2025 AXIS Awards Winners

2025 Best of Show

Selected from all First Place winners

AT&T - For Learning Design & Delivery

TALENT DEVELOPMENT & MANAGEMENT

Career and Leadership Growth: 

Builds a culture of career growth by identifying skill needs and using coaching to enhance goal setting, action planning, and strengths.

First Place – Venturity Financial Partners

This award celebrates Venturity’s dedication to nurturing career and leadership growth. Their Leadership Cube and coaching program have developed future leaders, enhancing strategic thinking and responsibility, with several employees promoted to leadership positions. The initiative has fostered a culture of Lifelong Learning, with employees pursuing new skills and certifications, leading to higher job satisfaction and enhanced team expertise. Furthermore, the executive coaching team has boosted the management team's confidence and strategic clarity, setting them up for success in driving the company's vision and goals. 

Second Place – AccentCare

AccentCare’s high-potential development plan program was created to develop, engage, and retain high-potential talent and address leadership competency gaps identified in annual Talent Reviews. Each high-potential is paired with an internal leadership coach dedicated to their individualized development goals. To ensure structured, effective development, each journey utilizes a 70-20-10 development plan to create a strategic roadmap for each participant’s growth. The plan is comprised of 3 parts. 70% On The Job Development: stretch assignments, delegated responsibilities, new tasks, etc. 20% Learning Through Relationships: mentorship, feedback, and insights from peers, cross-functional stakeholders, HR partners, etc. And 10% Formal Learning: leadership classes, books/podcasts, articles, etc. Over the program, key metrics are tracked to measure progress on each competency. The program participants spend six months implementing their SMART goals outlined in each section of their development plan. They also meet with their manager, their HR business partner, and their coach along the way for additional insight, support, and accountability. What makes this program truly stand out has been the clear measurement of its impact on the business. All participants are required to report out their summary of accomplishments and key metrics achieved during their time in the program. For the 2024 cohort, there was a wide variety of business impacts reported (Leaders reduced annualized turnover 5% to 18%; increased volume, conversion, and census; reallocated resources; reduced working hours to 40-45 instead of 55-60 for focused well-being; and created engagement activities for their teams- just to name a few). 

Talent Strategy and Management:

Integrates talent development with organizational goals, including culture, engagement, retention, and acquisition. 

First Place – Children's Health

From 2020 to 2024, six cohorts completed paid training and hands-on experience, producing 55 certified Patient Care Technicians (PCT) within 12 months through a community college partnership.  

 

Participants in the PCT Apprenticeship Program experienced a significantly lower turnover rate of 8% once they transitioned into PCT roles, compared to 18.7% for non-participants.

Second Place – Venturity Financial Partners

Venturity's exceptional strides in enhancing talent strategy and management. Through comprehensive analysis involving employee and client feedback, they identified the need for more structured career development, enhanced learning opportunities, and a supportive environment. Their initiative has led to significant revenue growth by enabling new services like CFO and technology consulting, attracting new clients, and increasing value for existing ones. Implementing open book management and ESOP practices has improved operational efficiency, reducing errors and increasing productivity, resulting in gross margins consistently exceeding 45% each month. Additionally, higher employee engagement scores and reduced turnover rates have created a more stable and experienced workforce, with employees feeling more supported and connected to their mission. 

ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Change Management:

Guides individuals, teams, and organizations through structured transitions to achieve desired outcomes.

First Place – Sendero Consulting

In 2023, Sendero realized that to scale their business and elevate their processes, they needed to streamline their financial, time and expense, and resource management systems. This, along with the announcement that their current financial management system would no longer be supported by Microsoft, kicked off a system selection leading to the identification of two tools: NetSuite ERP and SuiteProjects Pro PSA. With this implementation came a critical need for organizational change management as all 250 employees would be impacted. So, as system configuration began in Spring 2024, an OCM team was assembled to guide and institute the change.  

Culture Awareness and Inclusion:

Fosters a workplace that respects diversity and leverages employee insights for inclusion.

First Place – Children's Health

Children’s Health formed a transdisciplinary team in response to a national conversation around equitable healthcare practices and haircare’s importance in diverse patient populations, as well as an identified increase in hospital-acquired pressure injuries, or HAPIs, (pronounced like “Hap-ease”) to the hair and scalp. This team led a comprehensive haircare equity education campaign to advance health equity, improve patient outcomes, and engage and educate staff members. This initiative supports cultural awareness and humility for all staff members across the entire health system, and it provides the guidance and tools clinical staff need to build their confidence and ability to provide equitable haircare for every child entrusted to their care. 

