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Welcome to the Go1 blog. Helping you to achieve your L&D goals through the latest learning and development insights, trends, and technology.

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As technologies advance and AI becomes more refined, analysis has become integral to many industries. Movie studios conduct market analysis to ascertain the most in-demand and profitable films. Social media creators rely on detailed analytics to determine which content draws the highest engagement. And many professional athletes hire analysts to gain an extra 0.01% advantage over their competitors that might make the difference between a world record and an also-ran.

Without these valuable insights, we are left in the dark, guessing how to improve our performance. Digital learning content should be no different. To make informed, forward-thinking decisions, detailed insights are essential. As a learning content provider, you want to know what content your learners are engaging with, what they’re avoiding, how and when they’re engaging with content, and what they will need in the future. With this data, you can offer more relevant and tailored content to your learners. Unfortunately, these insights aren’t always available.

With this in mind, we’ll look at how analytics can improve your learning content and how Go1 Connect can help learning content creators access the insights they need. 

As mentioned, sophisticated analytics are now the norm in many industries. These insights help us improve output and plan for the future. Yet, many L&D teams are left in the dark, unable to make informed decisions. 

Through extensive conversations with our partners and Customer Success Managers, we know that the following is an all too common scenario. You release a new piece of learning content, hand it over to your customers, and…that’s that. You have no idea what’s working and what isn't. What content are your learners engaging with? Are they using it at all? It makes it nearly impossible to accurately assess how to improve the content and user experience, let alone discern what areas to invest in for future content planning.

As Training Industry explains in a recent article exploring the benefits of learning analytics, “By leveraging learning data and analytics, organisations can better understand if their programs drive desired business outcomes...learning analytics provide the opportunity and insights necessary to better meet learner expectations. Leveraging learning data properly will reveal their learners’ preferences, including which modalities and design features they value. This data can also be used to uncover poor training programs and segments by evaluating whether the learning has been understood or even consumed by the learner.”

Put simply, pouring so much time, effort, and resources into creating something and then not having any insight into how learners are consuming it is a significant pain point for many learning content providers. 

Understandably, most L&D teams want to know how to optimise their content to make it more effective. So far, so good. Unfortunately, good intentions only get you so far. A disconnect arises when organisations either don’t have access to the appropriate data or don’t have the necessary analysis skills within their teams. 

According to Emerald Works’ Back to the Future Report, 98% of L&D teams say that data analytics is a high priority, but just 18% currently have this capability in-house, down from 30% in 2018. Here, the disconnect between aspiration and reality is stark — L&D teams see how impactful learning data can be but can’t implement this data effectively. 

Similarly, 26% of L&D teams say they lack the analytical skills to use learning data effectively. This figure is trending in the wrong direction, up from 18% in 2019. Accordingly, L&D is lagging behind many other industries. While most L&D teams know how powerful learning insights can be, few teams have the necessary skills and tools to access — let alone utilise — these insights.

Most alarmingly, only 10% of L&D teams use performance data to measure the impact of learning programs. In comparison, this number skyrockets to 68% among high-impact L&D teams (defined as the top 10% of surveyed organisations). Likewise, only 6% of high-impact teams lack the analytical skills to use learning data effectively. 

These statistics tell a story: there is a clear correlation between accessing learning insights and improved performance as an L&D team. Effective use of analytics can drastically improve the performance of your L&D content, taking you from an average team to a high-impact team faster than you can say ‘content insights’. 

L&D professionals are problem solvers at heart, so it was only a matter of time until these issues were addressed, allowing learning content creators to access insights in a timely and digestible manner. 

As a leader in online learning, Go1 has access to invaluable content consumption insights. That’s why we’re so excited to launch Go1 Connect, the most efficient way for learning creators to deliver their content to customers. It’s a solution designed specifically for content creators which provides access to engagement data for all customers.

Go1 Connect offers insights to customers to help them assess performance and establish benchmarks for their content. Most importantly, you’ll have access to a wealth of sophisticated, easy-to-understand insights, such as:

Real-time dashboards and reports to assess performance and establish content benchmarks 

The ability to compare content usage for different customers

By making all aspects of content distribution and management simple, Go1 Connect empowers learning providers to focus on what they do best: creating impactful content for customers and users. 

