At Go1 we believe in the power of learning and we’re dedicated to helping organisations provide the best professional development opportunities to their teams. 

We’re excited to announce that we’ve raised over US$40 million in a Series C funding round, enabling us to continue supporting more organisations in keeping employees learning and developing. 

As part of the round we welcome new investors including Madrona Venture Group and Salesforce Ventures who joined alongside existing investors, SEEK, M12, and Our Innovation Fund. 

Since founding the business in 2015, we’ve seen more businesses understand the importance of investing in skilling and training for their teams. Recently, we’ve seen more organisations than ever turn to online training for these needs. 

Our model of partnering with content creators around the world has allowed companies to do that, supporting employees across a broad range of roles and industries to stay connected to their learning and development. 

With user engagement more than tripling over the last year, we’ve been pleased and humbled to be able to play a growing role in assisting businesses and employees in navigating the new reality of remote working. 

We’ll be using this funding round to further improve our product and continue to scale our team. 

This funding will also enable us to expand our content provider partner network, allowing us to offer even more courses to learners and further enabling companies to empower their employees through learning. 

Additionally, we will double down on relationships with global platform partners, enabling more learners to access Go1's content library in a variety of ways, through an ever-growing list of platforms and partnerships.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our current customers and partners for their incredible support and for joining us on this journey. We could not have done this without you. 

As a result of the funding, there’ll be more exciting things happening at Go1 in the near future - so stay tuned! 

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Go1 raises over US$40 million in Series C funding

The world of learning looks very different today to what it did a mere 3 months ago. University campuses are closed, home-schooling is widespread, and most face to face corporate training is cancelled. As a result, educators and content providers need to adapt how they produce content to be is easily accessible to learners online, while still delivering effective learning outcomes. 

One tool that can help with this transition is How Too – an online software product that gives people with no background in learning and digital design the power to make great digital learning content. 

The tool is easy to brand, provides full access to an integrated How Too media library of contemporary photos and hand-drawn media, as well as gives users the facility to upload their own media for the digital learning modules they create. How Too allows the inclusion of videos, audio, images and immersive interactions to best engage the learner and help them unlock their potential. 

Meet How Too

How Too was created and developed by Savv-e, Australia’s leading digital learning agency, with the goal of putting best practice digital learning creation within the grasp of everyone, whether or not they have a background in education or instructional design skills and experience.

With over 20 years in the eLearning industry, co-founders Lisa Vincent and Jenny Barltrop are excited by the opportunities How Too is bringing. 

“There are plenty of tools out there that help you create nice looking content and interactivity,” says Jenny. “But if that content doesn’t hit the mark in terms of what the learner really needs to think, feel and do to get their job done, there’s really no point.”

In addition to this, the tool is the only online learning development software that meets WCAG 2.1 Level AA accessibility standards for the use of the product and the courses created from it. 

“While taking accessibility precautions is a good business move, simply put it is just the right thing to do. We are proud to have created a tool that looks out for everyone and makes sure they are able to participate in all technologies and designs,” says Lisa.

During this period of physical displacement, when online learning is an absolute necessity, institutions and organisations need to be more prepared than ever to create digital learning experiences based on frameworks which are well-researched and guaranteed to be effective for the learner. To this end, all How Too templates are pre-designed learning experiences that are beautiful and widely accessible. 

To find out more about How Too and how it can help your organisation create engaging online learning content, sign up for a free 14-day trial here. 

This blog post is thanks to our friends at How Too, who are helping educators and organisations turn their content into engaging online experiences through proven (and beautiful!) digital learning templates. 

Today’s blog post is thanks to our friends at How Too, who are helping educators and organisations turn their content into engaging online experiences through proven (and beautiful!) digital learning templates.

When face-to-face is cancelled: turning your content into engaging online learning

In the modern era, increased productivity is on the mind of every employee and business leader. There are thousands of tips out there claiming to help us rattle through the most critical tasks. But do they work? Or are they creating more distractions? 

Here, we explore two popular systems for productivity and explain why they are useful. Ultimately, the goal is to understand what helps you to get motivated and focused on your tasks. 

It is important to note here that there are several tools dedicated to team productivity and project management. These guidelines focus on productivity for individuals, rather than teams. 

Former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower had to make tough decisions every day about which of the many tasks he had to do was most critical. To make this process easier, he came up with an accessible system known as the Eisenhower Matrix. 

