Internal Training & Onboarding Platform Implementation
Creating an Internal Training Platform to Build Skills, Engagement, and Cultural Alignment
Client Overview
A global organization with a highly skilled workforce with no formal internal training program. Onboarding was inconsistent, role expectations varied widely, and opportunities for continued growth were limited. This led to extended ramp-up times, inconsistent performance, and disengagement among employees eager to advance their skills.
The Challenge
Every time a new team member joined, managers scrambled to find old slides, scattered documents, and outdated training videos. Onboarding was inconsistent, sometimes taking weeks—other times leaving new hires without the context they needed to succeed. Training was mostly done through shadowing without any consistency, often perpetuating poor or unclear standards, setting up individuals and teams for struggle.
This was more than just inefficiency—it was about cultural alignment and mission. Without a clear foundation, talented people started with uncertainty instead of confidence. Stakeholders were protective of their subject matter expertise, hesitant to give up control of “how things were done,” and some stakeholders worried that formal training would “box people in” and stifle creativity.
Leadership worried that defining “how we work” would stifle creativity. I countered: lack of clarity doesn’t create freedom—it burdens people to reinvent the wheel and quietly rewrites the brand and mission with every hire. Clear expectations enable creativity; without a foundation, talent spins.
A typical first week looked like this:
Shadowing between other people’s meetings
Scattered, sometimes outdated docs being re-used
Confusion about what we do vs. what good looks like
More questions than answers
Before this project:
The training platform was non-existent. Subject Matter Experts held knowledge exclusively, which made for challenges in staffing, coverage, and consistency of work being delivered.
No consistent framework for soft skill and hard skill development.
New hires faced slow ramp-up times, often taking months to be fully productive.
There was a pattern of recreating the wheel, wasting resources and time, instead of focused on alignment, brand consistency, and governance. This made for redundant work and wasted resources recreating existing processes.
Ongoing development opportunities were sporadic and dependent on individual initiative rather than being built into the culture.
The Needs Assessment: this organization needed a comprehensive training strategy that:
• Aligned employees to the mission from day one.
• Reduced time to productivity for new hires.
• Encouraged continuous learning across all levels of the organization.
My Role & Approach
I led the design and launch of a complete onboarding and learning ecosystem—from strategy and content creation to LMS implementation—while navigating the cultural challenges of stakeholder buy-in.
To build trust, I:
Involved Subject Matter Experts early, positioning them as knowledge champions rather than gatekeepers.
Balanced leadership’s preference for shadowing with the efficiency of self-paced learning.
Made it clear that clarity and structure enable creativity rather than stifle it.
I led the strategy, build, and launch of a centralized LMS and the end-to-end learning ecosystem around it—balancing structure with creative autonomy.
How I made decisions (the “why” behind the “what”)
Career-pathway mapping: I used empathy to map each role to skills for daily excellence and advancement—inside the company and the industry. This reframed training as an investment in people, not a checklist.
Self-serve first, shadow second: Shadowing remains valuable, but busy teams need scalable, consistent self-learning to handle the basics.
Clarity → Creativity: Standards set the floor, not the ceiling. With foundations in place, teams can “build towers to the moon and stars.”
Actions Taken
1. Defined the Purpose & Structure
Created role-based mission statements to anchor training to organizational goals.
Developed clear soft skill and hard skill tracks to address both interpersonal and technical competencies.
2. Built Comprehensive Learning Resources
Produced process documentation, videos, and quizzes for consistent onboarding and knowledge retention.
Designed interactive activities like scavenger hunts to make systems training memorable.
Curated a library of recommended books, articles, best practices, and additional learning resources.
3. Introduced Growth Opportunities & Career Pathways
Arranged access to industry webinars, workshops, and conferences for professional growth.
Created pathways for employees to build new skills beyond their core role.
4. Integrated Training into the Culture
Positioned training as an ongoing investment, not a one-time onboarding step.
Incorporated team-led sessions to promote knowledge sharing and ownership.
Return to the “LMS-first” (return to the source content, not your downloaded local copies)
Governance & Measurement
Content owners + review cadence; version control and style templates
Dashboards for completion, quiz pass rates, time-to-proficiency
30/60/90-day onboarding path per role
Tip: Training Videos should be bite sized, no more than 3 minutes.
Results
What once took up to three weeks now took three days—without sacrificing quality. Employees began their roles with clarity and confidence.
Ramp time: core onboarding 3 weeks → 7 business days
Retention: team members stayed ~50% longer than org average
Quality: error rates ↓ ~60% on key processes
Manager time: notable reduction in repetitive training; more time for strategy
Trust & usability: employees felt safe returning to always-updated materials; SMEs and managers actively contribute to keep content fresh
Culture of Continuous Development: created a stronger culture of continuous development, with team members proactively seeking new skills.
Process Governance: created process governance and task clarity for ongoing support of managers and employees for role effectiveness.
Continuous development became part of the culture, with team members proactively seeking learning opportunities. Today, the platform is a living resource—constantly updated, adaptable to new roles, and aligned with evolving company initiatives.
Key Takeaway
Training more than just about compliance — it’s about equipping people to thrive. By integrating culture, skills, and growth opportunities into one cohesive platform, organizations can accelerate performance, boost engagement, and strengthen long-term retention.
Overall Impact
40% Cultural & Organizational Transformation
30% Process Optimization
20% Customer Experience (through empowered employees)
10% Digital Transformation
Work with Us
If your organization is spinning its wheels on creating internal, or external, training platforms and need help organizing and establishing your development materials, reach out to Shayna for support.