Telenor Group CEO Sigve Brekke has challenged more than 30,000 employees in 12 countries to carry out at least 40 hours of training and education in 2018 to acquire new competences for shaping the digital future.
To engage all employees in life-long learning, CEO Sigve Brekke has given all employees a “40-hour challenge” – to accomplish 40 hours or one working week of learning every year starting from 2018. With more than 30,000 employees, this sets a stretch goal of potentially 1.2 million hours a year in total. At least 20 of these hours should be within Telenor’s online education portal and the rest can be learning opportunities related to responsibility, such as on-the-job training (stretch assignments, mentoring, job rotation) or external learning or training courses to develop new skills.
“Digitisation is fundamentally changing our societies. Embracing this change can help us turn it into an opportunity; we need to work in new ways, dare to think differently about career development and we need to stimulate life-long learning. I want all of us in Telenor to continuously transform our skills and enhance our competencies,” said Sigve Brekke, CEO of Telenor Group.
Telenor Group’s management have identified 5 key competency areas including digital marketing, digital channels, applied analytics, design and product development. They want to significantly strengthen these areas to deliver cutting-edge services to 176 million customers globally. Going into 2018, Telenor’s digital learning portal, Telenor Campus, was updated with curated courses from recognised online learning providers such as Lynda (from LinkedIn) and Coursera (online courses from leading universities and business schools). In addition to courses in the five key competency areas, there are training modules within leadership at all levels, agile and traditional project management, growth mindset and strength-based development practices.
“Continuous learning and professional growth are essential prerequisites to both personal and business success. With the 40-hour challenge we want to make upskilling an enjoyable activity and an integral part of daily work”, added Judit Kiss, HR Director of Telenor Hungary.