Lockport Park District: Strategic Onboarding Transformation

Challenge

Develop consistent onboarding training for new employees and seasonal hires

Lockport Park District hired a large percentage of seasonal employees, with each new hire receiving face-to-face training from division supervisors using printed topic sheets. Individual supervisors approached training like a checklist, each putting their own spin on the material—some completing training in 15 minutes, others taking close to 2 hours.

The real challenge wasn’t just time inconsistency—it was ensuring consistent messaging while reducing the burden on supervisors. New hires also received CDs containing company policies to “read at home,” creating compliance documentation challenges and inconsistent policy understanding across the organization.

The training covers key pieces of information off of the mandatory paperwork required for our district, and compiles it in a way that the message is easily received. With the amount of people getting hired, it has eased the supervisors of a portion of training. This has helped our district be more efficient and able to hone in on the department specific trainings…I can personally say that it has decreased my 1.5 hour training orientations to 30 minutes!

Learn more about our Course Conversion services and how custom eLearning Development can improve employee efficiency and success.

Solution

eLearning course incorporates actual policies and scenario-based activities

From inconsistent checklists to comprehensive learning: a strategic transformation

The key challenge was to create consistency and reduce the time burden on supervisors. Our analysis, conducted with the Park District team, revealed the need for a centralized system that could handle core policy and safety training for all new hires, especially seasonal ones.

We developed a comprehensive eLearning course featuring a mentor character for a personal touch and a visual “path” to guide learners. Critically, we embedded actual policy documents with scenario-based questions, requiring new hires to actively engage with the material and ensuring documented, consistent onboarding for the entire organization.

Approach

Combined activities with images from the Lockport facilities and segments of actual policies in the course

Here’s how our collaborative design process transformed inconsistent training into comprehensive onboarding:

Lockport Park District Onboarding work sample

Personalized Learning Experience Design:

We created a mentor character who served as the main presenter throughout the course, providing personal connection and guidance while maintaining consistency across all new hire experiences.

Visual Progress and Content Organization:

To align with the Park District theme, we designed a visual “path” that organized content and helped learners visualize their progress through the comprehensive onboarding journey.

Interactive Policy Integration:

We embedded actual policy documents directly in the course, allowing learners to browse policies while answering related questions, ensuring they actually reviewed essential information rather than just receiving CDs to read later.

Engaging Knowledge Assessment Activities:

We developed various interactive knowledge checks throughout the course, including drag-and-drop activities testing critical concepts like signs of child abuse, ensuring comprehension and retention of essential safety information.

Impact

Reduced supervisor training time by 66% and achieved streamlined compliance documentation requirements

Key learner outcomes

66% reduction in supervisor training time (from 1.5 hours to 30 minutes)
Consistent onboarding messaging delivered across the entire organization
Enhanced policy comprehension through interactive scenario-based learning
Streamlined compliance documentation with automated completion tracking

Optimizing supervisor time while ensuring consistent onboarding throughout the organization

By implementing comprehensive eLearning, ThinkingKap significantly reduced the impact onboarding had on supervisors’ day-to-day responsibilities. We reduced supervisor training time by two-thirds while ensuring every new employee received consistent messaging and thorough policy understanding.

The interactive eLearning course ensured consistent messaging while helping new employees get off on the right foot, making them more productive. By combining scenarios with actual policy documents, learners were required to find and apply policy aspects to their jobs, teaching them how policies impacted their responsibilities rather than just what policies said.

The Strategic Difference: This project was about solving a core operational problem. We worked with Lockport’s supervisors to understand their pain points, then built a centralized eLearning course that delivered consistent messaging and tracked completion, freeing up their valuable time for department-specific, hands-on training.

Transform your onboarding into a powerful catalyst for employee success.

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