Grid operator Stedin enables lifelong learning with work-based learning solutions

Learning at Stedin needed to be smarter, faster, and better; it should also be continuous, with lower costs and higher returns. The effort to learn and missed course opportunities had to decrease, while the results should increase. Yellow gave substance to this. As it was such a success, the Internal School of Stedin wanted to expand the approach to other units.

Fons Geven, Project Leader Training at the Stedin Internal School:  "As a grid operator, we are responsible for ensuring the gas and electricity is always on. So, we need to make sure that people learn while they do the work of solving breakdowns quickly and competently. But what do you do if you haven't seen the installation for three-quarters of a year? Or how does a certain switch work again? What steps do you perform to work safely and ensure the power does not fail? These are all questions that our staff can fall back on with Yellow. It feels like there's someone who's looking over their shoulder and helping to answer difficult technical questions. We want to make this approach more widely available through our organization."

"With Yellow, it feels like there's someone who's looking over the shoulder of our engineers and helping to answer difficult technical questions. We want to make this approach more widely available through our organization."

Mapping the tasks

To deliver work-based learning, Xprtise uses the innovative  5 Moments of Need® approach. The tasks that engineers do is taken as the starting point for the training strategy.  Thomas van Kerkhof, Consultant at Xprtise:  "We mapped out the range of tasks the engineers in the High Voltage division do and added them in Yellow. This includes all sorts of activities; from pulling and connecting cables, installing units and resolving faults. The existing adaptive learning solution in Drillster was also expanded with practice questions to prepare employees for the exam they must take every three years.And for this, instructional videos were added." Fons: "The results of these triennial exams were - certainly where theory is concerned - too low. By adding the practice questions, learning before the exam becomes a continuous process and we assume that the chances of success will greatly improve." Does an employee learn too little? Then Yellow gives a signal. The click behavior can also be easily measured, which gives a lot of insights about the need for support of each employee.

Distinction between experienced and new employees

Within the solution, a distinction is made between experienced and new employees. New employees are helped with onboarding from day 1 and receive an extensive onboarding program. For experienced employees, the solution is relevant when they have to perform work that they do not perform on a daily basis. For mastering very specific tasks, the need is always present to be able to fall back to something. Apart from the fact that you can ask your colleagues, you can always fall back on Yellow. Employees do not have to come back to the Internal School; that is where the biggest gain lies. They can take immediate action in the workplace themselves. This not only reduces the training time, but also reduces assembly errors and ensures that employees are quickly deployed. Yellow  is a valuable addition to  the  onboarding process of new employees. Thomas:  "We see an increase in users in the onboarding periods.Recently, two new employees have started at the Grid Managing Centre and we are seeing a huge peaks in the use of certain components in Yellow; avery good sign!"

"The workplace learning solution not only reduces training time, but also reduces assembly errors and quickly deploys employees."

Lifelong learning

Yellow is now increasingly ‘established' at Stedin; the workplace learning solution is used every day. Fons:  "We manage to get the business excited about what weare doing; from operator to director. It is still a bit early to look at the results of the theory exams; but it looks promising. Where before about 70% succeeded, we now go beyond 80%. We also see that causes such as exam stress are reduced by continuously offering learning. At Stedin you can now learn for a lifetime!"

Want to get started with work-based learning?

Are you an L&D professional, and do you, like Stedin's Internal School, want to innovate and get started with The 5 Moments of Need®? Do you want to transition from classroom training to an approach where learning is tied to peoples' tasks so that they learn at exactly the moment that it is needed? Then here's your chance! On Tuesday, November 3, 2021, The 5 Moments of Need® Academy UK kicks off with a new 5 Moments of Need® Designer Certificate program. More information about the training program can be found here.

Source photo header: Stedin