Amy Wheldon has many skills and interests. She’s a wife, a mom of three, a dog mom of one, a baker, a quilter, a backpacker, a Master Gardener – and she’s the head of customer success at Go1. 

Amy’s multifaceted talents are a great match for the fast-paced and versatile world of startups. In fact, Amy has worked in tech startups for the last 15 years. She grew up in the Bay Area on the cusp of Silicon Valley, went to school at The Ohio State University, where she studied accounting and business, and eventually returned to the tech scene. 

Her wide-ranging experience has given Amy a solid understanding of customer success and how it has changed over time. “I've done marketing, SaaS, EdTech, HealthTech, and FinTech,” Amy said. “I have a pretty robust knowledge of SaaS-based businesses as a whole. Customer success has evolved the last 15 years that I've been doing this – it's really dynamically shifted.” 

So, what does customer success look like today, and what does a Customer Success Manager (CSM) do? 

“I think businesses see [customer success] more as a support role,” Amy said, “but really our job is to enable people [to be] successful with our software to help them reach their desired outcomes. Being a customer success manager or leading a customer success team lets us really dig deep into, ‘What are the challenges that our customers are facing?’ And then build solutions to help them have really, really good outcomes.” 

Go1’s CSMs are “the face of all things Go1 to the customer,” according to Amy, and they act as guides to customers who are navigating Go1’s content library. “We need Sherpas to take us up Mount Everest,” Amy said. “Well, Go1 has this [ecosystem] of content, and we're a guide.” 

A CSM’s typical day begins with them checking Gainsight, a customer success tool that gathers information about Go1 customers. It lets CSMs know whether customers have tickets open, how they're using the product, how often we're communicating with them, when their contracts are scheduled to renew, and other useful information. These insights prompt the CSM to take action. For example, if a customer hasn’t logged into Go1 in the past month, the CSM might reach out and see if they have any issues or need help accessing the product. 

CSMs also spend time in meetings with customers, where they help customers launch the Go1 product and curate content for their organizations. The remainder of their time is spent solving tickets, sending resources to customers, and engaging in other activities to provide support. 

A key part of Amy’s role as the head of customer success involves finding out what customers need and then building solutions to help them succeed. “My job is to help L&D professionals step back and say... ‘What are the learning outcomes that I'm trying to drive inside my company? What are the objectives that I want to get out of this?’”  

If, for instance, a customer wants to inspire a culture of radical honesty in their organization, Amy and her team will help them ensure everyone at their company has access to training on topics like emotional intelligence, giving and receiving feedback, and the value of transparency. 

“Helping customers reach their desired outcomes is like leveling up institutional knowledge,” Amy said. “It's identifying where there might be places for improvement and then helping them find what's in our library that supports their goals.” 

Amy also played a pivotal role in advocating to change the Go1 product to better meet customer needs. Four years ago, Amy noticed that many customers were asking for a way to use Go1’s content within their existing learning platforms. She and another coworker wrote up a business case regarding this request, flew to Australia, and presented the case to the Go1 team. As a result of these meetings, Go1’s standalone content library was created. 

“I just love that Go1 pivoted and built something that our customers truly needed,” Amy said. “Listening to customers and hearing what they need and then being part of building that for them has been incredibly fun. I'm proud of the work that we do, and it keeps me coming back day after day." 

For Amy, the best part of her work at Go1 is that it’s impactful. “Training can change lives, and we are delivering something that helps people help themselves,” she said. “We're doing revolutionary work. AI and VR training and all the things that customers are asking for – we're continually bringing those onto our platform. The fact that we're always seeking out what's latest and greatest in training and the science behind it is super cool.” 

In addition to the work itself, Amy also loves collaborating with her colleagues. "The people that I work with at Go1 make this place just phenomenal,” she said. “This is the best team I have worked with in my entire career.” 

And it’s not just her coworkers that Amy loves working with – she also loves working alongside Go1’s customers. “The customers that we work with are so incredible,” Amy said. “They are the people at organizations that are deeply invested in seeing their internal employees grow and develop professionally, so for me, it's incredibly powerful to be connecting with people that genuinely care about their employees.” 

