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From the first day on the job and even until retirement, team members at Direct also are students – at Direct University.
It’s not a traditional brick-and-mortar college but an in-house program dedicated to ongoing professional development.
“We recognized that a lot of employees wanted extra training to level up their skills,” said Stephanie Kaiser, brand experience manager. “So we said, ‘We’re going to do this for you, and here’s how we’re going to do it.’”
Kaiser brings her own unique skill set to her role, which includes leading Direct University. She’s a former high school teacher and spent seven years in corporate training before joining Direct in 2024.
Direct University officially launched late last year. At its core, “this is more than a training program,” Kaiser said. “It’s about how we intentionally develop our people throughout their entire career at Direct. We want all our team members to feel confident in their role, understanding how we operate and that they have a clear path forward within the company.”
Based in Sioux Falls but with a growing number of offices throughout the region, Direct is a broad-based technology services company, with offerings that include:
- Process and machine automation
- Custom software and data management
- Tank gauging services
- Industrial electrical services
- Managed IT services
- Enhanced cybersecurity
- Business phone systems
- Physical security systems
- Fleet management solutions
- Managed print services
- Design and fabrication of electrical and mechanical systems
“Our team requires a broad range of skills, so some training and up-skilling are specific to their job function, but we’re also focused on giving our people the tools they need to grow as leaders at Direct,” Kaiser said.
The fast-growing team includes more than 155 people, so Direct University courses span everything from technical skills and processes to safety and compliance.
“There are structured on-the-job trainings and position-specific onboarding for every team member,” Kaiser said.
“We’re actively developing training guides for all roles, so there will be tailored onboarding for each job description, in addition to future opportunities to earn continuing education credits and industry-recognized credentials. We’re very focused on career road maps and making sure our team sees what skills or continuing education they need to advance.”
There’s also a companywide focus on culture-related training.
“Our goal is to ensure our team is aligned around expectations, behaviors, who we are as an organization and what we want people to portray in the community,” Kaiser said.
The training is deployed by Direct’s culture committee and reaches about 20 team members each month through an hourlong session.
Direct University also recently launched a 10-month leadership development program for new, mid-level and executive leaders.
“It’s designed to equip our leaders with better tools in their tool box,” Kaiser said.
“We’ll take a collaborative approach to the leadership training and periodically include guest speakers in the monthly sessions, beginning with a focus on who we are as people and how that translates into our leadership. So it’s really about emotional intelligence, starting with bringing it back to basics and then building on that as we look at succession planning to ensure we have strong leaders coming up through the organization.”
Direct’s new, more than 30,000-square-foot headquarters at 3405 N. Louise Ave. was designed in part to support the concept of Direct University.
“We’ve actually converted our break room and lunch room space to a giant training area that’s connected wirelessly to bring in presentations,” Kaiser said. “That allows us to have more outside remote training and offer lunch-and-learns.”
Direct University is a unique offering for a tech-focused employer, she added.
“Our onboarding program sets a very high standard,” Kaiser said. “People are so impressed by the structure when they come into Direct, and then we get great feedback from our clients saying how impressed they are with the team’s knowledge. That all goes back to training.”
The goal is to make it both valuable and enjoyable, she added.
“A lot of people don’t look forward to professional development, so we want to make it fun,” Kaiser said. “Most of our training is delivered by our own team, so it’s a rapport builder.”
Long term, the vision is to scale up Direct University not just internally but for the company’s clients, she said.
“We envision an eventual client-based learning management system so our clients also can tap into the platform we’re building,” Kaiser said. “We see training as a way to help our customers better understand and maximize the services we provide, so we’ll ultimately be providing training to clients as well.”
To learn more about opportunities to grow your career and skills at Direct, visit here.
