CoverStory
By Christine Oh and Gayle Holsworth
Onboarding sets the tone for every new hire’s experience and accelerates how quickly employees build business acumen in their role. Too often it is overwhelming, time-consuming or quickly forgotten, leaving employees to piece together critical business context on their own.
A special thank you to the following for their work on this project:
Global Learning Lead Medical Medical Learning
Toronto, Canada
Global Customer Facing Training Lead Field Learning & Development Frankfurt, Germany
Global Learning Partner Medical Medical Learning
Morristown, NJ USA
Swiftwater, PA USA
In this case at Sanofi, there was a dual challenge: To create a solution made up of bite-sized training that was so engaging that learners wanted to complete it even though they didn’t have to. To succeed, the solution had to be more than informative — it had to be irresistible.
Through collaboration and innovation, the team designed a training solution new employees would choose to take and enjoy in the process.
Sanofi came to Innovative Learning Group (ILG) with a challenge that was no small feat. The requirements for the solution:
Meet onboarding business goals while appealing to employees who were not required to complete them.
Deliver an impactful experience that accelerates business understanding for new medical employees.
Provide short, targeted learning that helps employees quickly understand how the business works and where their role fits.
Incorporate gaming elements and multiple learning modalities to create a compelling, blended experience.
Work within a budget that allowed for designing the solution and developing only the components Sanofi could not develop itself.
The approach was centered around collaboration, both internally and with the Sanofi team. Internally, brainstorming sessions were conducted in which each person brought not only their skills but also a different way of looking at the challenge. This cross-functional approach ensured that by the time any deliverable was reviewed, it reflected a unified vision shaped by the whole team.
From the start, the Sanofi team collaborated with subject matter experts and designed learning experiences aligned with organizational goals and learner needs, while remaining adaptable to evolving feedback. The client’s insights and real-world perspective ensured the design wasn’t just innovative but also practical and impactful.
Several factors influenced the solution design.
First was the optional nature of the training. Because participation was not mandatory, the design had to capture attention and hold interest in a way that would make people want to engage. The content could not simply be informative — it had to help employees quickly build practical understanding of the business and how their role contributes to it.
The success of optional learning often depends on one simple factor: whether learners see it helping them solve real problems in their work. When learning quickly builds understanding of the business and their role within it, engagement follows naturally.
Second, Sanofi wanted the entire solution to take minimal time, with an ideal target of 30 minutes or less.
Third, the existing learning platform had to house the training. This allowed Sanofi to streamline its efforts and focus on other factors.
Finally, Sanofi wanted to be able to internally develop and maintain as many deliverables as possible. It needed to consider the tools being proposed for the solution.
“Onboarding had to help new hires get up to speed quickly as they start a new role. It needed to feel simple, relevant and useful from the start.”
Candice BizimanaGlobal Learning Lead Medical
Today’s learners are used to consuming information in quick bursts — on social media, through short videos or in quick-read articles — and Sanofi’s solution tapped into that preference. By delivering content in smaller, more digestible pieces, learners rapidly built the foundational business knowledge they needed to operate effectively.
“The goal was to create an experience that felt engaging and made learning feel more like discovery than training.”
Luciana CoelhoGlobal Customer FacingTraining Lead
Short modules also support better retention. Learners can absorb one concept at a time, apply it immediately and return for more without feeling overwhelmed.
The training also fits into the natural flow of work and life, so learners were not expected to carve out time for long, traditional sessions.
The design also addressed the need to appeal to learners. Interactivity, relevance and clear value were built into the design to encourage voluntary participation. The solution included optional games and activity elements for those with more time to complete the training.
Incorporating multiple modalities, including interactive e-learning, short videos, quick reference tools and an interactive PDF, Sanofi allowed learners to consume content in the way that best suited them. Gaming elements — such as a scavenger hunt, an online board game and badges for completing modules — were layered throughout the experience, making the training feel engaging rather than mandatory. (Figure 1)
This mix of formats and interactivity created a truly blended experience — one that met the need for bite-sized content while keeping learners coming back by making each step feel valuable, accessible and even fun.
Breaking the training into bite-sized pieces was easy with the platform, but you do not need a fancy system to do the same. With thoughtful design, basic tools and a focus on the learner, anyone can create effective, just-in-time training without complex systems.
In today’s world of constant distractions and competing priorities, optional training must earn attention. When learning is short, relevant and engaging, employees do not just see the value – they build confidence and business understanding faster. The result is not just better onboarding, but faster capability building and stronger role readiness across the organization.
Christine Oh is the global head of medical learning at Sanofi. You can email her at christine.oh@sanofi.com or connect through linkedin.com/in/christine-oh-140a30/.
Gayle Holsworth is the senior director of client solutions at Innovative Learning Group. Email her at gayle.holsworth@innovativeLG.com or connect through linkedin.com/in/gayleholsworth.
