How Vistra Fueled a 586 Percent Increase in Learning Hours
Working with Skillsoft, the global corporate service provider and fund administrator built an expansive and engaging culture of learning.
THE CHALLENGE
Vistra, a leading global corporate service provider and fund administrator, needed to build a strong learning culture. The company’s 5,500+ colleagues were eager to progress in their careers by building new skills for today and tomorrow. In the post-COVID era, they particularly wanted to embrace hybrid learning.
“Our organization is packed with really hungry learners who want to seize their learning opportunities,” says Gavin Book, Global Head of Learning at Vistra.
Vistra’s Global Talent Team set out to foster and build a learning culture and harness Percipio, Skillsoft’s AI-powered learning platform, to drive and deliver cutting edge modern learning content through a custom-branded Vistra Skills Portal. Despite their colleagues’ apparent desires for professional development, learners underutilized Skillsoft Percipio, with usage typically hovering around 10 monthly learning hours or less.
The challenge, according to Gavin, was three-fold:
Engage
We needed to engage with learners to help them comprehend the learning opportunities available.
Build
We needed to build awareness across the organization of how people could learn at Vistra, reach their goals, and unleash their potential.
Enable
We needed to help the organization understand how the learning platform could enable them to deliver learning projects aligned with the strategic needs of the business.
As a result, the business and its employees weren’t seizing the development opportunities they craved. Vistra wanted to ensure that worldwide, all colleagues were able to build and grow the up-to date skills that are needed to ensure they serviced their geographically diverse client base. Colleagues weren’t just missing out on chances to grow personally — they were potentially missing out on critical skills and competencies they needed to successfully serve Vistra’s clients.
THE SOLUTION
To drive business and learner engagement, the team decided to brand and relaunch their Skillsoft learning portal, as the “Vistra Skills Portal.” The team then designed and launched an internal marketing campaign alongside global engagement sessions.
“We wanted to engage, excite, and enable colleagues to learn, and we set out to communicate with colleagues around the globe about all of the fantastic learning opportunities and collateral,” Gavin explains. “We curated and crafted a Vistra Library containing business-specific learning portfolios, including audiobooks, courses, videos, and podcasts, made up of internal, external, and Skillsoft content. We had a great story to tell, and we went out on a mission to engage and enable people to take advantage of the Vistra Skills Portal.”
The team also started building custom content specific to the business needs for Vistra, such as a new strategically important leadership development program called Leadership Essentials, which utilized Skillsoft content. This targeted program is aimed at new, existing, and aspiring people managers and leaders who wanted to refresh their core leadership skills. Leadership Essentials was an immediate success, attracting a wave of new learners to the Vistra Skills Portal.
“Leadership Essentials was launched in response to an important business imperative which required us to equip our leaders with the skills to lead their teams particularly through periods of change,” Gavin explains. “The launch of Leadership Essentials enabled us to showcase ‘the art of the possible,’ and work with the business to enable further customized learning initiatives.”
As a result, 22 bespoke learning programs were launched supporting everything from regulatory compliance through to training on the use of Vistra’s client portals and platforms. As all this learning is hosted in Skillsoft Percipio, we were able to utilize learning assignments to ensure colleagues connected with the right learning at the right time. This kind of robust collaboration helped the team build credibility and forge strong partnerships across the business as an essential learning partner, which in turn increased adoption of the Vistra Skills Portal.
And the team didn’t stop there. With the help of Skillsoft content, they launched two additional portfolios:
- Business Skills Builder, which focuses on broader business competencies like
growth mindsets and IT skills. - Inspirational Spotlight, which houses videos, podcasts, and other thought leadership content.
They also expanded the Vistra Library to include culture-focused subjects like stress management and
mental health awareness that support colleague wellbeing.
THE RESULTS
The team crafted an array of digital, virtual instructor-led, blended and in-person learning programs to engage the business and its colleagues to help people apply their new skills in the real world. The team built awareness of the Vistra Skills Portal by partnering with leaders and working groups across the business, and they used global engagement sessions to showcase the Skills Portal to learners. Leaders continued collaborating with the team to create tailored learning programs targeting their colleagues’ unique needs and projects.
Through their efforts, the team fueled massive adoption of the Vistra Skills Portal. They keep engagement high by regularly refreshing content and promoting topical learning sessions that address colleagues’ big- picture questions and concerns, like sustainability and how to leverage big data.
“Whilst good progress is being made to build a learning culture, it’s a continuous journey to ensure that learning is at the heart of how we grow at Vistra,” Gavin says.
The metrics back him up. Between 2021 and 2022, the total number of pageviews skyrocketed by 368 percent. Browsing hours increased by 372 percent and learning hours by 586 percent. The total number of learners rose by 154 percent.
“Through our Skillsoft engagement, we have forged a strong partnership which is making learning part of our way of working. We have focused our learning which is empowering people to seize their opportunity to learn and grow at Vistra.” Gavin says.
HOW DID THE PROGRAM PERFORM?
434%
Increase in the number of digital badges earned
586%
Increase in learning hours
154%
Increase in the number of active learners
WHAT DO OUR CUSTOMERS HAVE TO SAY?
At Vistra we firmly believe that our colleagues are at the core of our business. Our aim is to build a solid learning culture that allows them to develop, learn and grow with us. Being a global player in the market, it’s vital we enable learners to access our extensive content through the Vistra Skills Portal (Skillsoft Percipio), which we have complemented with blended learning methodologies. With the skills portal, our people can take ownership of their own learning path. It has enabled us to have a deeper, wider and more impactful organizational learning.
BERTA ORTEGA FRANCO
Managing Director, Vistra Spain & Co-Chair of the Learning & Career Development Working Group
LEARN MORE ABOUT SKILLSOFT’S LEARNING SOLUTIONS
Has Vistra's story inspired you? Learn how you can unleash your organization’s edge by working with Skillsoft.
- Skillsoft Coaching, executive-quality coaching to accelerate the professional growth and development of all leaders.
- Skillsoft's Leadership and Business Skills Portfolio, for building effective leaders at all levels of your organization.
LEARN MORE ABOUT VISTRA
At Vistra, we believe your business and your people can make a difference in the world. That’s why our work is focused on helping our clients act with confidence and speed to seize opportunity wherever it arises. As a global corporate service provider and fund administrator with more than 5,000 professionals in over 45 jurisdictions, we empower legal entities globally to work smarter, grow faster, act responsibly, protect capital and scale across borders — by doing what we do best: reducing risk and enhancing efficiency. Discover how we can help you and your business seize opportunity today by exploring our services at vistra.com