Dollar General Trains Employees to Serve Others

Training is a massive undertaking for Dollar General, which has about

143,000 employees and has been opening new stores at a steady clip. The
company’s strategy couples low prices with customer service, so it needs to get
every one aligned with its mission, Serving Others. It also aims to serve its
employees by opening up opportunities for learning and advancement; a recent
evaluation found that more than half of the company’s job openings were filled
by internal candidates, and 12,000 store managers were promoted into those
positions from within. These priorities require training that is widely available.
Dollar General meets the challenge by employing a variety of training methods
developed with the assistance of consultants who have technology expertise.

For example, Dollar General launched a Customer First initiative to get all
employees focused on creating a great customer experience. Based on the results
of customer feedback and observations of employee interactions with customers,
the planners identified learning objectives in how to develop and maintain
customer loyalty. In the first phase of the training, company managers
participated in a four-hour simulation aimed at understanding the importance of
what the customer experienced. Following this, participants accessed training on
the company’s learning management system to focus on a different aspect of
customer experience each quarter. They also received activities for their store
teams to engage in, putting into practice the lessons their managers were
learning.
Dollar General’s learning and development team determined that
employees wanted training that would fit into their schedules. The team
responded with the Core Curriculum, a set of learning programs categorized
according to the level of responsibility in the organization: leading self, leading
others, and leading leaders. Each level includes on-demand computer courses plus
experiential exercises and instructor-led training. Every new store employee also
is expected to complete a computer-based training series on customer service.
Store managers participate in a 12-month training program that begins
with a computer-based simulation of a store environment, practicing the store
manager’s job. They also spend time in a high-performing store to learn on the
job. After three months, they attend classroom learning about leadership. During
that time, they and their peers share stories about their on-the-job experiences
and learn from one another, the trainers, and other experienced managers. The
learning and development team empowers store managers to play an active role in
training the employees they are responsible for. To support these efforts, it delivers a
Certified Store Training Manager (CSTM) program to prepare its top-performing
managers for filling that role. Store managers who successfully complete the
training modules receive a CSTM certification and may be eligible for nine semester
hours of college credit. They go on to be a valuable source of on-the-job training for
Dollar General workers.
Dollar General credits these and other training initiatives with making
training widely available and making the company an attractive place to work.
The highly trained workforce has supported years of sales growth and provided a
wealth of talent to fill management positions.

Questions
1. What training methods are included in Dollar General’s training programs?

2. How did the training and development team assess training needs? What
other criteria should the team consider in its needs assessments?