Banister Shoe Company, located in Beloit, Wisconsin, has more than 200 retail outlets and employs 1,800 people. The company created Banister University to train employees in leadership and customer service skills. The basic curriculum was developed around Situational Leadership II (SLII) and Leadership Training for Supervisors from The Ken Blanchard Companies.

“At first our vision for Banister University was to teach people about our business,” recalls Chuck Pierce, executive vice president. “But as a young organization, it became obvious that our greatest need was for leadership skills training.”

Banister took pains not to grab the first program off the shelf. As Pierce and his staff searched for something that would satisfy their needs, they found that many programs focused only on theory, some didn’t cover enough information, and some were too “cookbook.”

“When we looked at Situational Leadership II,” he says, “we immediately related to it. It was practical and applicable in real life. It was manageable and could easily be worked into the fabric of our business. It took textbook concepts and made them come alive for our people in a very logical, commonsense way.”

The Banister University curriculum is anything but academic. For six months prior to beginning training, the company collected baseline data on employee and manager turnover, poor performance reviews, and inventory shrinkage. This data is still collected on a continuing basis, with results updated every six months.

Results are noteworthy. Banister has been able to decrease turnover in stores from 268% to 110%, decrease manager turnover from 55.7% to 21.4%, decrease termination due to poor performance by 70%, and decrease inventory shrinkage by $400,000 per year. One store alone was able to save $72,000.

Pierce says Banister University trainers feel that SLII works just as well for inexperienced employees as for experienced employees. They also enjoy the availability of multiple supporting components for facilitators, managers, and trainees. “The videos are critical to the training,” Pierce says. “They offer tremendous flexibility.”

General managers are not the only ones to go through Banister University. Regional managers attend three “semesters”—two on SLII and one on Leadership Training for Supervisors. (Note: This program was revised in 2004 and is now called Situational Frontline Leadership.) Each semester consists of five intensive days of training, each running for 10 to 12 hours. Regional managers share their new skills with district managers who then take the training to the store manager level; the store managers then share the skills with workers.

Banister Shoe also reinforces learning back on the job, according to Claudia Cecil, human resource director. “Our human resource manual is written in SLII language,” she explains, “and we’ve created a support guide that is used by store managers as a framework for teaching SLII concepts to employees.”

Goal setting forms, an important part of the manual, provide an easy-to-use method for reviewing goals and holding people accountable. “The success of the program rests with the fact that we set goals, track results, and hold people accountable,” concludes Cecil.

Pierce adds, “Situational Leadership II and Leadership Training for Supervisors have allowed us to help our employees become successful. We feel that when you help improve the skills of your employees, you impact their motivation because you have empowered them.”

Reprinted, with permission, from the “Problem Solving Partnerships” advertising section in the January 1993 issue of Training magazine, Lakewood Publications Inc., Minneapolis, MN. All rights reserved.