A Learning Academy For Our People

2020 was the year that everything shifted – it significantly changed the way people worked and also the way they learnt and developed. Nowadays, learning experiences can take place anywhere, half a day seminars have been replaced with bite sized content that one can access online. Company training functions need to constantly adapt their strategies to be a key enabler of this digital transformation.

GO’s purpose is to drive a digital Malta where no one is left behind. This means that the people development function will need to play a pivotal role in continuously building leading edge digital skills in order to enable a purpose and values led culture, attract and retain top talent and ultimately achieve organisational growth. This is when the idea of the GO Academy came to life and when the inspiring journey began.

Our vision for the GO Academy was to act as a key driver of change, in particular embedding the required skills, mind-set and behaviours to continue to build strategic capabilities for the Company. So Towards the last quarter of 2020 the many brainstorming sessions and all the ground work for the GO Academy began, working up to the launch. This started with a lot of internal and external research, designing the Academy model, and identifying 2021 Academy priorities.

Through this Academy we knew that our goals were to help our people reach their careers aspirations and do their jobs to the best of their abilities, whilst also inspiring them to invest in their own learning and celebrating them for doing so. We enforced the part of our purpose ‘’no one is left behind’’ through ensuring that the GO Academy is for everyone at GO, and we promised we will provide learning which is; easy to access, high quality, bite-sized, inspires a growth mind-set and most importantly is prioritised by our leaders.

The above made it clear – the Academy would deliver three different types of learning to match its’ goals; Priority learning programmes, technical & functional training and self – driven learning.

Priority Learning Programmes

In order to deliver our purpose we needed to create priority learning programmes, to build skills focused on our three pillars which are; Purposeful Leadership, Customer Centricity and Digital Excellence.

We committed to run a number of these programmes every year to be experienced by the majority of our people, and I am happy to say that our first Pillar programme under Customer Centricity has just been delivered. Although this is not the end of the first programme, the delivery of the content is only the start. Our people have walked away from the training with an action point they can incorporate into their daily tasks to contribute to an overall great customer experience. I would love to be able to blink and fast forward to a number of months down the line to witness the shift in behaviour and mind-sets, but I will be patient and enjoy the beautiful process.

Technical & Functional Training

In 2020 the delivery of the technical & functional training had to be completely revamped and made digital. The Academy team has since then joined forces with key stakeholders in GO (our now amazing GO Academy Ambassadors) in order to act as a key link to the organisation, to ensure that departmental learning needs are met, digital skill gaps addressed and content is delivered in line with the Academy’s’ learning principles.

Self – Driven Learning

We wanted to give total empowerment to our people to be able to define their own learning goals and indulge their own curiosity through a number of opportunities. That is why we teamed up with Learnerbly, a leading edge digital learning platform, giving our people access to a treasure trove of different online content. We also provided each individual with a personal learning budget, for them to invest in their own learning, whether it would be to learn coding or about the art of happiness.

The Academy will also be introducing a series of short webinars, to give our people as many opportunities as possible to learn things that they will find relevant and stimulating, whilst also keeping in mind the fast paced industry we work in.

The journey has just begun…

Just last week we internally launched the GO Academy and I am very aware that the work has just started. An important note that we try to keep in mind is that mind-set and behaviour change does not happen overnight or from a few workshops – we need to ensure to keep up the momentum and constantly inspire our people to take ownership, follow through with the different learnings and practice them every day.

Follow our journey at LifeatGO.

About the Author and the Team

Emma Gatt is the HR & People Development Manager at GO, and has always been passionate about people and training. She started her journey at GO as an HR Specialist, began creating and delivering training content in-house until she progressed to take ownership of the training pillar within GO. Emma and Anthea, who form the People Development team, together with rest of the HR team, strive to create a space where GO’s people are equipped with the digital skills needed to drive the Company forward, whilst also creating a culture in GO where people are inspired to keep learning and share their knowledge with those around them.

Have a look at our careers page and get in touch with us if you want to take your career to the next step!  For GO products and services, visit our official website or get in touch with our experts online or by visiting any of our GO outlets.