MURAbout the Client
The client is a digital-first, life sciences commercialization company. It helps biopharmaceutical, emerging biotech, and medical device companies develop products, get them to the market, and grow their impact through the life cycle in a more effective, efficient, and modern way.
Problem
From the Cultural Lens- Culture plays an integral role in shaping organizational success. There’s no debate its effectiveness has only multiplied in the post-pandemic era.
During the pandemic, the organization underwent bouts of upheaval and transformation concerning resources, operations, systems, and more. To continue offering top-notch digital-first solutions and sustain growth in times of adversity, the client added resources (employees) from diverse cultural backgrounds across the globe. The team size doubled during this period. To effortlessly align all new joinees to its culture and values, a partnership was initiated with FocusU. The aim was to introduce and educate participants about the organization’s cultural credo; and familiarize them with behaviors that are encouraged.
However, the implementation was a challenge – primarily, the selection of a learning approach that not only teaches and familiarizes participants with the culture credo but does so in an engaging manner and; importantly, it also facilitates implementation of the newly-learned lessons immediately, while they are fresh in participants’ minds.
Solution
The client was very clear that the selected methodology be highly engaging. After much deliberation, it was decided to implement the same through a tech-based app, through which the content could be made available to employees in a gamified and story-based format. This approach encourages participants to think of solutions independently yet interact with other participants to implement the best solution promptly, making it engaging. A tech-based, scenario-driven gamified solution was also appropriate given the volume of competencies that needed to be covered and the intensity that was needed for a session such as this to be impactful. Further, to set the ball rolling and give all employees the right context, it was decided to initiate the process through virtual instructor-led training (VILT).
Other methodologies considered included self-paced courses and instructor-led training. However, both were discarded as those are time-heavy. Further, self-paced courses did not seem to elicit the right kind of engagement in this context. The organization was keen on a more efficient and effective approach.
Execution
The gamified solution was designed on an app with an interesting storyline called ‘The Awards Night.’ It involved participants nominating team members who have demonstrated the right behaviors, based on the organization’s culture, for an award. On the day of the VILT, participants were required to go through a video-based case study before putting up their nominations. They did this in groups, via breakout rooms of a virtual meeting platform, where they deliberated amongst themselves why they selected a particular employee over another. This discussion was key in facilitating an understanding of which behaviors are in line with the organization’s culture credo and which aren’t – that too, through examples of their own colleagues. The focus was not on the right answer but on the reasoning and thought process behind the nomination.
Audience
The program was designed for mid to senior-level employees. Roughly 2,000+ participants joined this program in groups of 50. Some snapshots from the web-enabled app
Gamifying the solution turned out to be the right approach as it truly helped in engaging all participants, across groups – instead of relying entirely on a facilitator. Importantly, the discussions enabled the direct application of the knowledge – participants were able to apply the lessons learned then and there.
A key takeaway from the discussions was that team members are always a mix of positive and negative attributes and that there is always scope for improvement in certain facets. However, it is important to give feedback when there is a lapse just as it is important to recognize behaviors that stand out.
Participants also realized how it is important to use data so as to arrive at an unbiased decision; moreover, data also helps overcome individual perspectives and blind spots, which can highly influence the final nomination. Some feedback from participants themselves (stated here verbatim): – The scenarios presented as ‘feedback’ were in sync with real-life cases. – The gamification made the workshop more engaging. Conducting the activity individually and then as a group offered brilliant insights.
- The gamified experience helped in understanding how some may excel and some may fall short in different aspects of work.
- Understanding how different people perceive the same situation is essential for developing empathy.
- Recognizing how having a balance of traits is very significant for growth. – Practically connecting the characteristics displayed in the case study to the organizational culture.
- The perspective of how you as an employee might be perceived based on the various values that the culture credo has laid out.
- It was an eye-opener in realizing specific values in people and not just having a rigid perception
- It was refreshing and made us think outside the box.
Feedback
Participants from across the globe attended the workshop (India, USA, Europe, Mexico, etc). The gamified version was well received by all participants and garnered the appreciation of participants from various geographical backgrounds.
We also asked the participants about their overall experience on a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being “not good” and 5 being “very good.”
- Average feedback score for overall experience: 4.4
- Average feedback score for graphics and navigation: 4.4
- Average feedback score for gamification: 4.5
Train The Trainer
To make learning and development more sustainable for the batches to come, FocusU proposed TTT (Train The Trainer). Upon completion of 25 batches, the FocusU team identified and trained their trainers to carry the delivery further.
Testimonial
“The Culture Credo roll-out was a key initiative for us. It was equally important to make it interactive, fun, and engaging, and include all our colleagues globally. We partnered with FocusU, and the team designed a gamified workshop and co-created a great learning experience for everyone. I am very pleased with the feedback and the outcomes and would like to work with FocusU on more such key initiatives”
-By Director- Leadership and OD
About FocusU
“Learning interventions need to deliver business impact.”
This is the core belief that has made FocusU one of India’s prominent names in the field of corporate Learning and Engagement.
How an intervention is designed, how it is delivered, how it is reinforced, and how it is finally applied back at the workplace is customized to what works for the learner. This is done after thoroughly understanding or client’s learning needs through 1:1 discussion.
Their learner-centricity is not an empty promise. They have backed it up for 12 years now with an unconditional promise to their customers that they call, “Happy or Free.”
More recently, they have ventured into the space of self-paced courses, offering online courses to individuals wishing to improve professional skills at the workplace.
They have 3 offices in India, a joint venture in Mauritius, and now in the brave new virtual world, customers all around the globe.
Every year, they conduct around 700+ learning workshops – that touch the lives of over 40,000 employees.
Customized Content & Design
This gamified workshop experience was implemented under FocusU’s Customized Content & Design (CCD) services.
Our Customized Content & Design services are primarily for the benefit of those clients whose needs are truly unique and do not fit under any of our standard offerings.
Simply put, if you have a business problem which can be solved through a learning intervention, we will leave no stone unturned to make that happen.