If you’re ready to learn more about Go1 Connect or have any questions, you can find out more here, or, reach out to register your interest.

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We’ll look at how analytics can improve your learning content and how Go1 Connect can help learning content providers access the insights they need. 

Accessing insights to improve your L&D content

We’ll look at how analytics can improve your learning content and how Go1 Connect can help learning content creators access the insights they need. 

The Emerging Stronger team combines the expertise of Michelle Ockers, Shannon Tipton and Laura Overton, award winning L&D industry analysts and strategists who have been working together to empower L&D leaders to take bold action to positively influence business value. 

Over the past 18 months, Emerging Stronger has established a reputation for independent evidence based thinking through their global masterclasses, podcast and resources designed to support the post pandemic world of L&D.

Andrew Barnes, CEO of Go1, said: “We have been working with the Emerging Stronger team over the past year and we value the team’s independent evidence informed perspective.”  

“We are pleased to be involved in this publishing partnership as it aligns with our mission to bring independent content to learners around the globe, including individuals and leaders responsible for the learning of others so that individuals, teams and organisations are better equipped to adapt and grow,” Barnes said.

As a result of this partnership, the Emerging Stronger team will develop a range of resources including eBooks, tools, and research reports to support L&D leaders as they upskill their workforces today to address the challenges of tomorrow

The Emerging Stronger Team will begin their publishing partnership with Go1 with a focus on:

Developing a range of evidence-based resources (eBooks and tools)

Hosting community events that explore collective wisdom and uncover actions to increase business value

Sharing evidence informed insight to encourage and build a future proofed L&D

All to support the mission of both to support L&D leaders as they continue the work to upskill and reskill their workforces. 

Laura Overton (UK market), Shannon Tipton (USA market), Michelle Ockers (APAC market), say:

"Our sole focus is to help L&D take the bold action needed to drive better business value. We love working with Go1’s energetic teams around the globe as they realise their vision. This partnership demonstrates their commitment to independent thinking and making useful, accessible content available to those who need it."

The partnership also demonstrates Go1’s ongoing support of the Emerging Stronger Masterclass which provides an opportunity for L&D leaders to adopt transformational perspectives to drive business value. The agreement not only allows the creation of new resources to educate and inform L&D globally but also provides financial support to participants who enter the programme as a scholarship holder.

Emerging Stronger has announced a publishing partnership with Go1, the world's largest corporate education content hub for on-demand training and resources, aimed at supporting learning and development leaders to drive better business value in the changing workplace.

Go1 enters new partnership to help L&D leaders adapt and thrive

A new publishing partnership with Emerging Stronger aims at supporting learning and development leaders to drive better business value in the changing workplace.

Go1 enters new partnership to help L&D leaders adapt and thrive 

What is your organisation doing to equip and empower employees with the right skills to succeed in the new working environment? 

In episode 19 of the Learning with Go1 podcast, Senior Learning EdTech Transformation Strategist, Lori Niles-Hofmann, shares her insights into what the leading L&D teams are doing well, and how they're transforming company performance through their learning programmes. 

Check out some of our favourite highlights from the conversation below.   

What are some of the key themes of L&D right now? 

For many people and organisations, 2021 has been described as a ‘limbo year’. A lot of people were hoping that the pandemic and the aftermath would end abruptly, that we could all move on from it and get back to normal, but that certainly hasn’t been the case. In the clip below, Lori highlights three things that L&D are dealing with right now. 

What are the key themes in L&D right now?

How are successful companies approaching digital transformation? 

“Everybody has their own nirvana, but you must understand it from the user's perspective. It's not about you. It doesn't matter what you may want as an L&D function, or even as a business function. You must see it from the other side and what is going to work for the learner.” 

Lori explains what successful companies have been doing when it comes to digital transformation below. 

How are successful companies approaching digital transformation?

When time and resources are tight, how can we identify projects that drive business value versus those that don’t?   

