The Pizza Hut Human Resources Department and its Leading Excellence And Development Team (LEAD), in partnership with Infinitude Creative Group, was awarded the Brandon Hall Group Silver Award for Excellence in the Best Use of Blended Learning category this week. Brandon Hall Group is a preeminent research and analyst firm, with more than 10,000 clients globally and more than 20 years of delivering research-based solutions aimed to empower excellence in organizations.
Pizza Hut was the only restaurant company to win an award in this category.
LEAD is the blended learning training program for restaurant management at Pizza Hut. The Shift Leader portion, also referred to as Shift LEAD, was the segment submitted for consideration. Shift LEAD is a program that combines online learning with live, in-person workshops and on-the-job guided practice. The blended approach aims to provide a consistent training experience while allowing trainees to work at their own pace based on a personalized training plan.
The cross-functional team of both equity and franchise partners dedicated almost seven months and over 500 hours to reviewing the 16 courses, 16 assessments, and 3 workshops included in the program.
“The squad did an amazing job of creating a one-system training program that is able to flex to the specific processes and procedures of each individual franchise organization,” says Tracy Skeans, chief people officer of Pizza Hut.
Since the launch in May 2012, over 15,000 restaurant level managers have completed the Shift LEAD program, while an additional 7,400 are currently in progress.
“This is a truly remarkable number of Pizza Hut team members who are participating in this program and bringing to life the future back vision of developing world class people,” says Skeans.