Celebrating learning, the power of data and self-discovery
Ask someone what they’ve learned at work and the first thing that may come to mind is the last training course they attended. On reflection, an employee might also recall a tip from a colleague, an insight shared by a manager – or if we’re really honest – a bit of self-knowledge about our own limitations, and what we resolved to do better or differently next time.
Any organisation that aspires to a learning culture must provide structured and strategic learning. But it also encourages the more spontaneous kind, when people are open to new perspectives, share ideas, and feel inspired and empowered to take learning into their own hands.
That’s why I was keen to support National Learning Week this year. Each year it shines a spotlight on learning at work – and the importance of nurturing a culture in which learning is a continuous, day-to-day, year-long phenomenon. And this year’s theme of connection – for the week in May – was certainly apt.
Our programme (on which I congratulate our Talent, Learning and Development and Communications teams) was a celebration of learning and what we’re already doing, as well as a reminder of these various learning opportunities.
Connection and learning
Our take on the national theme was to focus on three aspects of connection:
- Connect and share: Valuing how our work communities and teams encourage and support engagement with lifelong learning.
- Connect and inspire: Prompting people to think about the big picture and how they can challenge themselves and learn by going outside their comfort zone.
- Connect and grow: Encouraging everyone to explore our learning platforms and immerse themselves in the wealth of digital learning available.
Each day, we backed up the relevant theme with the following:
- A daily ‘Did you know?’ fact flagging up one of our employee benefits.
- A ‘moment of mastery’ encouraging people to reflect on issues such as collaboration, tackling difficult conversations, or mindful leadership.
- Relevant resources, such as a webinar recording from our Wellness library. When we focused on diversity, we shared our first recipe book with 15 dishes recommended by employees from the 70 different nationalities we employ.
- A digital learning course or module on topics ranging from understanding carbon footprints to creating your own personal development plan (on our Learning Management System).
Importance of digital
Digital learning now accounts for about a third of our blended training offer, the rest being classroom-based. In 2024, we delivered over 19,000 training hours excluding our substantial H&S training. Both aspects of the programme are expanding. This growth and the increasing importance of data across our business inspired us to develop our own Digital and Data Academy.
The Academy’s programme is designed to equip our people with up-to-date knowledge and hands-on experience in data analytics, data science and emerging technologies. Employees interested in improving their data skills are encouraged to consider a data apprenticeship. These apprenticeships last between 13 and 37 months, depending on the level being studied. Apprentices spend about six hours per week in off-the-job and applied learning.
We launched the Academy – in partnership with QA, which provide this apprenticeship training – in January 2025. The first cohort of 30 apprentices are spread across the company, in areas such as business support, processing, energy-from-waste, collection operations for both our industrial and municipal contracts, but also materials trading, technical support, and our group’s water business.
Our finance, energy and technical divisions filled all places in our second cohort of 30 learners. They started their Level 3 Data and Business Insights and Level 4 Data Analyst apprenticeships in the Spring term.
To begin with, we have targeted our apprenticeship offer to the roles and individuals that stand to benefit most from this programme of structured learning, hands-on experience and mentorship in data-related skills. These are in the parts of the business where data-driven decision-making can have the greatest impact and improve efficiency. In total, 90 learners will be admitted to the Digital and Data Academy through 2025.
Tapping wider potential
But there is wider potential – among our people and across the organisation – to tap the power of data. We are recruiting learners to open cohorts with no limit on numbers, with monthly intakes that began in January. Everyone who expressed an interest in their annual personal development review with their line manager was invited to an information session when they could find out more about the Academy programme.
Our Learning Week was also the ideal opportunity to launch Self-Led Digital Insights Discovery. This is another opportunity for our people to learn and grow with the help of a digital platform that promotes better self-understanding. As an introduction, employees can learn more about personality types. This understanding is valuable both from the point of view of self-awareness and empathy, which are fundamental to teamwork, communication and leadership.
Self-learning was also central to the week’s theme of connection – and those three aspects we highlighted: sharing, inspiring and growing. Colleagues shared and celebrated their learning during the week in posts using our suggested hashtag, #WhatILearnedToday. We also encouraged our people to be curious, ask questions, seek advice and engage with line managers, colleagues and, outside work, with family and friends.
Learning takes these and many other forms. It’s ongoing. It should be stimulating and fun. And life-long. What is the key to this? Not the learning itself, but more fundamentally, developing a love of learning!