In today's competitive corporate landscape, the importance of supporting and investing in employee growth cannot be overstated. Forward-thinking companies like ecobee understand this fact and are committed to empowering their employees on their never-ending journey of professional success.

Recently, we had the privilege of partnering with ecobee, a Canadian home automation company, to provide a transformative learning and development experience for their customer success team members, and the results were awesome!

Behind every successful employee upskilling initiative, there's a dedicated specialist who ensures the seamless execution of the program. For ecobee, that specialist was Meryl Manning, their Learning and Development Manager. Meryl collaborated closely with our team to set up a comprehensive program aimed at enhancing the product management skills of their customer success team.

At ecobee, their philosophy revolves around enabling employees to "live their best life". They prioritize supporting their workforce in achieving personal and professional goals by providing thoughtful guidance, fostering small teams, and offering numerous development opportunities. With this ethos in mind, we created a customized learning experience that aligned perfectly with their corporate culture.

Our product strategy, product management and product development programs at Co.Lab encompass a wide array of topics using an experiential learning, project-based approach.  

From product management fundamentals to hands-on execution around market and user research, product documentation and research synthesis, our training modules and weekly submissions cover it all. What sets our program apart is its learning-by-doing approach, enabling participants to apply their newfound knowledge as they learn.

Interactive workshops, hearing from world-class mentors, and peer collaboration forms the backbone of all our live programming. This combination allowed ecobee’s customer success team members not only to learn from experts but also from each other, fostering a sense of camaraderie and shared growth that they can take back into the company.

Our program began with a clear objective: to equip the customer success team members with the skills and knowledge needed to excel in the field of product management.

“PM roles and responsibilities have always intrigued me from working here at ecobee and following along with the growth of our products and services.

The PM role continuously popped up and through ecobee I learned more about what a PM does, but I wasn’t still educated enough. When the Co.Lab opportunity arose I was a bit skeptical. I didn’t know exactly what I was going to learn, and I wondered how they would fit a whole role into the span of 4 weeks.

What followed was a beautiful 4 week span of learning how to be a PM while actively creating a product. Problem statements, Research Plans, creating our own surveys and then enacting them, and finally creating the presentation for the product we conceptualized,” said Daniel Brown, Tech Support Lead at ecobee.  

“The thing I loved most about it was the people running the show: Sefunmi Osinaike and Beth Wilson, who were always present, answering questions and assisting along the way, plus our mentor, Confidence Udegbue, provided valuable insight on both the positives and negatives of my idea/product and also provided next steps that I could easily follow along with and grow.

Overall, I’m happy with my choice to join the Co.Lab course and I look forward to the next part of my journey backed with their teaching and support.” -Daniel Brown, Technical Support Lead  

Over the course of the 4-week Product Management Strategy training, two other key testimonials emerged that captured the essence of the learning journey with Co.Lab:

One ecobee team member mentioned how,
“It taught me more about how I can best progress in the PM field: the skills I will need, as well as a great idea I can move forward with to expand my practical knowledge."

Another ecobee customer success associate shared that they,
“had a great experience with the change of pace. It cultivated a creative space for me."

With this partnership with ecobee, we look forward to exploring more innovative programs that cultivate creative spaces and foster professional growth. We are excited about the prospect of helping others embark on their never-ending journey of professional success.

In conclusion, ecobee’s commitment to learning and development serves as a shining example of how corporations can create meaningful and transformative experiences for their employees. By prioritizing employee growth and happiness, they are not just shaping their workforce but also shaping the future of their industry. We are honoured to be a part of their journey, and we can't wait to see what the future holds!

Interested in setting up a similar program for your organization?
Please reach out to Helen Huang, Co-Founder at Co.Lab, helen@joincolab.io.