Science Museum Group upgrades from classroom-based learning to an innovative digital L&D strategy, enjoying a 25% uptake in training workshops as a result.
Science Museum Group is the world’s biggest collection of science museums, comprising the Science Museum of London, the National Science and Museum in Bradford, the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester, and the Science and Innovation Park in Wiltshire. Their collection spans science, technology, engineering and medicine, and welcomes over five million visitors every year. They’re in the business of sharing knowledge with the public - so of course, they also need to deliver that same promise to their thousands of employees.
User Licenses
2,000
Region
EMEA
Legacy Platform
None
Use Case
Employee engagement
Compliance training
Skills development
Social learning
Onboarding
Links
Redefining learning
Prior to Thrive, Science Museum Group’s learning engagement was in need of a new definition.
“Learning” was a word that only described the mandatory training that employees had to log on and complete once a year, and “additional training” referred simply to a traditional, classroom-based approach facilitated by expensive external trainers.
The SMG team needed to shift their people’s perception of what learning could mean, be, and do for them. As a group that prides themselves on inspiration and education for everyone, the unengaging L&D strategy wasn’t going to cut it moving forwards.
In searching for a new learning platform, SMG was looking to modernise and create value for money. But more importantly, they wanted a real culture change; to create a strategy that saw people actively take control of their own learning.
So, out of all the learning platforms out there - and there are plenty - what ultimately led Science Museum Group to choose Thrive? There were a few reasons, the first being the fact that the platform was so easy to use. Klaudia Mitura (L&D Manager at Science Museum Group) knew that the group needed something that would feel seamless for their team, echoing the digital apps like Amazon and Netflix that people use every day. The team wanted learning that was as easy, accessible and intuitive as choosing what to watch on the TV.
Thrive’s modern, agile interface filled that gap perfectly.
The second reason was the sheer range of learning opportunities within Thrive. With establishing a new learning culture as their primary objective, SMG knew that their teams would respond well to accessible micro-moments of learning that they could complete in the flow of work.
Their compliance training and onboarding procedures would also get a shake-up, resulting in a bigger impact on the business as a whole.
Back-end support for the Front of House
The well-oiled machine of Science Museum Group runs so smoothly thanks in part to their 120-strong customer-facing team: A department that serves as the face of the operation and interacts with hundreds of visitors every single day. This team deserved their own unique learning strategy running alongside the company-wide learning to help them excel within their roles, and deliver world-class customer service.
The Front of House team is headed up by Paige (Assistant Visitor Experience Manager.) She’s taken Thrive’s capabilities and run with them, recognising that the bite-sized, micro modules are the perfect size to jump into between customers. There are a few innovative elements of Thrive that have resulted in a successful training strategy, and more staff members than ever being fully up-to-date:
1.Standardisation of training: The onboarding pathways provided by Thrive result in a standardisation of training across the whole team. Paige can be sure that every member of staff is coming to their additional training with a solid foundation, having completed the same onboarding pathway as a new starter.
2.Managers’ View: The Manager’s View feature allows Paige (and all SMG managers) a holistic view of their team’s individual progress. They can easily see who has completed their training, along with a total percentage of completion across the entire team, and how to achieve 100%.
3. Customer service: The core of Paige’s team and role at SMG. Paige has utilised Thrive’s pathway functionality to create an insightful customer service training programme titled “Inspiring Service.” This provides new starters with standardised customer service training that has been crafted with SMG visitors in mind, helping Front of House to deliver customer-led, visitor-focused service to everyone who walks through their doors.
A curated L&D strategy
This purposeful, curated learning strategy has led to results that SMG can feel proud of. Here’s just a few ways Thrive has impacted the SMG team:
1. User Generated Content: Science Museum Group has fully embraced Thrive’s UGC capabilities, with 39 collaborations between 110+ content experts. Together, these internal Subject Matter Experts have been able to share their knowledge with the entire organisation.
2. ROI: SMG has seen some incredible return on investment for their Learning & Development offering. They can use Thrive’s Skills and Goals feature to capture learning needs across the organisation; effortlessly detecting skills and knowledge gaps in teams, and for individuals. They’ve done away with the expensive external trainers and classroom-style learning, doing a big favour for their bottom line.
3. Engagement: Thrive has served as a massive boon to Science Museum Group’s learning culture. There is a monthly average of over 8,000 pieces of content being accessed, a quarter of which are non-mandatory learning. The learners are benefiting hugely from this culture shift, and it’s showing no signs of slowing down.
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Gemma Islip
Head of Talent and Culture at Science Museum Group
“The thing I love most about working with Thrive is that we can really see the impact it’s having on our colleagues. It’s really created excitement around learning, and it’s happening a lot more frequently.”
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