Through her role at Go1, Amy gets to help people find success every day, which is exactly what she loves to do. “I’m really passionate about this,” she said. “I know it sounds super cheesy, but I've loved every minute of what we're building here.” 

For more insights, subscribe to the Go1 newsletter to stay on top of all the latest L&D trends. Or, you can book a demo today to find out how Go1 can help with your team’s learning needs. 

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Meet our Head of Customer Success and find out more about the work our Customer Success Managers do.

Meet the team: Amy Wheldon

Gamification is a fantastic way to increase engagement in your learning and development program. To do this, many learning management systems (LMSs) have the option to incorporate gamification, introducing a new, exciting, and competitive way for employees to learn.

The good news is LMS gamification is simple to implement and has many benefits, including increasing engagement rates.

Accordingly, we’ll explore how you can use LMS gamification to improve workforce development, including how to implement gamification to increase engagement.

Gamification means introducing game-like elements to bring a more interactive, fun, and competitive element to online learning. As a result, gamification encourages users to engage more with learning materials, thereby increasing retention and building a culture of learning.

There are various ways gamification adds value and interactivity to learning, including through:

Achievements and badges, similar to video game achievements

Points and league tables, to introduce an element of competitiveness

Weekly or monthly challenges, to encourage learning in specific areas and topics at certain times

Storytelling techniques, to engage employees in new ways

Social activity, such as leaving comments or participating in discussions

Rewards and currency, that employees can use to redeem gifts, whether virtual or physical

While gamification does increase engagement, it must complement learning and development, rather than overshadowing it. Gamification should be a seamless integration, not a forced or superficial add-on. As such, there should be a balance between gamification and learning to ensure it’s effective.

What are the benefits of using gamification in an LMS?

One of the biggest advantages of gamification in LMSs is increased engagement. For example, a study found that 90% of employees are more productive due to gamification. What’s more, 72% of people say gamification inspires them to work harder.

On top of this, there are many other reasons why your organization should use LMS gamification:

Improves the overall learning experience by making it entertaining and rewarding

Increases motivation and helps employees set achievable goals.

Provides employees with immediate feedback via quizzes and assessments

Introduces a personalized approach to learning

Inspires a change in mindset toward learning and development

Provides your organization with data on how employees engage to monitor performance and provide additional feedback and support when needed

Increases training completion rates and boosts retention

Grows a culture of continuous learning in your organization

These benefits create a positive and rewarding learning experience,  meaning employees will be in the best position to develop.

For more information, see our post on the benefits of gamification for workplace learning.

How to implement gamification in your LMS

Implementing gamification in your LMS requires thought and consideration so it doesn’t become the main focus of your business’ learning and development strategy.

Before introducing gamification, consider the following steps to ensure it complements your L&D program:

Understand your goals and objectives, so you know exactly what you want employees to learn and how their knowledge and new skills will be utilized going forward.

Decide which gamification elements you want to introduce, such as league tables, challenges, badges, levels, and rewards.

Map gamification elements to content in your LMS, such as quizzes and assessments.

Tie learning elements together through storytelling to create immersive learning. 

Communicate the rules and mechanisms of gamification to make the competitive angle fun and fair. Further, encourage employees to engage with social features such as discussion boards, comments, and forums.

Test the implementation by inviting some employees to participate in a partial rollout.

Following a successful test, roll it out among all users and monitor engagement.

Request feedback on gamification elements and make changes to improve features.

Offer incentives and rewards for employees who come first in league tables, achieve high scores, or reach certain milestones. Celebrate successes across the organization to build on your culture of learning.

Use your LMS to collate and analyze data about how employees engage. Then, compare this data to data from before your introduced gamification. 

To encourage collaboration, consider creating teams of colleagues from different departments and seniority levels. This will add another dynamic and encourage employees who don’t usually interact to work together.

To learn more, read our post on tips to get started with gamification.

Types of games to incorporate into your LMS

Gamification can take many forms. Below are some examples of gamification you can utilize at your business.

Add badges or achievements to mandatory quizzes, such as health and safety or compliance training. Badges boost engagement with less popular courses by giving users a small reward. It’s also a great way to introduce employees to gamification.

