{"id":132,"date":"2017-01-16T11:50:10","date_gmt":"2017-01-16T11:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/modernworkplacelearning.com\/magazine\/?p=132"},"modified":"2018-12-24T13:41:08","modified_gmt":"2018-12-24T13:41:08","slug":"becoming-digital-masters-to-beat-cancer-sooner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/modernworkplacelearning.com\/magazine\/becoming-digital-masters-to-beat-cancer-sooner\/","title":{"rendered":"Becoming digital masters to beat cancer sooner"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"First published on Cancer Research UK Digital Team blog<\/a> on 12 January 2017<\/em><\/p>\n

At Cancer Research UK our goal is that by 2034, 3 in 4 people diagnosed with cancer will survive. That\u2019s rightly ambitious and we need to keep moving forwards to make sure we get there. We need to become a more digital organisation to keep pace.<\/p>\n

It sounds good in theory. We hear that we\u2019re supposed to be \u2018more digital\u2019 all the time. Organisations can\u2019t keep doing things the way they\u2019ve always done them. Or they risk being \u2018disrupted\u2019. Left behind, eating the dust of an army of post-it wielding hipsters.<\/p>\n

But for people who don\u2019t work in digital every day we know this can all feel a bit abstract. That\u2019s our priority as a Learning and Development function within the digital team. How do we help people understand what \u2018being more digital\u2019 is? And how do we support them to get there?<\/p>\n

Digital mindset and skills<\/strong><\/p>\n

We describe \u2018being digital\u2019 as a combination of mindset and skills. Mindset-wise it\u2019s about making sure you really understand your audience and prioritise their experience. It\u2019s about testing and learning. Embracing failure, and continuously improving whatever it is that you’re working on. And it\u2019s about collaborating. Avoiding unnecessary hierarchy and bureaucracy in order to get work done quickly.<\/p>\n

And the skills? Being able to write great web content that comes up top in a Google search. Being able to track and analyse the performance of web pages. Continuously improving pages to ensure a great experience for users. Understanding social and other digital marketing channels. And managing work in an ‘agile’ way and applying ‘lean’ principles to reduce waste and be as productive as possible.<\/p>\n

Learning by doing<\/strong><\/p>\n

So how do we work with teams so that they can do all these things?<\/p>\n

At the moment, the Learning and Development world is buzzing with ideas about modern workplace learning. Jane Hart<\/a> and others are leading a shift away from the traditional training course, where \u2018learning\u2019 is separate from work.<\/p>\n

Nowadays if I wanted to find out how to do something outside of work I\u2019d Google or YouTube it to find out how. Or I\u2019d ask someone who knows more than me. I wouldn\u2019t book onto a training course in a month\u2019s time.<\/p>\n

We take this kind of approach to digital upskilling. We see work and learning as one and the same thing.<\/p>\n

As a wider digital team, we no longer do the digital stuff for other teams. Through our \u2018Hub and Spoke\u2019 model, we (the digital hub) work in partnership with teams (in what we call spokes) to deliver a digital outcome. Like increase the team’s digital presence or increase the engagement of people who visit their pages. And just as importantly, to help the team adopt a digital mindset and develop their digital skills.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t send people on a one-size-fits-all training programme to make them better at digital things. Instead we support teams to learn as they work towards their spoke goal.<\/p>\n

At the start of a spoke, teams assess their current skills and set some learning objectives with a digital team member (a Proposition Manager) who acts as their learning guide throughout. We\u2019ve created a digital skills self-assessment to help them do this. We can share this with you<\/a> if you\u2019re interested.<\/p>\n

They then get started on the digital work they\u2019ve come together to deliver. Working with the Proposition Manager to build their understanding of how to approach a piece of work in a digital way.<\/p>\n

The team can ask questions as they go, and get guidance and advice from digital experts in our team. When relevant they can go to focused training sessions and have access to the helpful just-in-time resources.<\/p>\n

So at the end of a spoke, a previously \u2018non-digital\u2019 business team can test new ideas from their audience\u2019s point of view, maintain their web page and create great online experiences. And they can do all this independently, needing less and less support from the digital team.<\/p>\n

For example: Our Annual Review team<\/strong><\/p>\n

A spoke was set up to make sure we have outstanding content on the Annual Review pages of our website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Oli Welch, a Proposition Manager, guided the team through this journey. So that they could keep improving their pages in future, once the spoke ended.<\/p>\n

Skills assessment<\/strong><\/p>\n

Firstly, Oli needed to establish the team\u2019s starting point. In this case they were all quite new to digital but were really keen to learn. Ideal!<\/p>\n

Learning to use some analytics and collaborative tools<\/strong><\/p>\n

Next the team needed to learn how supporters were using the Annual Review pages. Oli showed them how to use Google Analytics<\/a> and Crazy Egg<\/a>. Google Analytics let them track some key statistics about their users and Crazy Egg allowed them to see visually how people engage with their website. These tools gave them a much better idea of how people interacted with their pages.<\/p>\n

The team practised with the tools until they were able to use them confidently on their own.<\/p>\n

Oli also introduced the team to tools like Trello, a platform for managing workload in an agile way, to share their work. The team picked them up quickly and have continued to use them since.<\/p>\n

A lightbulb moment<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oli introduced the team to the concept of User Experience (UX). They went along to our testing lab at City University, to observe real people engaging with their existing pages. They watched as members of the public skimmed through pages they\u2019d expected them to read in detail and didn\u2019t even open the pdfs they\u2019d painstakingly put together! It really challenged their preconceptions about how people interacted with their content and the difference between what works in print and what works online.<\/p>\n

Reflecting and Consolidating<\/strong><\/p>\n

All of the work so far allowed the team to put together a list of things that were wrong with the existing pages and things that were working well. They could begin creating new content.<\/p>\n

But before ploughing on, Oli held a couple of washup sessions with the team. He reminded them of everything they\u2019d learned. And gave them a handy document explaining who to ask in digital for help with different tasks.<\/p>\n

Learning from experts<\/strong><\/p>\n

Next came workshops with our Content and SEO leads, Chris Flood and Nancy Scott. They gave some tips for creating a new user journey and ideas for writing great web content. The team now keep these in mind when they produce new content.<\/p>\n

Pressing the right buttons<\/strong><\/p>\n

To put the new pages on the website, the team needed to know how to use our content management system (CMS), Drupal. Becca Sharplin-Hughes, one of our Digital Producers built a page as an example, showing them the steps she took to do it. Then the team were able, with Becca\u2019s support, to create their own pages. With more practice, they\u2019ve grown in confidence and can now edit their pages by themselves.<\/p>\n

From zero to digital <\/strong><\/p>\n

So through a mixture of learning by doing, speaking to experts, and training, the team grew to adopt a digital mindset and developed the skills to take control of their digital destiny.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re seeing some exciting progress working with teams across CRUK in this way. Helping them to deliver great digital experiences and supporting them to become more digital in the process.<\/p>\n

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