Fletcher Building’s Learning Strategy for Digital Transformation

Fletcher Building is one of New Zealand’s most well-known home-building and construction companies. Since the business was founded in 1909, it has experienced significant expansion in its operations employing over 14,500 people across New Zealand, Australia, and the South Pacific.

Fletcher Building serves a range of sub-industries within the construction world, with its business operation comprising over 24 business units across six divisions and operations throughout the Australasian and South Pacific region.

The Project

The Digital@Fletcher (D@F) Foundations project’s aim is to implement a standardised SAP system using SAP S/4HANA as the new foundation platform across their 24 business units throughout New Zealand and Australia. This will allow for consistency, scalability and a fit for purpose digital and eCommerce tool, enabling future customer centric growth via greater standardisation of data and processes.

Our Approach

Sysdoc, in partnership with Fletcher Building, is responsible for the end-to-end learning for the project. Over the five years Sysdoc will provide end user learning and documentation experience, process design and UAT support. A key first deliverable for Sysdoc was the development of the Training and Documentation Strategy.

The Training and Documentation (T&D) strategy set out the approach Sysdoc would take to the development and delivery of training and documentation to ensure the successful adoption of the D@F Foundations project outcomes. It includes the philosophy, principles, methodologies, and sustainability requirements underpinning the approach. The strategy provided a vision of the experiences that a learner can expect to have in the lead-up to system and process go-lives, and beyond. It described a future state where new starters are digitally onboarded and introduced to their role-specific systems and processes.

The T&D strategy laid out the intention to deploy a ‘digital-first, blended learning approach’ as the preferred way of learning that is flexible enough to cater for implementation across a diverse audience group, multiple geographies, and at the time the ever-present threat of Covid-19. The use of blended learning allows for the provision of traditional methods of training where appropriate. The T&D strategy also focuses on a ‘just in time’ approach to ensure maximum retention and recall of knowledge and skills by learners.

The Challenge

During the ideation of the Training and Documentation (T&D) strategy the following key challenges were encountered:

• Finding common ground among independent business units.
• Building for Business as Usual (BAU) when BAU may not be fully understood.

The Benefits

The vision and approach laid out in the Training and Documentation (T&D) strategy has provided the following measurable benefits:

• De-risked and proven training and documentation development processes –Deloitte report
• Driving the BAU/sustainability conversation
• Uptick in modern learning methodologies.

Prior to the delivery of the T&D strategy, there was no standard approach for developing learning and support materials. The T&D strategy, focused on:

• A standard development process based on ADDIE
• The developments software used (Articulate and SAP Enable Now)
• The toolset and methodology for reviewing and approving materials
• The alignment of the T&D strategy to the project strategy.

The Result

A detailed Training and Documentation (T&D) strategy that provides a statement of intent along with the guidance to deliver learning and documentation services to the approximately 12,000 impacted learners. The strategy has served to analyse, design, develop, implement and measure learning modules that are proving to be meaningful and impactful.

Quotes

When asked for feedback on their digital learning, participants from the first group of learners from a manufacturing-heavy business unit said:

• “I was impressed, one of the better online training courses I have used.”
• “Professional and thorough”
• “Excellent, I have found this a great learning process.”

Next steps

The T&D strategy was designed and presented to the project as a ‘living, breathing’ document, meaning that as the project matures and we learn more, the strategy can be reflected upon and continuously improved. To ensure this happens, each project phase is to review, reflect and update the strategy.

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Our work on this project was recognised with a Brandon Hall award in 2023 for Best advance in Creating a Learning Strategy.