Government

How LinkedIn Learning is Helping Austin Democratize Employee Development (Despite a Pandemic)

A fabulous shot of Austin Texas cityline

This spring, when COVID-19 struck, the City of Austin found itself facing a challenge many government agencies across the world were experiencing as well —

Their learning needs were more acute than ever, as employees needed to quickly learn how to work from home, how to use collaboration software like Teams and WebEx and how to deal with the emotional toll of working through a pandemic. And yet, at the same time, the main channels the city used to develop its employees – in-person training and via local universities – were now off-the-table.

Austin didn’t panic. Instead, Donna Stephans – their interim organizational development manager, who got the job a week before COVID-19 struck – got to work. Collaborating with Communication and Technology Management Department Program Manager Dr. Patricia Muse and her HR business partners across the city, the group worked furiously to get a robust online learning program built. Fast.

A centerpiece of that program was LinkedIn Learning, which Austin launched in record time. That, along with transitioning their learning academies to a flipped classroom approach, created a learning environment that didn’t just equal what Austin had before – it arguably improved it.

“LinkedIn Learning has really strengthened our portfolio,” Stephans said. “It has filled in a gap that would’ve taken a whole training team in itself to otherwise accomplish.”

Dr. Muse echoed those thoughts.

“I am so excited about LinkedIn Learning,” she said. “It’s really been the best thing that’s happened to the city in the 14 years I’ve been here.”

The challenge – develop an online learning program in record time. 

Previously, training in Austin was done primarily via in-person courses or Dr. Muse would find a relevant course at a local university to send an employee to. While the courses themselves were strong, because of their nature the City of Austin had to limit the amount of people who could attend, and training couldn’t be done in-the-moment or around employees’ schedules.

When COVID-19 struck, all Austin employees were forced to work remotely, and the local universities went online. That meant the city’s two main training channels were now unfeasible.

Good news was Dr. Muse and Stephans had some existing knowledge of LinkedIn Learning and generally liked what they heard. But they were not the only ones— a group with the City’s Communications and Technology Management had begun the research process months before when looking for an IT development solution and several departments had purchased limited licenses and were pleased with the experience. So moving this forward made sense. Within a month the relationship was established – a process that usually takes significantly longer. 

Why invest in LinkedIn Learning?

 “When we looked at the library, with its 16,000+ courses covering 7 languages, we were like, ‘wow’,” Stephans said. “And the courses it provided were highly relevant. We knew we could trust it to have what we needed.” 

To launch, Stephans and Dr. Muse worked with HR business partners to amplify the message that employees now had access to LinkedIn Learning and created some competition between the departments, while empowering each to promote it in their own way. Additionally, city leaders championed it, which boosted the cause.

“We had the executive team buy in,” Dr. Muse said. “Having the executive support initially was the driving force to get people into the platform.” 

The Results: 247,000 videos viewed, learning communities organically formed and a new flipped classroom approach.

How did the launch of LinkedIn Learning go?

Beyond Dr. Muse’s and Stephans’ expectations. Within 100 days of launching the platform, thousands of employees dove in, watching an astonishing 247,000+ videos.

Perhaps more than the usage though was the unique ways employees were using it. Two jumped out – the first being that learning groups began organically springing up across Austin, where employees would watch courses on their own and talk about what they learned together as a group. 

“It’s great to see people get behind it in that way,” Stephans said. “That’s what we want, our employees taking control of their own development.”

Secondarily, Austin’s trainers – inspired by an article on the University of Central Florida’s Integrated Business Program – plan to take a “flipped classroom” approach to their four employee academies. These academies – which cover topics like leadership, onboarding and employee self-development – had existed for years primarily in the standard lecture model. COVID-19 provided an opportunity to revamp their format.

For the revamp, instead of lecturing at their audiences, Austin’s trainers will begin assigning LinkedIn Learning courses ahead of time. Then, classroom time – which was now classroom time via Teams – featured employees working to execute relevant tasks and getting feedback from the instructor.

“We knew we needed to do this,” Organizational Development Consultant Ian Hallett said. “I’m not sure we would’ve got there without COVID.”

This new flipped classroom approach will be new in Austin, but Hallett is bullish on it. Instead of having new managers sit through a lecture on management in a classroom, as an example, they will soon watch a course on their own time. Class time will then be focused on practicing the skills they’ve learned in those courses, like writing a performance review or giving feedback.

“Before, you just had to show up and sit through the lecture,” Hallett said. “Now, we will ingrain these practices into everyone who goes through our programs.”

For Dr. Muse and Stephans, this new online development model is a silver lining to COVID-19. Even when things return to normal, Stephans said the city will remain committed to continuing many aspects of this new approach, which empowers far more employees to learn.

“We want every employee in Austin to grow and develop,” Stephans said. “And LinkedIn Learning has helped us do that. Equity is extremely important to the City of Austin. It’s helping us democratize learning across the city.”

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