Learnship – Business language and cultural communications training for global teams

Founded over a decade ago in Cologne, Germany, Learnship has since grown into one of the world’s largest digital business language and cultural skill providers. Learnship’s innovative solutions help enterprises shatter cultural barriers in the way of development so that they can unleash the full potential of their global teams.

The company pioneered the concept of online, face-to-face language training and used technology to enhance, and not replace human trainers. “We have continued to advance the use of technology to develop corporate online language learning solutions that offer a superior experience to the traditional classroom learning experience for both the learner and the program manager.”, says Oliver Trabert, CTO, Learnship.

There are five converging mega-trends in the EdTech space, which offer the perfect opportunity for Learning and Development (L&D) leaders to elevate learning to the next level with innovative technologies.

These trends include digital transformation, diversity and inclusion, continuous learning cultures, remote working, and globalization. Addressing these trends is at the forefront of Learnship’s mission to create a more productive, successful, and collaborative workforce, within global enterprises.

Learnship helps enterprises successfully navigate digital transformation, through targeted, agile programs that encompass in-demand specialist skills, and by equipping multi-disciplinary, global teams to collaborate more effectively.

With its solutions, Learnship also aims to lay the foundation for a more inclusive working culture, where multicultural teams can thrive. This paves the way for a more resilient, and agile organization, where teams are full of fresh ideas, energy, and perspectives.

More than a decade ago, research had established that companies that nurtured a culture geared towards learning were 30% more likely to be long-term market leaders. Typical career pathways are seldom linear, especially today.

Therefore, Learnship takes a continuous approach to reskilling, and upskilling to facilitate agility, allowing enterprises to optimize workflows, support emerging priorities, and improve productivity.

The COVID-19 pandemic created a surge in remote working, creating an opportunity for L&D leaders like Learnship to prove how remote working can be a strategic value-driver, forever. Learnship helped organizations navigate through challenges by helping their teams improve communication skills, time management, adaptability, resilience, and empathy across cultures.

The pandemic was also a major driving force in the transition from classroom learning to virtual learning, in all areas of business training, including language learning. Learnship is helping organizations accelerate this transition with its Elevate, Solo, Coach, Evolve, and Baseline solutions including the new, award-winning Learnship Sprint Courses.

Their latest courses are designed to help global employees master the specific language and communication skills they need, to work with remote teams, engage in remote networking, and manage projects remotely.

The five-week Learnship Sprint courses are delivered and managed through a three-step cycle that is supported and sustained by a fully integrated curriculum. The steps are Study, which is self-paced, Engage, which is trainer-led, and Apply, where learners can implement their newly acquired skills, to create immediate business impact.

Learnship also aspires to be instrumental as a growth driver in the post-pandemic return to pre-pandemic globalization growth, where global teams will continue to sustain enterprises and work virtually. This may require upskilling and reskilling to handle overt capability gaps, boost interconnectivity, and unify a disjointed, disparate remote workforce.

Ever since e-learning went mainstream in the nineties, EdTech companies have attempted to converge self-paced learning with classroom training, with limited success. There’s also a disparity between what providers are offering, and what businesses actually require.

Now, the challenge is to blend e-learning with virtual, face-to-face training. Learnship is tackling this challenge with a new training type, called Precision Learning. This combines the potentials of digital technology with an extensive understanding of pedagogy, to serve some of the most reputed, dynamic businesses worldwide, including Hanesbrands, Inc., and Deutsche Post DHL Group.

“We’ve taken the core principles behind the science of learning and baked them into the code of our software. We’ve also developed our platform with a firm focus on what the modern enterprise needs from learning. The result is an ultra-fast and demonstrably effective way of teaching business learners new skills.” says Oliver Trabert.

Focused and scientific learning methodologies, bionic training, and continually improving, cost-effective programs form the essence of Learnship’s Precision Learning. In 2019, Learnship acquired GlobalEnglish which enabled it to grow and build a complete portfolio of learning solutions, that includes comprehensive, self-paced, trainer-led, and next-gen blended training platforms.

Learnship’s vision includes goals like the multi-language development of its Solo self-learning platform, an accelerated roll-out of its multi-language Sprint courses, closer integration with corporate systems like LMS, and more precise reporting systems with learner metrics that combine both performance levels and engagement.

With a progressive and constantly evolving learning methodology, based on more than 20 years of experience, Learnship is addressing one of the biggest barriers to cross-cultural collaboration – cultural friction – which can hinder communication, and create tension. With Precision Learning, Contextual Content, and Dynamic Deployment of courses, Learnship continues to lead the way towards a thriving, intercultural environment.