Wagon University: Taking Radio Flyer to New Heights
When: Tuesday, March 6th, 2012 : 11:00AM - 12:00PM EST
Wagon University: Taking Radio Flyer to New Heights
During the past 95 years, the name Radio Flyer has become an American icon. Who doesn’t think of the classic red Radio Flyer wagon when the name is mentioned? However, during the past decade’s economic challenges, even a solid, family-owned company like Radio Flyer knew that changes were needed to maintain their place in the market. Using Jim Collins’ book entitled Good to Great as a guide, Radio Flyer’s Chief Wagon Officer (CWO) and 3rd generation leader, Robert Pasin, committed himself and his leadership team to improving performance at Radio Flyer with a concerted effort to move the company from Good to Great. Part of the vision was to establish a culture with workplace practices that would brand Radio Flyer as a employer of choice, and fortunately for their workforce, the company’s leadership considers learning to be one of the strategic cornerstones required for the business to not only survive, but thrive for another 100 years.
As a small, family-owned business, the Vision "TO BE THE WORLD'S MOST LOVED CHILDREN'S BRAND" required a mind-set that a small company can be world-class. As part of the plan to achieve this stature, Radio Flyer initiated the development of a new corporate university – Wagon University – that would ensure that the newly articulated Vision, Mission and Values were put into action, and that each individual "Flyer" employed at the company was given the tools and opportunities to advance themselves from Good to Great. Radio Flyer officially launched Wagon University in March of 2009. This new learning foundation turbo-charged how Radio Flyer grew as an award-winning organization, and was a key driver to evolving the new and improved culture that has positively impacted the company, including increased sales rates and double digit growth.
In this webinar, the focus will be the journey taken by a small, family-owned business to start up a learning program. You will learn about the elements of Wagon University that has made it so successful so quickly:
- Clear Vision, Mission and Values
- Enthusiastic sponsorship and involvement from the leadership team
- Primacy of Internal faculty, with focused use of external faculty
- Experiential learning methodology, embodied by the Launch event itself
- Learning design focused on best practices & benchmarks
- Consistent evaluation processes
- Learning processes woven into operational routines
Finally, you will also learn about the new features of Wagon University added since 2009, including self-study resources, a Dean’s blog, and informal, collaborative learning opportunities.
If you want to attend a webinar in which you can learn about a start-up a learning program that has proven to be a catalyst for culture change in a small/mid-size company, then this is the webinar for you!
Presenters:
Dorie has served at Radio Flyer as the honorary “Dean of Wagon U” since Wagon U was launched in 2009. She has worked closely with the Radio Flyer leadership team since 2005 to consciously evolve Radio Flyer’s culture to best embody its newly articulated Vision, Mission and Values and business strategy to grow from Good to Great. Her focus on cultivating a learning organization is consistent with her passion in the fields of learning and sustainable change.
As an independent consultant, Dorie designs and facilitates programs, initiatives, leadership development events, strategy retreats, and workforce development courses, utilizing proven models and interactive learning methods that facilitate changes in strategy, culture, behaviors. She also coaches individual team members to improve individual and team performance. She emphasizes the power of appreciating and building upon what works, leveraging proven strengths and involving people in the change process so they can commit to an initiative instead of only “complying” with it.
Dorie serves as Adjunct Faculty at Northwestern University’s Center for Learning & Organizational Change in two courses: “Designing Sustainable Strategic Change” and “Learning Organizations for Complex Environments.” She received an Award for Outstanding Professor in 2008. Dorie earned her Masters in Organization Development from Loyola University, Chicago in 1995.
Dorie’s article “Making Sustainability Sustainable: Lessons from Radio Flyer” was published in the OD Practitioner national journal, Fall, 2011.