May 27, 2025
3 Min. Read
Frontline workers are the engine of any organization. In a recent post, we explored how businesses can jumpstart learning and development (L&D) efforts for these critical teams by starting with the basics. However, to drive performance effectively, L&D leaders need to design training that creates the highest impact. Here, we’ll explore critical focus areas that can help businesses close skill gaps, reduce costs, and align their efforts with strategic priorities that lead to growth.
Eliminate skills gaps with targeted training
Getting to the root of skill gaps requires examining how your frontline employees’ capabilities align with the performance metrics that matter to your business, such as customer satisfaction, production efficiency, and sales performance. Skill gaps often show up as tangible performance issues, including:
- Declining customer reviews or satisfaction scores
- Missed sales targets
- Rising error rates or slower completion times
- High turnover in specific roles or locations
Leaders need to focus on precise, targeted skill development to solve these gaps. For example, a global quick-service restaurant’s complex digital ordering processes caused confusion among employees. The solution? Training select shift members as digital order experts who can mentor colleagues and enhance service quality, resulting in better customer experiences tied to key performance indicators (KPIs).
When high-priority tasks expose new challenges, data becomes your best ally. Organizations can ensure training resources have the most significant impact by zeroing in on specific skill gaps that directly affect performance. Use data to identify skill gaps that directly connect to business outcomes, and focus learning and development efforts where they matter most.
Solve high-cost problems first
Frontline workforce development delivers powerful cost savings when efforts target the root causes of high expenses. Turnover in a specific department or location might initially seem like a market-related issue, but analyzing data can reveal deeper problems, such as insufficient onboarding or a lack of on-the-job training.
Royal Credit Union traced high turnover rates to new hires lacking the support they needed after classroom training. By redeploying existing team members to act as certified on-the-job trainers, the credit union reduced turnover from 24.5% to 15.6%. The added support boosted employee confidence and led to greater retention and readiness for more advanced career opportunities.
Similarly, hospitality company Westgate Resorts found it could reduce external hiring costs in its engineering team by defining career paths more clearly and providing tiered talent development programs. These efforts saved money and built stronger internal talent pipelines.
To save costs, investigate operational data and collaborate across teams to uncover and address inefficiencies.
Work cross-functionally to explore solutions
Effective learning and development strategies don’t happen in a vacuum. Leaders who excel at addressing critical gaps gather input from a broad range of stakeholders first, including frontline workers, managers, HR leaders, and senior executives. This holistic approach helps pinpoint what areas need attention and ensures alignment across teams before resources are allocated.
Marriott International uses cross-functional steering committees to discuss funding allocation and priorities. These forums ensure L&D initiatives align with the organization’s overall strategy while fostering accountability and collaboration across various departments.
Collaborate with stakeholders across all levels to ensure development resources effectively target organizational priorities. When examined across teams, patterns that may seem like isolated issues often emerge as critical trends. Shadowing employees, conducting focus groups, and using feedback surveys are effective ways to gather insights.
Focus frontline staff training on strategic business goals
When the goals of frontline staff training align with the vision of your executive stakeholders, everyone wins. Coordinating cross-functional efforts at this level can be challenging without clear communication and governance.
At Kohler, inconsistent new hire onboarding across manufacturing plants led to disparities in employee experience and increased turnover. Establishing committees and governance frameworks created a more cohesive structure to address onboarding challenges. The changes ensured greater consistency across different plants, reduced duplicate efforts, and improved training outcomes.
Aligning frontline training initiatives with overarching strategic goals maximizes their business impact, but it requires shared insights, precise alignment, and coordinated contributions from multiple teams. Focusing resources in this manner ensures learning and development initiatives directly contribute to overall growth and success, and it helps L&D leaders demonstrate ROI.
Data and relationships: The dual drivers of L&D success
Across all areas, two factors consistently separate successful L&D efforts from the rest:
- Data: Combining quantitative metrics (like KPIs and operational stats) with qualitative inputs (like employee surveys) helps uncover real challenges and opportunities.
- Relationships: Strong cross-functional partnerships create alignment, ensure buy-in, and help identify needs early on.
Training efforts feel less reactive and more strategic when data and relationships are top priorities. It’s this detective-like approach that transforms L&D into a driver of operational efficiency and revenue growth.
A smarter approach to frontline development
Companies with prominent frontline workforces can ensure their learning and development efforts deliver maximum impact by focusing on closing critical skill gaps, addressing high-cost problems, gathering diverse intel, and aligning with stakeholder priorities. These targeted approaches position L&D as a vital lever for performance improvement, elevating its role from a support service to a strategic component of organizational success.
For a deeper dive into the latest strategies and insights shaping frontline workforce development, download the full report from RedThread Research, licensed by Schoox.