Simulations are a fun way to learn by providing a realistic scenario that employees can use to apply their skills and knowledge. It encourages employees to think quickly, use their initiative, and learn from mistakes. 

Puzzle games, like matching pairing cards or crosswords, are great for getting employees to think about what they’re learning in new and surprising ways.

Adventure games utilize storytelling techniques to introduce challenges and problem-solving activities.

Escape room and point-and-click style games encourage employees to take their time with learning, which improves their engagement and retention.

To assess the impact of gamification, measure the impact made following its rollout. Consider using metrics related to the following three areas:

Adoption - How many users logged into the LMS to access training? Has this number grown compared to online training adoption before gamification?

Engagement - Engagement is the best way to measure the success of gamification. Rewarding employees for using your online learning platform is a fantastic way to increase engagement, so pay close attention to engagement data, as well as course completion rates, assessment scores, collaboration, interactions, and more.

Productivity - The overall goal of increasing engagement in learning and development is to improve employee productivity and performance. Using metrics to measure performance related to your overall business goals is also a great way to determine the effectiveness of gamification.

Go1 has a range of online courses to upskill your workforce

At Go1, we have a huge range of online courses, which you can use alongside gamification to upskill and develop your employees.

For more information, download our in-depth L&D Playbook, or speak to one of our experts to find out how we can help you with your training strategy.

We’ll explore how you can use LMS gamification to improve workforce development, including how to implement gamification to increase engagement.

How to use gamification in your LMS to drive engagement rates

Spending professional development funds wisely is key to optimizing ROI and ensuring employees get the most valuable skills and knowledge. 

The right learning and development solutions will empower individuals to grow and advance in their careers, while simultaneously becoming more efficient and effective at their jobs, supporting the continued growth of your organization.

But which solutions are right for you? Where should you invest professional development funds? That’s exactly what we’ll explore in this post.

Understanding the value of professional development

Professional development is vital for both employees and businesses. For employees, it helps them develop their skills and knowledge, which allows them to progress in their careers and feel like they’re growing professionally. For businesses, it ensures they can adapt to an ever-evolving landscape and not be left behind by competitors.

The impact of professional development on employee retention

When employees continuously develop, they’re more engaged, have better job satisfaction, and feel more valued. These benefits add up to better employee retention, which is a key factor in creating a solid working culture and avoiding the significant costs associated with high levels of turnover.

The role of professional development in business growth

Happy, engaged employees perform better. They’re more productive, and they have greater levels of innovation and creativity. When your employees perform better, they serve your clients and customers better, meaning your entire organization performs better. Therefore, a culture of learning is essential to encourage continual business growth.

Strategic planning for professional development spending

When considering how to spend professional development funds, it’s vital to align the allocation of resources to support both individual and organizational goals. 

Consider the six steps below before making your investment:

Assess business needs - Understand current and future organizational needs, identifying skills and competencies required to stay competitive and hit objectives.

Create personal development plans - Managers should create PDPs for all line reports, covering an employee’s aspirations and tying into the company’s needs. PDPs should outline the steps an employee should follow to progress and understand how their actions will benefit themselves and the company.

Link to organizational goals - Your organization’s strategic goals must directly link to any professional development initiatives you undertake. 

Allocate budget - Allocate funds to address critical skill gaps, which should be prioritized to maximize ROI. 

Choose a solution with a mix of learning methods - This caters to different learning preferences and styles and could include text, image, video, quiz, audio, and in-person learning.

Measure your success - You can’t understand the ROI of your spending without analyzing the impact of learning on your company. Establish KPIs to evaluate your professional development initiatives. 

Balancing cost and quality in professional development

It’s crucial to look for reputable training providers and courses for your teams. And it’s worth considering the format in which your employees will learn. For instance, will they take time out of work to attend conferences or in-person training courses? Or would you prefer to offer a more flexible online learning environment, such as the courses available at Go1? 

Both classroom-style and online learning offer valuable opportunities for employees to upskill, but online courses certainly offer some advantages, such as:

Convenient & flexible - Employees can learn at their own pace, whether they set chunks of time aside or just dip in and out of courses when time allows. 

