A huge part of our success at Ernie's comes from the passion and expertise of our awesome staff. As we round into another year at the shop, we want to make that even more of a focus with a training plan that will bring newer hires up to speed, and further hone the skills of our longest tenured team members.
The offseason is the time to build good habits that will carry us through the busy times - use this training as a springboard to make 2024 an awesome year for you and your shop. As with anything, you get out what you put in. Attack these sessions with the same intent and attention you would a big sale or 4* in mid-May! And be sure to take it seriously! Buy-in to this training program will be a major element of evaluations this year.
Each week there will be two components: an Assignment and an Activity. Think of the assignment as your prerequisite for the following week's Activity: it makes sure the group is all on the same page and ready to bring the training to life in the store.
The assignment videos and reading are to be completed by every staff member over the course of the week. This work can be done in-store during slow times (winter in Ohio can mean slow days at bike shops). A designated computer at each store should be available for training purposes.
In addition to the indvidual watching/reading, every day the morning huddle will feature a piece of training material to be watched/read, then discussed as a group. This will give you a chance to check off some of the training material and discuss your key takeaways with the group to get the good ideas flowing.
The activities are where the rubber meets the road - where training is put into practice and built into habits. The activities should take place EVERY DAY, even if the staff members have already completed them. Remember the goal is not just to get ideas, it's to build good habits through repetition!
Ok. Let's get started! Use the links below to navigate to each week's training assignments.