without being restricted by file type.
“The beauty of Adobe Learning Manager is that it’s flexible enough to offer various ways of learning. We’re looking forward to how Learning Manager will help us reach all of our team members and create an exciting culture of learning at Master Electronics.”
Thomas Harrell
Talent Development Specialist, Master Electronics
Expanding access to learning
As learning and development expand at Master Electronics, Adobe Learning Manager is helping build a learning culture at the company. Although the learning program is new, Master Electronics has already registered a quarter of its employees as learners, and more than 10% are active participants who regularly consume new learning modules.
“First, we got the sales team in our North American offices set up with the Master Electronics Training Academy (META), hosted on Adobe Learning Manager. Soon other departments requested access and learning tailored for them,” explains Harrell. “Adobe Learning Manager gives me options to expand lessons and reach more people without taking on more staff.”
In addition to offering more online and blended learning, Master Electronics is in the process of defining job roles and developing learning paths to teach employees skills needed for specific roles. Master Electronics is considering certification programs to help encourage employees to continue developing their skills.
Using Adobe Learning Manager, as site admin, Harrell can track the progress of all learners and easily report on it. With the ability to track progress for individual learners, when the company is ready, Harrell can start offering certifications and learning awards that will motivate people to continue learning new skills. Managers can also track the development of their team members to identify outstanding learners or skill gaps where employees need extra coaching.
Master Electronics is also exploring how features such as gamification and mobile accessibility can further motivate learners and keep them informed about changes or updates to learning modules. “Every learner is different, and they are motivated by different things,” says Harrell. “Some people respond to competitive leaderboards, some people want to feel proud about their certifications, and some want to be able to learn anywhere, even on mobile devices. The beauty of Adobe Learning Manager is that it’s flexible enough to offer various ways of learning. We’re looking forward to how Learning Manager will help us reach all of our team members and build an exciting learning culture at Master Electronics.”
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