British Telecom making blended learning work

BT Global Services – Making Blended Learning Work

June 2010Karen Chappell-TayGlobal Head of Learning and Development

© British Telecommunications plc

Contents

1. Introduction to BT Global Services2. The Vision for BTGS Learning and Development – the Journey3. The Challenge4. The Solution5. Typical Programme6. Benefits7. Learnings


What is BT Global Services?

• BT Global Services delivers market-leading networked IT products and services that are critical to our customers’ success, across 170 countries.

• Revenue in FY 09/10 of £8.5Bn, EBITDA of £457M• Customers include Fiat, P&G, MoD, DWP, Reuters, Hertz, Huawei,

Sainsbury’s, Nomura, Lloyds, Unilever, Commerzbank, Emirates, Anglo American, BNL etc

• Received numerous industry awards, including Investors in People• BT employs 120,000 people worldwide, and has over 20,000 working from

home in virtual teams• BT Global Services has 26,000 people worldwide, in 53 countries.

• BT Global Services delivers market-leading networked IT products and services that are critical to our customers’ success, across 170 countries.

• Revenue in FY 09/10 of £8.5Bn, EBITDA of £457M• Customers include Fiat, P&G, MoD, DWP, Reuters, Hertz, Huawei,

Sainsbury’s, Nomura, Lloyds, Unilever, Commerzbank, Emirates, Anglo American, BNL etc

• Received numerous industry awards, including Investors in People• BT employs 120,000 people worldwide, and has over 20,000 working from

home in virtual teams• BT Global Services has 26,000 people worldwide, in 53 countries.


Where are we going?Maturity Curve of a Learning Organisation

Disparate training Departments

Combined training Departments

Transition from Training to Learning

Fully integrated Learning and Knowledge Management

Time

Val

ue to

the

orga

nisa

tion

“Make training more efficient”

“Make training an intrinsic part of my job”

“Make training more effective”

“I am responsible for my own learning”

“We are all responsible for the organisation’s learning”

2006 2007 2008 2009

Training an integral part of all activities

F2F training is done to people

We measure cost

Blended training is done to people

We measure how much they learnt

People accept responsibility for their own training

We measure improvements in skills and capability

We use Competence-Based Development

People know how they learn and actively seek opportunities

We measure business improvements

People learn everywhere, seeking learning when they need it. We use knowledge calls and internal SME’s

We reward people for how much their colleagues learn

We measure overall business benefit

2010


The Problem

Internally:• In FY 08/09, BTGS failed to drive down costs fast enough whilst winning new capital-

intensive contracts• As a result EBITDA on turnover of £8.7Bn collapsed and there were extensive contract

writedowns• All non-essential spend was cut, including learning and travel• Low value-add activities were mostly outsourced• External recruitment for skills we lacked was not an option

Consequently:-• Face to face learning too expensive…..• ….no cross fertilisation through travel…• …..and hence, no social interaction• Employee Engagement surveys started to say that people felt isolated and disengaged.


External context

• Rapid innovation and improvement in eLearning – but eLearning is too impersonal

• Increased availability of a variety of knowledge-sharing and collaboration tools

• Best practice shows over again that people learn more on the job than in formal learning programmes

• Increasingly sophisticated users of technology, social networking tools, virtual worlds

• Cost-reduction programmes by customers actually increased BTGS’ opportunities, but pressure on margins became greater.


Money’s too tight to mention…...but we did have assets:-

• An L&D function with global reach• A course catalogue of over 6,500 free-at-point-of-use courses with Skillsoft• A global LMS• Many knowledge-sharing tools• Access to new technologies e.g. Microsoft Academy, Support Point, Wiki, My

BT, Wizard… • An experienced L&D team• Professional Communities run by SME, experienced people• HR frameworks - job families and defined skills for roles• Good comms channels• A workforce who are used to working virtually

• An L&D function with global reach• A course catalogue of over 6,500 free-at-point-of-use courses with Skillsoft• A global LMS• Many knowledge-sharing tools• Access to new technologies e.g. Microsoft Academy, Support Point, Wiki, My

BT, Wizard… • An experienced L&D team• Professional Communities run by SME, experienced people• HR frameworks - job families and defined skills for roles• Good comms channels• A workforce who are used to working virtually


The solution – “High Touch” Programmes

Personalising the Virtual World• Learning through discovery (The Treasure Hunt)• Working together in teams• Virtual socialising – post photos, share personal stories• Use of icebreaker techniques in a virtual world• Must be fun

The Mechanics• Modular programme designed for 30-40 people, lasting 6-12 weeks• Run entirely virtually using internal SME’s and facilitators• Takes 1-5 hours per week for each delegate• Makes extensive use of knowledge-sharing tools• Most classroom techniques can now be used virtually – whiteboards,

polls, shared feedback, break out rooms, presentations, videos


Typical Programme

Timing Activity Type

Week 1 Read the High Touch Welcome Pack Self-directed

Week 2 Kick Off and Introduction to CollaborationCreate Programme Charter and Icebreaker activities