 

The team includes nurses, social workers, clinical nurse specialists, learning designers, and leaders in community relations and patient experience. Their multi-modal learning strategy addressed gaps in knowledge of diverse hair and scalp assessment and care practices, product and accessory use, and patient and family support and education. This strategy included identifying 37 Haircare Champions who participate in training development, delivery, and ongoing peer-to-peer support.

Separate clinical and non-clinical online courses focus on the information and skills most applicable to their respective audiences. Training promotes a readiness to learn through patient, family, and employee testimonial videos that highlight haircare equity’s critical role in protecting patient safety and dignity. And several employees and their children participated in haircare video demonstrations, which are available as just-in-time resources to support best practices and learning sustainment. 

Second Place – Corgan

Corgan’s Belong initiative is the 87-year architecture and design firm’s commitment to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) across all areas of design practice. From introducing paid parental leave and increasing the presence of women in leadership roles to engaging with and serving broader communities, Belong creates meaningful impact within and beyond the firm. The Belong Roadshow and workshop continued that journey, designed to deepen understanding and action around inclusive design. 

 

Participants gained insight into the evolution of Belong, exploring how DEI principles have been embedded into Corgan’s culture, processes, and design outcomes. Through an interactive, peer-driven mini-workshop, attendees learned how to incorporate inclusive strategies that considered a variety of human experiences and demographics. The session fostered collaboration and co-authorship in designing spaces that were equitable, accessible, and responsive to diverse needs. 

 

Additionally, the Belong Roadshow highlighted the business imperative of integrating DEI into architectural practice, demonstrating the alignment between inclusive design and long-term organizational success. Participants left with increased awareness of how Belong had strengthened Corgan’s workplace culture, enhanced employee engagement, and led to more innovative, human-centered design solutions. The experience empowered designers to play an active role in shaping environments where everyone could feel they truly belonged. 

Performance Improvement:

Identifies and addresses performance gaps to enhance individual and organizational effectiveness.

First Place – Trinity River Authority of Texas

The Trinity River Authority’s mission is to promote conservation, reclamation, protection and development of the natural resources of the river basin for the benefit of the public. A critical division for the accomplishment of Trinity River Authority’s mission was suffering from intrateam conflict and an unusually high amount of unscheduled paid time off (UPTO). UPTO is generally frowned upon because it results in budget misses through unplanned overtime as others cover these shifts unexpectedly. No body wants the costs or the risk of burnout, injuries, and illness.  

 

Collaboratively, HR, Organizational Development, and the Division leaders, determined that improved communication was the key. Individual coaching, focused development in emotional intelligence, and understanding how to give constructive feedback were the levers. With about 50 hours of direct intervention spread out over 3 months, including individualized MBTI sessions for every member of the division, the results were incredible.  

 

In a survey conducted two months after the intervention, all survey respondents agreed that communication had improved with 40% strongly agreeing.  The bottom-line impact was even more incredible. Comparing the six months before intervention to the 6 months after intervention, there was an 85% decrease in UPTO. Plus, it’s no small thing… they get along now. It’s a fantastic example of how L&D initiatives can have a measurable contribution to the culture and bottom line of an organization.

Second Place – Chegg Skills

At Chegg Skills, we partner with employers to deliver upskilling and reskilling programs that empower frontline workers and drive career mobility and growth. While our programs were already delivering strong results, we identified an opportunity to make an even greater impact by transforming the role of our Success Coaches. 

 

Through a comprehensive needs analysis, we uncovered learner empowerment opportunities that could further strengthen engagement, progression, and completion. In response, we launched a four-month upskilling initiative to equip our coaching team with a scaffolded framework centered on habits, knowledge, skills, and beliefs. The framework is research-driven, student-centered, and tech-enabled, ensuring coaches could meet learners where they are with meaningful coaching. Weekly development included focused learning, written reflections, peer reviews, microlearnings, live role-play sessions, and recorded coaching conversations reviewed by managers. 

From day one of a learner’s experience in our program, coaching became a proactive, strategic driver of success. By leading with early engagement through our "Strong Start" approach, we boosted learner progression by 14% in two quarters, satisfaction, and program outcomes. The impact was clear: improved pacing, higher NPS scores, increased learner success, and a more scalable, effective coaching model. This program enhanced the learner journey and unlocked new levels of coaching impact, advancing our learner and organizational outcomes. 

LEARNING SOLUTIONS & PROGRAMS

Knowledge Management:

Captures, shares, and archives knowledge to foster collaboration and innovation.

First Place – AT&T

This initiative focused on improving the efficiency of knowledge management across twelve lines of business, with an emphasis on initial training programs for new hires. The challenge faced was the resource-intensive maintenance of a vast content repository, which required 3.5 full-time employees—nearly 40% of a nine-person team. 

