The case of Vyacheslav Kirin, a graduate of the online transformation course from X5 Retail Group

In early 2020, the creative core of ManGO! Games came together with a group of enthusiastic people with coaching experience. All wanting to master the new profession of digital coaching, they studied the peculiarities of online training and looked for the best ways to make it successful and affordable for companies.

And Vyacheslav Kirin was one of them. Inspired by our graduate's success in applying his knowledge, we are pleased to share his case with you!

Mission. Introduction of an end-to-end online training system based on a unified methodology. Teaching the company's coaching team to convert face-to-face sessions into an online format.

Background.

X5 Retail Group is Russia's third largest retailer by revenue generated, operating the Pyaterochka, Perekrestok, Karusel, and Chizhik grocery chains. The company has long-established corporate training practices mainly provided by in-house coaches. Like many companies, however, in 2020 X5 Group felt an urgent need to translate employee training into an online format.

The idea originated at the Pyaterochka chain that disposes of plenty in-house coaches and topical offline programs on soft and hard skills.

With Pyaterochka stores spread all over Russia and face-to-face activities being cut back or even prohibited during the pandemic, the need to deliver the training programs in an online format was getting stronger.

These factors necessitated the creation of a unified online training ecosystem and methodology to prevent each coach from writing a course solely by virtue of his or her own understanding.

Solution. X5 Group has tasked us with creating a unified methodological field for all participants and building an online training system. After that, we were to digitize some of the existing offline courses and analyze the results and feedback to maximize their effectiveness.

Vyacheslav Kirin was the very person entrusted with laying the foundation stone of the company's online training and presenting the first results. That's how he became a pivotal driver of the online transformation of X5 Group's training system.

A seasoned business coach with almost ten years of corporate training experience, Vyacheslav first encountered the issue of online training at Mango!'s digital coaching course held by our methodologist Oleg Koschinsky.

Very soon, Vyacheslav was ready to put his newly acquired knowledge to practical use. In fact, one of the insights provided by this case is the high relevance of digital coaching skills.

Apart from helping to convert existing courses into an online format, Vyacheslav had to teach others how to do it. The target audience of the initiative included the company's methodologists, training program developers, heads of training departments, along with coaches and instructors to be directly involved in offline programs' customization.

The program creation followed a blended flipped-classroom learning model. The participants prepared for the online classes on their own using self-study materials: written and videotaped lectures. As online sessions were mainly devoted to practical exercises and case studies, between those they did homework, individually or jointly. Later on, they worked in groups of 3-4 people to digitize face-to-face courses. With 9 company courses chosen as pilots, each group received one to present its online version at the end of the program.

The result was beyond the expectations of Vyacheslav and everyone else involved in the project. According to online training statistics, the number of participants in multi-module programs decreases with each new module. This happens for a variety of reasons and is usually accepted as a given.

This case, however, contradicted existing statistics, with the number of participants on the finish line exceeding that on the starting line by 12% (32 people entering the course compared to 36 people who finished it).

As the training went on, the number of participants grew, not to mention the attendance was steadily high throughout the entire course.

All the way through, the program kept the participants highly motivated by practical activity, with getting new skills and tools only encouraging them to want more.

In two months, with a break for the New Year holidays, the participants completed the 9 courses and presented their projects to one another and the program initiator. The final presentation gathered members of all the working groups. Rooting for their own teams, the participants didn't forget to support and cheer each other. All of them found it a unique opportunity to gain invaluable teamwork experience.