Photo credit: @WRI/Moray McLeish
Meet our member
Who we are
World Resources Institute (WRI) is a global think tank founded in 1982 with a mission to move human society to live in ways that protect Earth’s environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations. We work to turn big ideas into action at the nexus of environment, economic opportunity and human wellbeing. WRI has been a LINGOs member for almost one year.
What learning means to us
Enhancing our collective knowledge and keeping up with advancements in our program areas is key to the success and sustainability of our identity as a global research organization. Our talent pool consists of research scientists, big data analysts and behavioral economists, who are committed to continuous learning.
WRI has also been growing 15% over the last decade and with much of this growth happening internationally, it became increasingly difficult to deliver quality learning opportunities to a geographically dispersed workforce. We realized we needed to utilize technology to enhance our employee development offerings and make it relevant to the non-profit world.
At WRI we understand that quality learning is key to retaining and engaging staff, and we strive to create a culture of self-directed learning. We realize that delivering blended learning opportunities to meet talent development needs helps advance the Institute’s mission.
How we learn at WRI
WRI joined LINGOs because it provided an online platform through which to deliver, monitor and track the training opportunities of our global staff. Since joining, we have launched Learn WRI (the brand name of our LINGOs platform) and rolled out two online compliance learning modules to over 500 global staff. This was the first time that all WRI staff received the same training content on two important topics, ‘Preventing Harassment in the Workplace,’ and the ‘Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.’ The delivery of this standardized learning approach has helped WRI manage risks and reinforces the notion of OneWRI.
The difference learning has made
WRI conducts a variety of “brown bag” learning sessions on various topics. Many of these are well attended but we needed to track participation to give us an accurate training history, a better idea of members’ commitment to learning, and help us build institutional capacity.
Our partnership with LINGOs allows us to do all of this very effectively. This summer, HR teamed up with the Communication department to pilot registration on Learn WRI for the WRI Communications Training Series. By creating classrooms for this series of trainings on the Learning Management System (LMS), staff were able to register for each training session and have their attendance recorded in their learning history on the LMS.
Our future learning plans
Learning is now a core part of WRI’s five-year strategic plan. We will continue to build the Learn WRI library by creating online learning modules focused on the operations of the Institute to enhance and emphasize the OneWRI culture. WRI will develop blended learning opportunities in the areas of technical training, people management skills and will use PMD Pro to help institutionalize project management standards across the organization.
With competition for talent at an all-time high, WRI will ensure that we develop and engage global staff by instilling the evolving skill sets needed to execute our strategy.
Our advice to you
As you start to develop learning opportunities, listen to your internal partners – employees and leaders. Find out what employees want to learn and research organizational needs. Gain commitment from the leadership team to invest in key areas of alignment, and put your initial focus and resources in those areas for small wins.
Darrin W. Allen
Learning and Development Specialist