We can all agree on one thing. This year was filled with enormous change and daunting challenges. But, no matter what 2020 threw at MediaKind, a 1,200-person Ericsson spinoff operating in twenty-nine countries, the company was ready with learning content and programs to support employees through it all. Here are the 6 best practices that helped them navigate these challenging times.
1. Prioritized activating employees on LinkedIn Learning
MediaKind’s commitment to learning and employee development was demonstrated when they shared a new learning offering—LinkedIn Learning—to all of their employees at the beginning of the pandemic.
According to MediaKind’s Chief People Officer Dave Medrano, “All of a sudden the way we had previously worked changed drastically and our first priority was taking care of our employees and giving them learning content to help them manage through the crisis. That’s why we purchased LinkedIn Learning; it added so much umph to our virtual learning offerings exactly when we needed it most.”
“It was a stressful time for everyone,” said Laura Simzer, Vice President of Talent at MediaKind. “We wanted to support everyone’s mental health while also rethinking our management, leadership, and technical learning programs to help us adapt to the new environment.”
One month after MediaKind gave LinkedIn Learning to everyone in their organization, they had an 81% activation rate and employees had watched over 10,000 videos.
2. Created a learning council with representatives across the organization
Prior to launching LinkedIn Learning, MediaKind created a learning council that included representatives from each function—including executives and their delegates. Each council member shared the learning priorities for their teams and worked together to create goals and metrics that each council member would help drive once the platform launched. In addition to quantifiable metrics such as usage or particular skills developed, they also tracked behavioral changes such as how managers interact with employees.
3. Removed the guardrails on learning
Setting up the council was visionary, but they also took a different approach when it came to launch. “We asked the learning council whether we should create learning paths prior to launch or do that later after seeing what content employees were interested in and fine tuning from there,” said Dave. “With everyone being at home and hungry for learning content, we collectively decided to give all employees access and then curate curriculum as we went along. We didn’t want any guardrails on learning.”
4. Learning programs quickly responded to world events and executives jumped in to help
When George Floyd was tragically killed in May and the Black Lives Matter (#BLM) movement became a top priority in both communities and organizations around the world, many companies shifted their learning programs from ‘how to work remotely’ to Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DIBs). This was an important turning point on our collective journey towards social justice—and anti-racism—and also marked a meaningful learning moment.
Angel Ruiz, who was CEO of MediaKind at the time, kicked off the DIBs learning campaign with an email to everyone. He said, “As we introduce our new MK [MediaKind] LinkedIn Learning program, I want to encourage all of you to invest quality time learning and reflecting on Unconscious Bias, Cultural Sensitivity and Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging. Later today, you will receive a communication with instructions on how to access these learning modules. I know firsthand through life experience that we will grow even stronger the more we build increased awareness of our own actions and value one another. Together, we will continue to have a positive impact on society worldwide.”
As a fast follow HR sent the following note to all employees.
5. Created a learning competition
“We raised awareness about LinkedIn Learning with a learning competition and promoted a wide variety of topics that employees could choose from—from mental wellness to diversity and inclusion topics and a few technical skills that people were hungry for as well. After our CEO sent the email, all of a sudden learning spiked. We were a step ahead and we received so much positive feedback. Emails just keep coming through. It was really magical,” said Laura.
6. Was sensitive to regional differences to foster inclusion, especially in internal communications
“We have a lot of diversity in our organization—national, country of origin, language—and we worked hard to be sensitive to that and ensure that our learning programs and communications weren’t U.S.-centric. After all, only 20% of our employees are based in the U.S.,” said Dave.
To help address regional and cultural differences, MediaKind’s CEO asked his direct reports to facilitate live discussions with their teams about DIBs. Dave also focused on promoting DIBs courses that are applicable globally. As he said, “Unconscious bias is a universal challenge and a connective tissue when words and jargon fall down. If you focus on equality, then you won’t miss the mark. We offered a wide spectrum of courses during the learning competition, and DIBs courses naturally rose to the top.”
Although there were a wide variety of courses that were recommended and available, Unconscious Bias (free through 12/31/20) was the second most popular course in the company.
Now that everyone at MediaKind has access to LinkedIn Learning, and employees are forming the habit of turning to learning when challenges arise, they are prepared for whatever is ahead in 2021 and beyond.
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