Design for learning at Foster + Partners
- Summary:
- Cornerstone helps architectural practice Foster + Partners to build its learning expertise.
Quality and the pursuit of perfection permeate everything the company does. So when it came to choosing a learning management system (LMS) the bar was set very high. For Laggi Diamandi, head of learning and development (L&D) at Foster + Partners, that meant finding a solution that its highly visual workforce would want to use:
We are passionate about UX [user experience]. UX is everything, Every interaction with a product – it could be a manual, PowerPoint, leaflet , online, mobile app, whatever it is, we absolutely look at everything, every part.
When Diamandi joined the London-based firm two years ago, there was no central L&D function, although there were two internal trainers: one delivering architectural software training and the other training for Adobe and creative packages like Photoshop.
Diamandi’s first key objective was to choose and implement an LMS that could bind all the existing learning together. The second key objective was to create personal development workshops to underpin technical ability and the third prong of the strategy was to create a leadership and development program.
But before any of that could get off the ground, says Diamandi:
The challenge for me really was to understand exactly what the client wanted.
He quickly identified that the key requirement for its 1,500 users was to have an LMS that was both easy and quick to access. Cornerstone, which Diamandi had already worked with at a previous employer, proved the perfect fit. But Diamandi was keen to put a personal Foster spin to the LMS:
I wanted it to look like a website, but behave like a LMS. So we wanted the look and feel and interaction of a website. What I didn’t want was a catalogue look and feel. My users are very, very visual so I wanted to avoid using a lot of words. The primary focus was to create something that looked good and felt good it would take three clicks and you’re in, wherever you are in the LMS.
Challenge
The biggest challenge for Diamandi was that he was working alone on the implementation. But his previous experience of Cornerstone meant he could work quickly and despite the fact he personally coded and custom built 150 web pages himself, the implementation took just three months.
Coding is not in the skillset of most L&D professionals, but Diamandi believes that it’s important to take ownership of all aspects of the implementation:
What I don’t like is being a burden on other people and I also want to be product owner. When you’re a product owner you have full accountability of everything that means design, coding, maintenance, content – everything…If I need to fix or chase something, I can do it immediately.
Alongside his obsession with UX and web design, Diamandi believes that another key skill L&D professionals need is graphic design. While they don’t need to be graphic designers, Diamandi thinks it’s important to understand software such as Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop and the basics of what makes good design. And the content created needs to be personal and relevant:
It’s very easy just to go onto Google and download images of people in business suits, but everything we use is Foster + Partners and the front page is changed every two weeks.
The final skill that modern L&D professionals need is what Diamandi calls data journalism. Most LMS products have decent reporting functionality, but Diamandi says it’s important to be able to take that data and condense it into a pithy sentence or headline that’s easy for people to digest.
Having a central LMS makes it easy for staff to locate and record their training record. This is important because registered architects are required to attend 35 hours of training a year. If architects don’t record that training to the relevant body, then then it’s possible they could even lose their licence.
One of the ways Diamandi helps them achieve this 35-hour target is to bring in experts to talk about their work to staff:
We go out and find pioneers in architecture, design, construction, art and materials and ask them to come and talk to the architects for an hour for free.
Given the prestige of the Foster brand, the vast majority of people asked do agree to come and talk to staff. These events are filmed and available on the LMS so that everyone can see the content.
Looking ahead, Diamandi is hoping to be use technology such as augmented reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) to improve the learning experience for users.
It is already using VR to help architects improve their presentation skills. The company usually has around 50 projects running at a time. Each week there’s a design board review where the architects have to discuss their designs in front of a panel of senior partners, including Lord Foster himself on occasion.
It can be an intimating experience, so to help people prepare, Diamandi has set up a simulation using a film of the senior partners in the board room. The learner puts on VR googles and gets to practice their presentation as if they were really in front of Lord Foster.
AR is also being used to help communication between the London headquarters and employees in Cupertino looking after the design of the new Apple Campus. Previously video conferencing was used to collaborate between the two offices, but Foster is now experimenting with AR to share drawings and make changes.
But the most important thing as far as Diamandi is concerned at the moment is that his customers are happy and use the system:
I want to simplify the learning process for my colleagues. My life is hell because of the coding and the graphic design and my search for perfection, but I do it for the sole reason to improve the learning.