This diagram explains how to set the matrix up. On one axis, you consider whether your tasks are important or not. On the second axis, you think about whether the tasks are urgent or not. This system helps you to place tasks on the grid and identify which you need to prioritize: 

Rather than have a long list of items circling in your head, the matrix organizes tasks into categories to identify which are the most pressing. The tasks that need to be done first are those that are both important and urgent. Using this system can both reduce stress and increase focus. 

This is a time management trick developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. The idea is to tackle a piece of work you need to get done in 25-minute intervals, followed by a short break. Follow these steps to get started:

Focus solely on tackling the task (don’t get distracted by anything else)

Towards the end of the session, review your progress

Repeat three more times, followed by a more extended break

Repeat this as many times as it takes to get a particular piece of work done. At the end of each session, record what you achieved, and your next goal. 

Why does it work? One reason is our reward systems. If we promise ourselves a reward at the end of completing a section of work, such as a break, we are more extrinsically motivated to complete the task. Extrinsic motivation can help us get started, particularly with tasks that are not interesting. Awareness of how you are spending your time also helps you to become more focused. 

This article also includes an extensive list of helpful suggestions for boosting productivity.

Whether or not productivity hacks will work depends entirely on your personality. If you are easily distracted, tools that help you to remain focused will make all the difference. If you are naturally diligent and conscientious, you might be able to forgo them altogether. The most important thing is that you tailor systems. These tips might help you to form strategies that work for you:

Your personality plays a huge role in your ability to be productive and how best to overcome slowed output. 

There are certain traits in our personalities that remain fixed throughout life. The ‘Big Five’ personality traits are currently the most accurate measure we have of our characters. The five-factor model is organized into extraversion-introversion, openness to experience, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and neuroticism.  

Research shows that where you sit on this scale remains relatively consistent throughout life, but you can take action to balance or accentuate certain traits when you need to. 

Knowing where your personality sits can be hugely helpful and relevant to your ability to be productive. If you are introverted and work best in quiet environments, your focus will be dependent on being alone. Communicating with others often could be overwhelming, and you could quickly lose momentum.

When testing out a new productivity hack, it is essential to build in time for reflection. If you don’t, you won’t know whether the system you’re using is working for you, or if you need to personalize it. 

If you are using a time management technique like Pomodoro, be sure to include a minute or so for reflection at the end of each session. Record what you got done, and whether or not that met your target.

If your targets are consistently higher than what you can achieve, you might need to adjust your expectations for what you can get done in a given amount of time.

The American Psychological Association explains that growing your attention span is one of the most effective ways to boost productivity. 

Many productivity hacks are designed to improve focus on a single task. When you are testing out a new tool, reflect on whether it helps you reach a state of deep concentration.  

If you can be aware of what you are doing at any given time, rather than lost in thought, you will be more productive and happier. The brain is only capable of doing one task at a time, and you risk reaching cognitive overload if you attempt too much at once. 

4. Communicate your priorities to your team

One of the biggest distractions at work is instant messaging, emails, and notifications. Sometimes, messages will be both important and urgent, but you can’t set up your entire day waiting for a task like this to come in.  

Trust that, in most cases, if you switch your notifications off while you are focusing on a particular task that the world won’t fall apart! This attitude can be challenging if you are in a position of responsibility. Ultimately, if you can focus on urgent tasks when you need to, you will be a better leader and provide better support to your team. 

For more insights, be sure to 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.

Sophia is a freelance writer who specialises in thought leadership, opinion pieces and content creation for learning publications. Her work focuses on the latest research in learning theory and practice. She regularly contributes articles on workplace learning and personal development to the Go1 blog. You can connect with her on LinkedIn. 

How to make productivity hacks work for you 

At Go1, we partner with the best training providers from around the world, to bring you content that is sure to engage, excite and meet the unique needs of your learners.

We are very pleased to introduce you to iAM Learning – the new brand from the pioneers of Learning Heroes – providers of characterful content all driven through the power of beautiful animation, characters and stories.

iAM Learning is disrupting the learning content space. No more endless PowerPoints that you can’t wait to skip through. They use the art of storytelling to bring content to life and to engage learners throughout their bitesize courses. Plus, with stunning animation and interactive courses, they are making learning accessible to businesses of all sizes, shapes and across all sectors.

