Kia Belgium

Request

Setup of a training department from scratch, to support the growing dealer network

Period

Starting March 2011 (ongoing)

Departments involved

• Sales
• Product
• After Sales Technical
• After Sales non-Technical

Goal

Starting up a training department from scratch for an OEM is not an easy task to perform and in fact not a daily request. For IAS there where 2 main priorities to successfully manage this important project:

1. The new training department needed a holistic approach in order to be able to cover all future requirements
2. Everything that had to be developed, had to take our future end customer in mind, the trainees

We first started with an observation and questioning round in order to bring together the requirements of the different stakeholders: Kia Europe, Kia Belgium, Dealer Principles & the Trainees.

After this first step a road map was presented to the client to identify and mutually pinpoint the main priorities and define a roll-out plan. Following 4 main pillars were identified:

1. Development of long term training strategies for the different job roles employed by dealerships by designing (personal) development plans
2. Implementation of a Learning Management System in order to reduce administration costs by an improved booking process
3. Implementation of a strong and effective communication structure and tools for a good comprehension and to reduce adoption friction of dealers
4. Design a healthy business plan including all costs and income based on a 50/50 recovery by dealers and OEM, a correct average class occupation % and a competitive daily rate

Outcome

The whole project has been rolled-out in different phases, today the Kia Academy #LovetoLearn represents:

• 5 FTE’s (2 FTE technical trainers, 1 FTE soft-skills trainer, 0.5 FTE non-technical trainer, 1 FTE sales trainer, 0.5 FTE training administrator, 0.5 FTE project manager)
• More than 200 technicians, 100 Service advisors, 100 parts advisors, 60 Warranty advisors going through all different development plans
• More than 2000 training mandays a year
• Delivering training activities on target, on budget, on specifications
• KMOP certified
• Supporting the training coordinators through all kinds of communication channels like phone, e-mail, Facebook, Youtube, etc. helping them with their daily questions about the personal development of their employees
• Training consultants representing Kia Belgium @ the Brussels Motor Show
• Introducing KB staff into the Kia context
• Supporting Kia Belgium technical department with technical issues

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