There were several challenges for the NRL with their current suite of technology, and they were using multiple systems for differing purposes, many of which were not performing well.

The LMS included a coach reaccreditation programme which was poorly organised and did not effectively address many different skill levels. It also included a referee training programme that had a high dropout rate, which indicated a poor user experience.

In addition to the LMS they were using for the NRL Learning Centre, the league also needed to use a third party system to manage all of their certifications, and it was proving very difficult to track and report on these internally.

Our solution was the implementation of a new LMS to combine the functions of the two previous systems it was using. The new system enables users by giving them greater control over content, certification management, and syncing with the membership database

The system consists of an interactive e-learning programme using imc’s Chatbot framework, with options for all experience levels. The programme contains scenario-based learning modules that account for different personality types and the challenges they present at games.

The Coach Reaccreditation and Referee Training programmes are now also using imc technology to provide an entertaining and informative journey to users. The new system provides students with the opportunity to learn through a variety of real-world scenarios that best fit their interests (for example, age-appropriate training for children or teenagers). Each learner has access to video examples of real-life, correct and incorrect performances.

As part of the redevelopment, we reinvigorated the referee-accreditation programme with real game footage and used an authoritative subject matter expert (SME), Kasey Badger, to attract referees from all walks of life.

By co-designing directly with the people imc was designing for, the team at imc could address a lot of the needs and challenges the department was experiencing more directly.

When taking the time to communicate with them, the team could quickly unlock insights that lead to success. They asked people to develop several personas of what “great” looked for them. Then these insights were used to define the common factors and principles of success through their eyes.

So imc discovered that they could align department employees more effectively by providing an experience that enabled them to explore the culture openly. The key to success was to empower their ability to guide themselves to find information and support when needed.

From the workshop insights, the team applied a co-designed content strategy to deliver a meaningful experience for employees.

Three workshops, one for discovery, the second for analysis and the third for conceptualisation and service mapping, were conducted. They focused on aligning the team to the vision and potential to design more than an eLearning module and still stay within scope.

By considering the managers, their challenges, but also the opportunity to make a more significant impact across the organisation, the design process put the managers' needs and the organisation's requirements at the heart of the solution.

The bringing together of people, processes and technology created a unique circumstance where over twenty thousand geographically dispersed people needed to collaborate in service of the taxpaying people of NSW.

Nationally, labour market data says that social assistance industries and organisations like the NSW Department of Communities and Justice are expected to grow by 14.2% before 2025.

With more employees, the Department recognised that a performance culture that aligned their people would be business-critical.

Launched from the DCJ LMS and intended to respond to any screen available to geographically diverse learners, this solution used three fundamental approaches:

• Acknowledge the preconceived idea that performance conversations are difficult, uncomfortable, and unnecessary.
• Include a hero who finds the confidence to have performance conversations and unintentional villains who detract from the hero’s journey.
• Simplify the call to action.

To summarise the eLearning and focus on the ‘why’, a short animation was developed to act as a lightning rod to attract managers and employees' trust, attention, and motivation.

Understanding that talking about performance can be complex; the 3-minute animation demonstrates that performance conversations are an opportunity for managers and employees to work together and discuss opportunities. The target audience for the animation is wider and designed to create interest in the broader program.

The first step was to select a suitable tool for creating the training course. We chose Articulate Rise, and the team undertook two in-house workshops on how to use it.

Next, the team agreed to use storytelling as the course’s definitive stylistic device and to adopt a mascot as the narrator and companion for learners on their learning journey. Max – that’s the mascot’s name – looks a little like a ghost and emerges from the dot on the “i” of imc. He starts out very pale but gradually takes on more colour as the learner progresses through the course and learns more about the imc brand.

Max features in all elements of the training course. For example, in the history section, he reads from a book telling the story of the company’s founder, Professor August-Wilhelm Scheer. As the training course progresses, Max draws the learner deeper and deeper into the imc brand experience. The course also includes quizzes at regular intervals to gauge comprehension of the learning content.

CCYP strived to make the new starter and employee experience enjoyable, nevertheless, the reality was that new starters were handed 60 pdf documents when joining and sent on their way, leaving everything to chance. Our intervention was focused on disrupting this in a big way.

For CCYP, 'experience' was defined as “an event or occurrence which leaves an impression on someone” or a “feeling and emotion”. Employee experience, much like customer experience, is the deliberate and intentional design of systems and processes that create better human outcomes.

In the context of CCYP, Employee experience is the way new starters feel and the impression that’s made on them when they join the organisation.

This project was developed with a Human-Centred Design approach.

Human-Centred Design is a way of working and being that exists beyond a project or methodology. The world around us is changing rapidly, and the human-centric approach prepares us to deal with uncertainty and ambiguity.

Using Human-Centred Design methods helps us to understand human values and latent needs, so we are able to create people experiences that are meaningful and resilient.

Through this approach, we were able to shape a workplace experience where people want to be, one that responds understands, and values the perspectives and needs of those we aim to empower.

The major challenge facing the implementation of new training content was the scale of which COVID-19 was evolving throughout Victoria in 2020. This then lead to the up-scaling of the Department’s COVID-19 response group, who also had to pivot away from face-to-face training to consuming their mandatory compliance training and other important information via a largely online environment.

The Department’s solution was to work with their existing LMS vendor imc to develop an additional system (referred to as the “COVID19LMS.”)

The LMS was set up and ready to use in several days to assist with the rapid response to COVID-19. It was set up to accommodate a rapidly expanding workforce who were in need of individualised training through a role-based learning pathway.

The major challenge of the project was to build a new system that was primarily aimed at a Gen Z audience. Therefore, the platform had to be fully mobile-optimised, with intuitive UI, a custom interface, and be accessible to all participants.

To effectively connect with the intended audience, the development of new content had to include realistic learning scenarios, gamification elements, interactivity and feedback and had to be embedded in research.

imc needed to ensure that the new platform, based on their Learning Management System imc Learning Suite, met critical safety business processes, skill competencies and compliance with legislation.

Another challenge was ensuring the system reduced administrative efforts and costs whilst also improving KiwiRail’s data quality and availability.

imc built one system which helped KiwiRail to undertake a variety of business functions. These included:

• A way for employees and contractors where they can find and register for training
• The ability for employees to track their progress and manage their career training goals
• A method for the business to manage skills, certificates and competencies
• Enhancing managers’ ability to monitor and report on what their staff are completing

This system also helped to reduce costs across the business through the synchronisation of the HR system within the LMS.

Another highlight of implementing this new system was the topic of compliance. The system tracks safety, regulatory and legislative compliance training requirements. It helped to ensure that all of these are met with the ability to deliver company-wide reporting.