Frontline Unscripted

Technology has transformed retail. Online ordering, curbside pickup, on-demand delivery and personalization are now parts of our everyday shopping experiences. Technology may be the face of retail, but there’s still a frontline team working to execute these digitally-enabled experiences. How has technology transformed the employee experience, and what can retailers do to improve their teams’ digit...

Did you hear Cornerstone is acquiring Edcast?  The learning tech marketplace is undergoing major transformation as familiar providers consolidate while new players continue to emerge. But what does this mean for workplace learning? How can L&D pros keep up with nonstop digital transformation and make smarter tech decisions?   JD called on the most knowledgeable person in learning tech to set t...

Did you know the same percentage of employees who quit due to pay also quit for not having career advancement opportunities (63% - Pew Research)? JD sits down with Matthew Daniel - Principle for the Career Mobility Center of Excellence at Guild Education - to talk about what it takes to improve talent mobility on the frontline and create meaningful career and life opportunities for essential worke...

We’ve (virtually) traveled the world over the past year to tell the frontline story. We’ve explored a range of frontline forward industries and themes, from grocery and contact centers to resilience and burnout. Now, on the one-year anniversary of The 80 Percent, it’s time to wrap up our podcast series with one final story. JD sits down with Martin Cerullo , Group Talent Director at Dairy Farm Gro...

Welcome to Frontline Questions , a bi-weekly segment in which JD answers the most popular questions we receive from The 80 Percent listeners. Today's question is ... Does gamification work in frontline training? Send your frontline question to podcast@axonify.com so JD can answer it on a future episode. Check out gamification books, articles and resources from Dr. Karl Kapp. Explore an exampl...

Welcome to Frontline Questions , a bi-weekly segment in which JD answers the most popular questions we receive from The 80 Percent listeners. Today's question is ... How can I translate frontline training content more quickly and cheaply? Learn more about how artificial intelligence can be applied to improve workplace learning with these curated resources from LearnGeek . Send your frontline...

Do you feel exhausted at work? Do you feel increasingly distanced from or negative about your job? Are you noticing reduced quality in your work output? Then you may be experiencing burnout, a legitimate medical condition related to the workplace. In August 2020, 58% of US workers identified themselves as experiencing burnout, up from 45% at the beginning of the pandemic. This issue is damaging wo...

Welcome to Frontline Questions , a bi-weekly segment in which JD answers the most popular questions we receive from The 80 Percent listeners. Today's question is ... How do we implement BYOD on the frontline? Send your frontline question to podcast@axonify.com so JD can answer it on a future episode. Download The Ultimate Guide to Frontline Training for more tips on how you can provide right-...

What if you could take any random person off the street, plug them into your contact center operation and have them fielding customer calls right away?  It may sound too good to be true. After all, contact center agents have to solve complex customer problems while keeping up with new products and process changes. They typically spend weeks in a classroom before they’re allowed to speak with custo...

Welcome to Frontline Questions , a bi-weekly segment in which JD answers the most popular questions we receive from The 80 Percent listeners. Today's question is ... How do you measure the impact of frontline training? Send your frontline question to podcast@axonify.com so JD can answer it on a future episode. Download The Ultimate Guide to Frontline Training for more tips on how you can prov...

Zoom meetings. Slack channels. Online learning. Work is more digital than ever … for some people.  While corporate employees have a rich technology ecosystem that keeps them up-to-speed, frontline workers struggle to find timely, consistent information. Tools designed for office-based and work-from-home employees just don’t fit into the hectic frontline workday. Instead, these workers rely on anal...

Welcome to Frontline Questions , a bi-weekly segment in which JD answers the most popular questions we receive from The 80 Percent listeners. Today's question is ... How do we make frontline training more engaging? Send your frontline question to podcast@axonify.com so JD can answer it on a future episode. Download The Ultimate Guide to Frontline Training for more tips on how you can provide...

How many times have you watched viral videos of Southwest Airlines flight attendants? They sing songs. They crack jokes. They make the safety spiel worth listening to. Southwest team members always seem ready and able to create exceptional guest experiences. However, they work in an industry that’s often known for the exact opposite. So how does Southwest do it? JD sits down with Ginger Hardage ,...

