Pro
Greater flexibility, which leads to greater group diversity. This is especially beneficial for international organizations who want to encourage their national teams to connect.
Con
Administration pressures rise when there are multiple timezones to navigate for international groups and cohorts.
Pro
Heightened sense of community by creating more opportunities for employees to connect.
Con
Scalablity questions arise when more physical learning experiences shift online.
Pro
Increased time and cost efficiency by virtue of fewer employees needing to travel in order to meet and learn together.
Con
Ensuring remote attendees feel equally included is extremely important
Sue Ritchie Campbell
Head of Learning & Development
Merck Canada
Participant
frontiers forum
At Sana, we combine flexible working with intentional digital and physical architecture. That’s why our headquarters in Stockholm is designed to facilitate both in-person and hybrid collaboration—a few large, open spaces exist alongside multiple small rooms for virtual and hybrid calls. Technology-wise, we use Sana Live for all internal meetings and workshops to facilitate informal learning and knowledge sharing from wherever our employees are. For example, when a group is part in-person and remote, everyone joins Sana Live to share their ideas and feedback through reflections, polls, reactions, and chat. We’ve found that respecting this principle for hybrid sessions increases engagement among both physical and remote participants.
Participant
frontiers forum
Hanna Mannberg
Chief HR Officer
Svea Solar
At Sana, we believe that finding that balance starts with leadership. We encourage all our leaders to cultivate an environment where their direct reports are in the “learning zone”, a place where they feel equally supported and challenged.
When we asked frontiers forum participants about their cultural strategies, there was a clear trend towards blending top-down and bottom-up initiatives. Below are some of the top tactics.
Cecilia Tosting
Chief Executive Officer
Hemfrid
We want Sana to be a company where people can do their life’s work. Fulfilling that mission all starts with learning in all its forms. Since Day 1 we have encouraged horizontal career moves, provided generous personal development budgets, and run regular lunch and learns. But nothing has shaped our learning culture more than building a learning platform and using it in our day-to-day work.
We want to empower everyone to create engaging learning content quickly and easily share knowledge with each other. That’s why we pay such close attention to the facilitator experience in Sana Live. From creating a breakout room to setting a workshop timer, our aim is reduce the administrative burden so that facilitators can focus on what matters most: the people in the virtual room.