Driving Change through Online Learning

By Kemala Hayati, VP –Head of People Development & Culture Engagement, Indosat Ooredoo [IDX: ISAT]

Kemala Hayati, VP –Head of People Development & Culture Engagement, Indosat Ooredoo [IDX: ISAT]

I hope you have seen and still remember most of the plot and main characters of the movie Avenges: End Game. Specifically, the scene from the movie, where Thanos said that he was “INEVITABLE” in his purpose is to make the universe better by making 50% of the population disappear. Like Thanos, Technology also has inevitably made some jobs disappear. It is so powerful that it can drastically change our ways of working, even how we lead our life.

One of the technologies which has and will further change how we work is ‘online learning. Currently, we have little difficulty in finding things to learn on the internet. From fixing your plumbing to take a course at some of the world class universities, online learning has brought the world closer to us.

Indosat Ooredoo believes in the development of its staff and is developing an online learning platform, called MyLearning. This platform will allow the entire staff to access the learning materials anywhere and anytime. Thus, solving the problem of scheduling conventional training sessions which would fit the availability of all of its prospective participants and the problem of mobilizing the participants from our geographically spread staff.

There are 2 versions of the platform: web and mobile-based (at the moment still for Android users). From its launch back in 2016, MyLearning has experienced significant increase of users. In 2019, there have been a number of mandatory online training modules for the staff, including Cyber Security and Risk Management.

One of the Technologies Which Has and Will Further Change How We Work Is Online Learning

In addition to the mandatory training modules, Indosat Ooredoo staff can further pick elective learning modules relevant to their competence development; such as leadership, marketing, technology, sales, finance, and numerous others. As of this month, around 90% of total staff have accessed the elective learning modules.

The elective learning modules are developed based on the mapping of Indosat Ooredoo competence standard and assessment of staff competence profiles. This ensures competence-based learning is aligned with the company’s strategic direction. At the time of development of the platform, Indosat Ooredoo worked with third party provider/s to allow wider range of learning modules. However, we custom tailored some modules to Indosat Ooredoo standard and corporate learning needs. We also include other non-training learning materials, such as articles and ebooks.

Developing the platform required significant allocation of Indosat Ooredoo’s resource. However, the technological challenge of developing MyLearning is relatively light compared to developing the mindset of the new way of learning. It is an ongoing joint effort for us to shift the staff learning behaviors. In the past, training for us meant sitting in a five-star hotel with face to face with the trainer/s. It was perceived as the only way of learning and an enjoyable ‘work’ away from their boss or colleagues or regular tasks.

Online learning habit is not something that happens overnight. We introduced the change in gradual process by offering bit-size learning content which staff can experience in a short span of time during their busy work day. We also utilized positive reinforcement strategy to increase the engagement level. In this case, we developed a reward system, where the staff will receive reward points for every 15 minutes spent on MyLearning. We also made the leaderboard of reward points obtained, visible to all employees. Now the staff can see who earned the most points from accessing MyLearning. We also organized MyLearning award ceremony at the end of 2019, for the employees with several categories of MyLearning-related achievements which was fully supported by our Chiefs and BOD.

For us, getting Indosat Ooredoo staff to access MyLearning is not the only important challenge. Now that we have managed to get most of the staff to access it, we are focusing on the evaluation of the online learning impact. We believe that employees need to recall their learning and implement it effectively in working situations. A feature we developed which we hope will be useful is the embedded discussion, which is combined with coaching/mentoring and job assignment. Those are our next priority challenge in developing MyLearning to the next level of impact.