Welcome to Frontline Questions , a bi-weekly segment in which JD answers the most popular questions we receive from The 80 Percent listeners. Today's question is ... What role does communication play in frontline training? Learn more about the importance of communication and shared knowledge as part of the Modern Learning Ecosystem Framework . Send your frontline question to podcast@axonify.c...

Think about the last time you called a contact center. How was your experience? Odds are it wasn’t the best part of your day. Contact centers have a questionable reputation with both employees and customers. But they’ve become a critical part of the brand experience within the digital marketplace. How can you transcend the stigma and create a best-in-class customer and employee experience? JD spea...

Welcome to Frontline Questions , a bi-weekly segment in which JD answers the most popular questions we receive from The 80 Percent listeners. Today's question is ... How do we find time for frontline training? Send your frontline question to podcast@axonify.com so JD can answer it on a future episode. Hear how leaders at O'Reilly Auto Parts and rue21 are preparing their frontline teams f...

We’re all experiencing the same storm, but we’re doing it in different boats. This may be the best metaphor for explaining the retail experience over the past 12 months. US retail sales in November 2020 were up 7.1% year-over-year. However, while grocery was up 11%, apparel was down 27%.  Retail clearly isn’t going back to the “normal” we knew before 2020. So what will it take for a retailer to st...

JD revisits our 2020 episodes to identify the 10 BIGGEST frontline insights : The frontline is still getting left behind. (02:14) Businesses must become people-first. (05:40) Train and communicate with your frontline to demonstrate your respect. (09:40) The frontline needs new skills to successfully overcome disruption. (12:11) Companies must adopt a continuous, focused approach to frontline train...

Welcome to Frontline Questions , a bi-weekly segment in which JD answers the most popular questions we receive from The 80 Percent listeners. Today's question is ... What skills should we focus on in frontline training right now? Download The Ultimate Guide to Frontline Training for more tips on how you can provide right-fit support to your frontline teams. Send your frontline question to pod...

Welcome to Frontline Questions , a bi-weekly segment in which JD answers the most popular questions we receive from The 80 Percent listeners. Today's question is ... Does microlearning work on the frontline? Download The Ultimate Guide to Frontline Training for more tips on how you can provide right-fit support to your frontline teams. Check out our Ultimate Guide to Microlearning for a full...

Welcome to Frontline Questions , a bi-weekly segment in which JD answers the most popular questions we receive from The 80 Percent listeners. Today's question is ... How do I justify added investment in frontline training? Download The Ultimate Guide to Frontline Training for more tips on how you can provide right-fit support to your frontline teams. Send your frontline question to podcast@ax...

For over 60 years, Disney has set the standard for workplace safety, customer service and operational efficiency in hospitality and entertainment. But how does a dynamic company with hundreds of thousands of frontline employees manage to execute so consistently for so long? Is it magic? Or is it something much more practical that you can apply within your business?  JD explores the connection betw...

Welcome to Frontline Questions , a bi-weekly segment in which JD answers the most popular questions we receive from The 80 Percent listeners. Today's question is ... Is frontline training really that much different from corporate training? Send your frontline question to podcast@axonify.com so we can answer it on a future episode. Download The Ultimate Guide to Frontline Training for more tip...

Does technology dictate the future of work? Or can we get smarter about how we leverage technology to create a better workplace (and world) for ourselves and the people around us? JD sits down with Heather McGowan , internationally-recognized speaker, author and future of work strategist, to explore the importance of taking a people-first approach to workplace evolution and why it's essential...

Welcome to Season 2 of The 80 Percent !  JD provides an update on what’s been happening since Season 1 wrapped along with a preview of upcoming episodes scheduled to drop in the coming months, including: The Future of Work with Heather McGowan Frontline Leadership at Disney with Dan Cockerell A Culture of Frontline Empowerment at Southwest with Ginger Hardage The Zappos Approach to Customer Suppor...