The Learning Triage, first developed by Lori Niles-Hofmann and Amanda Nolen, makes it easier for you to identify the business opportunities around you that deliver the best value. Lori tells us more about the Learning Triage below. 

Tell us about the Learning Triage

💡 Learn more about the Learning Triage and download your free copy here 

As we move into 2022, L&D needs to be intentional about learning. No more learning for the sake of learning. But rather, what skills gaps do you have as an organisation, and how can you provide people with real development opportunities? 

If you haven’t already, listen to the full podcast for actionable takeaways to consider for your own learning organisation.  

We look forward to continuing the rest of the series, with L&D professionals already scheduled to join us from Cyprus, Egypt, Oman, Finland, the Netherlands, Australia, the USA, and many more. Stay tuned!   

Want to hear more? Browse the full Learning with Go1 podcast library on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Spotify to help expand your knowledge of all things L&D and hear how other organizations are navigating this ever-evolving landscape.  

In episode 19 of the Learning with Go1 podcast Senior Learning EdTech Transformation Strategist, Lori Niles-Hofmann, shares her insights into what the leading L&D teams are doing well... and not so well. 

Is your L&D team building the skills to meet company performance objectives?  

Is your L&D team building the skills to meet company performance objectives? 

From time to time, the question comes up: does Go1 invest in other companies? We think about that question in the context of how we achieve our mission to unlock positive potential through a love of learning.   

There is so much potential in the world, and so many opportunities to help people learn better. We see this every day in how fostering a love of learning can help people get new jobs, be more effective at their work, deliver better for their customers, and develop themselves as individuals. The world is moving quickly, and learning needs to as well. 

At Go1, the main way we’re helping to unlock that potential is by building the world’s best subscription library for corporate learning, and by opening up our technology for content creators to deliver excellent training to their customers directly. We think there’s a better way to get access to the learning and development experiences employers, employees, and citizens need, and we’re proud to be building it at Go1. 

However, we’re not the only people with amazing ideas about how to unlock people’s positive potential, and how to make learning and development better. There are lots and lots of great companies out there making products that we think are pretty great, and so wherever we can we like to help those companies succeed. 

One way we do that is by working with our content partners and our affiliate partners to help them build great businesses of their own. For content partners, that often looks like providing an additional income stream by being part of Go1 Premium. And on top of that, providing them with data and analytics to identify what the next great bit of content they should build is.  

It could also look like using Go1 Connect to deliver their content to wherever they want it to be. For our affiliate partners, that looks like providing Go1 Premium alongside their own great products to produce an amazing L&D experience for their customers. 

Another way we do that is by investing in great companies who are building amazing things we want to see in the world, and our investment can help catalyze. We’re not a VC fund, but we do like backing great companies where we think one plus one can be (much, much) greater than two.   

One example of this is News Over Audio (Noa). Noa makes it convenient for time-sensitive people to understand and know more about the news that matters, in minutes. Their editors work with some of the world’s biggest publications to curate and consciously package articles in a way that guides you through the biggest news topics. Their team of celebrated narrators then read these articles word-for-word so that you can listen anytime, anywhere. 

Why we have invested in Noa is that we see in them a company that is building a great product to make it easier for people to learn about the world around them. In this case, by putting great content into a format that is easier for people to find time to understand. We think Noa’s product is highly complementary with Go1’s own, so much so that we offer every Noa listener a Go1 learner record so they can connect up all of the things they’re learning. We also offer Noa subscriptions to all of our own staff for free. 

 Another set of examples are companies we have partnered with to co-fund the creation of amazing content we want to see in the world. Our content partners are building fantastic learning experiences, and when the right opportunity comes up for us to catalyze that content being made sooner, better, we co-fund its creation.   

A great example of this is our work with social impact organizations to help them create L&D content so that the impact of their missions can live on in the workplace. We're proud of our work with organisations like Challenge DV and Beyond Blue, that has brought learning experiences on important social topics that people can watch and re-watch at their own pace. 

So hopefully that’s given you a taste of how Go1 thinks about our mission of unlocking positive potential through a love of learning, and how investing in other companies can help achieve that mission. 

Want to learn more about how Go1 ensures it has the best quality content? Reach out to our friendly 24/7 support team anytime for a chat. 

