We couldn’t have planned it better: the first Unlimited Learning went live a few days after the first lockdown. From that moment on, all 7,500 VodafoneZiggo employees were able to enrol for thousands of courses. For self-improvement in their current job, to preparing for a subsequent role, or to develop personally. “It was precisely in that initial home-working period that people needed support”, says Babet Agten, Learning & Development Consultant at VodafoneZiggo. “Mindfulness and energy-management training were popular straightaway, as were entirely practical courses, such as those on conducting virtual sales meetings.”
Learning to develop
Unlimited lessons make learning more accessible for everyone within VodafoneZiggo. According to Babet: “Everyone being able to enrol for everything means there are virtually no limits to your self-development. What’s more, the large quantity of lessons brings that development into focus, since you have to really think about what you want to learn and why. Together, this leads to a shift in mindset: learning how to learn. People who do this not only learn more easily, but are also better at keeping up with changes.
Digital behaviour
Handling changes well is something especially welcome at VodafoneZiggo right now. “This is because we’re in the middle of a digital transformation”, says Babet. “With everything we do, we’re asking ourselves: is there a digital solution? Unlimited learning helps with this; by not only teaching us how to learn, but also enabling us to easily acquire digital knowledge and skills: whether relating to business analytics, graphic design or design thinking. Moreover, we can enrol in no time for agile-working courses – a way of working that facilitates rapid changes.
Applying for courses
Learning is now underway on a large scale. “Within the first ten months, over 45 percent of our colleagues and even 75 percent of management have applied for a course. We’ve jointly already taken more than 6,000 courses”, says Babet, who set up the development platform together with her colleagues. “The most popular courses are ones on personal efficiency, followed closely by those on IT and data; ranging from basic Excel training to a blockchain course. Leadership courses, agile training sessions and specialist, technical courses are also in demand.
Getting wiser together
The fact that 58 percent of the courses are being taken by complete teams is striking. “A number of colleagues are saying they miss meeting up together in a different setting, such as for a drink or a team outing. Now they’re jointly learning a language, or taking a communications-skills course. It’s great to see lots of our international colleagues learning Dutch together; and Dutch colleagues in international teams are also brushing up their English with each other."
Learning to invest
Babet is enthusiastic about the internal learning platform’s success. “Being part of the team that’s set up something innovative like this is really special. Especially when you see the enthusiasm for it. The figures are exceeding all our expectations. This was evidently needed; even outside our organisation, for that matter. Unlimited Learning was one of the reasons many of our new colleagues applied to work here, and I totally get why. This demonstrates how we’re investing in everyone wishing to invest in themselves.”