We have exciting news! This year, two of the projects we developed alongside our partners received Gold Awards from the Brandon Hall Group.

What are Brandon Hall Awards?

Brandon Hall is a research and analyst firm that specializes in learning, development, and management. Each year, they accept submissions for the Brandon Hall Awards, which are designed to recognize work from companies across the globe who have developed technology that is both innovative and has achieved measurable results.

Technology that wins a Brandon Hall Award must address the business needs of a client or provide a solution for a problem in an industry. All of this must be accomplished while ensuring that the product is innovative, creative, and stands out from its competition.

Fortunately, we are committed to creating engaging solutions that are crafted to help our clients exceed the high standards and complex problems they face. Thanks to our dedication to our partnerships and the service mindset we foster at Maestro, we were lucky enough to take home two Gold Awards in the Excellence in Technology Program!

Why does it matter?

Bragging rights aren’t the reason we decided to submit our work to the Brandon Hall Awards. We believe that entering the products we’ve created with our partners in competitions like this is important for building our relationships with the companies we work with. Not only does winning awards help our partners get recognized for their innovation and achievements within their industries, but it allows both the hardworking teams at Maestro and at our partner organizations to share in each other’s success.

An up-close look at the winning projects

Learning technology with a different approach

The Cocktail Mixer Training Simulation we designed alongside our partner, Royal Caribbean, earned the Gold Award for the Best Advance in Gaming or Simulation Technology from the Brandon Hall Awards. We developed this product to help Royal Caribbean find a more effective way to train their employees. 

One learning challenge they faced was figuring out how to train their bartenders; providing adequate training for bartenders can be very costly, as practicing mixing drinks can cost the company an expensive amount of resources. At the same time, this training is incredibly important—mixing drinks incorrectly does not only hurt their taste, but may result in health risks if an incorrect amount of alcohol is poured. 

Together we were able to devise a solution: our Cocktail Mixer Training Simulation provides a risk-free digital platform through which bartenders can practice mixing drinks. This gamified approach to training creates a more engaging and experiential way for bartenders to learn, which results in improved employee retention.

Even more, our Simulation offers a learning strategy that is effective for a global workforce. Royal Caribbean’s employees hail from across the world, enriching their workforce with cultural and linguistic diversity. Because of this diversity, an ordinary, one-size-fits-all approach to learning would be problematic for our partner. That’s why our Cocktail Mixer Training Simulation was designed to work for a global audience; by combining an intuitive UI with the use of graphics instead of text, the Simulation is accessible for learners of all backgrounds.

Compliance training refreshed

On top of receiving recognition for our Cocktail Mixer Training Simulation, our Healthcare Compliance Policy Handbook, which we adapted for our partner Celgene, won the Gold Award for the Best Advance in Learning Management Technology for Compliance Training from the Brandon Hall Awards—a mouthful of a title!

Prior to coming to us to work together on a learning solution, Celgene organized all of their compliance material in various PDFs across multiple platforms. This meant that when employees had a question about Celgene’s compliance policies, they had to navigate a vast amount of information that was scattered in many different places.

As many of us have experienced when trying to cook from a recipe we’ve lost, or when trying to assemble a child’s Christmas present using a lengthy instruction book, when we can’t locate information quickly we tend to give up searching and act based on our best guess. While in these examples the consequences of this behavior would be small, in the medical field, “guessing” could result in serious consequences for our partner. 

Our Healthcare Compliance Policy Handbook helped Celgene compile all of its compliance policy information into a single, more accessible Handbook. Combined with an impeccable UX and UI, our Handbook reduced the time it took for Celgene’s employees to locate compliance policies to just seconds. Because of this, the Handbook became a risk-management tool for our partner, as it helped Celgene increase the likelihood that its employees were informed of the compliance regulations they faced, reducing their risk of legal penalties.

What this means for you

We’re honored to have been recognized for our hard work and innovative learning solutions with two Brandon Hall Awards, and even more grateful to share this win with our partners. We believe that this success demonstrates what is possible when you collaborate with a partner who can harness cutting-edge technology and design to create learning solutions that are the right fit.

As part of the life science industry, you create cutting-edge innovations in the medical space. And your work is incredibly important. Because you’re not just innovating for innovation’s sake—you’re innovating to save lives. 

So with life-saving technology and new medical solutions on the line, your employees need great training to do their jobs well. And the learning in the life science industry they receive should reflect that—innovative, usable, and effective.