At Go1, our mission is to unlock the positive of potential of over a billion people through a love of learning. The main way we’re doing that is by building the world’s best subscription library for corporate learning. But we’re also doing that by investing in other companies who we think are building amazing things.

How does Go1 think about investing in other companies?

At Go1, our mission is to unlock the positive of potential of over a billion people through a love of learning. The main ways we’re doing that is by building the world’s best content for corporate learning and by investing in other companies who are building amazing things.

International Men’s Day (IMD) is celebrated on 19 November every year and is marked in around 80 countries worldwide. 

As a day of observance, IMD is a great opportunity to take part in a global conversation about manhood, masculinity, and men’s issues. With a focus on uniting humanity, IMD encourages everyone to work together to:  

✔️ Acknowledge the contribution of men and boys 

✔️ Tackle discrimination and disadvantage 

✔️ Foster positive gender relations  

✔️ Make the world a safer place for everyone 
 

This year’s theme for IMD is Men's Mental Health and providing men with opportunities for connection, support, and education to enhance their health and wellbeing.  

Having discussions around men’s mental health is an important factor in eliminating gender inequality and practicing an inclusive workplace. On this International Men’s Day, let’s all work together to reduce the stigma and make it easier for people to talk about men’s mental health within the workplace.  

Looking for training content in this space? We encourage you to check out some of our providers and their content here.  

Having discussions around men’s mental health is an important factor in eliminating gender inequality and practicing an inclusive workplace. This International Men’s Day (IMD) lets work together to reduce the stigma in the workplace. 

Online training to support mens mental health

Having discussions around men’s mental health is an important factor in eliminating gender inequality and practicing an inclusive workplace. This International Men’s Day (IMD) let’s work together to reduce the stigma in the workplace. 

Online training to support men’s mental health 

Picture two co-workers. The first is busy all day, racing from meeting to meeting, replying to messages, staring down a to-do list, and barely taking a second to breathe. The second appears to have time on their side, working at a methodical pace and taking regular breaks between tasks. Who do you think is more productive? 

Conventional wisdom suggests the first person is more likely to be productive. After all, the more time you spend working, the more you’re likely to get done, right? Many of us have been conditioned to believe in this ‘work til you drop’ attitude. 

In reality, the second person, who opts to take regular breaks, is significantly more likely to be productive, as they give their brain the time it needs to reset and process information. New research by Microsoft finds that taking regular breaks decreases the risk of employee burnout while also improving focus and engagement and helping people manage stress. In this case, the old adage rings true: work smarter, not harder. 

Unfortunately, many people probably relate more closely to the first person in this scenario. You might even know the feeling: you work and work, until sometime in the afternoon after yet another Zoom meeting, you feel the tension build up in your temples or the stress pool in your stomach. This way of working is unsustainable and, ultimately, unproductive. 

We’ll dig into this new research on why our brains need breaks, looking at the case for taking breaks, as well as the benefits of breaks for productivity. 

Sometimes, ‘break’ can be a dirty word in our breakneck, fast-paced modern culture. When you’re always on the go, facing various deadlines and pressures, it feels like there’s no time to take a break. Microsoft’s 2021 Work Trend Index report backs this up, finding that 54% of respondents feel overworked, while 39% say they are outright exhausted.

Many feel the pressure is always on to be succeeding, achieving, and boosting their productivity. There’s no time for a break — I’ll sleep when I’m dead! However, when we step back, take a deep breath, and critically evaluate this mindset, we realise it couldn’t be further from the truth.

The case for taking breaks is clear-cut. Put simply, our brains are designed for sprints, not marathons. They need time to rest, reset, and consolidate knowledge. Without this, our brains cannot function optimally. It is often during these moments when we are not actively thinking about anything that our best ideas suddenly come to us — those brilliant ‘lightbulb’ moments. 

This phenomenon is no coincidence. As Psychology Today explains, “the frontal lobe brain networks — responsible for reasoning, planning, decision-making, and judgment — work for you in creative ways when the brain is quiet, not while you are effortfully trying to find a solution to a problem. Moments of insight increase as the brain unwinds. Why? When not actively tackling a task, the brain connects random ideas and consolidates these with prior knowledge into exciting new thoughts, ideas, directions, and potential solutions.”