(What's the Story) Learning Glory? - The Notorious i.A.M

iAM Learning has over 40 courses live - with a roadmap of content planned out for the next 12 months, taking the total learning content to over 150 titles! All of these will be available to Go1 Premium Customers. 

have been crafted and curated by subject matter experts, from educational psychologists to H&S practitioners

every course is delivered through character-led screenplays or stories ranging from superheroes to wrestlers – and even a course on COSHH inspired by Breaking Bad!

every bit of animation is hand-drawn and lovingly crafted

all courses are CPD approved with IOSH approval for all health, safety, compliance and mental health topics coming throughout 2020

come with a variety of blended learning resources ranging from workbooks to infographics (with every course subtitled with a transcript and podcast).

Collections from iAM Learning include Health & Safety, Policy & Compliance, Mental Health & Wellbeing, Cyber Security & Data, Leadership & Soft Skills and much more to come!

iAM Learning has over 40 courses available on Go1 Premium, accessible for customers in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, the UK, Asia, North America, South America and Africa. 

Change the way your workforce trains and retains today.

#NotAllContentIsMadeEqual #TrainingJustGotInteresting

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.

iAM Learning - Storytelling and animating content - Go1

Introducing iAM Learning – storytellers, wizards and animators of learning content that we know your learners will love!

Giving your employees the opportunity to upskill at work has never been so important. In the current climate of economic uncertainty, broadening your team’s skillset will allow them to easily adapt to evolving roles, offer them new challenges, and improve your company’s employee retention levels. 

However, upskilling should be a priority year-round - a recent Hays survey of 1253 employees found that 96% considered upskilling as ‘important’ or ‘very important’. 84% wouldn’t consider a role without skill development opportunities, and 47% would not want to join a company that didn’t provide opportunities for training.

The good news is that implementing a programme to offer learning opportunities to your staff does not need to be costly or time-consuming.

COVID-19 social distancing measures have had a massive impact on large gatherings, live events, and face to face interaction on all but the smallest levels. It is highly likely you will have employees who are feeling displaced, especially if their roles involve regular person to person contact. 

Currently, there is no definite end date for this situation, so now is the ideal time to explore ways to upskill these employees. Providing them with an opportunity to learn new digital skills will help them to successfully pivot to changing demands in their role, and benefit other areas of your company.

Providing role-specific training for your employees is an attractive proposition that will both strengthen the skill set of your workforce, and increase staff engagement. However, it is also a worthy investment to offer your employees the chance to take on a personal learning project, whether it be improving their design skills, practising a new language, or learning to code. 

By encouraging your staff to extend their knowledge in an area of their choice, it will heighten their engagement during a time of distraction and change, and also provide them with new skills which can benefit your company long term.

Hiring new staff is a costly, time consuming and labour intensive process. Firstly you have the obvious costs of advertising the role and time spent assessing applications, whether that is done through an agency or your own HR staff. But on top of this, research by MIT Sloan found that new hires take between 8 and 26 weeks to start working at full productivity levels, and this drop in productivity reduces the company’s overall annual revenue by 1-2.5%

Upskilling current staff members will require an initial investment, however, the ability to transfer them into new roles will save your company huge amounts of time, money and effort which are inevitably required during the hiring and onboarding process. The MIT Sloan research also noted that internal transfers reach full productivity level in around half the time that new hires take.

There are many easy and cost-effective ways to implement upskilling opportunities at your company. Lengthy and expensive external courses are not always the best solution.  Here are a number of methods you can use:

Stretch opportunities are when an employee takes on a project or task outside of their usual role and skillset. This can be a fantastic method of on the job upskilling. An added bonus of this initiative is that your team will further develop their collaborative skills and problem-solving abilities.

Stretch opportunities generally require a staff member to shadow another colleague or be mentored by one. This learning experience can also be supplemented with online training modules. This assists the employee with developing the skills required for unfamiliar tasks and reduces the amount of time their colleague needs to spend on training them.

Offering self-led learning opportunities in the workplace gives your employees the chance to develop particular skills and knowledge that will benefit your company. 

A survey of Generation Z workers found that opportunities for growth were their number one priority when searching for a new job, ahead of generous pay, job security, flexible hours and healthcare benefits.

With the average employee having just 24 minutes per week to dedicate to learning, microlearning modules are an innovative method to incorporate into your company L&D. 

Microlearning breaks training down into small, bite-sized chunks, with lessons that generally include a short text or video element followed by a quick assessment. These can often be completed in 10-20 minutes, which makes them a very effective way to maximise the limited time your employees have for learning.

Providing upskilling opportunities for your employees is incredibly beneficial to both individual staff members, and your company as a whole. Not only does it increase employee engagement and company loyalty, but it also makes your team more adaptable and well rounded, and drastically reduces your hiring and onboarding costs.

