How Deloitte makes learning
a good habit for their workforce.
Although employees are eager to learn, sometimes an extra push in the right direction is needed. How does Paulien Klinkenberg, Learning Coordinator at Deloitte, approach this? Check out her 5 best-practices to create a successful learning culture within the organisation!
- Company: Deloitte - BS&O (The Netherlands)
- Industry: Professional services
- Department size: 350 employees
- Headquarters: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
1. Ensure continuous exposure.
''It's important that GoodHabitz stays on the radar of our employees. I put it in the spotlight on a monthly basis, by mentioning assessments and online training courses in my newsletters. The theme depends on what's most relevant for Deloitte at that point in time. Are we putting extra emphasis on cyber security, then I will try to highlight GoodHabitz's educational content that revolves around this topic. Other themes could be linked to the moment of the year or an upcoming holiday. Another example is the end of the fiscal year - when it's time for the performance reviews. This is the perfect moment to highlight courses like The Performance Review and Asking for Feedback in our newsletter. You can see, from the visitor numbers on the platform, that there's a spike in attendance when courses are recommended.''
2. Link to relevant themes.
"As I mentioned in the previous point, I try to link the assessments and training courses as much as possible to themes that are relevant to Deloitte. This way, our employees see how the acquired knowledge directly applies to their daily work. An example is linking it to Deloitte's focus areas (Development, D&I, and Sustainability). I’ll advise my colleagues on what content is the best fit for different topics. This happens through my newsletter, but also in the leadership meetings (management team and team leads) that I attend. Depending on the topics that are discussed in these meetings, I’ll advise the managers and team leads on the right educational content to use for this. In this way, they’ll know exactly where to start and inform their team members, depending on the topic that they want to focus on. The results of the assessments will give them the next, targeted follow-up steps in their personal development.’’
3. Promote via team leads.
"Team leads also play a significant role in the entire process, to convince their teams of the added value of an assessment and to encourage action. I motivate them to initiate WorkOuts with their team, but am also open to overseeing these exercises myself. As discussed earlier, I regularly attend team lead meetings to provide information on the use of GoodHabitz’s educational content and related opportunities that are coming up. If I hear from the team leads that something is an issue, I try to use GoodHabitz content to address it. If a lot of feedback is given, but people still find it daunting, I suggest diving into the 'Communication Style - What is Your Colour?' assessment and/or the online training course ‘Great Conversations'. This approach creates more common ground and ensures that there is a responsibility to follow it up."
You can get started on a WorkOut right away because all the resources have already been made. The sessions are always relaxed and enjoyable, which gets the whole process going.
4. Lower the threshold with offline group assignments.
"I try to make as much use as possible of WorkOuts (classroom group assignments to be done at work). The main reason is to push (group) responsibility. A WorkOut not only urges the discussion of results and experiences, but also zooms in on the follow-up steps that the colleague should take. With a WorkOut you get the people in your team more involved and excited. Take, for example, the Team Roles assessment, which is followed by the team role game. It is extremely valuable to know which role and approach is a fit for your colleagues. This way, you can support each other optimally and know which tasks do and do not fit your immediate colleagues. You also immediately know where you can still grow. A WorkOut gives the team lead and the rest of the members the perfect stage to discuss how the gained self-insights and knowledge have been put into practice. In the training program for starting Executive Assistants, I make a lot of use of online training courses, preceded by a WorkOut. This way, the entire team is immediately involved, and the results are tangible. It's great that the preparation takes little time. You can get started right away because all the resources have already been made. The sessions are always relaxed and enjoyable, which gets the whole process going. This works as a great icebreaker and significantly lowers the threshold for further learning."
5. Include personal development in the appraisal of employees.
''Personal development has been included in our Employee Value Proposition (EVP) since 2021. A clear distinction has been made between performance and development, which ties into our desire to put emphasis on personal growth as one of the key aspects of our EVP. By including it in our processes and making it more concrete, a continuous focus on personal development is being encouraged throughout the complete organisation. Also, this sends a message to potential future employees, demonstrating that Deloitte takes personal development seriously and considers it an integral part of the different positions.''