How we Adapt the Nomadic Academy to Meet Rapidly Changing Needs

Jul 30, 2020 by Nomadic Team

In times of uncertainty and rapid change, more agile approaches to learning are an imperative. And this principle extends to how learning experiences are built and delivered within organizations. Static libraries of standardized learning content often fail to achieve relevance (and therefore engagement); while the value of fully custom learning experiences often diminish before they’re ever experienced by learners.

We are asking employees to adapt to real-world shifts in the marketplace (or public health environment) more quickly than ever before. The learning experiences we provide to them need to keep pace—rather than play catch-up three-six months after any organizational disruption or change. By then, static content libraries will feel out-of-touch and fully custom programs will still be in production. And standalone webinars will feel like talking into the wind.

The Nomadic Academy marries content, approach, and platform to enable a high degree of agility while refusing to compromise on quality content and learning outcomes. Our rapid publishing schedule, combined with our modular approach to content tailoring, keeps us ahead of change. One example: A few short weeks after the seriousness of Covid-19 became clear, we created and launched a brand new multimedia social learning program, The Remote Work Bootcamp, designed to help learners thrive in the new normal. Hundreds of client organizations benefited and one global bank rolled the program out to 200,000 of its employees.

Here are some ways global organizations are already working with us to co-create impactful Nomadic Academy learning experiences for their people:

1. Custom Learner Journeys

Learner Journeys are curated, step-by-step pathways made up of diverse social, individual, and organizational learning experiences. Journeys allow employees to engage with one another through semi-structured learning experiences, while following personalized learning tracks toward a clear destination. They can even include real-time events or digital learning content outside of the Nomadic platform.

Even in the Global Edition of the Nomadic Academy, where employees from multiple organizations learn together, custom Journeys allow clients to craft the most impactful, relevant paths for their people. Taking the building blocks from their existing content library and combining it with Nomadic’s standard content elements, client Learning & Development (L&D) professionals or line-of-business leaders can build DIY Journeys entirely on their own or can work with with Nomadic’s learning designers to co-create a more tailored experience.

As seen in…

A global conglomerate based in Asia wanted to take advantage of the rich array of content and collaborative approach to learning available on the Nomadic Academy to address the specific needs of their managers and leaders in the new world of work. The client worked with Nomadic during a design workshop to sharpen their learning goals and co-create the Journeys best suited to achieve them. The resulting Journeys combined Program-based team learning with individual Resource-based learning, and multiple opportunities for Community interaction. The Journeys also included scheduled webinars and real-time discussions. The initial wave of learners from nine different subsidiaries achieved an average completion rate of more than 80%, far higher than the client anticipated for voluntary learning.

2. Curated Programs

Within Enterprise deloyments of the Nomadic Academy, clients have the option of working with us to curate learning modules to create newly tailored Programs. Our standard Programs are comprised of blocks of standalone modules that can be selected, sequenced and even customized to create entirely new Programs that meet the exact needs of different groups of learners (e.g. managers, leaders, or new hires) and the strategic goals of organizations. Our proprietary Content Management System (CMS) enables makes this a rapid and cost effective path to a high degree of customizations.

As seen in…

A major US-based financial institution had been using a library of online management content from the corporate learning division of a leading business school for many years. But the content was dated, inflexible and the learning mode unengaging. They decided to switch to the Nomadic Academy and worked with our enterprise learning team to curate learning modules into tailored programs that met the overall capability development needs of their management and leadership team. Learner demand was so high the client ran out of licenses within four months of launch. Even their CEO participated in the programs.

3. Customized Content

Nomadic has full multimedia production capabilities in-house, and we can combine new content with existing Nomadic Academy and client content into seamless learning experiences. For Enterprise clients of the Nomadic Academy, customized content can help boost engagement, focus conversations on pressing transformation (or management or leadership development challenges), and gather actionable data to help shape learning and business strategy.

Tailored Content

We can work with clients to customize existing Nomadic Academy content. We can tailor introductions and discussion prompts and we can add industry-specific cases. Bringing together universally-relevant concepts and case studies with client-specific content can achieve relevance without high expense or long production timelines. Learners feel as though the experience has been built expressly for them.

Fully Custom Learning Experiences

In a fully customized Resource or Field Manual, a client organization’s unique voices, stories, and strategic goals are woven throughout the interactive learning experience, backed by expertly-written content from our world-class team.

As seen in…

A prestigious global business publication based in London urgently needed to promote a mindset of client-centric leadership within its sales and marketing team. Nomadic rapidly combined custom content with existing Nomadic Academy content to create a set of compelling learning experiences. The entire client facing team accessed the learning in teams to learn about the challenges facing their industry, share knowledge and best practices derived from client engagements, and chart a route forward. The program outperformed any previous digital learning experience and each learner contributed an average of twelve discussion comments—more than twice the number required to achieve completion. The publication’s leadership discovered hidden business opportunities, unexpected influencers, and additional capability gaps that needed to be addressed.