Mission-Critical Training Initiative—The Belief Project
U.S. Cellular Corporation is one of the most highly
regarded companies in the communications industry
with six million satisfied customers nationwide. A
company firmly committed to “connecting people,” U.S.
Cellular Corporation radically changed its customer
strategy when it launched The Belief Project.
Flipping traditional cellular contracts, payment plans
and service features on their heads, The Belief Project
is designed to win long-term customer loyalty with
exceptional services including no contract after the
first, phone replacement, point rewards for customer
loyalty and a 5% monthly discount for automatic
paperless billing.
The Training Challenge: Thousands to Train & A Ticking Clock
Introducing services that were new to the company—not
to mention the marketplace—required a massive
companywide training initiative—one that would have to
be designed, developed and delivered with tremendous
discretion, and at breakneck speed.
“It was a new and thrilling challenge for our training
organization,” explained Antonia Fico, Director, Associate
Performance Solutions at U.S. Cellular Corporation. “In
order to deliver effective training that would reach every
single one of our 14,000-plus associates and agents, we
were going to be doing things we had never before
done. And, we had an extremely short window in which
to make it all happen.”
The Solution: A Trusted Team—CARA
U.S. Cellular Corporation’s training organization had
relied on the instructional design and learning experts
at CARA for more than eight years and has had a CARA
consultant on site almost continuously. When The
Belief Project training initiative was given the green
light, U.S. Cellular Corporation immediately reached
out to CARA to ramp up its training resources.
“We go to CARA because of the outstanding quality,
character and demeanor of their consultants. Whenever
we have looked at multiple suppliers, the CARA team
always delivers training experts with the highest
qualifications,” said Fico. “In addition, CARA could
quickly bring us consultants with whom we had worked
with before and could quickly roll onto the project and
immediately start working.”
Another essential factor in selecting the right learning
and development partner was trust. “I had no doubts
about confidentiality when it came to CARA,” said Fico
who recalls being stunned in her early days at U.S.
Cellular Corporation when she discovered several
members of the training organization were not U.S.
Cellular Corporation staff but CARA consultants. “That’s
how CARA works. They become a part of our family.”
An Impressive Workload
U.S. Cellular Corporation brought on 12 highly
experienced CARA consultants to work on The Belief
Project training initiative. Over the four-month period
during which U.S. Cellular Corporation had to design,
build and launch the companywide classroom, Web
and conference call training, CARA’s consulting team
supported the project in five core areas:
- Training Design & Development – CARA’s
instructional design consultants played a central role
in planning, designing and developing both Webbased
and classroom training needed to reach and
resonate with 14,000+ associates and agents.
- Project Management – One of CARA’s senior
instructional design consultants served as Team
Lead for the entire initiative, ensuring teams,
projects and systems worked harmoniously,
diligently and rapidly to meet pressing deadlines.
- Training Coordination – CARA consultants worked
in training coordination, designing rosters and
sessions to ensure the quality and efficiency of the
training.
- Training Delivery – Several CARA consultants led
The Belief Project pilot training classes, and training
support calls, which sometimes included hundreds of
employees and complex schedules and team rosters.
- Reporting & Analysis – CARA consultants helped
U.S. Cellular Corporation create a rigorous four-tier
training evaluation strategy as well as designed tools
to help the organization carefully measure the
reach, penetration, reverberation and effectiveness
of the program.
The Results: Success in Numbers
The training program was a companywide success and
critical factor in the triumphant roll out of The Belief
Project. According to Fico, CARA was essential in helping
the company achieve the following training milestones:
- Over 14,000 associates and agents completed 13
training courses
- Approximately 62,839 Web-based training events
launched
- 9 custom WBT courses developed
- Over 75,000 hours of instruction delivered
- Over 160 training support calls delivered to more
than 5,000 participants
- Over 185 unique training deliverables developed
- Over 35 customized channel-specific learning
activities developed
- Over 26,000 responses submitted to the learning
assessments
Fico also credits CARA’s back office support excellence—
complementing the consulting team’s rich talent on the
front lines—for keeping the training efficiently moving
forward. “The support and responsiveness of the entire
CARA team is something we have come to depend
upon,” explained Fico.
That sentiment is reflected in the ranks of U.S. Cellular
Corporation’s staff. At the end of this expansive training
push, many members of the CARA support team
remained and have transitioned onto new training
projects that U.S. Cellular Corporation will launch later
this year.
Learn More
To learn how CARA can provide immediate support,
expert resources and cost-effective solutions to help you
achieve your custom learning, performance and change
management goals, call us at 866.401.2272 or visit
www.caracorp.com.
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