Innovative learning in the life science industry that inspires real change

The life science industry is fast-paced and competitive. Even the smallest problems can cause lasting effects. That’s why it’s so important to teach your employees exactly what they need to know. And to do it quickly and efficiently. 

This type of innovative learning in the life science industry involves two key facets:

• Strategic content
• Beautiful, usable design

Why strategic content? 

Always base your learning content on a solid strategy. Strategy helps you communicate exactly what your learners need to know—and do it in the best way possible. This could be eLearning courses, ILT, media, and video. Maybe even AR or VR. Great strategy looks at your learners and the content. Then distills both into the perfect learning solution. 

Why beautiful design?

When you go to an important business meeting, you dress nicely. This makes you feel confident and shows respect—both to yourself and the person you’re meeting with. Dressing well increases your credibility. Often, people will be more likely to take you seriously, and you’re probably more likely to take yourself seriously.

Learning design is no different. When you design high-quality learning, it shows respect to both your company and your learners. Learners see well-designed (beautiful) learning as more credible. And this often means that they’ll be more likely to take their learning seriously. This mindset increases both engagement and retention.

Empowering learners in the life science industry

Here at Maestro, we help life science companies (and their employees) perform beautifully. Our teams work together to solve learning challenges with content, software, and media.

Check out some projects we’ve done with Celgene, Johnson & Johnson, Exact Sciences, and more. 

Creating a digital library—Celgene (Bristol-Myers Squibb)

Celgene is a growing global biopharmaceutical company, recently acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS). They research, develop, and create a variety of products that combat serious diseases, from pancreatic cancer to acute myeloid leukemia. 

The problem

As part of the medical industry, Celgene must follow many different regulations. These regulations and policies help prevent unethical practices. And violations could potentially result in costly lawsuits for the company. But these policies change and update often, leaving Celgene scrambling to keep their reps updated. PDFs proved too difficult to track, update, and keep current. 

So, Celgene requested a new solution. One that would keep all employees up-to-date on the latest regulations and compliance policies. All the time. 

The solution

To solve the problem, our strategists and designers sat down with Celgene to discover the ins-and-outs of all their needs. Celgene wanted a platform-agnostic solution. One that was quick to access, easy to use, and simple to keep updated.

So, we created the Digital Compliance Policy Handbook, a digital library of compliance policies. With impeccable UX and a crisp, streamlined appearance, the library is well-organized, searchable, and easy to navigate. This helps Celgene’s employees quickly find any compliance materials they need in seconds—on any device.

The numbers

• 100% user adoption
• 45,000 page views to date
• 1 minute, 8 second average view time

Non-traditional learning in a whole new way—Johnson & Johnson

As one of the largest multinational medical corporations in the world, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) invests immense time and effort into developing medical technologies. From Ebola vaccines to 3D printing, J&J pushes the limits of innovation to create change. 

The problem

In 2018, J&J came to us with a problem. They wanted to educate employees on the benefits of 3D printing. Especially about how 3D printing decreases costs and increases personalization in healthcare. 

But normal, everyday education wasn’t enough. J&J wanted non-traditional learning that would communicate an emotional message. They wanted learning that would resonate. Sound simple? With over 130,000 global employees and a technical subject, this meant taking a completely different approach to learning. 

The solution

To balance J&J’s desire for interactive learning with a technical subject, we created a vertical scrolling experience. The experience used sophisticated design to reflect the innovative and sophisticated subject matter. The scrolling action keeps the learner moving through relevant information at their own pace. And each interaction gives them the choice to opt into more technical details if they wanted. 

The instructional designers divided the content into two different levels: macro and micro. 

• Macro content: this includes all high-level information about 3D printing. It’s relevant to everyone, company-wide. Topics include defining 3D printing and showing real-world examples. Macro content forms the core of the experience. 
• Micro content: this delves into the complicated, technical details. It’s relevant only to people with expertise or interest in technical subjects. Learners can opt into this content if interested.

Together with J&J, we used storytelling principles to build an emotional connection to the learners. Then we supported this with media assets, such as photography and live-action video. This approach emphasized 3D printing as an instrument that brings positive change to people’s lives—every day.

Seamless learning for reps on the move—Janssen (Johnson & Johnson)

Janssen is a global pharmaceutical company with a large, geographically dispersed sales team. They work with Johnson & Johnson to research and treat some of the most complex diseases of our time.

