Thanks to a 24/7 globally connected world, learning is now, not tomorrow, not yesterday. People need to learn faster than the external marketplace is changing—a pace that traditional approaches will not allow: learn now, or you’re behind.
We have recast Ketchum University, our internal learning program, to seize this paradigm shift with its online collaborative training module, “The Race To Make It Real,” which recently won the Gold Award for Best Social/Collaborative Learning Program in 2015 from Brandon Hall.
The RTMIR premise is to put the best content online, make it available on any mobile device, and deliver it in small digestible interactive pieces with ongoing interaction and an open exchange of ideas with other participants. Make the content sharp, funny and real, vary it with text, audio and video, invite comments and replies, then watch your progress on a leader-board (click to tweet).
Earlier this year, over six months, 1,600 client-facing colleagues completed the program—learning the agency’s new strategy, applying the new creative planning process to it and suggesting how best to implement it across social media. Amazingly enough, they loved the experience. Here are a few of the reasons why, in our colleagues’ own words:
- “It was rigorous, you couldn’t fake it, you had to learn the stuff to be able to complete it.”
- “The content was sharp up to date and presented in an engaging manner.”
- “It was fun getting to know global colleagues you would never meet otherwise.”
- “It was satisfying to have a leader-board to consult that allowed you to see how you fared within your team, and how your team ranked among the other teams.”
- “It helped to be able to do it on any device at the time most convenient to you.”
- “It was great to see agency leadership personally discuss the most compelling ideas at the end of each month.”
The Race to Make It Real provided critical training, but perhaps more importantly it gave them a forum to debate the ideas presented and improve upon them with a truly global mindset. Even our clients are getting involved, with requests to modify the platform to their company and culture steadily increasing.
Want to learn more? Here’s a 20-minute podcast discussing the methodology behind social collaborative learning and the RTMIR.
