Founded in 1977, Flinn Scientific is a leading and rapidly growing comprehensive multi-line catalog supplier of more than 8,250 manufactured and purchased specialty science education products and curricula. Flinn Scientific is based in Batavia, Illinois, and their products are distributed to more than 55,000 high school and middle school science teachers at more than 27,000 schools across the United States. Since its founding, Flinn has continuously expanded its product lines and markets and has developed an intensely loyal, growing base of science teacher customers. Flinn’s workforce totals around 140 employees, and during the peak summer months they bring on 30+ seasonal employees to manage the increased volume.

Challenge:
Before joining Business Training Library, Flinn Scientific lacked an internal training program. As an alternative, they allowed their managers to attend two external seminars per year. What they found, however, is that with such busy workdays, it was often difficult for their management team to set aside an entire day or even a half-day away from production. According to Human Resources Manager, Joanna Janecek, this approach wasn’t cutting it. “We weren’t doing enough to equip our managers with effective coaching skills, and the material wasn’t always applicable to their job at Flinn.”

Since managers were given the freedom to choose seminars they felt would benefit them, there was a lack of cohesiveness. Their managers were attending a variety of different seminars, and that knowledge wasn’t shared with the rest of the management team upon their return to work. Janecek and the management staff were yearning for the next step. The same coaching and leadership issues kept coming up, and they realized they needed new methods to address these challenges. Janecek began looking for a program that she could easily implement onsite, so that she could have control over the schedule. That way, when things got busy for their management team, they could make adjustments. It was also important that she be able to offer a variety of topics. “I wanted to have all the hot topics at my fingertips … coaching, performance management, sexual harassment.”

Implementation:
Flinn Scientific created a leadership program utilizing the Lending Library service. There are 25 managers involved in their initiative, and they meet every two weeks, with the exception of the busy summer months. Their schedule breaks out to 18 sessions per year, and with 25 managers involved, the cost per manager, per session – breaks out to a little more than five dollars! “We broke down the cost per person and we now have way more training and availability to so many additional resources for a fraction of our previous training costs.”

Without a trainer on-staff, Joanna needed to be able to rely on her Account Manager at Business Training Library to provide her with marketing and implementation materials, best practice ideas, and help in course selection. Although Janecek had 10 years in HR under her belt before partnering with Business Training Library, she was new to the world of training. With the help of her Account Manager, she was able to outline her entire first year of training and set a calendar.

During their second year as members of the Lending Library, Janecek decided to make the training more interactive for her leadership team. Prior to each bi-monthly session, two of the managers work with Joanna to select training topics, determine activities to apply the topic to Flinn, and create a lesson plan around the course that is suggested by their Account Manager. The leaders actually present the material, and when they feel it’s applicable for their own teams, the managers present the material to their teams after the session.

Benefits:
With Business Training Library, Flinn has cultivated a relaxed learning environment, where role-play and discussion are encouraged. She noted that one manager in particular, who struggled with an abrupt management style, experienced an “aha” moment during one of their sessions, and has since blossomed into his management role. The training proved to be a turning point for him - softening his previously harsh management methods and drastically improving his communication with his staff. Joanna and everyone at Flinn Scientific have also been pleased with the cost-effectiveness of the service, the superior customer service, up-to-date materials, the flexibility it allows in scheduling, fast turn around time and large selection of course materials.

Conclusion:
Flinn Scientific attributes fostered team building to their relationship with Business Training Library. “Our training program ended up serving a dual-function. One hour every two weeks, we have team building and training in one. Our entire leadership staff is learning the same things, and that way they can hold each other accountable.” Their leadership staff is stronger and more knowledgeable then ever before. Janecek noted that there has been a dramatic increase in self-coaching and their training has improved and opened new avenues of communication.