Change-makers in focus

Customizing L&D to support greater organizational performance

How we help:

The British Council partnered with Hult EF Corporate Education to create learning content on the subject of ‘good corporate citizenship’ for its employees. Delivered through the Leadership Live platform, the program covered: coaching and mentoring; presentation skills; social and emotional skills; leading beyond authority; and higher cognitive skills.

Promoting peace and prosperity through education and culture

With offices in more than 100 countries, the British Council is the UK’s international organization for cultural relations and educational opportunities. Through the British Council's work in arts and culture, education, and the English language, the organization supports peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding, and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide.

"Our short-term aim was to get to over 1,000 users, but we’ve now hit 7,000! We have all this great content, and we want people to use it as and when they need it to help them perform better."

Andy Phillips, Global Learning and Development Manager, British Council

The Challenge

There had previously been an issue with the quality and credibility of content when employees had directed their own learning. The British Council wanted to improve the learning experience by providing content relevant to employees’ skills and learning styles. This would enable employees to apply their learning directly to their roles, supporting greater organizational performance.

In this case study, we explore how a customized approach to content creation, delivery, and consumption led to rapid skills development and better organizational outcomes.

Targeting employee learning for better organizational outcomes

Our impact

Within six months of launching, the program had more than 1,200 participants, pushing the total program subscription to 7,000 users. Learning was delivered in a variety of formats, including long-form articles, videos, and podcasts. Content was customised using digital diagnostics to measure users’ skills and learning styles, enabling department heads to create tailored content ‘playlists’ to roll out across the organization. This also saved time, as the Talent & Development team no longer needed to focus on sourcing learning solutions. The strong relevance of the content meant employees were able to develop quickly and apply their learning frequently at work, supporting greater organizational performance for the British Council.

Strong uptake and impact

Within six months, the program had more than 1,200 participants, pushing the total to 7,000 users and enabling rapid skills development.

Highly customised content

Digital diagnostics measured users’ skills and learning styles to create tailored content for effective and relevant upskilling.

Strong uptake and impact

Within six months, the program had more than 1,200 participants, pushing the total to 7,000 users and enabling rapid skills development.

Highly customised content

Digital diagnostics measured users’ skills and learning styles to create tailored content for effective and relevant upskilling.

See our work in action

We have helped more than 3,000 organizations, from large multinational companies, to governments, to public sector businesses, to charities. Our capacity to deliver customized programs at scale makes us the provider of choice for global businesses and governments.