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A viral approach to social learning

As with most companies, The Body Shop’s learning and development department was always looking to do more with less. Having already implemented a new gamified induction programme from Cognify that streamlined onboarding of new starters and reduced time to competence, they were seeking a similar solution that would add and demonstrate L&D value across the entire business.

They again approached Cognify for a practical and easy-to-use workplace app to facilitate and capture on-the-job learning. As opposed to the traditional one-to-many style of most social learning tools, our approach focused on a many-to-many social model that allowed employees with knowledge and skills in particular areas to pass this information on to others.

This meant the platform was active and driven by real learner needs – where traditional methods often rely on an individual or small group passing information on to a larger one.

32%

 

Increase in employees being proactive learning and skills development

65%

 

Of users actively using the app on a monthly basis; 86% on a quarterly basis

73%

 

Of users feel they are more connected within the business, and often followup with each other after the learning has taken place

  • Cognify implemented SynQ:Social, our peer-to-peer learning app that is aimed at helping employees gain knowledge and skills for everyday tasks and special projects.
  • Users request skills at the point of need and are connected to colleagues who can teach them the skills and knowledge they need to get the job done.
  • The persuasive design of the app leads to it’s use becoming viral, because skills and knowledge migrate across users. As a result, it’s building an ongoing skills audit for The Body Shop.
  • Users add, gain or get nominated for skills, all of which are rated by peers – this less ‘work out loud’ approach means users are more likely to participate in giving and accepting feedback.

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“We challenge ourselves to think differently when it comes to learning and development, and therefore, when we were looking for a solution to add value to our training across the business, we felt social learning could deliver. Having successfully worked with Cognify on our gamified induction programme, we knew that partnering with them again would enable us to create a clever mobile application that would drive peer-to-peer learning across the business.”

Sarah Burns, International L&D Director at The Body Shop.