The problem

At Janssen, independent teams manage different products, and this led to a disconnect with product training for reps. In fact, reps had to search over twelve different systems for training. This got so frustrating for the reps that if they couldn’t find the training they needed quickly, often they wouldn’t take the training at all. 

Janssen wanted a change, so they met up with us. The challenge? To develop a solution that got reps all the product training they needed—in one super-simple step.

The solution

Together with Janssen, the Maestro software team stepped up to create an app—YouLearn—that removed the friction between reps and product training. YouLearn merged solid training content with innovative technology. And in only a short amount of time, it became a seamless, one-stop-shop for rep training in the field. Janssen reps immediately saw a boost in their sales abilities and numbers. In turn, this triggered a cycle of improved performance.

After adopting YouLearn, Janssen reached the highest learning engagement rate in company history. They saw incredible numbers company-wide within the first quarter of implementation. In 2016, YouLearn won the Life Science and Educators Network (LTEN) Excellence Award for Innovation. 

First-quarter numbers

• 40,000+ content views
• 200,000+ in app minutes
• 4,000+ assignments

Innovative learning for medical technology—Abbott

With over 100,000 employees in over 160 countries, Abbott is a world-changer in the medical space. Abbott works to help people live their best lives, from diagnostics and medical devices to pharmaceuticals. And this means developing comprehensive training for their myriad of products.

The problem

Abbott Cardiovascular’s reps support staff training at countless clinics and hospitals. The goal is to train clinicians on Abbott’s cardiovascular devices before using them. (That’s kinda important, right?) But Abbott faced the problem of a stale LMS and a stiff, impersonal workflow. This didn’t offer many incentives for clinicians to learn about Abbott’s products. Much less learn how to use them.

To solve this, Abbott came to us with a challenge. Create easy and trackable med-device training for clinicians interested in their products.

The solution

To keep things simple for current (and future) Abbott customers, we built the training application off of an Abbott site. The flexible system lets users check out products whenever they want—and tailor the workflow to their schedules. All while being easy to access.

Developing new learning from the ground up—Exact Sciences

Exact Sciences develops solutions that help detect cancer and guide and track treatment. Their main (and most innovative) product is Cologuard, a stool-based alternative to colonoscopy that tests DNA.

The problem

As a revolutionary new product, Cologuard faced breaking into a completely unaware market. Reps needed to do more than simply create awareness, they needed to give doctors a reason to change. This meant convincing doctors that Colorguard is a viable screening method for colorectal cancer (CRC). 

To make this happen, Exact Sciences asked us to do two things: 

• Collect Cologuard best practices from sales reps, managers, and trainers across the nation
• Build a scalable, self-driven curriculum that trained reps up to a high level of skill

The solution

So, we got started. Our team went through the week-long onboarding for Cologuard sales reps to get fully immersed in the material, tensions, and motivations of the audience. After becoming “certified,” we interviewed established sales reps, managers, and trainers to better understand their struggles, successes, and experiences in the field. The onboarding and interviews became an important strategic foundation for everything that followed. 

We worked with Exact Sciences to design a learning curriculum based on a “Learn, Practice, Perform” methodology. This method asks reps to learn new skills, practice them in a controlled environment, and then apply those skills in the real world. It also encourages the reps to reflect on both their struggles and successes.

Bringing consistency to innovative learning—CSL

CSL is a global plasma collection and pharmaceutical company. They use collected plasma to research and create life-saving medications and treatments.

The problem

The arm preparation and plasma draw procedure is highly technical. This makes it tough to simulate without practice on dummies or real patients.

CSL wanted to train phlebotomists on draw consistency. But they wanted to avoid managerial oversight or reducing practice time before practicals. This meant simulating a technical skill in a digital environment, built to be as real as possible.

The solution

To solve this challenge, we created a custom eLearning course that simulated key steps of the arm prep procedure. With 3D anatomy and interactive elements, the course teaches the learner about the role, anatomy, and procedure. Then, the course asks learners to conduct the arm prep procedure from start to finish on a 3D model.

Because learners view the course on tablets, they can use styluses in the shape of swabs. This helps them learn accurate swabbing patterns—a key challenge for phlebotomist compliance.

Ready to help your life science learners perform beautifully? 

Just like Johnson & Johnson, Celgene, and all the others, you’re committed to doing big things. And giving your people strategic, beautifully designed learning in the life science industry is another step toward empowering your impact.

