WOLFF OLINS LEARNING 2013 - 2015
Role: Learning & Development Director, London
How can you innovate a 50-year-old organization?
Scaling impact with large global organizations
Ambition
I co-founded the client learning arm alongside Head of New Thinking Robert Jones within the 55-year-old creative consultancy Wolff Olins, developing an online learning platform to scale our impact beyond workshops of 100 people to serve 100,000+ employees across global organizations.
Action
With executive sponsorship from former CEO Ije Nwokorie and support from senior leadership, I kickstarted this venture from the ground up, focusing these strategic priorities:
• Vision + Business Strategy + Metrics
• Product Strategy + Course Design + Facilitator Recruitment
• Business Development + Account Strategy
Outcome
Our alumni base, includes senior leaders from Virgin, EE, AECOM, (RED), Frog Design, Macmillan and the Wellcome Trust. Our Net Promoter Score -- the likelihood of learners to recommend our courses -- was 87. To put this into context, Apple is 76, Amazon is 69.
“You guys were true pros. We dove right in, quickly got to the root of the problem and in less than an hour walked away with practical tools that we could actually use.”
— James Frisbie, VP Brand, HKS
Key Learnings
Know that every client, every learner is different
Make unique courses that meet each individual’s learning needs to move your entire organization forward.
Create a scalable model
Design a simple content framework that enables everyone in your organization to quickly transform your most valuable thinking into scalable public online courses.
Ensure learning achieves business outcomes
Work across disciplines – strategy, marketing, human resources – to design a learning and development program that makes your organization’s vision a reality.
Read more about what it takes to build a successful venture inside an organization in this medium post.