In 2017, Qi Card – provider of the national credit card of Iraq – was facing a challenge many companies can relate to.
It has a millennial-dominant workforce that is increasingly moving into leadership positions, so the company needed to scale soft skill training, fast. And, Qi Card wanted to develop their people in a way that transcended the old classroom model, to meet the expectations of younger employees.
“Instructor-led, that’s boring (to millennials),” QiCard Organizational Development Leader Ruqayah Omar said. “The way of learning is changing. Millennials want to learn anytime, anywhere.”
So, they turned to an eLearning solution – LinkedIn Learning. The challenge? While LinkedIn Learning comes in English, French, Spanish, Japanese and German, it doesn’t come in Arabic. Which means that the courses were spoken in a second-language.
At first, that was a hurdle, and usage for the product was initially low. But, thanks to some brilliant marketing campaigns and a smart message – polish your English while also mastering a new skill – usage for the product spiked, as now Qi Card employees with LinkedIn Learning licenses spend twice as much time eLearning as the average professional with an eLearning license.
“It has been my safety net,” Qi Card Employee Haneen Samir said. “Anything I don’t understand, I’d go (to LinkedIn Learning) and search for it and I’m the expert.”
The story
Qi Card considered several eLearning options. They decided on LinkedIn Learning both because it had the courses they needed – in this case, their primary use-case was leadership development – and because of the reputation of LinkedIn.
“The reputation played a big role,” Omar said.
The company started with licenses just for managers. The problem was the courses were in a secondary language – English – and it was the first eLearning solution the company had. All of that led to low adoption of the product at first.
That’s where Qi Card’s learning and development (L&D) team got creative. They turned a potential negative – the fact the courses were in a second-language, English – into a positive by reminding employees Qi Card was continuing to scale internationally.
To do that effectively, managers need to master soft skills, Qi Card’s L&D marketing said. But managers also need to sharpen their English, the universal language of business, both of which they could accomplish with LinkedIn Learning.
Additionally, Qi Card interviewed the people who were using LinkedIn Learning the most and turned them into champions. They used those quotes on emails, videos and posters around the office, inspiring droves of Qi Card employees to begin using LinkedIn Learning.
After the first marketing campaign, Qi Card wanted to continue the momentum. So, they held a learning competition, where they challenged their employees to learn as much as they could. Employees who completed at least 10 LinkedIn Learning courses were given a letter of appreciation and were formally thanked by the Qi Card leadership team.
“That really raised the engagement and the addiction for learning,” LMS Team Leader Zainab Abdul Wadood said.
Most importantly, Wadood began weaving LinkedIn Learning into their performance reviews. For example, if an employee wanted to get promoted to management, Wadood would build a learning path for them that would teach them management skills. And, how much people spent learning on LinkedIn Learning weighed into the promotion decision.
“Everyone wants to get promoted,” Omar said. “Everyone wants to get the highest grade in the company. So, learn, learn more, get yourself educated in soft skills. Learn more and you will get whatever you want.”
The result
In 2017, Qi Card employees with LinkedIn Learning licenses watched an average of 9.9 hours of eLearning videos each – more than double the industry average! All told, in 2017 Qi Card employees watched more than 17,000 LinkedIn Learning videos, for a total of 990 hours.
All that learning paid off – Qi Card saw employees who spent more time learning on LinkedIn Learning having better results.
“When we linked LinkedIn Learning to their objectives, they achieved more of them,” Wadood said.
Additionally, beyond just meeting the company’s needs of producing better leaders and communicators, it was beloved by employees. They saw it as a benefit; a pathway to reach their goals.
“They have the opportunity to work on themselves,” Wadood said. “And they’ve been given the opportunity to do all of this.”
For evidence, look no further than Qi Card HR Employee Alaa Jameel – who alone completed 27 courses on LinkedIn Learning.
“It has had a spectacular impact on my career and my life,” Jameel said. “It did change the way I looked into day-to-day business activities. I have gained a lot of skills. I’d recommend it to ambitious employees who want to develop their skills.”
*Image of Qi Card's learning champions – memorialized in cardboard form – around a cake honoring their dedication to self-development.
Topics: Customer stories
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