Learn remotely through the conversational learning platform qohubs

Considering that for several years now, Dijana and Viktor Vetturelli have been engaged in organizational culture and organizational agility, they have constantly sought answers to the question of how to strengthen interpersonal relationships in a decentralized environment, how to create a common understanding of work, collaboration, and value creation, and how to accelerate changes at the company-wide level. According to Viktor Vetturelli, these questions were intensified by the decentralized way of working and the emergence of the corona crisis, which further increased their significance, so they initially offered answers in a series of online workshops called Transformiraonica. However, it quickly became clear to them that participants learned the most in group conversations without facilitators. This was the beginning of their conversational learning platform qohubs, which encourages rapid organizational changes through remote learning in small groups without facilitators or trainers.

Surprising results

With partners Vladimir Koren and Goran Antonović, the Vetturellis began programming the first platform that enables group learning without a leader. The beta version of qohubs, says Vetturelli, was completed in 2020, and clients have been using it since the beginning of 2021.

– However, we stepped into the world of social innovations back in 2015 when we designed and programmed a digital product for the regional branch of one of the largest financial institutions in the world, which at that time was facing significant organizational changes. It was a mobile application with educational content, but we felt it was insufficient to stimulate the interest and engagement of their employees, and there was also positive social pressure. Thus, we randomly grouped employees into groups of eight. These were employees from different countries, some of whom did not know each other, and they had to go through the content and interactions as a group. The results were astonishing. For example, during the implementation, 72% of participants proactively opened WhatsApp groups and continued communication. At that time, we were not aware that this project and application would become a strong determinant of our current work, ” describes Vetturelli.

A wide circle of users

He emphasizes that in today’s knowledge society, it is almost impossible for one organization to possess all the knowledge necessary to create value in complexity. Therefore, they designed the company qohubs as a decentralized network consisting of permanent partners, authors in the fields of organizational culture and transformation, systems thinking, and freelancers. Vetturelli believes this allows them speed and a high level of quality, and their business is organized around projects for which they seek suitable people and organizations.

– A group in qohubs consists of four to six participants who, in 90 minutes in a digital space, use the platform to go through a specific topic using carefully selected content and interactive elements to stimulate discursive reflection in light of their own organization. In this way, participants build a common understanding of their collaboration and organizational context. The platform and infrastructure that qohubs offers today have been used by companies and organizations from the private and public sectors, from a city in Switzerland, cultural institutions in Vienna, to financial institutions from Germany and Croatia, or companies from the information technology sector. All these are organizations that are aware that they need new solutions that cannot be obtained through conventional methods and instruments, as they require a common understanding of the context. This means that qohubs is interesting to all companies that want to leverage the brainpower of all their employees, work on organizational culture, and humanize work, ” emphasized Vetturelli.

A sense of belonging

According to Vetturelli, knowledge in a business sense means that business problems can be solved, so if employees can solve business problems, then the business consequently improves. In qohubs sessions, participants reflect on their work and collaboration from their organization, thus creating new, useful knowledge and laying the foundations for rapid change throughout the company.

– The question is never which topics are interesting, but the main question is which problem the company wants to solve and why qohubs cycles are conducted (which always consist of five 90-minute sessions). Our experience shows that collaborative work in sessions creates deep connections and networking among participants. A sense of belonging arises, which has a strong effect on the well-being of individuals and companies. All this makes the company more resilient and adaptable to changes in the market. If participants practice entering into honest discourse, then it is sustainable. We talk about practicing discourse because that is precisely what the company must nurture to remain ready for changes and to quickly identify and seize new opportunities in the market. This new way of working together creates mutual support. Musician Joshua Redman said: ‘Music is not just the notes you play. Music is a set of relationships.’ – says Vetturelli.

Experience qohubs sessions

The greatest advances in business, or in the knowledge of participants, according to Vetturelli’s findings, are in acquiring a common understanding among all employees of the environment in which they work and in discovering which problems need to be solved and what ensures success or prevents it in their organization. He explained that organizations are still functionally divided, leading to silos, as everyone works in their own reality and their own challenge.

– This often leads to misunderstandings between departments and negative office politics. However, our content, ready for use, is constantly expanding. Collaboration with consulting firms engaged in business transformations is also intensifying. The reason is that qohubs offers them the opportunity to implement their projects with clients faster, at the company-wide level, making them more effective. We have enabled everyone interested in qohubs (not just companies) to participate in such a session through an Experience session via Zoom, which will take place on Thursday, January 19 from 2 PM to 4 PM. For this occasion, we have designed a special 90-minute session ‘Booster of Diversity and Inclusion’ which provides five exciting lessons or deep insights into promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace and building a sense of belonging, ” announced Vetturelli.