 

Through analysis, we discovered overlap in training topics across programs. This prompted us to optimize and standardize our content. By consolidating overlapping areas, we built a unified content repository that could be shared across multiple programs, ensuring consistency and relevance in training materials. 

 

We piloted this approach with our Sales & Distribution team, encompassing retail and call centers. The results were transformative: maintenance hours dropped by 70%, allowing our team to prioritize strategic initiatives. New hires experienced faster onboarding, improved engagement, and better knowledge retention, enhancing their readiness to perform. 

This initiative underscored the power of content standardization, cross-functional collaboration, and streamlined processes. By addressing inefficiencies and embracing innovation, we achieved measurable improvements in operational efficiency, team productivity, and the overall training experience. This project highlighted the potential for thoughtful problem-solving to drive meaningful organizational impact.

Learning Design & Delivery:

Develops and delivers engaging, effective learning solutions across various topics and methods.

First Place – AT&T

AT&T transformed its enterprise-wide compliance training by shifting from a routine, check-the-box format to an engaging, scenario-based learning experience rooted in microlearning and real-world application. This redesign cut course time nearly in half—saving over 300,000 hours annually—while boosting knowledge retention, behavior change, and employee satisfaction. By embedding analytics, personalization, and role-relevant content, the initiative has cultivated a stronger culture of ethical decision-making and proactive compliance. 

Second Place – Highland Homes

Highland Homes processes tens of thousands of change orders annually and the prior system did not integrate with third-party platforms, was prone to pricing errors, and did not provide cross-departmental visibility of submitted change orders. As a result, the company developed a custom Change Order system that integrates with Salesforce and the ERP, streamlines workflows, and improves pricing accuracy. 

The L&D team partnered with the Sales Training and IT teams to develop and deliver training about the new system. Several constraints influenced how the training was designed, including system migration, timing aspects, and space constraints and laptop availability for in-person sessions.

 

Given these complexities, a “reverse classroom” training design was implemented where Sales employees were assigned a self-paced online training through the LMS a few weeks before going live in the new system. It included an initial launch video, a comprehensive system manual, tip sheets, walkthrough videos, and an FAQ document. Later, on their Go Live date, specific employees attended a full-day in-person workshops that provided “just in time” training through hands-on practice and scenario-based coaching. Finally, a Change Order SharePoint site was available for ongoing resources and support. 

 
274 of 276 Sales employees (99%) completed the online training prior to launch, and over 360 employees completed the online training to date. 192 Sales employees attended one of the 12 in-person Sales workshops across the state. Though not the primary audience, 12 virtual training sessions were also hosted for non-Sales employees. Formal survey results and informal feedback indicate that the “reverse classroom” training approach and system rollout were very successful, driving significant operational and financial benefits for the company.  

Learning Impact through Analytics:

Measures and enhances learning initiatives through data-driven insights and analytics.

First Place – Children's Health

In early 2023, Children's Health joined the KLAS Research Arch Collaborative. KLAS Research is a leading healthcare IT insights firm known for performance assessments of healthcare technologies. KLAS gathers feedback from healthcare professionals to inform decisions on software, services, and systems.

Children's Health uses Epic Corporation’s EHR system, Hyperspace, which is widely used and recognized for its robust features. However, the frequent updates and changes to the system often disrupt the workflow for approximately 6,000 EHR users, affecting their focus on patient care. To address this, they collaborated with KLAS to conduct an EHR Experience Survey to assess EHR user satisfaction and identified areas needing improvement, particularly among physicians. The survey revealed that while nurses reported high satisfaction, physicians faced challenges, especially with EHR personalization leading to lower productivity and dissatisfaction. As a result, two EHR training programs were developed: Physician Epic Personalization and Epic Refresh 1:1 Personalization aimed at improving EHR efficiency and user satisfaction. These programs began in 2024 and focus on personalizing EHR workflows and providing ongoing support. Training has been well received with high ratings for course quality and Net Promoter Scores for both programs. The initiative has led to measurable improvements in EHR efficiency with physicians reporting time savings and greater satisfaction, ultimately enhancing what matters most – the delivery of patient care.  

Technology Application:

Adopts learning technologies that drive organizational goals and innovation.

First Place – Invitation Homes

Invitation Homes launched a scalable, tech-enabled leadership development pilot to address critical skill gaps among field managers promoted for their subject matter expertise. Using Hone, a live virtual training platform, the company delivered on-demand, role-specific power skills—like delegation and influence—across time zones and schedules. Aligned with the organization’s “Better” strategic pillar, the initiative achieved 88% participation, 94% engagement, and a 13% turnover rate (versus 21% company-wide), while saving significantly on travel and productivity costs.