In the current economic situation, upskilling is particularly important, however, it should be a focus for your company year-round. 

Upskilling your team: why it should always be a priority, but especially now

There are a number of different cyber threats that you need to be both aware of, and actively trying to prevent in your workplace. These range from the classic phishing calls and emails, to increasingly sophisticated attacks using tools like Artificial Intelligence to bypass company data security systems. 

Luckily, there are a number of effective methods you can employ to reduce the risk of these attacks on your company systems and data.

This is one of the longest-running forms of cybercrime, and hackers are constantly developing new ways to trick people into revealing sensitive information. Social engineering attacks are reliant on human error, as opposed to badly protected systems and software. 

Generally in email form, phishing is the attempt to gain valuable personal information such as bank details, credit card information or system passwords. These scams can be very sophisticated, with information, email addresses and company branding all appearing to be authentic.

Phishing attacks are popular with hackers as they are effective, cheap, and easy to do. With a minimal investment of time and effort, these strategies are low risk but can result in high rewards.

The term malware covers all types of malicious software including viruses, spyware, adware and bots. It’s essentially any kind of software created for the purpose of stealing data or damaging devices and systems.

Ransomware, such as the Petya virus, has the ability to freeze or shut down computers – from a personal device to the servers of an entire organisation. Once this occurs, hackers and cybercriminals can extort money from companies or individuals in return for decrypting the virus and allowing access to devices.

While Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence are both useful tools in the fight against cyber threats, they can also be used against us in more sophisticated attacks. AI can be used as a weapon to breach security systems as it permits a face or voice to be superimposed over another, and this allows a hacker access to previously protected data.

Endpoints are generally end-user devices like PCs, laptops and mobile devices. With the use of cloud-based systems, SaaS providers and enterprise networks on the increase, cybercriminals have larger attack surfaces and more vectors to choose from when bypassing security systems. It’s important to note that attacks will begin at the endpoint, even if this device isn’t the actual target.

Cyber attacks are costly events for a number of reasons. Aside from the obvious expenses incurred when repairing your systems and recovering data, you may well be hit with fines and legal costs. On top of this, the time spent rectifying the issue will cause a drop in overall employee productivity, it’s highly likely you will lose customers, and the damage to your company reputation may be irreparable. Recent research shows that cybercrime costs the Australian economy over a billion dollars annually.

How to prevent cyber threats in your workplace

Unfortunately, many companies have experienced the negative effects of serious cyber attacks. The good news is there are a number of ways you can prevent these, including:

Ensuring your antivirus programs, firmware and firewalls are up to date

Employing a policy of least privilege for your users; this limits the systems and resources available to the minimum required for each particular role 

Maintaining a full inventory of all internet-connected devices on your company network, and details of their operating systems

Applying security solutions to all devices on your company network - your system is only as strong as your least protected asset

Creating an offsite backup of your company data as part of your company disaster recovery plan

Ensuring your company systems are up to date, and removing any unused or unsupported software 

It’s vitally important that you have effective data security programs and policies in place to protect your business from cyber threats. This means your company data is secure, along with any sensitive information relating to or belonging to customers and clients.

Take a look at our Go1 Information and Data Security pathway. You'll find courses covering everything you need to keep your systems and information protected, from email etiquette and how to handle sensitive data, to guarding against identity theft, phishing and malware attacks.

Avoiding common cyber threats in the workplace

At Go1, we bring you the best training content from around the world to meet the unique and varied requirements of your learners. 

We are very pleased to introduce you to Safe Sleep Space and their Sleep Smart guide for infants and young children, developed by industry professionals.

The Sleep Smart guide is an online training program which covers safe sleeping and settling, created for parents and early childhood educators.

a full guide to both understanding and nurturing the social and emotional wellbeing of babies and toddlers

how to create a safe sleeping environment using evidence-based information

step-by-step, age appropriate, gentle and responsive settling strategies - from newborns to 3 year olds

recommendations for sleep and rest for 3-5 year olds

Through our partnership with Safe Sleep Space, Go1 customers will now be able to access Sleep Smart online courses to help childcare and health professionals successfully assist their clients with safe and effective sleeping practices.

Introducing Safe Sleep Space - Sleep Smart training for babies and toddlers

The Sleep Smart program is based on top scientific knowledge and best practice methods, with the understanding that the earliest childhood years are a vitally important time for physical, mental and emotional health development. These courses are aimed at medical professionals and childcare providers, as well as educators who work with families and young children.

