Building a Team of Experts: A Case Study

This case study is part of a resources series designed to instruct IT leaders how to motivate their teams to learn new skills, and improve their organization. You can find more ways to build a team of experts in the CBT Nuggets resources section.

Kern FCU serves more than 20,000 members with assets totaling more than $200 million. Their IT training and certification needs are extensive; as a retail financial institution, they are subject to continually evolving federal regulations, and their customers access services online, increasingly through social media, meaning the team needs to keep pace with the latest security technologies and practices. But training can present a challenge when working with a lean staff located far from the nearest training center.

For Kern FCU, CBT Nuggets is a cost-effective and convenient training solution that allows them to stay current with a variety of technologies, without sacrificing manpower.

Convenience, Quality, and Value

Kern FCU chose CBT Nuggets because of its extensive training library, and convenient format; they can now train year-round in all the technologies and processes they use for less than the cost of a single-topic training "bootcamp." Leif Davisson, Kern FCU's information systems supervisor, says other training options fell short of their needs, "We had 'Lunch and Learn' presentations from vendors, but they're sales-focused and not comprehensive. And we had used another online training company but their catalog was limited."

"But with CBT Nuggets, we can get a wide variety of topics with very competitive pricing; there's no way to beat that price. Classroom training companies cost 5-7,000 US dollars per person and require you to take weeks off of work."

Now, Kern FCU's IT team can train on hundreds of topics any time they want, and, thanks to the CBT Nuggets app, anywhere they want. Davisson says the availability and quality of training means his team is investing more of their time. "My team really enjoys the training, and I see more training outside of work than I did before. I use it more too, just recently when I was in a remote part of Idaho, I was able to watch Linux+ training on my laptop."

Support for Success

Effective training requires more than just stellar instructional content. Davisson and his team make use of the CBT Nuggets features designed to support, motivate, and reward learners, such as daily training reminders, video-level lab exercise files, and Transcender® practice exams, which team members use to determine which areas of knowledge they need to further develop.

Davisson also notes that the diversity of quality training and supplemental materials motivates his team to train widely and develop specific expertise. "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink. We chose CBT Nuggets because of the variety, everyone is bound to find something that sparks their passion. If you give people options they will learn as much as they can about what interests them, and with this training there's no bad choice."

Incentives and Motivators

Davisson believes that an investment in training is an investment in the team's future. "You have to give people the tools to do their job; allow for training now or pay for it when you really need it." He allows employees four hours of training a week and requires each of them to sit for two certification exams a year. Employees are reimbursed for testing costs when they pass the exams.

As a manager, Davisson uses the reporting features within their CBT Nuggets subscription to keep track of his team members' training progress and help them stay on track. "If you measure an activity, it becomes a priority. So I keep an eye on how much training each employee has done. And if they have fallen off a bit, we can discuss how they might address what's keeping them from setting aside the time to train."

There are sample training policies, manuals about how to develop a training culture, and infographics in the CBT Nuggets resources section.