The owner of Mystery Pix, a performing attraction and event photography company, had been spending a great deal of time and energy developing, facilitating, and implementing interpersonal skills training each year for his company leaders as part of their annual conference. Partnering with MOHR Retail, including leveraging the firm’s Retail Multiunit Leadership (RML) solution and expert retail facilitators, saved time and effort while delivering the desired learning outcomes and tremendous value for participants. Due to the program’s success, other leaders will be attending MOHR Retail’s public workshops, and the company plans to continue partnering with MOHR Retail on leadership development programs going forward. Among the positive results Mystery Pix has documented:

• All participants rated the program “very worthwhile” or “worthwhile” in post-training surveys, with some saying it was the most valuable aspect of the conference 
• Improved efficiency by saving time and effort of developing and facilitating training in-house
• Achieved desired learning outcomes and provided additional value through ongoing reinforcement for continued application on the job

Challenge:

Mystery Pix is a performing attraction and event photography company offering services and merchandise in theme parks, water parks, and other attractions. As part of an annual conference for the company’s leaders, owner Raymond Ray had been delivering interpersonal skills training using materials that he developed and facilitated. While the training was impactful, it was time-consuming to design and implement every year. Ray’s goal was to find a training partner with a proven track record to provide development to meet his leaders’ needs.

Solutions:

Ray had participated in MOHR Retail training earlier in his career when it was the featured seminar at a leadership conference organized by the company he worked for at the time. “That training had a tremendous impact on my career as I moved from an entry level leader into executive leadership,” he says, adding that he believes the interpersonal skills and tools he gained were instrumental in his later success as an owner and operator of his own companies. Based on that experience, he decided to reach out to MOHR Retail to explore whether it could provide a solution for his leadership conference.

After Ray discussed his needs, challenges, and opportunities with CEO Mary Beth Garcia, the MOHR team presented a proposal for a solution that would accommodate his budget and give his leaders the tools they needed in their role. Ray determined that going forward with the investment, including having a MOHR professional facilitator deliver the training, was the best business decision for achieving his objectives.

Prior to the conference, MOHR facilitator Paul Briley met with Ray to discuss details, expectations, and insights about the participants and their roles. They met again in person the day before the training to ensure a seamless experience and that the Mystery Pix team had everything they needed.

“Paul was exceptional,” Ray says. “He was extremely professional, knowledgeable, and had a keen understanding of the material as he himself has been a retail leader. He kept my team actively engaged throughout the training and created an environment of thought-provoking discussion through probing questions and activities.” 

During the breaks and breakout sessions, Briley and Ray debriefed the training’s progress to confirm it was tracking with goals and to make any adjustments. After the program concluded, participants were given access to 90 days of daily microlearning reinforcement questions via a mobile app to ensure the concepts remain fresh and that they are continuing to actively use what they learned back on the job.

Impact:

• All participants rated the program “very worthwhile” or “worthwhile” in post-training survey
• Improved efficiency by saving time and effort of developing and facilitating training in-house
• Achieved desired learning outcomes and provided ongoing sustainment for continued application on the job

Post-training participant survey feedback was extremely positive. In commenting about the most valuable aspect of the program, one participant highlighted:

“How relatable every aspect was to our business, which we usually see as so unique or different from other businesses/models. It can be easy to become disengaged when there is a lack of relevance. Paul did an amazing and patient job of relaying the information clearly.”

Ray was also able to save the time and energy he would have needed to focus on developing and facilitating his own training and instead devote it to leading the business. “It was clear to me that bringing MOHR in to facilitate my training was the best business decision I could make,” he says. 

Due to the initial program’s success, Ray enrolled his Regional Sales Director in MOHR’s Retail Multiunit Leadership (RML) public workshop and plans to continue partnering with the company on leadership development programs going forward.