WARNER ROBINS, Ga. -- Who says learning can't be fun?

Inspired by the CBS show Survivor, the Robins Federal CreditUnion training department encouraged some 300 staffers to outwit,outplay and outlast fellow "castaways" to become the sole Survivorof Product and Services Island.

"When we found out our strategic plan goals last August, wewanted to come up with a fun way to promote product knowledge,"said Robins Federal Training Manager Kim Elkins. "Our previousproduct knowledge class was what I like to call 'death byPowerPoint' where you need toothpicks to keep your eyes open. Itwas just horrible, so this was the perfect opportunity to startfrom scratch and create a class that would be as interactive aspossible where we could present the information in a way that wouldbe enjoyable and memorable so they retain it."

Elkins said the team started brainstorming about differentreality television shows and with Survivor everything seemed tojust click into place.

"We've had the most fun with this product knowledge training. Ithas been a great experience, and the three of us all worked hard onit for about five to six months," said Elkins.

From d?(C)cor, reward and immunity challenges to even tribalcouncil, no detail was overlooked.

Upon entering Product and Services Island, employees werewelcomed to a tropical tiki hut full of palm trees and otherd?(C)cor befitting castaways on Product and Services Island.Classes ran the full day for frontline and branch staffers, whilesupport staff classes ran about four hours.

Employees were divided into tribes consisting of no more thanfive people. As an icebreaker the teams then had to come up withtheir tribe name and flags. Tribes then competed in reward andimmunity challenges based on the products and services that werediscussed in lessons preceding the challenges.

"The challenges were designed to reinforce the lessons whilehaving fun," said Elkins.

For example, the savings and checking account section rewardchallenge directed tribes to fishing ponds (kiddie pools filledwith shredded paper) where they had the find fish that matched theproduct description and then place the fish in order on theirfishing line.

"So they had to listen and think about not only the specificproducts but also find their color-coded fish before the otherteams," said Elkins.

Members of tribes that did not win immunity selected an itemcalled an office artifact, which could be anything from a paperclipto a stapler from the elimination box. The employee that chose thebanished artifact became a member of the Tribal Council thatmonitored later tasks. Lessons and challenges continued until onlythe final three contestants remained. These three employees werequizzed by their Tribal Council peers on various topics of theTribal Council's choosing. Based on the answers given, the TribalCouncil then voted for the sole survivor.

Sole survivors from each class were awarded a trophy and eternalbragging rights, according to Elkins.

"Our goal while creating this class was to provide trainingabout our products and services in a way that it had never beenpresented before. We made it interactive and participatory so thatemployees could gain maximum retention of the material," saidElkins. "The most important thing was that at the end of the dayeach participant left class with at least a bit of knowledge thatthey didn't have when they entered the classroom that morning."

So far, results show that the 19 classes have been a majorsuccess. Employees were given a written evaluation at the end ofeach class to assess their retention of the information learned inclass. They were also given a survey to complete about the classthat asked a range of questions about the class itself and thematerial covered. The feedback gathered will be used to furthertraining efforts on the credit union's intranet, where topicsstaffers had trouble with will be posted.

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