And don’t feel overwhelmed! You’re not in this alone. Together with a great partner, you can create the learning in the life science industry that you and your learners deserve. 

See what you can do

eLearning refresh

Empower learners with the latest technology, content, and designs

Onboarding

Turn your new hire’s nerves into know-how

Continuous learning

Create habits of personal growth

AR, VR, and more

Open up a whole new world with the latest tech

New launch learning

Debut your newest launch on a whole new level

Rebrand learning

Embrace your new brand look in every part of your learning

Compliance training

Mandatory courses don’t have to be mundane

Sharpen your ILT

Engage your people with custom-created content

While most define cost by the number written on a price tag, economists say that a truer measure of an item’s price is its opportunity cost. Opportunity cost accounts not just for an item’s market price, but includes the value of what must be given up in order to make that purchase. For example, the true price of going to college encompasses not just the already high costs of tuition, housing, and books, but also the value of the salary you would’ve earned if you had decided to go straight to work.

Many employees consider opportunity costs when deciding whether or not to leave their jobs. In order for workers to decide to remain in their positions, they must feel that their current job outweighs their next-best options. Countless organizations have high employee turnover rates because they fail to make their employees feel this way. In fact, 2 out of 3 millennials report that they want to leave their companies by 2020. Failing to retain these employees drains precious company time and resources. Fortunately, there’s a solution.

What’s behind high rates of turnover?

One major reason why employees, especially millennials and top hires, leave their positions is because they are dissatisfied with their professional development opportunities. The Harvard Business Review published that many companies have high turnover rates because their employees feel “they’re not getting much in the way of formal development, such as training, mentoring, and coaching.” 

Employees desire development opportunities because they are seeking to better themselves as professionals and further their careers. If they see no opportunity for improving their skills in the workplace, they will leave their position for a job where this growth is offered.

Why organizations neglect development

While the impact and importance of a good employee training program is clear, organizations often neglect their employee development planning because they feel that it’s too costly and time consuming. However, because of a loss of human capital, the most important resource of any organization, it might actually be more expensive for companies to forgo employee development than to direct resources toward it. 

This cost of losing valuable employees is made even worse by the fact that for every worker that leaves, the organization has to return to the hiring process. The recruitment of new talent can be lengthy and intensive. While this recruitment is ongoing, other employees may have to push some of their own responsibilities to the side in order to pick up some of the slack created by the unfilled position. 

Even after finding an employee with the right fit, the onboarding process must be repeated. In the end, studies have found that the cost of losing just one employee can total $15,000. And that’s just for a worker who earns the median salary. Ultimately, high turnover rates pose great costs to companies both through the loss of a valuable employee and the cost of finding a replacement. 

Learning is the answer

But luckily, there is an answer. Implementing a top-notch learning strategy can provide the professional development and growth opportunities that hirees desire, helping to lower turnover rates and save company resources. 

In fact, the development of learning programs has been found to lead to a reduction in turnover as well as an increase in employee satisfaction. Implementing a learning strategy causes employees to be 43% more likely to remain in their positions. Learning programs have also been found to help attract and retain top hirees across industries. Even more, the implementation of learning programs increases employee productivity. 

Still, not just any learning program will be able to have this impact. In order to achieve these results, it’s important to develop a learning strategy that harnesses the power of technology and design, and that is hand-crafted to fulfill the needs of your learners. If you’re worried about creating a learning strategy that will meet your business goals, consider working with an experienced learning partner who can guide you through the process. 

Why learning works

Good learning improves employee retention and productivity because great learning programs grow and develop employees so that they feel more confident in their roles and better understand their responsibilities. When employees lack confidence due to unsatisfactory training, they are overwhelmed and do not feel motivated to perform. Offering comprehensive training through learning gives employees the reassurance they need and fosters commitment. 

Furthermore, learning offers an opportunity for growth that cultivates employee loyalty. Having good training shows employees that they can develop as professionals and advance their careers through remaining at the company, giving them a reason to stay. 

The benefits of developing a learning strategy far outweigh the costs. As learning presents an opportunity to reduce turnover while simultaneously saving time and money through increased productivity, it offers a seriously high ROI. 

If you’re worried about employee retention at your company, make sure your employees know how much you value them by providing the professional development that they desire. Implement training programs that offer an opportunity for growth that can’t be found anywhere else. Don’t let your most important resource go—start investing in learning.