Cost-effective - With no travel expenses and less time taken out of the working day, online learning is often less expensive than classroom learning. 

Access to experts - Employees can learn from experts around the world from anywhere with an internet connection.

Engaging formats - Gamification, videos, simulations, and other multimedia options make online learning an engaging way to achieve professional development.

Continuous access - Online learning resources are always available to revisit at your leisure.

Personalized learning pathways - Online learning doesn't have to be generic. Employees can find courses and learning pathways tailored to their specific aspirations.

With online learning, balancing cost and quality doesn’t need to be a compromise, because quality is thankfully available in a cost-effective solution. It should therefore be an option you consider carefully if maximizing ROI is a priority.

Measuring the impact of professional development

You can’t evaluate ROI without having a dependable way to measure the impact of your professional development initiatives. But what are the best ways to measure their impact? Here are seven steps to consider:

Do pre- and post-assessments - Before launching an initiative, assess employees’ current skills and knowledge, then compare after training.

Use learning analytics - Many learning management systems (LMSs) provide analytics that track employees’ progress, assessment scores, completion rates, and other performance indicators. These metrics are a great way to analyze the effectiveness of a professional development solution, as well as engagement levels.

Get employee feedback - Less high-tech but still valuable, getting feedback from employees can give you an idea of how satisfied they are with the available resources and how they feel it has affected their performance.

Monitor performance improvement - Performance metrics can highlight knowledge improvements among employees in areas you’ve already highlighted, showing that your organization is progressing toward its learning objectives. These metrics also show your business is compliant with appropriate industry standards.

Review time and cost savings - Has the training you’ve invested in led to tangible time or cost savings in day-to-day operations? If you’ve implemented online learning, compare your spending to what it might be with traditional learning methods to calculate time and cost savings.

Consider retention and job satisfaction - Has your professional development investment affected retention and job satisfaction? Engaged employees who feel they’re progressing are more likely to stick around. 

Look at long-term impact - Continue to review employees’ growth and development over time. Is training contributing to their success?

Make the most of your professional development investment with Go1

With Go1, you and your employees can gain instant access to the largest learning library in the world at a fraction of the cost of traditional, classroom-style learning.

Spending professional development funds wisely is key to optimizing ROI and ensuring employees get the most valuable skills and knowledge. Here's how.

How to spend professional development funds for maximum ROI

Spending professional development funds wisely is key to optimizing ROI and ensuring employees get the most valuable skills and knowledge. Here's how. 

Your learning management system (LMS) is a fantastic tool for developing your workforce. It provides instant access to a library of learning materials so employees can learn on their schedule. 

Another major advantage is that an LMS is a great way to streamline the onboarding process. Depending on your industry, onboarding can be a long, complex process that requires supervision from managers and HR. Luckily, using your LMS to train new starters will save you time and money, while ensuring you follow the correct processes. 

With this in mind, we'll explain how your LMS can improve your onboarding process, including the advantages of using an LMS for onboarding and tips for measuring success. 

Why your business should use your LMS for onboarding

Your LMS has such a wide range of functionality that it’s the perfect tool for onboarding new employees. For example: 

It provides a consistent onboarding experience, which guarantees every employee receives the same high-quality training and nothing is overlooked, misinterpreted, or forgotten.

It saves time by allowing your business to deliver everything a new employee needs in just a few clicks. Online learning is also a faster and more efficient way to learn.

Online learning is more cost-effective than in-person training or training that requires physical resources. It also saves time and money for HR staff and managers. 

It can be easily scaled, so whether you’re onboarding one new employee or a dozen, they can all learn from the same materials.

Online training can be accessed from anywhere, meaning employees can complete onboarding training and assessments as well as role-specific training. 

Onboarding content can be presented in different formats to ensure engagement and retention, including text, videos, podcasts, quizzes, and assessments.

LMSs allow for detailed monitoring and reporting, so you can view onboarding progress and provide additional support to employees where necessary.

Customized onboarding is simple if different employees require different training, meaning the entire process is personalized.

Many LMSs integrate with HR systems, creating a simple and streamlined onboarding process for new employees and HR professionals.