SeminarSeminar

Week 3 Introduction to PodcastingFaces of Service Operations

MasterclassWorkshop with breakouts

Week 4 Introduction to Financial Management methods and toolsCase study and de-briefTeam coaching

MasterclassSeminarCoaching

Week 5 Introduction to Business Improvement methods and toolsCase study and team project kick-offIdentify business issue and agree team project topic

MasterclassSeminarWorkshop with breakouts

Week 6 Facilitator checkpointView podcast on “how to conduct brainstorming activities”Build Business Case

Self-directedBreak out teams

Week 7 Conduct peer review and feedbackDe-brief peer review activity

SeminarWorkshop

Week 8 Refine solution based on peer reviewMy Personal Brand

Break out teams

Week 9 Prepare to pitch solutionConduct pitch

Break out teamsSeminar

Week 10 Group feedback and coachingIndividual feedback and coachingBuild conclusion Podcast and Summary

WorkshopCoachingSeminar


Benefits

• ROI– Increases ROI on current assets– Delivers higher ROI than face-to-face programmes

• Cost– Avoids spend now and in future– Reduces No. of suppliers and therefore admin costs– Reduces travel spend – for SME’s too– Reduces travel time and time away from desk

• Accessibility– Location-independent– Creates opportunity for all to take part, not just selected few– Wider accessibility as not funding-dependent

• Increased capability– Supports drive towards knowledge-sharing– Increases appetite and lowers resistance towards eLearning

• ROI– Increases ROI on current assets– Delivers higher ROI than face-to-face programmes

• Cost– Avoids spend now and in future– Reduces No. of suppliers and therefore admin costs– Reduces travel spend – for SME’s too– Reduces travel time and time away from desk

• Accessibility– Location-independent– Creates opportunity for all to take part, not just selected few– Wider accessibility as not funding-dependent

• Increased capability– Supports drive towards knowledge-sharing– Increases appetite and lowers resistance towards eLearning


Results

Classic evaluation data

•Very favourable feedback•Very high Return On Investment –

c.500%•Highly oversubscribed programmes -

5 applicants for every available place•Ran 8 programmes in FY09/10•11 programmes already booked for FY

10/11•Challenge for FY 10/11 is to

industrialise the format - we cannot cope with the demand.

Impact on delivery channels

% of Learning

2007 2010

Classroom 80% 15%

eLearning 15% 30%

Blended 0 40%

Informal 5% 15%

Face-to-face = formal, traditional classroom-based trainingeLearning = formal eLearning module, usually with tests etcKnowledge call/blended = semi-formal activities led by facilitator or instructor with input and participation from learnersInformal/self-directed e.g. mentoring, reading texts, writing white papers, creating case studies, attending conferences, participating in discussion boards etc


Engagement

•Website hits remain fairly constant

•Use of blog rapidly increasing•Blog is constantly updated

and is used for sharing•Correlation between use of

blog and High Touch programmes

•Also drives podcasting

In 2009:-1. Hits to the L&D website went from an average of 2,000 per month in the first half of the year, to 3,000 per month in 2H.2. Hits to the L&D blog averaged 20,000 per month.3. No. of voluntary subscribers to the L&D Stakeholders Newsletter went from 120 to 273, including around 50 from outside GS (excluding requests from external companies.)


Learnings

• Engage stakeholders carefully. Find a champion because initial resistance or lack of understanding will be high – even from your own team

• Pilot with enthusiasts – and be prepared to learn from the pilot• Position programmes from the beginning as “by invitation only”• Use multiple channels to reach your target audience – increased

usage of one correlates with increased usage of others• Make it fun. Otherwise, when you build it, they will NOT come• “Buddies” help to keep participants going through the difficult times• Initial programmes are highly resource intensive• Although ROI is high, the real benefits come from cultural change,

driving usage of eLearning, improving knowledge-sharing, increasing social interaction, building of networks…


Where are we going?





Time

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ue to

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orga

nisa

tion

Classroom-based training

92 FTE’s

Spend of £26M

15% eLearning

80 FTE’s

Spend of £21M

Standard curricula

50% eLearning

59 FTE’s

Spend of £12M

“High Touch” blended learning programmes

“Highways” (minimum standard programmes)

15% classroom-based training

27 FTE’s

Spend of £4.6M

Blurred edges between knowledge sharing and learning

Fully blended offering

15% classroom-based learning

37 FTE’s

Spend of £10.9M

“Make training more efficient”

“Make training an intrinsic part of my job”

“Make training more effective”

“I am responsible for my own learning”

“We are all responsible for the organisation’s learning”

2006 2007 2008 2009


2010


Business KPI’s





Time

Val

ue to

the

orga

nisa

tion

2006 2007 2008 2009


2010

Spend

Headcount


What next?

• A lot more fun - Learning as a by-product• Games and simulations• Industrialise the format so that teams can run their own• ?


And finally

“Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival.” W. Edwards Deming (1900 - 1993)