Hemsley Fraser share the secrets of engagement at Learning Live 2019
Engagement is a more pressing concern for L&D teams today than perhaps ever before. The increased emphasis of digital and blended learning content means engagement needs to be considered not just in terms of the content and learning experience, but beyond that too.
Hemsley Fraser are routinely seeing content engagement levels 6 to 12 times higher than the industry average rates with their clients.
Lessons learned through experience
“Initially our focus was to engage people so that they wanted to learn and also enjoyed the learning experience. New technology has enabled us to promote key messaging to employees, connecting with them and motivating them to learn by guiding them towards content that supports them as individuals to build technical, soft and life skills as part of their typical working life,” said Lynsey Whitmarsh, Director of Innovation at Hemsley Fraser.
Hemsley Fraser consider how best to create learning experiences which engage employees so that those experiences have a lasting impact. And believe that to achieve greatest impact, learning should be approached as continuous development, combining several different experiences. So, in order for employees to invest time in learning, they must be (a) engaged to learn and (b) engaged within learning.
Hemsley Fraser soon discovered that the methods used to drive engagement in learning could be applied to the organisation as a whole.
Engaged to succeed
But why stop with learning? Skills shortages and low productivity levels, combined with the changing motivating factors of the workforce have put employee engagement high on the priority list. Modern workers are not just interested in what they take home at the end of the day, they want to feel that their organisation has purpose and that as individuals they have a role in achieving that purpose.
Hemsley Fraser have been able to achieve quite astonishing content engagement rates by linking learning and communications to the business goals and vision for the future. Through the creation of personalised content blended with learning assets, they are able to ensure that people buy in to and are engaged with the business aims, helping to boost productivity.
They have seen impressive results for those organisations taking a more holistic approach to driving workforce engagement throughout the business. Engaging the energies of people and using their capabilities to drive organisational goals, they have achieved higher engagement within the business.
Organisations with a culture based on shared values report higher productivity, increased retainment and improvements to the bottomline. Hemsley Fraser have achieved a 97 per cent engagement rate internally.
The sum of the parts
Organisations must create a culture and vision that employees can buy into and – crucially – provide tools and experiences which enable this. Behaviour is not changed through knowledge, therefore employees must be engaged through actions and initiatives, such as learning and communication, which gives individuals the opportunity to engage with the organisation.
Learning will be more effective if individuals are engaged and if individuals are engaged in learning, they are more likely to develop the skills and behaviours that will drive the organisation towards its goals. But this can only happen if businesses can think holistically and consider engagement at every level.
Hemsley Fraser want to encourage organisations to think about engagement in every corner of the business. Come and speak to us at Learning Live to discuss how we can help you achieve this.