Inspired hits the skills jackpot with a digital learning solution.

Time to level up their learning

Prior to launching Thrive, the Inspired team’s learning and communication materials were spread out across email, a traditional LMS, and 50-60 page customer service handbooks.

This inconsistent and old-fashioned style of learning didn’t match their vibrant, innovative and forward-thinking company ethos. Communications would often get lost in the shuffle - and for their incredibly busy 60-strong customer service team, thumbing through a handbook with a customer on the other end of the phone wasn’t an efficient way to do their jobs.

They needed a learning platform that was as forward-thinking as their company: something that would bring their learning out of the past and beyond a box-ticking compliance exercise, into the bold future they’d envisioned.

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Not just another company

Laura Ramsden, Head of L&D at Inspired, knew that the company’s learning platform needed to match their own innovative ethos - and Thrive turned out to be the perfect fit. Laura’s early interactions with the team at Thrive made it clear to her that it would be a supportive, successful partnership.
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“I would recommend Thrive because of the support that you receive. It doesn’t feel like ‘just another company’, it really is a partnership.”

- Laura Ramsden, Head of L&D at Inspired

Throughout implementation and launch, Laura and her team recognised that their first challenge was changing the existing impression everyone had about the company’s learning culture. With Thrive’s help, they wanted to reinvigorate their teams - and bring the gamification on which they’d made their name into their learning strategy.

In order to get everyone involved from the very beginning, Laura rolled out a competition across the business to name the platform and win a prize. After the votes were counted, ‘iLearn’ took the crown - and Inspired’s hyper-personalised learning platform was born.

The team loved how it reflected their brand, and how easy it was to continue that branding throughout the platform with features like ‘iDiscover’, ‘iLead,’ ‘iQuestion’ and ‘iEvents.’

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Hitting the skills jackpot

Learning at Inspired has been supercharged - with a strategy that has their learners feeling as though they’ve hit the jackpot.

With such a large and varied team, it was always imperative to Inspired that their learning platform cater to a diverse range of needs. The fact that Thrive facilitates content in multiple formats means that no matter how someone learns, they won’t get left behind - and the skills and goals functionality helps people level up in their careers.

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Inspired has taken this functionality and run with it, rolling out ‘Skill of the Month’ in order to regularly introduce the entire business to new skills they may need to develop. Topics like ‘Flexible Thinking’ and ‘Having Difficult Conversations’ have proved invaluable to a company who actively encourages continuous development and upward mobility.

"We have a lot of people within the team who tend to progress to managerial roles ... so talking them through how to have more difficult conversations and building their confidence has been the best bit for us."

Rachel Hughes, Customer Support Manager at Inspired

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Achievements unlocked

As a games and entertainment company, Product underpins everything Inspired does - and Thrive’s communication features make it easier than ever for the Product team to share new game releases, marketing materials and trailers to keep everyone abreast of what’s upcoming.

Inspired has teams in the UK, US, Europe and India, and so they saw launching iLearn with Thrive as the perfect opportunity to bring everyone together on one central platform. The iLearn homepage is buzzing with activity, and is the place to go for news, updates, and communications from all areas of the business.

Instead of emails getting lost under the digital rubble, company wins are given a place to shine - so that everyone can celebrate one another’s achievements together. And with Thrive’s collaboration features, two people from different sides of the organisation can connect and collaborate on relevant projects.

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From level one to expert

Everyone knows starting a new job can be overwhelming - and Inspired really wanted to make sure that their players felt a part of the company culture right from ‘Level One.’ Instead of a quick onboarding process that simply introduces them to the basic expectations of their job role, new starters are met with a comprehensive pathway that provides a consistent experience to every single member of staff. This is complemented with job-specific training, to give them a well-rounded introduction.

This doesn’t just stop after onboarding. Inspired continues to develop their people throughout their career, setting up monthly observations with team leaders where they can set out a development path. The framework helps everyone progress through their professional goals with smaller, bite-size objectives.

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iLearn gets the high score

The engagement with iLearn has so far been fantastic. The team have found using the platform to be like second nature, making use of both the desktop version and the mobile app to help them take their learning on the go. The User Generated Content functionality makes it easy for everyone to feel like they have a voice and contribute to the platform, and the leaderboards make learning competitive - perfect for a gaming company!

Inspired is a hugely ambitious company in terms of growth, and the ability to see what’s happening throughout all areas of the business makes everyone feel invested. In the words of Lorna Evans, VP of People at Inspired:

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‍“Invest in your people, and they’ll invest in you.”