Embedding a culture of learning

Enriching the lives of its employees is central to AW Rostamani (AWR) Group’s culture and ethos. A deep desire to enhance the experiences of its knowledge workforce, helping them to reach their full potential, is key. So big in fact, that it played a huge part in the conglomerate’s decision to invest in LinkedIn Learning licenses.

“Online learning was implemented to support AWR’s vision: To adapt to the digital transformation,” explained Hala Kabarah, Group Talent Development Manager at AWR. “Online learning gives both management and employees more flexibility to complete important ‘just-in-time’ training as requirements change. This requires a greater amount of motivation and self-discipline from our employees over our usual classroom-based courses.”

Hala has worked at AWR for seven years. During this time, her role and responsibilities have grown from a recruitment specialist to leading the talent development team across the entire group. Now, Hala’s role includes evaluating employee performance, developing training programs and leading “high-potential” development.

Of particular importance to the group is an emphasis on training employees in such a way that promotes the values of the business and encourages employees to have high levels of job satisfaction.

So, in order to achieve such a desired outcome, Hala chose to work alongside LinkedIn Learning: Recognising the platform’s interactive learner-centric approach, high-quality content and variety of relevant courses that would match employees’ skills, roles and interests. Hala also recognised the need for employees to seamlessly share learning goals and successes across platforms. LinkedIn fulfilled the brief.

“Online learning increases employee participation, engagement and knowledge retention while cutting down on the costs and inconvenience associated with traditional learning methods,” commented Hala.

The strategy for inspiring employees began by launching LinkedIn Learning through AW Rostamani Group’s internal communication channels. This was followed by hosting a joint session with experts from the LinkedIn Learning customer team, to discuss the advantages of utilising LinkedIn Learning for self-development.

This was the springboard to launch other successful initiatives to drive engagement among learners:

Onboarding learning path: Introducing online learning early in the onboarding experience helped employees create an early habit of learning on demand, rather than waiting for classroom training

Performance reviews: Incorporating an Individual Development Plan (IDP) – with LinkedIn Learning content – helped enrich the employee performance review process

Gamification: Friendly competition amongst employees quickly proved key in turning learning into a habit

Seasonal learning campaigns: Combined with always-on communication, seasonal promotions helped boost learning throughout the year

Customised content: Bespoke content created by AWR and delivered through LinkedIn Learning enabled employees to assimilate the group’s “Digital Transformation” vision

The speed with which AWR employees embraced LinkedIn Learning proves the value of these tactics. The group purchased 1,000 licenses to cover all knowledge workers who have access to either a PC or a smartphone. Just 18 months later, 92 per cent of workers are now active on the platform.

As the relationship with LinkedIn Learning goes from strength to strength, new challenges have arisen for AWR.

Hala said: “During COVID-19, employees saw a large change in customer behaviour. There was a huge demand for our sales team to adapt to a new way of selling digitally.”

Hussam Baghdadi, Director - Sales at AWR, explained further: “In the digital era, it’s crucial for our sales team to develop their skills so that they can adapt to changing customer behaviours. LinkedIn Learning helped us to raise team awareness to adapt to a new way of selling and customer engagement.”

Hala continued: “The management also were challenged in the fact that they had to lead their teams virtually. Considering this change in behaviour, the team identified a customised program each week, based on the difference in skills required to tackle customers, which ensured they were prepared.

“As a result of this, a large behavioural impact has been observed from the sales team, which in turn, has resulted in increased business opportunities.”

Hala concluded: “This has all been possible with the help of LinkedIn Learning. An embedded and established learning culture is incredibly important, particularly as we look to the future. It’s important to look ahead and future-proof the company, making sure we’re ready for a new era of business.”

The results

The Challenge:
●  Support AWR’s digital transformation vision
●  Fulfil a growing need for flexible training
●  Reduce costs of traditional learning methods

The Solution:
●  1,000 LinkedIn Learning licenses, covering all of AWR’s knowledge workers
●  Always-on internal marketing and communications tactics
●  Introduce learning when onboarding new hires

The Results:
●  Huge activation
92 per cent activation of LinkedIn Learning licenses within 18 months of launch
●  Accessing content
More than 60 per cent of learners access content at least twice a month (on average)
●  Videos viewed
Almost 300,000 videos viewed since launch

About AW Rostamani

AW Rostamani Group (AWR) is one of the Middle East’s most successful conglomerates, trading across a diverse range of sectors, including automotive, real estate, retail, lighting solutions, travel and logistics. Arabian Automobiles, an internationally renowned business and flagship company of AWR, is the exclusive distributor of Nissan, Infiniti, and Renault across Dubai and the Northern Emirates.

INDUSTRY: Automotive

NO. OF EMPLOYEES: 1,001-5,000

HEADQUARTERS: Dubai, UAE

AW Rostamani company page

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What the learners say

“We all know software needs to get updated from time to time; how about updating ourselves by learning.”

Oday Mustafa
Fleet Sales Consultant, AW Rostamani

“If I stop learning I will become old irrespective of my age because knowledge is the immortal power.”

Mohamed Suliman
Service Manager, AW Rostamani

How AW Rostamani Group used LinkedIn Learning to enrich the lives of its employees, embedding a culture of learning

Helping employees reach their full potential

Learner-centric training matched AWR’s goals

How AWR embedded LinkedIn Learning and created a learning culture

Investing in people will future-proof the group