When you’re responsible for brands like Nike and Sears, you need employees at the top of their game Challenge:

When you’re responsible for brands like Nike and Sears, you need employees at the top of their game Challenge: comprehensive, quality training with minimal resources The websites for Nike, Sears Holding Corporation, and Oprah.com are great examples of the work of Schawk Retail Marketing group, a major player in the creation, management, and delivery of online product content through their Global Asset Integration product. The company develops innovative marketing for their clients, including dynamic asset creation, photography and retouching, in-store and direct marketing creative, and catalog and circular creation and execution. Ken Hollern is the sole trainer for the 300 people who work for Schawk Retail Marketing. These employees, located all over the United States and in key locations in Europe and Asia, have diverse responsibilities in creative, photography, and production. Employees come to the company with different backgrounds and skill levels, so their varying needs for training was a challenge. When Hollern found out about lynda at an industry conference, he was impressed with the wide range of courses, the quality of the videos, and the experience of the instructors. “The depth and the breadth of the training services offered by lynda were key to our decision to engage with them,” he says.

“I can keep the learning relevant to the evolving needs of the company.” Solution: implementation of lynda across a wide geographical area Schawk Retail Marketing signed up for the lynda Pro multi-user program at the beginning of 2009. From Photoshop CS5 for Photographers and Photoshop CS4 Color Correction, to training in Adobe® InDesign® and Microsoft® Excel®, Hollern found solutions for his team. After employees complete specific training on lynda, Hollern steps in to help them apply what they’ve learned to Schawk Retail Marketing’s processes and client projects. Results: consistent quality and efficient production with great time savings Hollern finds lynda.com to be invaluable for training across a wide geographic area. Hollern first tested lynda.com’s flexibility when he
 simultaneously managed remote In Design training in Atlanta while doing hands-on training in Chicago. “I felt I could trust lynda to train the remote group,” he says. 

The lynda library of instructional videos helps Hollern to get employees on the same software skill level needed for their positions, and to expand their training into special areas. “My role has evolved in a way that allows me to switch from being a hands-on trainer to focusing on managing and optimizing the schedule for lynda training,” Hollern says. “Instead of being caught up in daily tactics, now I’m essentially the bridge to learning on lynda, and I can keep the learning relevant to the evolving needs of the company.” Hollern adds that he couldn’t possibly meet the unique needs of such a diverse group of audiences effectively by himself. With lynda providing a wide range of titles for basic software training, Hollern can successfully focus on training for specific tasks that fit his specific company processes.