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A City in Motion
Every day, more than 3 million passenger trips move through SBS Transit’s network of buses and trains.
Supporting these journeys is a workforce that must keep pace with changing policies, new regulations, evolving business needs and, quite simply, the demands of a city that never stops moving.
Learning has always been an important part of this. Four half-day workshops covering effective delegation, finance, group procurement, and compensation and performance management gave employees practical knowledge for their work.
SBS Transit Academy saw an opportunity to make this learning more flexible and accessible.
It asked: how can we bring learning closer to employees and better fit the way they work?
The answer began with these four workshops.
The Learning Opportunity
The Academy saw an opportunity to rethink how the workshops were delivered. By moving foundational content online, employees could learn at their own pace, while classroom time could be focused on discussion and practical application.
The goal was also to equip SBS Transit’s Learning and Development (L&D) team with the capability to design, update and sustain its own e-learning modules.
Through the Learning Enterprise Alliance (LEA) programme, SBS Transit partnered with the Institute for Adult Learning (IAL) to bring this approach to life.
“Workplace learning needs to evolve alongside the business. Our partnership with IAL has helped us make learning more flexible and scalable, while building our internal capability to develop and sustain it.”
Eric Lim, Head of Leadership Training Institute & Partnership (LTIP), SBS Transit
A Collaborative Approach
More than 100 hours of consultancy went into understanding the objectives of the existing workshops, identifying what could be adapted for e-learning and determining what needed to be redesigned.
This was followed by an eight-week co-creation phase. After a two-day workshop on e-learning design, storyboarding, activities and assessments, SBS Transit’s L&D team applied its new skills to develop all four modules on Rise 360 with IAL.
The process was deliberately hands-on. Rather than simply receiving completed modules, the team gained the skills to create and update them independently.
“What made the project particularly valuable was learning how to do it ourselves. With Dr Lee’s guidance, we turned what we learnt into actual e-learning modules and developed a capability that we can continue to build on.”
Vincent Chen, Manager, SBS Transit
Coordinating stakeholders across different business units and stages of development required careful planning, as timelines did not always align. Strong support from project sponsor Eric Lim and project champion Linus Hoon helped maintain momentum and secure the people, platforms and alignment needed to deliver the modules.
The Group Procurement module, for example, was tested by users ranging from operations managers to the Vice-President of Group Procurement before it was endorsed and rolled out.
From Concept to Implementation
The four half-day workshops were transformed into e-learning modules that take just one to one-and-a-half hours to complete, reducing learning time by about 60% to 75%, depending on the module.
Beyond the time saved, employees now have greater flexibility over when and how they learn. Instead of attending a workshop at a fixed time, they can complete the modules at their own pace.
The Group Procurement module offers added convenience: Business Unit partners who require procurement services can access and complete it on demand.
Measurable Impact
The new model has also changed what happens after a module is launched.
Through Rise 360, the L&D team can track completion and assessment results, providing greater visibility into employees’ progress.
More importantly, SBS Transit now has the in-house capability to maintain the modules. When a procurement policy changes or a new regulation comes into effect, the team can update the relevant content within days, without having to develop a new training programme or schedule another classroom session.
The model is also scalable. Once developed, each module can be made available to more employees without the cost of facilitating additional classroom sessions.
“With the in-house capabilities built through this collaboration, we are now better equipped to develop and roll out more e-learning modules across the organisation.”
Linus Hoon, Manager, SBS Transit
Scaling for the Future
The four modules were only the starting point.
With the in-house capability to design and update e-learning, SBS Transit plans to extend the approach to other departments and involve more learning champions in the process.
The project shows how workplace learning can evolve alongside the needs of employees and the business. By making learning more accessible, scalable and responsive to change, organisations can do more than deliver training. They can build the capability to keep it relevant.
Connect with IAL to explore how your organisation can take its first or next step in workplace transformation.