In other words, those moments when you’re putting in all your effort but running into a mental block often signal that you need a break. Increased effort does not necessarily correlate with increased productivity. In fact, this mindset is worth debunking. Obviously, you are more likely to complete a task if you work on it for 25 minutes than if you work on it for 2 minutes. However, as with many things in life, you will eventually reach a point of diminishing returns. For example, working on a task for 3 hours straight does not guarantee a better outcome than breaking that work up into four 30-minute increments. At a certain point, your brain will be crying out for a break. 

Numerous studies have attempted to quantify the benefits of downtime for our brain health. One such experiment, conducted by Marc Berman in 2008, saw 38 university students study lists of random numbers, then recite these numbers from memory in reverse order. Next, half the students took a walk in a botanical garden for an hour, while the other half walked the same distance through busy, heavily trafficked city streets for an hour. The students then memorised and recited the lists again. On average, students who walked through nature recalled 1.5 more digits than the first time they took the test, whereas those who walked through the busy city streets improved by only 0.5 digits. 

This study shows the benefits of downtime for our memory, focus, and attentiveness. Similar patterns have been observed in school students. A 2016 study by psychologist Karrie Godwin found that, during longer lessons, young primary school students were distracted about a quarter of the time. However, during shorter lessons, with more frequent breaks, attention and engagement skyrocketed. Ultimately, they determined that it was more effective to give students more breaks, settling on several 10-minute lessons rather than fewer 30-minute lessons. 

On a larger scale, a similar pattern is evident in studies of the 4-day workweek. One study from Iceland found that when workers reduced their hours from 40 to 35 per week, productivity stayed constant or rose in most workplaces. Likewise, Microsoft Japan tested a 4-day work week and saw productivity increase by 40%. 

While this might seem paradoxical, giving workers more breaks allows them more downtime to rest, reset, relax, and ultimately increase productivity. In these instances, less is definitely more. 

The benefits of breaks for productivity 

As anyone who has ever had to work long shifts will tell you, breaks are beneficial for many self-evident reasons: mental health, physical health, memory, and even attentiveness. Plus, who doesn’t like taking a 10-minute break to grab a coffee and a snack? When it comes to productivity, taking regular breaks is equally important. While this might seem counterintuitive to some people — how can working less be more productive? —  a recent Microsoft study analysed the benefits of taking breaks, concluding that our brains need regular breaks to maintain productivity. 

During the study, 14 people attended Zoom meetings while wearing electroencephalogram (EEG) equipment — a cap to monitor the electrical activity in their brains. On the first day of testing, participants attended four back-to-back half-hour meetings, all on different topics. The following day, these meetings were interspersed with 10-minute breaks, during which time the participants completed a guided meditation.

Following the study, researchers found three key takeaways: 

1. Breaks between meetings significantly reduce stress

Raise your hand if back-to-back meetings stress you out. Well, according to Microsoft’s research, you’re not alone.  During the study, beta waves, which are associated with stress, accumulated in participants' brains when attending back-to-back meetings. In other words, participants became increasingly stressed during back-to-back meetings. 

On the other hand, when participants took a break between meetings, beta wave activity dropped, allowing for a reset. As such, participants entered the following meeting feeling more relaxed, as beta wave activity held steady and never had the chance to accumulate.

2. Taking breaks increases focus and engagement 

We all know the feeling: you’re on your third consecutive meeting, your colleague is presenting an important slide deck, you’re trying your best to focus, but your mind keeps wandering, eventually drifting off into daydreams. Luckily, science now backs up these feelings. 

According to Microsoft’s research, participants who took meditation breaks between meetings showed brainwave patterns with positive levels of frontal alpha asymmetry, which correlates to higher focus and engagement.

In contrast, participants who didn’t take breaks had (you guessed it!) negative levels of frontal alpha symmetry, suggesting negative engagement during the meeting. 

Put simply, not taking breaks between meetings made it far more difficult for people to focus.