How to effectively use your LMS for onboarding

If your organization already uses an LMS to deliver employee training, you’ll know the impact it can have on development. Well, the same applies to onboarding. Below are the steps you can take to use your LMS for onboarding:

Understand your onboarding goals and objectives, including what an employee should have learned once onboarding is complete.

Collate learning materials to add to your database, such as the online courses provided by Go1.

Develop specific training materials relevant to your business, such as policies, ways of working, and processes. You will probably already have these materials, which means adding them to your LMS through its authoring tool should be simple.

IInclude any compliance-related training, such as health and safety and industry-specific compliance training. Monitor these to ensure employees pass their assessments so you can provide evidence of compliance should the need arise.

Ensure training is engaging, especially if the subject matter isn’t the most interesting. Use a variety of techniques, such as video, audio, and text.

Create a structured onboarding course that includes the relevant training materials. You may need to create several courses depending on role, seniority, and department-specific requirements to ensure personalized training. 

Introduce gamification elements to make onboarding a more fun, engaging, and rewarding experience.

Test the content, efficiency, and functionality of the courses, ensuring there are no issues with materials, videos, links, or interactive elements.

Ensure new employees receive LMS login access as soon as they start to allow for a streamlined onboarding experience. The sooner you onboard employees, the sooner they can start in earnest. Some LMS and HR system integrations will allow for automation, so new starters will instantly have LMS access.

Communicate the new onboarding process to stakeholders and managers to ensure it’s successfully rolled out.

Ask for feedback from managers and new starters and implement changes to continuously improve the experience.

Ensure onboarding materials are updated to reflect industry changes, company policy, and process amendments, and always include up-to-date data and information.

Once successfully rolled out, monitor engagement to allow you to make changes and refine the process for future new starters.

How to measure the success of your LMS onboarding process

Measuring the success of your onboarding process is important, as it allows you to see what works and what you need to improve. Consider the following points when evaluating success:

Your employees’ learning journey starts the moment they begin the onboarding process. It’s the first step to introducing them to a culture of continuous learning and one that will help them achieve their potential and drive your business toward its goals.

Go1 can help your business refine its onboarding process with online training courses

At Go1, we have a library of online courses to help you design a cost-effective and time-saving onboarding process for your employees.

For more information, download our 50 tips for increasing L&D business value, or speak to one of our experts to discover how we can support your organization with effective learning.

We'll explain how your LMS can improve your onboarding process, including the advantages of using an LMS for onboarding and tips for measuring success. 

How to use your LMS to successfully onboard new employees

The extra mile: How Go1 helped Wave Utilities meet their learning goals 

Welcome to the extra mile! In this brand-new blog series, we’ll be interviewing Go1 customers and their Customer Success Managers (CSMs) about their relationship, challenges, learning goals, and everything in between. 

In this debut edition, we spoke to Mandy Rutherford, L&D Manager at Wave Utilities, and her Go1 CSM Emily Reynolds to get the inside scoop on their relationship, what they’ve taught each other, and how Emily went the extra mile to help Wave Utilities meet their learning goals. 

According to Mandy, having access to a CSM was one of many reasons Wave Utilities chose Go1. 

“It was good to know that support was available,” she said. 

Additionally, she said that “matching of values, feeling like we had an extension to the Wave family, excellent and relevant products, ease of use, and value for money” also played a significant role in their decision.

In Emily, Mandy found the extension to the Wave family that she sought. As Emily pointed out, “we allow Wave to access on-demand content for upskilling their workforce in a fast-paced environment. Go1 enables learners at Wave to learn in the style that suits them, and learn skills for tomorrow, today.” 

These factors set Go1 apart, meaning choosing a new learning partner was ultimately a straightforward decision for Mandy.

After meeting each other, it quickly became clear that this would be a fruitful relationship. 

Mandy shared that her first impression of Emily was that she was “absolutely brilliant. Emily really got us and the business. Her passion for Go1 shone through (and still does). [Emily] did what she said she would with no pressure on us or from us.” 

Emily’s first impression of Mandy was equally positive. 

“From day one, it was clear that we shared a vision of making Go1 and eLearning a success at Wave,” she said. 

