How has your learning strategy evolved?
Historically, our training consisted of people in a room listening to subject matter experts run through PowerPoint slides. It was outdated and hard to scale. Even when Covid hit and we had to pivot, we continued with a tutor-led approach—the only change was to make it virtual. It became increasingly obvious how unsustainable and inaccessible that model was.
We’re now offering a more blended learning experience, where learners can complete content at their own pace before attending facilitated workshops to apply their knowledge and ask questions that are relevant to their own environments. It’s pragmatic and accessible and can scale globally.
Because of our flipped classroom approach, we’re hearing stories of learners who have been applying their new skills immediately—whether that’s through creating more compliant lighting designs or through optimising supply chains. That’s the kind of engagement that builds long-term loyalty.
This model has also enabled us to build learning communities. Learners can engage with each other and share challenges—even if they’re on the other side of the world. This has had a huge impact on member engagement and, subsequently, can be seen as a contributing factor to why we retain our members. People feel more connected and invested in their learning journey and, as a result, in us as a professional association.
How are learners benefitting?
Ultimately, any change process has its challenges, but we’ve tried to build a model that works for all. Our current strategy allows us to be much more dynamic. If something’s not working, we can change it immediately. Our modular approach is also helping us pinpoint where there are skills gaps and how we can address them.
The results have been transformational. We’ve modularised all of our training, meaning members can follow their own bespoke learning journeys—a level of personalisation that hasn’t been possible before.
We’re also introducing licensing models so that organisations can access a suite of training resources to share with their teams, as appropriate. This has a positive effect on retention—when members see their employees benefiting from continuous, practical learning, they’re more likely to renew their membership.
We track learner progress and completion rates to ensure our content is effective, plus we revisit learners after six months to understand real-world impact—whether that’s increased sales, process improvements or cost savings, for example.
What wider opportunities has it opened up?
It has had a big impact on our contribution margins. Prior to streamlining and digitising our learning, our contribution margin was about 5%—mainly due to the costs associated with delivering face-to-face learning. I expect this to increase to about 75% or more in the next few years. This is crucial to our long-term sustainability and enables us to invest more into content and other member benefits.
It’s also made our offering global, as well as strengthening our position with UK-based companies. About 70% of our members are SMEs and they don’t have the internal infrastructure to build their own learning programmes from scratch.
As an association, we’ve done some real soul searching recently, asking where we truly add value—rather than trying to be everything to everyone. This has meant looking beyond our own offering. We’ve always been exceptional at compliance, for example, helping our members navigate regulations and deliver legally and ethically compliant lighting solutions.
We need to feel confident enough to let go of areas where others are best placed to lead. My utopia moment will be when the whole sector is working together to provide a professional roadmap and there’s one single source of truth. I want to be able to offer people a clear, transparent and succinct route from the start of their career to the end. That’s the only way to develop a sustainable talent pipeline.
What’s next in terms of learning?
Our ambition is to continue developing our online community spaces—so members can share ideas, ask questions and build networks. We see this as being particularly important for younger professionals.
We’re also looking at microlearning alongside technologies such as VR and AR that will enable learners to work with real-time lighting scheme simulations. Imagine building an emergency lighting plan for a new building virtually—without setting foot inside. That’s the future.
Everything we’re doing feeds into our ambition to protect and futureproof the industry. The more commercially successful our training becomes, the more value we can deliver back to our members. It’s about ensuring the UK lighting sector remains competitive, compliant and equipped for the future.
To find out more about how earning through learning can help futureproof your association, get in touch or download our whitepaper.
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