3. Stress levels spike when transitioning between meetings

Finally, researchers noticed that if participants didn’t take breaks, stress levels spiked when transitioning between meetings. For participants who did take breaks, stress levels decreased during this period.

According to Michael Bohan, who oversaw the research, this is because “you’re coming to the end of the meeting, knowing you have another one coming right up, and you’re going to have to switch gears and use your brain to think hard about something else.”

“Our research shows breaks are important, not just to make us less exhausted by the end of the day, but to actually improve our ability to focus and engage while in those meetings,” he adds.

Ultimately, the message is clear: to maintain focus and engagement, reduce stress, and improve productivity, breaks are vital. To function at your best, breaks should be factored in as a regular part of your daily workload; just like checking your emails, replying to Slack messages, and attending meetings. 

While old-school thinking may perceive taking a break as lazy or unproductive, nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, breaks are one of the best productivity tools in your arsenal. So, next time you hit a brick wall at work, remember this breaking news: your brain needs breaks, and so do you.

For more insights, be sure to subscribe to the Go1 newsletter to stay on top of all the latest L&D trends. Or, you can check out our articles on scheduling breaks to increase productivity and why you need to switch off from technology during your break.

We’ll dig into the new research on why our brains need breaks, looking at the case for taking breaks, as well as the benefits of breaks for productivity. 

Why our brains need breaks to maintain productivity

Go1 and Workplace from Meta (formerly Facebook) announce the launch of a new integration that enables employees to easily access and engage in online training, all without leaving their workspace.  

With Workplace, Meta are on a mission to make work more personal, providing employees with a platform to connect, communicate, and collaborate. 

The Workplace platform is also ideal for delivering just-in-time micro-learning experiences, meaning learners no longer have to spend precious time switching between platforms – one of the biggest barriers to employee learning and productivity.  

“Meta has already revolutionized how people connect, and now with Workplace, that same technology can connect teams in a work setting. When organizations use unified communication tools, people become closer, teamwork gets faster, and culture gets stronger. Combine that with learning and development opportunities that are proven to boost retention, organizations can deliver more value to their customers,” said Andrew Barnes, CEO and Co-Founder of Go1. 

We’re also pleased to announce a partnership with Enablo, who are experts in transforming the employee experience and are a premium partner for Workplace. They’ve helped organization's (including some of the world’s largest) roll out Workplace as their communication and connection tool across their workforces. 

Go1’s integration is now live and available to all customers that use Workplace. 

Does your organization use Workplace from Meta? Request a demo of Go1 in Workplace today.  

To learn more about the integration, visit https://www.go1.com/workplace-from-meta  

Go1 and Workplace from Meta (formerly Facebook) announce the launch of a new integration that enables employees to easily access and engage in online training, all without leaving their workspace.

Go1 and Workplace from Meta announce new integration that removes barriers to employee learning

New integration between Go1 and Workplace from Meta enables employees to easily access and engage in online training, all without leaving their workspace.

Removing barriers to employee learning with Workplace from Meta

Written by Lauren Waldman, founder of Learning Pirate, and a revolutionary in the discipline of organisational learning and development. With nearly 20 years of experience as a learning professional, complemented by qualifications in neuroscience, Lauren is driving the evolution of the way individuals and organisations learn, approach learning, and join forces with their brains! 

Imagine this: you’ve been locked up at home for most of the year, balancing your home, social and professional life in a way you never have before. While that’s happening, you’re also experiencing a vast array of emotions and feelings, constantly wondering what’s to come next in the world. On top of all that, you’ve had to maintain productivity for work but have found it increasingly hard to focus.  

But we don’t have to imagine this. This really did happen, with many still living in a variation of this existence across the globe.   

Now let’s add learning. Learning that may need to be done to onboard as a new employee, or to upskill as an existing one.   

Learning in order to adjust and adapt to new protocols, policies, procedures, health standards and cultures.   

Focused learning takes a lot of cognitive energy. Therefore, the way we go about learning has to be much more strategic and intentional. Learning Scientist Lauren Waldman offers practical suggestions on how learning leaders can navigate that moving forward. 