If there’s one thing the isolation of a global pandemic has highlighted for businesses, it’s the need for maintaining a sense of community and teamwork in an increasingly remote world.

Lumina Foods, the parent of four food service companies, implemented their Learning Management System, named Illuminate, as an efficient one-stop-shop for training modules and team member resources. Brooke Snyderman, Lumina Executive Assistant and manager of LMS programming and content, explained the benefits of the transition to a digital training platform in a recent webinar with us.

Hub of Remote Learning

Brooke didn’t mince words in describing the training experience — “death by PowerPoint” — prior to the implementation of Illuminate.

There were challenges with accuracy of information, consistency across training content and, perhaps the logistical bane of every manager’s existence, scheduling. And while a “Training PowerPoints 2020” folder on your desktop might be a digital step up from a filing cabinet stuffed with paper handouts, there’s still the issue of employee accessibility.

So how does a company with this reach tackle the issue of on-site training across multiple franchises spread throughout the Midwest and southern US? With Illuminate, Lumina is now able to offer a central hub for all employee resources.

The site houses everything from their newly piloted onboarding and hiring program to the most up-to-date guidelines on health and safety information. Team members can refer back to this content at any time via tablet or mobile access.

“They’ve got it right at their fingertips,” Brooke said.  

The pandemic demands efficient communication between management and team members — especially in the food service industry. In addition to a streamlined method for sharing information, companies like Lumina that transition to an LMS reap financial benefits like reduced printing costs at each site, while retaining the ability to push out new policies in a matter of hours.

Community and Communication

In an industry that values interpersonal connection between team members and customers, how does a company maintain the sense of community when our new version of safety is no longer in numbers? With Lumina’s LMS, they’re able to cultivate a sense of online community, especially among new hires.

The LMS has birthday mentions, service milestone recognitions, and brand-specific content bucketed one click off  the Illuminate homepage. An individual user profile features the “Illuminate Lifeline” where first-time users can take a virtual tour, view FAQs, and even reach Brooke directly via an SOS button.

With a range of tools baked into the LMS, Lumina can tailor specific training modules to various learning styles.

“You never know how a learner learns,” Brooke said, as she walked through the specialized features of one brand’s training course on Product Knowledge.

Myriad media are sprinkled throughout,  accentuating essential content while engaging employees. For example, the Account Manager-in-Training (AMIT) program has an itemized agenda with tasks such as hiring paperwork, weekly training courses, and more under the aptly titled “Binder” tab. She also demonstrated how one feature , flashcards, could help people learn of high-volume, repetitive material.

And while no trainees in this course will be caught snoozing, like during a PowerPoint lecture, there are knowledge checks and reporting that allows you to see how far along employees are in their learning journeys. With clearly labeled pages on the digital platform, everything remains just as organized as a real-life binder might be, right down to the color coding. 

Brooke is the sole manager of the LMS development at Lumina Foods, but emphasized the importance of team member feedback. Though a single person’s ability to run  four brands  in one LMS speaks to the efficacy of digital training platforms, the remote accessibility of the program doesn’t make it any less engaging a community.

Some of the latest course development under each Lumina brand is delegated via employee expertise. Brooke partners with advanced team members to build specialized course content into Illuminate modules. Field-based employees are encouraged to reach out at any time with questions or concerns along with scheduled surveys.

Lumina Foods takes creative solutions to their customers, helping them manage costs, build their businesses, and bring them peace of mind. They also use that approach in their LMS, creating avenues for training and dynamic learning.

Check out our webinar with Lumina below, in which we discuss the key benefits of moving to a digital training platform, how to scale your business with an LMS, and an inside look at the Wisetail LMS module authoring tool.