The third annual Nimble Awards Finalists have been announced
Nimble Elearning, the Gloucestershire-based company, will once again be rolling out the red (green!) carpet and polishing the speeches for the third annual Nimble Awards, presented at their Community Day (Conference, Networking and Awards) on Thursday 19 September, Stonehouse Court Hotel, Gloucestershire. This important date in the Nimble calendar is the perfect opportunity to recognise and celebrate their customer’s elearning excellence.
The awards have proved extremely popular again this year, and the standard of entries was outstanding – the judges had a tough time in choosing the Finalists!
The judging panel includes guest judge Matt Gofton, Senior Employment Engagement Manager for the CIPD, and long standing members of the Nimble team.
This year, as well as Nimble Managing Director Neil Hyde and Nimble Senior Instructional Designer Lisette Hoffmans, the Nimble judging panel has expanded from two to four with the introduction of Alex Hathway, Nimble Director and Ben Reed, Nimble Product Consultant. Between them all, they offer a well-rounded wealth of experience in the elearning industry. They bring various skills and specialisms which were essential for choosing the finalists and winners.
The judges have enjoyed reading all the entrant’s journeys; how they use Nimble to provide varied training, the knowledge they impart, the support they give their learners – all crucial to enable them and their organisation to succeed. The judges were pleased to share their feedback too. The Finalists have been announced and awards will be given for Positive Business Impact, Course of the Year, Best Newcomer and Professional of the Year.
First up is the Positive Business Impact award, presented to the organisation demonstrating significant business impact through the use of elearning. There are four excited Finalists:
Airdat – their specialised group help to deliver the world’s leading aviation training, assurance and fleet management systems and services that improve safety and compliance standards, minimise accidents and incidents, and streamline processes to reduce operational costs.
Airdat looked at every aspect of working airside and found a learning gap for companies and their employees who had no experience of working on the airfield. Their Airside Safety Awareness elearning course bridged that gap. The judges commented, “There was a clear need for this well planned and executed training project. Business goals were exceeded, with major impact not only on the original target audience, but also a wider learner population. It’s also clear ROI for this course will go far beyond expectations as it can be utilised for future projects.”
Forest Holidays – their purpose is to create authentic experiences in Britain’s amazing forests; connecting people, nature and local communities, and helping the forests to thrive, so that they are better than ever for future generations.
Originally implemented to improve quality and consistency of mandatory health and safety training, they’ve now expanded Nimble into other departments. The judges thought, “This highly successful project has had a significant impact on the organisation at multiple levels; reporting, cultural change, health and safety audits, and engagement of the business to improve performance and processes.”
LEGOLAND Windsor – the resort has over 55 rides and attractions. The park has lots to offer for families with children between the ages of 3 and 12 looking for adventure – enough for several days of fun and action.
To deliver a consistent message to new and existing colleagues across all departments, they created user friendly content with topics that include; building relationships, managing change, situational leadership and influencing. They are receiving excellent feedback from their teams. The judges said, “It’s clear this project’s goals and objectives were not just about training staff, they were also about cultural change and business transformation. Based on the considered and inclusive approach of the project team, the results were not only an immediate success, but if maintained, will deliver ROI well into the future.”
International Safety Management – based in Arizona USA, ISM is a safety company run by safety professionals for safety professionals. They have designed and developed over 100 safety courses.
Their project was to concentrate on contractor onboarding for a local copper mining business prior to entering and carrying out work in their four mines. Prior to using Nimble, contractors would have face-to-face training daily to understand safety rules, processes and procedures while carrying out work on the mine, which was expensive and time consuming. The judges agreed, “There’s clear evidence of a well-planned and executed project with distinct goals and objectives. The successful deployment of safety training via elearning proves it is a very effective method of delivering compliance training to their clients.”
The next Nimble Award up for grabs is Course of the Year, which will be presented to the individual or organisation who displays excellence in the design and delivery of an elearning course using Nimble. There are four contenders:
Aldi – the discount supermarket chain has 6,200 stores in the Aldi South group. Their Corporate Responsibility approach is driven by 5 principles – community, people, customers, suppliers and environment.
Their course Contractor Control was designed to train the store management team to raise awareness of accidents, incidents and minimise risk when working with contractors.The judges feedback states, “It is a great example of a professionally developed learning project. It’s well thought out and delivers extremely well against the learning objectives. The style is friendly, engaging, and the quality of the graphics is excellent, bringing consistency to the layouts with a balanced mix of learning interactions.”
ARICD (The Association for Research in Infant & Child Development) – is a charity founded by a group of paediatricians and child psychologists interested in increasing understanding of early child development and thereby improving the welfare of children with disabilities.