Safe Sleep Space has 3 courses available on Go1 Premium, which are accessible for customers in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, the UK, Asia, North America, South America and Africa.

Explore content from Safe Sleep Space here!

Safe Sleep Space - Sleep smart training for babies - Go1

Through our partnership with Safe Sleep Space, Go1 Premium customers will now be able to access Sleep Smart online courses to help childcare and health professionals successfully assist their clients with safe and effective sleeping practices.

Introducing Safe Sleep Space – Sleep Smart training for babies and toddlers

We’ve all begun to settle into a new normal. Leaders are now re-thinking their approach to management to maintain business as usual. But what does this mean for you?

In this webinar, we spoke with Professional Development Training (PDT) - experts in understanding how different people and teams respond to challenges and workplace training. 

Using the REACH profile, you can learn how to support your employees based on their specific needs so they remain in a positive state of mind, and engaged in their work.

Gaining insight into your REACH profile - how do we put the 'human' back into remote work? | Webinar

In this webinar, Go1’s Social Impact Manager Cam Cliff is joined by PD Training CEO Paul Findlay to discuss how different people respond to isolation from their team, and how you can thrive and stay engaged in the new world of work.

insights into communicating & managing remote teams 

how to be mindful, proactive and purposeful in working with teammates 

how to effectively engage and support people based on their different personalities and social needs

We'd like to thank Paul and all of our attendees for joining us in this interesting conversation. We hope to see you in our next webinar!

In this webinar, Go1’s Social Impact Manager Cam Cliff was joined by PD Training CEO Paul Findlay to discuss how different people respond to isolation from their team, and how you can thrive and stay engaged in the new world of work.

Gaining insight into your REACH profile - how do we put the 'human' back into remote work?

Go1 brings you the best training content from around the world to meet the unique and diverse needs of the learners in your organisation.

We are very pleased to introduce you to Nourish Baby, provider of nationally accredited antenatal and early parenting courses. 

Nourish Baby was established in 2012, and their classes are delivered by qualified antenatal and early parenting professionals. With a passion for supporting new parents and families through pregnancy, childbirth and the initial three years of a child’s life, Nourish Baby courses help prepare for healthy pregnancies, positive labour experiences and success during the early stages of parenting. Lessons are comprehensive, with interactive activities and graphics, engaging videos, knowledge tests and added resources.

Through our partnership with Nourish Baby, Go1 Premium customers will now be able to access industry recognised online courses which give your staff the ability to successfully help new families with pregnancy, childbirth and parenting.

Introducing Nourish Baby - accredited online antenatal training

Nourish Baby is the only provider of online antenatal classes that is also an Australian Council of Healthcare Services(ACHS) EQuIP6 accredited organisation. These resources support numerous maternity services and early parenting programs, and are already utilised in early childhood education services, hospitals, and child and family health centres. This training is suitable for maternity and early childcare providers.

Nourish Baby has 5 courses available on Go1 Premium, which are accessible for customers in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, New Zealand, North America, South America and the United Kingdom

Explore content from Nourish Baby here!

Introducing Nourish Baby – accredited online antenatal training

At Go1, we make it easy for businesses to train their staff, with the world’s largest online library of compliance and professional development training.

During this current period of uncertainty, economic challenges and changing work patterns, we believe it’s particularly important for small businesses to have the opportunity to train and upskill their workforce. 

In light of this, we’re very happy to be working with the Western Australia Government’s Small Business Development Corporation (SBDC) to support small businesses and their teams through the delivery of free online learning and professional development.

As Go1 co-founder Vu Tran says, “small business plays a crucial role in the state’s economic functioning and will play a pivotal role in Western Australia’s recovery post COVID-19.”

“With many employees now working from home, remote learning is an excellent way to keep team members engaged and focused on their ongoing growth and development.”

Through our work with SBDC, WA small businesses will now have free access to their own learning portal, preloaded with over 70,000 courses ranging from accounting and IT skills through to mental health and personal wellbeing training.

accessible 24/7 – take them at a time to suit to you

Interested to learn more and get started? 

Access your learning portal now from the SBDC website - portals are available free of charge to all Western Australian small businesses until June 30 2020.  

Go1 offers free learning to businesses until June 30 - Go1

We’re very happy to be working with the Western Australia Government’s Small Business Development Corporation (SBDC) to support small businesses and their teams through the delivery of free online learning and professional development.

Go1 offers free online learning to all WA Small Businesses until June 30

Welcome to the Go1 blog. Helping you to achieve your L&D goals through the latest learning and development insights, trends, and technology.

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