Canadian HR Reporter

28 www.hrreporter.com needs and we're really just focusing on, especially in the professional development area, on making learning accessible for people… in their space at their own pace… so that people who are experiencing a bit of unease and discomfort and stress aren't feeling overwhelmed by the opportunity to learn but really are able to do it on their own time and at their own pace. And it's adding to their experience, rather than detracting from it." Yamaha pivots to virtual training At Yamaha, the company is focused on supporting its dealer network with training for salespeople, along with employee development programs at the head office. Amidst the pandemic, the company has done training sessions that bring together all the managers to discuss how to manage their teams remotely, says Lyons. "We're keeping those parts moving," she says. "Training can still happen. That's a key message for everyone: You can still look after employee development in this time. You just have to pivot how you're doing it." "It's really about reimagining what work will look like in the future and what's required to set everybody up for success as we're pivoting back into a different place that will have a different mix and different way of working." Gina Jeneroux, chief learning officer at BMO Financial Group There's also been a big focus on social media training. "[It's about] how can they start leveraging — whether it's Google My Business or Facebook or Instagram — to be able to let their customers know 'Hey, we're open for business,'" she says. On the bright side, the company already had e-learning lessons being built for that. "[But] the process can take a little bit longer than meeting the needs, so what we did is we flipped it around and we had the content built and we changed it into 'How can we arm the field team with the information?' so that they could go out with their dealers and hold individual training sessions or support them in building those learnings," says Lyons. "So, we've used that approach of taking the content for the e-learning but coming up with reference guides and something that will be a stop gap until we can have the e-learning built." As for office employees, instead of in-person training, the company pivoted quickly and worked with vendors to convert and leverage their virtual training, says Lyons. "They really found that beneficial and I didn't hear anything about 'Oh, it's too bad it wasn't instructor-led'… It kept the engagement up, they got the information." Normalcy important at Ecobee Ecobee has made a point to offer training both in person and online, so it had an advantage when the pandemic hit, says Farinha. "We were pretty well set up and equipped to do it," she says. "It's also a really good opportunity for the L&D department to tailor some of their skills as well and what they're teaching and how they're teaching it." The company decided to postpone a mentorship program that was set to start in the spring and, instead, it's about "wanting to make sure that the training that we are putting out there for employees is timely and specific," says Farinha, which has meant a big focus around tips on working from home, and mental health and well-being. "A lot of the content has been around how are people feeling and not just in the first few days but feeling now H R L E A D E R S R O U N D T A B L E

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