All psychological tests need updating every 10 years. When they updated their Griffiths Developmental Scales, (which are used around the world to assess child development), they decided to use an elearning course to provide part of what had in the past, been provided in a 5-day face-to-face course. Elearning also enabled them to expand the reach of the test to countries where Griffiths was not being used before. The judges said, “Their Part 1 Griffiths III and Part 1 version 2 course was well planned and thorough, it’s not overcrowded with information – good structure and easy to follow as a learner. Although there is a lot to absorb, there’s clear spaces for learners to reflect, digest the information provided, and think about the effect on children in the development of their learning.”
JoJo Maman Bébé – with products that include fashionable maternity wear,nursery products, gifts and toys for pregnancy through to pre-school, it has 90 stores nationally and four in the US, employing approximately 800 people in the UK and 2,000 indirectly around the world.
The main objective of their Company Ethos course was to reinvigorate all employees with a ‘one-stop-shop’ approach to all things “JoJo” in an informational but engaging way. It is this factor which attracted judges who said, “A well laid out engaging course utilising many of Nimble Author’s interactive learning features, the course provides a great use of video that gives the learner a window into the world of the organisation, its values and culture.”
Nominated for a second award, International Safety Management have created a Contractor Safety and Pit Driving Combined course. The main purpose was to transition from costly and time-consuming face-to-face training and create an engaging online safety onboarding course for all contractors visiting or carrying out work at four copper mines in Arizona. Judges appreciated its success by saying, “Created with clear goals and objectives, there is a good balance between text and learner interactions. Pages are well laid out and deliver clear messages to the learners. The course does well to bring the topics to life and deliver an engaging learner experience.”
The Professional of the Year Award is presented to individuals who have demonstrated outstanding elearning success over the last year. Here are the Finalists:
Judges said of Alan Williams, Digital Development Manager at ECG, “Seeing the potential of elearning, Alan looked for ways to reduce costs and increase sales. Changing his approach to be a more ‘out of the box’ thinker and not settling for solely creating content, he is proactively ensuring the framework the learning sits within is optimal for success.”
Megan Barber, Training & Quality Supervisor for Link Group, impressed the judges who applauded her “Firm, ambitious objectives, based on the confidence she could achieve them. A strong grasp of using Nimble, reacting quickly to change and showing demonstrable improvement with results, Megan achieved a lot in two months and is clearly growing and excited to be changing the learning culture within the company.”
Judges’ commented on how Marsh Finance had, “The enthusiasm to change the tone and increase the interest in online learning within the organisation is palpable. With such positive feedback from senior management, it’s a testament to their desire to drive excellence that they are also now working on material to create courses themselves.”
The judges said of Robert Kennie, L&D Manager from MBA Group (DOTS), “From a standing start and within 3 months, Robert solely devised and delivered on ambitious objectives, involving all stakeholders upfront and then gaining significant improvements immediately. Solid management support enables him to continue to grow their elearning programme.”
The final category of the Nimble Awards is for Best Newcomer. It’s presented to an organisation which has used Nimble to create the biggest impact in their first 18 months. There are four companies eager to be granted this award:
With Nimble since March 2019, CJ Retail Solutions are installation and maintenance experts across the retail industry, working with large brands and retailers such as Asda, Boots, B&Q, Samsung, Walkers and L’Oreal. They install retail displays and ensure all fixtures are implemented safely and point of sale material is sited correctly to encourage maximum customer engagement.
The Judges all agreed, “They have created a great culture for continual improvement by actively seeking feedback on courses through all phases of release. They respond to requests and demonstrate that the learning team ‘can do it’, providing quality, relevant courses upon demand. With this activity, they are actively changing the learning culture of the organisation and benefit from employee retention, due to increased knowledge and confidence. Their training is well planned.”
Forest Holidays has been a Nimble customer since May 2018. Their purpose is to create authentic experiences in Britain’s amazing forests; connecting people, nature and local communities, and helping the forests to thrive, so that they are better than ever for future generations.
Finalists for a second category, the judges were impressed by the fact that, “It’s rare that learners ask for more training! The fact that they are, indicates relevant courses have been implemented at the right pace. Great to see elearning align with company values so well and there’s a clear long-term plan to ensure other departments to take ownership for using Nimble internally in the future.”
Using Nimble since June 2019, Link Asset Services offer industry-leading shareholder services to a wide range of corporates, issuers and business managers. They are the largest UK share registrar providing services to more than 1,300 companies large and small across the UK.
Judges praised, “Their approach of using different learning methods to match learner styles to deploy their training has really helped them to deliver their objectives. Fantastic to see several benefits within only two months of using Nimble and impressed by their strong desire to accomplish a cultural change in their organisation.”
Joining Nimble in August 2018, This Mum Runs inspire thousands of mums every week to join their free women’s only runs. All runs are led by their cheery team of Run Angels. With a welcoming hello, routes are pre-planned, and warmups taken care of – all they need to do is get their trainers on and turn up.
The judges were impressed with their, “Good, clear growth objectives. Cost efficient, accessible, quality training is one of the core foundations to the their business model. Without it working well, they can’t expand. Emotional support is a big part of their proposition and elearning allows them to get across the emotion to their Run Angels.”