The RedSeed coaching feedback loop is helping us build a learning and coaching culture in-store.

The New Zealand Outdoor and Adventure retail juggernaut, Kathmandu, have 165 stores in New Zealand, Australia and the UK, and a team in North America. That means an employee network spread over 4 continents.

As the Kathmandu business has grown, so too has their focus on Learning & Development to support the growth of their team. 

Former People Manager Kelly Hopkins attributes their success of being named the Best Place to Work by Financial Review to prioritising people investment.

The challenge

Hopkins and the team decided a long time ago that they needed to take a blended learning approach to upskilling their teams. A method that would provide consistent training content across all locations via online video while fostering a culture of ongoing coaching and development. 

“Our vision was to have face-to-face coaching and practical learning, in addition to traditional online learning. Our existing LMS was just not capable of that. And, our Learning and Development team didn’t have the resources to develop this internally.” explains Hopkins.

The solution

There was a lot of competition with numerous LMS providers, but Hopkins says the decision to go with the RedSeed LMS was a no-brainer.

“We really did our due diligence when looking for a new system. There are a lot of LMS on the market, but the other options were far more expensive for a less sophisticated platform. We developed a business case and presented all options. It was a no-brainer.”

“We’ve been blown away by the uptake and the time spent training since the transition to RedSeed. It goes to show how user-friendly the system is. You can sense the excitement among the team.”

The result

Engagement levels have soared, and the business can now track and see a direct correlation between store performance and training engagement, with the most engaged stores out-performing their counterparts. 

“It’s enabled us to be confident in our reporting when we go to stores and follow up on employees who aren’t engaged. We can now get more ownership from the Store Managers as well.”