Learnit

Challenge

2020 marks Learnit’s 25th year working with organizations of all sizes throughout the world to build and implement personalized learning and development programs specifically aligned with their customers’ business goals and outcomes in mind.  

To exceed customers’ expectations in today’s evolving and ever-changing business climate, Learnit must have a growth mindset around product innovation and customer experience, as well as offer continuous personal development opportunities internally to attract and maintain top talent.   

After all, the Learnit product is their people.

To address these challenges head on, Learnit had to look no further than to their inhouse experts to design a 2-day, action-packed company retreat to kick off 2020 to align their top-level goals and how they cascade by department all the way down to individual contributors.

Solution

Learnit CEO Damon Lembi met with key stakeholders on several occasions in the closing months of 2019 to discuss Learnit’s 2020 and 3-5-year business goals. 

Once stakeholders were in agreement on goals and priorities, Damon and Kandis Porter worked hand in hand to design and develop the 2-day retreat to kick off 2020 and set the company’s course for the year ahead.

Centered around the principles of Growth Mindset, Resilience and Teamwork, the retreat was structured to include: 

• Learning sessions - Design Thinking, Diversity & Inclusion, and Growth Mindset
• Team breakouts
• Individual assessments (TKI)  

For the retreat to be a success, the planning team knew they had to deliver on three key executional components: 

• Be as transparent as possible for what Learnit’s vision was for the future and how each team member contributes to the big picture.
• Break down interdepartmental silos by spending time with cross-functional team members.
• Ensure everyone had the opportunity to share their ideas. 

Results

The retreat was an amazing success!

• Engagement was at an all-time high. The team loved learning more about themselves (TKI) and their counterparts.
• Ideas not only flowed like never before, they were captured with action items and deadlines attached.
• Developed company, department & individual goals for 2020 and roadmap to achieve the goals.
• The Learnit team agreed to hold each other accountable to rid themselves of statements such as "That’s how we’ve always done things" and "Not my responsibility"
• Everyone walked away positive and excited for the new year.

What Learnit team members had to say:

“What an inspirational 2 days! It’s so easy to get stuck in the daily grind and lose sight of the big picture. The Retreat helped showcase and remind me of what an amazing team we have. I’m fired up for 2020!

-Courtney Ritchie, Senior Learning Strategist 

“BEST company event in the 18 years I have been at Learnit!”

-Toby DeChant, IT and Microsoft Certified Instructor

“Flat out Home Run! I loved seeing our team in action. No better way to get buy-in than to practice what we preach.” -Matt Murawski, VP

The work doesn’t stop there. Two months into the new year the different teams at Learnit meet weekly to share their OKRs on an individual and team level. The monthly “All Hands” has definitely improved as well because everyone is on the same page and looking forward to sharing their progress on the ideas generated from the retreat.  

“I couldn’t have been more proud of the presenters and team members alike. Everyone took the retreat seriously, gave it 100% of their focus for those two days. I walked away extremely happy with the engagement and action items for us to tackle in 2020.”

-Damon Lembi, CEO

It’s safe to say everyone is looking forward to making this an annual occurrence.