Rise 360 · Onboarding
A Rise 360 onboarding course designed to close the gap between knowing the job and doing it confidently — built after exit interviews revealed one pattern behind 30% new-hire turnover.
Live Course Demo
This is the published Rise 360 module. Click below to open it in a new tab — fully interactive, exactly as a learner would experience it.
New Hire Success: Your First Two Weeks
Rise 360 · 15–20 min · Opens in Articulate →
The Problem
RetailReady Co. was losing 30% of its new hires before their 90-day mark. They had an onboarding program — it covered the handbook, store policies, product knowledge, a welcome tour. Completion rates were strong. But turnover held steady.
With replacement costs estimated at 50–75% of an employee's annual salary, a 30% turnover rate among a 200-person frontline workforce translated to a recurring, preventable business loss. The Director of People Operations asked a simple question: "Can we fix this before it happens?"
That question is where instructional design begins. Exit interviews finally asked the right one: "When did you first feel like you knew what you were doing?" — most employees said never. Or: around month three, if they stayed.
"I never knew what I was supposed to do or who to ask. I didn't want to look stupid, so I just guessed."
The existing training gave new hires information. It did not give them certainty. That's the difference between someone who stays and someone who leaves in week three.
The Process
Before opening Rise 360, I completed a full needs assessment to answer one critical question: Is this actually a training problem? I interviewed five stakeholders — two managers and three current employees who had survived the first 90 days — and built a gap analysis that separated "doesn't know" from "doesn't know how to do it with confidence in front of a real customer."
That distinction drove every design decision:
An instructional designer who overpromises what training can fix loses credibility fast. Naming what's out of scope is as important as naming what's in scope.
Audience Analysis
I mapped the target audience as frontline employees aged 22–40 with mixed tech literacy, high smartphone comfort, and low motivation for "mandatory training." This profile drove three non-negotiable design constraints:
Mobile-First
Every content block previewed on a mobile frame before finalizing. Rise 360's responsive design handles it — but only if you design for it intentionally.
Under 20 Minutes
Completable in a single break period. Respects the reality of frontline work schedules — not the fantasy of a quiet hour at a desk.
Conversational Tone
Not compliance language. The module opens: "This isn't an orientation video you sit through — it's a guide you'll actually use."
Discovery Artifact
These are the questions I ask before building anything. Good design starts with the right conversations — not with opening a tool.
Needs Assessment
Before recommending training, I asked: Is this actually a training problem? Using the Performance Analysis Questions framework (adapted from Thomas Gilbert's Behavior Engineering Model), I sorted causes into three buckets.
Module Structure
I built a six-section storyboard in Google Docs before touching Rise 360. Each section maps to a specific performance objective — not a content topic. Rise 360's clean, responsive layout keeps cognitive load low for a mixed-literacy audience: no cluttered slides, no walls of text, no autoplay audio the learner can't control.
Welcome
Sets a performance tone, not a compliance tone
Know Your Store
Accordion interaction mapping the three store zones
Your Top 5 Tasks
Process block walking through the daily task sequence
The GREET Model
Customer service mnemonic for approach and engagement
When Things Go Wrong ★ Centerpiece
Two branching scenarios with consequence-driven feedback — three response options each, drawn from the highest-frequency new hire mistakes
Your People & Resources
Tabs interaction mapping the four key contacts
Quiz + Wrap-Up
Three-question knowledge check with 80% passing threshold
Design Artifact
This job aid was designed to live in a new hire's apron pocket — a portable reference for the five core tasks, the GREET model, escalation paths, and scripted responses for the three most common difficult situations. Built in Canva as a companion to the Rise 360 module.
Anticipated Impact
No post-launch data exists for this portfolio project. Based on the gap analysis and research on onboarding as a retention driver, the projected outcomes are:
Evaluation Plan
I designed a Level 1–2 evaluation plan for this project, with a Level 3 recommendation for real deployment. The Level 3 checklist is the artifact I'm proudest of — it shifts accountability for transfer from the learner to the environment, and gives managers a structured tool, not just an expectation.
Reaction
A five-question post-module survey in Google Forms asking learners to rate relevance, clarity, and confidence. Target: ≥ 4.2 / 5.0.
Learning
The built-in Rise 360 knowledge check (3 questions, 80% passing threshold). Scores tracked via LMS reporting.
Behavior ★ Most proud of this one
A 30-day manager observation checklist measuring whether new hires are independently completing their top 5 tasks without prompting. This is the real measure of whether the training worked — and it shifts accountability to the environment, not just the learner.
Results
90-day retention data pulled from HR and compared against a 6-month pre-launch baseline. The only number that actually matters to the business.
My Reflection
"If I were to iterate on this module, I would conduct real SME interviews with shift leads and 30-day employees before finalizing the scenarios — the fictional scenarios are grounded in common onboarding failure patterns, but actual incident data would sharpen the branching choices significantly. I would also test two versions of the scenario feedback language: one consequence-forward ('here's what went wrong') and one coaching-forward ('here's why the better choice works') — and use quiz retake data to determine which drives better second-attempt performance. Finally, I'd push for a Phase 2 Spanish translation given the demographics of most frontline retail workforces."
Why This Project Matters
I spent more than 15 years diagnosing why learners disengage, structuring environments that support behavior change, and designing experiences that meet people where they are — not where we wish they were.
That's the foundation of every project in this portfolio. The tools change. The question doesn't: what does this person need to be able to do, and what's actually standing in their way?
