Sharpen the systems, COOs! 🧠
Welcome, and thanks for reading this week’s edition, where we focus on practical training that drives real performance improvements. Small Business Trends spotlights seven employee training programs that raise skills and engagement, and it shows that 43% of companies report increased revenue after training.
We preview onboarding built for faster ramp, including technical upskilling initiatives like Amazon’s Upskilling 2025 and Netflix’s Pathways Bootcamp, along with mentoring approaches like Heineken’s reverse mentoring and Spotify’s AI matching, which strengthen both skills and community.
Let’s get started.
📰 Upcoming in this issue
🎓 Employee Training Programs That Actually Work
🔄 Rethinking Corporate Leadership for Supply Chain Resilience
🤝 Employee Relations 101: What It Is and How to Do It Right
📈 Trending news
Make Culture a COO Productivity Engine
Put Content at the Core of Growth Ops
Build a COO Playbook that Ships Results
🎓 Employee Training Programs That Actually Work
From onboarding to leadership, this guide offers practical examples and templates to help you design a program your team will genuinely use. It even includes a sample plan and checklist to help you get started quickly.
Key Takeaways:
🎯 Start with Outcomes: Tie courses to measurable goals, like faster ramp times, higher NPS, or fewer errors, then pick formats to match.
🧭 Mix Modalities: Blend microlearning, live workshops, and on-the-job coaching to fit busy schedules and different learning styles.
🧰 Use Ready Templates: Leverage the included plan and calendar templates to map objectives, owners, timelines, and metrics.
📊 Measure and Iterate: Track completion, assessments, and on-the-job KPIs, then refine content based on gaps and manager feedback.
🔄 Rethinking Corporate Leadership for Supply Chain Resilience
Resilience should be treated as a leadership system, not just a function. Cross-functional nerve centers and clear decision rights reduce response times when shocks occur.
Key Takeaways:
🧭 Own Risk at the Top: Boards and CFO-COO teams define risk appetite and fund buffers, shifting KPIs beyond cost to service and survivability.
🔗 Build Tier-2 Visibility: Digital twins and supplier mapping expose bottlenecks, enabling earlier triggers for dual sourcing, substitution, and rerouting.
🏃 Empower Fast Decisions: Playbooks, escalation paths, and pre-approved trade-offs let local teams act in hours, not weeks, during disruptions.
📊 Measure What Matters: Resilience metrics, like time-to-recover and time-to-survive, tie directly to incentives and capital allocation.
🤝 Employee Relations 101: What It Is and How to Do It Right
Forbes Advisor explains employee relations, from everyday communications to conflict resolution. The guide includes practical examples, policy templates, and metrics to track impact.
Key Takeaways:
📘 Broad Definition: Covers trust-building, communication, policy compliance, and fair treatment, not only complaints.
🧭 Firm Foundations: Clear handbooks, grievance paths, and investigations protect employees, ensure consistency, and reduce legal risk.
🛠️ Manager Capability: Managers learn feedback, documentation, and conflict skills, creating psychologically safe, high-performance teams.
📊 Measure What Matters: Track retention, absenteeism, ER case cycle time, and sentiment to spot issues early and prove ROI.
Why It Matters
Training choices shape time, money, risk, and reputation. Faster onboarding shortens ramp time, while scenario-based learning can boost knowledge retention by 60% and reduce costly mistakes.
Strong mentoring programs are associated with a 20–30% increase in retention, which reduces backfilling costs and preserves team continuity. Investing in technical upskilling and leadership development today reduces future hiring risks and helps maintain credibility as roles and tools evolve.
Until next edition,
Chloe Rivers
Editor-in-Chief
COO Intelligence
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