Clarion Housing Group brings learning and performance management into a single user-friendly platform

Clarion Housing Group formed in 2016, following the merger between two of the country’s largest housing associations, Affinity Sutton and Circle Housing Group. With over 125,000 homes, they are one of the biggest house builders in the country, and are set to build 50,000 more in the next ten years to tackle the housing shortage.

They also aim to transform existing communities through regeneration, helping people to access employment and training.

The Challenge

Clarion Housing Group’s previous learning management systems were not advanced enough to keep up with the requirements of the learning and development team. Circle Housing Group’s previous LMS didn’t have the capability to certificate learning, meaning that ensuring staff were compliant with mandatory training was a difficult task.

Similarly, Affinity Sutton previously had a Moodle-based LMS which didn’t have a learner reminder function or the capability to manage face-to-face training on the online platform.

Clarion Housing Group’s new LMS had to meet the following criteria:

• A single platform to manage blended learning i.e. online training and face-face-face sessions
• Ability to implement mandatory training, monitor progress and track compliance across all employees
• An intuitive system which has sophisticated features but is easy-to-use
• Capability for automatic reminders to tell learners when they need to complete specific training

Our Solution

Learning Nexus felt that the Totara Learn enterprise learning platform was the best solution for Clarion Housing Group (CHG). For a newly merged organisation, the system would allow for them to grow in size whilst keeping up with their learning and development needs. What’s more, the consistent updates in functionality of the system would ensure that the platform stays up to date.

Clarion Housing Group felt that one of the most attractive functions was the automated reminders for learning a significant feature that will play a key part in meeting their audit and regulatory training requirements. As well as a platform, Learning Nexus provided CHG with a host of curated content (off-the-shelf) courses and bespoke learning content.

Working with Learning Nexus

“Learning Nexus are easy to work with. For the implementation we had a dedicated project team and, whilst small, it enabled us to implement from scratch within a few months”

In terms of the system set up, it’s fair to say that the system is new and it has been a learning journey, but Learning Nexus has always been very supportive and helpful in the advice given.

“Learning Nexus provided instructor-led training sessions to help with the initial set up, however, there are clearly a wide range of features and set up options to maximise effective and efficient use of the system which we are continuously learning by simply using and trying different options available.”

The Results

What has the reaction been from staff?
The overall feedback from staff has been positive and the eLearning usage has been high, with any teething problems easily resolved.

How have you found the eLearning content?
Clarion feel that Learning Nexus have provided  good content, with the “Mentor4Managers” management skills videos being a particularly good example of current and helpful content for their staff.

What has the overall effect of Totara been?
Following a merger, Clarion feel that the single platform provides a consistent training offering that is nice and easy to use. The bespoke eLearning that Learning Nexus has designed for them always gets great feedback. Finally, the performance review process integrated into Totara was completed with ease even though managers and staff were new to the system.