With 8 locations across Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and Vancouver, iQ Offices is the leading shared office-space provider in Canada. They provide companies with what matters most in coworking spaces: privacy, aesthetics, and an onsite support team.

When Jenna Wood joined the company in 2017, there were only 3 office locations. And she managed one of them. But the office locations were growing fast. And she was soon promoted to lead all training and development.

Her goal was to train new staff members quickly and efficiently while also maintaining performance and brand standards. But the challenge was she was her entire department. It would be impossible for one person to train everyone at such a fast-expanding company.

Jenna realized she needed a tech solution to her human problem. “I wanted a resource where I could upload my knowledge," she explained. "So it could be accessed in multiple places at once.”

But she wasn’t sure if anything like that existed.

Finding the solution on Instagram

The team held a meeting to figure out a possible solution. And during that meeting, the iQ Offices’ VP of Operations mentioned an ad she had seen on Instagram. It was for a training and process management software called Trainual.

And after researching all its capabilities, the team agreed to move forward with Trainual. It seemed like the perfect solution for training and supporting their onsite staff across multiple office locations.

Trainual would allow iQ Offices to securely share Jenna’s knowledge online. Meaning, once Jenna built the content, it could be accessed by anyone on their team, at any time and from anywhere.

Starting from scratch with Trainual

When Jenna started building out the Trainual, she didn’t have much to work with. “We never had one person responsible for keeping our standard operating procedures up to date. So that was my first project when I moved into the role,” she explained.

But starting from scratch felt overwhelming, so Jenna asked for a nudge in the right direction. When iQ Offices signed up for Trainual, they added on a migration package. And soon after, one of our in-house Success Coaches flew out to help get Jenna rolling on documenting processes.

Jenna says it took her a few months to cover the 3 critical roles at the company: reception, tech, and community manager. Because there was a lot to these roles and not much to jump off of, it took some heavy lifting to document them right the first time. But in August 2019, iQ Offices rolled out their Trainual and have been using it religiously ever since.

Onboarding staff members across multiple locations

Before Trainual, the company was considering Jenna’s role as a travel position - where she would train each department head in person. So she was constantly on the go.

But now, she can easily assign the training to every new staff member without ever leaving the home office (and since the pandemic, her actual home). It's been a huge win for Jenna because she now has a healthier work-life balance.

And because Jenna has once again moved up in the company, she even used Trainual to onboard her replacement.

Supporting staff after quarantine

Like most companies, iQ Offices transitioned to remote work at the start of the pandemic. But with Trainual, they were able to keep teams aligned and accountable despite not being in the home office together.

What iQ Offices provides really only works in person. So the company worked diligently to make it safe for staff members and office users to return to their shared workspaces. When support staff got the green light to go back, Trainual was there as a reference and refresher.

Before, staff members would have to call someone (typically Jenna) with their questions. But Trainual has helped eliminate those phone calls. “Because Trainual is such a great resource, staff can search for anything on it and still feel supported,” Jenna explained.

Using the Trainual app as a field guide

At every iQ Office, there is tech support to help members set up their technology onsite. Jenna explains how it’s easy to forget the processes because there are so many steps involved.

But with the Trainual mobile app, any staff member can quickly search any process from their phone and follow it step-by-step. Especially the ones that they only do once in a while.

This way, support staff can avoid fumbling in front of the people who matter - their office users. Every staff member knows exactly where every task is documented and can easily search for the one they need from anywhere. Meaning, their tech team can consistently provide the kind of support the brand strives for every time.

Looking forward to more growth

As for the future, Jenna says her successor plans to build out the rest of the departments’ Trainual and improve the content they’ve already created.

The team at iQ is looking forward to resuming its growth plans post-pandemic. And Jenna believes the documentation on Trainual will support the expansion for years to come.

“I’m excited about the future,” Jenna told us, “knowing that Trainual is going to be a great resource for building our company as we continue to grow.”