Akamai case study

Cross-Cultural Learning Builds Global Teamwork and Collaboration

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Akamai’s 7,600 employees in 130 countries provide cloud services to deliver, optimize and secure content and business applications for over half the world’s Fortune 500 companies.

Business Challenge

Akamai was looking for a learning solution to meet the specific needs of its sales, marketing and support teams, while addressing the regional dynamics and cultural learning preferences of employees across China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and India.

They wanted a program to drive teamwork and collaboration, rather than just individual English education, with an emphasis on speaking and listening skills to improve day-to-day interactions.

Akamai was also looking for assistance in managing a program that could prioritize resources against the most important skills gaps, with learning options to engage employees across the entire region.

Learning & Development Solution

Akamai used Learnship Baseline to assess skill levels and identify learning needs of employees across the region.

Trainer-led online group sessions allowed employees from different countries to learn with colleagues at similar English levels, while building cross-cultural understanding and developing teamwork skills. The small group size of 3-4 employees created a safe environment, encouraging all employees to participate.

Learnship Coach was offered as a more exclusive 1:1 learning option to senior managers, and was also used as part of an incentive program to reward program participation and advancement.

Results

The program reduced language barriers and improved global operations by allowing employees from different cultures to learn together on how to communicate, collaborate and perform their work in Business English.

The program led to greater collaboration and idea sharing, leveraging the diversity of thinking across the company. Support staff can better understand customer needs, and respond with solutions faster thanks to improved communication with internal teams.

Akamai saw stronger development and retention of talent across the region, as well as faster on-boarding for sales & marketing, together with productivity gains for employees through on-the-job support tools.

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