Case Studies

Client: Global Tire Manufacturer
Industry: Manufacturing & Automotive
Focus Area: Root Cause Analysis

Audience:  L&D Leaders, Executive Sponsors, Regional Training Teams

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The Challenge:

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New-hire sales training wasn't delivering the results the organization needed, and years of piecemeal fixes hadn't solved the problem. A course was revised here, a new class was added there, but no one had stepped back to ask why the training kept falling short in the first place. Leadership suspected the problem ran deeper than any one course, but they didn't have a clear, evidence-based picture of what was actually broken or why.

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Without that picture, every proposed fix risked treating the symptom instead of the cause. The organization needed an honest diagnosis before deciding what to change with confidence.

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Our Approach

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CK Digital conducted a full root cause analysis before recommending anything, looking beyond the course content to understand what was really going on.

We asked:

• What does the full path a new hire is expected to follow actually look like, from start to finish?

• Where are the gaps, and where are we simply repeating the same content?

• What happens outside the course itself, including culture and facilitation, that affects whether the training actually sticks?

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We reviewed every existing course and mapped the full path new hires were expected to follow, rather than looking at each piece of content on its own. We also looked at the organization's culture and how trainers and facilitators were using the material, because even a well-built training program can fail for reasons that have nothing to do with the content.

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From Isolated Fixes to a Full Diagnosis

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We helped the organization move from reactive, piece-by-piece troubleshooting to a clear, evidence-based understanding of what was really going wrong:

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✅ Scope of the Analysis

Old way:  Training issues were handled one at a time. A course was tweaked or a class was added, but no one looked at the onboarding journey as a whole.
New approach: We reviewed every existing course and mapped the full path new hires were expected to follow. That brought structural problems in the sequence to light, not just isolated content gaps.

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✅  Looking Beyond Content

Old way:  Troubleshooting focused only on what was being taught, not on how it landed with new hires and their trainers, or whether it landed at all. 
New approach:  We looked at the organization's culture and how trainers and facilitators were using the material. This surfaced real barriers to making the training stick that had nothing to do with content quality.

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✅  Measuring Impact Over Time

 

Old way: Feedback, where it existed, typically came from a single post-course reaction survey, capturing enthusiasm in the moment rather than whether new hires were applying anything on the job. 
New approach: Built learner surveys deployed at two, four, and six weeks after training, giving the organization an ongoing view of whether new hires were actually using what they'd learned over time.

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✅  Independent, Actionable Findings

Old way: The diagnosis and the fix were usually bundled together, making it hard to tell whether recommendations were objective or simply a pitch for more work. 
New approach: We presented the findings and recommendations directly to executives as a standalone deliverable. It clearly explained where and why past training efforts had fallen short, whether or not the organization chose CK Digital to lead the next phase.

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The Outcome:

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• For the first time, leadership had a clear, evidence-based picture of why earlier training investments hadn't delivered the results they expected.

• The organization received concrete recommendations it could act on right away, with no further engagement required.

• The analysis uncovered cultural and facilitation challenges that a content review alone would never have found, giving leadership a fuller and more accurate diagnosis.

• The findings gave the organization a solid, evidence-based starting point for deciding what to fix first and how to move forward.

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Bottom Line:

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By identifying the real reasons the training was underperforming instead of patching visible symptoms, CK Digital gave the organization something it hadn't had before: a clear, honest answer about why the training wasn't working and a credible foundation for deciding what to do next.