Since 1995, HR-tech service provider HeadFirst Group has been a knowledge broker between independent professionals, suppliers and clients with the aim of allowing professionals to excel in their work and clients to use their expertise without worries. Joke de Graaf, responsible for HR & Organization, tells why HeadFirst Group chose the MyCademy Learning Experience Platform and what the platform and the cooperation brings them.

Learn every day

HeadFirst Group has experienced explosive growth in recent years. In about five years we went from 70 to almost 500 employees. Such growth brings with it a transition among employees, but also clients now expect more from us. This means, among other things, that we have grown from generalist roles to more specialized roles. We also invest in the growth of our talents, which increases the bond with our organization and stimulates internal flow, which in turn is important for further innovation and growth. Not for nothing is one of the core values of HeadFirst Group: 'Learn every day'. Making mistakes is allowed, as long as we learn from them. Continuous improvement is the norm.

Learning Experience Platform

About two years ago we started working with MyCademy's Learning Experience Platform, the training platform we internally call "HeadFirst Group Academy. In this learning environment, all our employees can follow (online) trainings, virtual labs or bootcamps. It is very flexible and employees can choose what suits them, in terms of content, form and time. Every month the platform is supplemented with new training courses and other learning materials. What is also very valuable is that we can create learning paths and with this we can also offer internal training courses online. A special learning path has been created, specifically for HeadFirst Group, with all the things we focus on, such as customer relations, design-thinking, agile working and time management.

'In our view, such an advanced learning platform is a basic requirement for an organization like ours.' Joke de Graaf

Appropriate learning experiences

To encourage people to use the platform, we made it part of our onboarding process. During onboarding, new employees receive a separate session in which they become familiar with the platform. Moreover, we actively involve executives in the learning process of their team members. We generate monthly reports that give executives insight into progress. This allows them to see how much is being learned by their team members and whether additional support is needed somewhere. It gives executives concrete data to use during one-on-one meetings and feedback sessions. If employees need a specific training or course, they can search the database for suitable solutions. If there isn't one, we can always turn to MyCademy, so we can always offer our people appropriate learning experiences.

A partner who thinks along in all areas

MyCademy 's L&D team helps us with challenges around training plans and development goals, for example. We can also use their expertise when it comes to getting our employees to truly embrace learning. We especially interact with Martine Broekman, their manager of Learning & Development. She is enormously helpful, always thinks with us and she is also very nice in her contact. It's nice to have such a proactive partner. For example, when we introduced our core values, MyCademy helped us think about which training courses fit well with them. And early this year, they held a number of sessions for our managers. These not only addressed how we could further stimulate learning in our teams, but MyCademy was really curious about how they could improve their solution even further. There are many learning platforms out there, but MyCademy's Learning Experience Platform is not just another learning platform. MyCademy offers a combination of a smart learning platform, extensive training offerings, daily support and is truly a partner in knowledge development.

Source: MyCademy