“Mandy is a fountain of knowledge when it comes to L&D, her tenure and wisdom have been extremely insightful.”

From these promising first impressions, Emily and Mandy’s relationship quickly blossomed. 

Mandy emphasised that, without Emily’s support and professionalism, the learning landscape at Wave Utilities would not be what it is today. 

“Without Emily we would not have the great learning ecosystem that we have,” she said. 

“[She is] thoroughly professional but warm and with a great sense of humour, she has a good balance of support and challenge.  

“Emily is truly a part of our Wave L&D team and her support has helped us to drive our learning technology agenda.”

Emily returned the compliment, saying Mandy’s attention to detail and care for her staff made working together a pleasure. 

“Mandy cares so much for her staff and the continuous development of all employees at Wave and this comes across in the care and detail they take every day in L&D,” she said

“They continuously seek feedback and recognise trends of how they can improve and adapt their eLearning offering to better serve staff. 

“Ultimately, their employees always come first.”

Meeting L&D goals is rarely straightforward. Inevitably, challenges will arise. But Emily and Mandy faced these challenges head-on and problem-solved together. 

Emily quickly realised that her biggest challenge would be overcoming ingrained stigmas and negative perceptions of eLearning. 

“We had to un-do a lot of negative stigma related to eLearning due to previous sentiment being so low,” she said.  

“We built learning pathways using Go1 content to be aligned to individual styles of learning and teams’ needs. 

“This has led to not only incredible feedback and a positive sentiment across the board from employees, but the highest completion rates yet!” 

From Mandy’s perspective, working with Emily was mostly smooth sailing. However, she appreciated that she could always expect a fast response and an even faster resolution should an issue arise. 

Whether it was a major challenge like transitioning between learning platforms or a minor issue like courses not loading, Mandy said she could always rely on Emily and the Go1 team to have it “sorted very quickly.” 

Throughout this journey, the pair never lost sight of their ultimate target: helping Wave Utilities meet their learning goals. So, did they succeed? According to Mandy, the answer is a resounding yes. 

“Emily did [help us meet our learning goals]. She knows the Go1 product so well and understood what we were trying to achieve with wellness, sustainability, performance, leadership, and management,” she said. 

“She always keeps us up-to-date on new things that are coming along, which is great for adding to our L&D roadmap.  

“When we described to Emily that we wanted to mix learning for people with pods, video etc. she was able to help us source short micro pieces (60 seconds) that supported those colleagues who are short on time to alleviate any learning fatigue.”

Ultimately, Mandy has no doubt that, without Emily, Wave Utilities would not have the thriving learning ecosystem they currently enjoy.  

What have you learned from working together? 

Naturally, working together has been far from a one-way street. Although it has been her job to help Mandy and her team, Emily believes she has gotten just as much out of the relationship — if not more. When asked what she has learned from working with Mandy, Emily’s response was emphatic: “SO MUCH.” 

“Most notably, [I’ve learned] that L&D is a very personal experience that differs from not only organisation to organisation but from person to person, and that collaborative conversation and feedback and transparency are pillars that need to be incorporated into any L&D strategy to ensure success,” she added. 

For Mandy, she simply says she’s learned how a relationship with an external partner should function. 

“For me, it’s a true example of partnership,” she said. 

“We can offer each other the right level of support and challenge in a safe space.”

And that’s not all they’ve learned from working together. On top of building a successful professional partnership, Emily and Mandy's personal relationship has also thrived, with Emily even sharing some very special news.

“Most recently, we have been catching up around my upcoming wedding, and Jess and Mandy were so generous and kind in sending me and my fiancé a wedding gift to celebrate our big day,” Emily said. 

“We do laugh a lot and the relationship is developing in such a way that we can share personal stories and adventures. Jess and I are wishing Emily and Ciaran all the very best for their coming wedding,” Mandy added. 

For more insights, subscribe to the Go1 newsletter to stay on top of all the latest L&D trends. Or, you can book a demo today to find out how Go1 can help with your team’s learning needs.

In this brand-new blog series, we’ll be interviewing Go1 customers and their Customer Success Managers (CSMs) about their relationship, challenges, learning goals, and everything in between.