Lead Interview
19
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“The key is making learning accessible, making it relevant and making sure managers are engaged in the development of their teams”
It’s very interactive?
Yes absolutely. I think we had somewhere in the region of a 96 per cent completion rate, which given that it takes, on average, between six and eight hours to complete, it’s pretty phenomenal!
And ‘Development Studio’?
One of the big things we did with the launch of ‘Development Studio’ is to make it really accessible. It is a custom built web-based portal where you can borrow a book, a dvd, a cd or download a pdf, mp3 file. You can also book directly onto available classroom courses, or launch an e-learning module. Until about three years ago we didn’t have one single learning management system in the organisation. We had a number of different Internet sites and brought all of that together with the ‘Development Studio’. The portal is available to everyone who is office-based within the organisation, but we are now extending it this year to field based employees. A couple of weeks ago, ‘Development Studio’ had more than 4,800 visits in a week, which is really significant in comparison to other learning management systems.
Were the changes you made a success? In terms of measuring return on investment, because we labelled very clearly what it was we were trying to achieve, we were able to say what
the success levels were. As a result we’ve see some great results in terms of people’s early performance and getting employees up to speed quicker.
What advice would you give to smaller organisations?
There is always huge pressure on budgets for anyone and that is no different in larger organisations. They are always looking for you to do more and be as effective as possible. The key is making it accessible, making it relevant and making sure managers are engaged in the development of their teams as well – ideally through the performance conversations they have with their teams.
Have you embraced mobile learning? This year we are going to focus on how we can use mobile learning. We have a number of field based employees who have access to handheld devices, it’s an area that we haven’t explored hugely, however we are very keen to expand upon. Again, it has to follow some strong design principles – you have to make sure it is relevant and not use technology just for the sake of it.
Is it difficult keeping up with all the latest technologies?
Technology moves fast and there are things that you have to continually play catch up with. Lots of people
talk about social networking and social learning, and how that can change the corporate world. You hear experts talking about learners creating content, which is great in the academic world where there isn’t a right or wrong answer, but a point of view or opinion. In a corporate environment, it becomes much more important to ensure the content you provide is accurate and engaging to deliver the best service to your customers.
What’s the next big thing at Sky?
I think building on the success that we’ve had with ‘Development Studio’ – particularly helping people access it from home, then you make it truly accessible for all. n
Kenny Henderson Learning Magazine
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