How BuroAkzent trains managers of an oil corporation with Talent Rocks
Make leadership training for managers and lead specialists of production units engaging and as practice-oriented as possible — that was the challenge the business client set for the BuroAkzent team. The Talent Rocks platform and engaging formats of communication with participants helped solve it.
Client
BuroAkzent (Akzent Corporate Development Bureau) is a training and consulting company that has been successfully working in staff development since 2004. It specializes in comprehensive training programs for managers at every level, from frontline supervisors to top executives.
One of these programs is the “Management School,” designed to train managers and lead specialists of production units at a Russian oil corporation and launched in 2022. Over 4 months, participants hone their management competencies and build skills in team management, effective negotiation and leadership.
The program is divided into 3 main modules, each with three 4-hour online training sessions. Between modules there is a break of several weeks for self-study of theory, tests, assignments and group work.
Gomozova
Our goal was not only to put together expert-level learning content for managers, but also to show participants that learning can be interesting, active and engaging.
To achieve this, we “cover” part of the theory through pre- and post-training work, which we call PREWORK and POSTWORK
Challenge
To apply asynchronous learning in the program and complement the online sessions with self-study, BuroAkzent needed an e-learning platform. It had to be flexible and adaptable enough to bring the program concept and all of the instructional designers’ ideas to life.
- Support for different content formats — longreads and video lessons organized into clear, convenient step-by-step courses.
- Gamification with convenient, highly automated point awards for platform activity (completing courses and tests), for active participation in group work and for completing assignments such as recording video introductions.
- Various test and survey formats, both linked to e-learning courses as part of preliminary theory preparation and independent of them.
- A space for communication, group work and networking on the same platform.
- Mobility as a must-have for management training. The ability to complete modules outside working hours, without being tied to a work computer.
Solution
The solution was a mobile digital hub for the “Management School” built on the Talent Rocks platform. A builder with 50+ functional modules allowed the program’s instructional designers to assemble a mobile app that precisely fits the program’s goals and brings different learning formats together for employees’ convenience.
- PREWORK and POSTWORK courses. These unlock for participants as they progress through the program modules. Each course consists of several longread stages and ends with a test.
- News feed. Keeps participants up to date on program news. Organizers post reminders about assignment deadlines and other important information in the feed.
- Morning quizzes in the app. Quick quizzes before webinars on intensive training days help participants “warm up” and get into learning mode. For organizers, they are a fast way to collect webinar attendance stats and award points to the most disciplined participants.
- Homework. Participants submit their homework for review through the platform.
- Group chats and direct messages. Used for communication between participants and effective teamwork.
- Leaderboard. In this section, program participants can see their ranking, their full history and the rules for earning points.
- Push notifications. Bring attention back to learning, remind participants of key program milestones and keep motivation up.
Gomozova
With Talent Rocks, we engage participants in pre- and post-training activities. We know participants need to be motivated and engaged on a regular basis, which is why we use gamification. Thanks to the platform, our leaderboard and point awards are automated, and the gamification rules are transparent to participants.
Every month we come up with new ideas for improving this program even further, and our colleagues at Talent Rocks always help us bring them to life.
Next steps
The first stage of the “Management School” program was completed in 2022 and showed a high completion rate and good results in developing employee competencies. Three more training cohorts are planned for both 2023 and 2024.