Learn how India’s largest private sector conglomerate, Reliance Industries, partnered with LinkedIn, to bring world class learning resources to thousands of employees across multiple businesses. Read more such inspiring Indian talent stories at lnkd.in/ltsindia

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CASE STUDY
Building a new-age learning organisation
Founded in 1966 by the late Shri Dhirubhai Ambani, Reliance Industries Limited is India’s largest
private sector conglomerate, headquartered in Mumbai. Over 40 years, Reliance has grown into
a Fortune 500 company with over 250 million customers across the diverse businesses of energy,
oil and gas, petrochemicals, textiles, retail, media, and digital services.

2. The Reliance motto, “Growth is Life” aptly captures the ever-evolving spirit of the
company. Their focus on growth is continuous and relentless.
In keeping with this spirit, Reliance wanted to provide cutting-edge content to its modern
learner. This meant bringing world-class learning resources and knowledge experts to
finger-tips of thousands of Reliance employees across all businesses, accessible at any
time, at any place through Reliance’s digital learning platform.
OBJECTIVE
“We are living in a VUCA world. At the same time we are fortunate to
live in very exciting times - times where rapid technological change is
sweeping the world and is redefining the rules of business and value
creation. This offers a unique opportunity to us to further leap frog
and scale to new heights. A critical factor to this is that all of us as
torchbearers of Reliance continue to acquire, upgrade and refresh our
skills knowledge and competencies.”
Hital Meswani
Executive Director

3. SOLUTION
Set up learning modules - an exhaustive library of over 6000 courses - on a single digital
platform, accessible to all employees.
Align Lynda.com content to various learning programs, business objectives, and
departmental goals to promote continuous learning and achieve business outcomes.
Provide on-demand access to content on best practices, professional experts, and the most
updated learning content from across the world.
Reliance partnered with LinkedIn Learning to launch Lynda.com organisation wide, to
ensure enablement of bite-size learning content for employees at all levels. The intent was
to offer learning opportunities to all RIL employees, to update their knowledge base,
upgrade their current skills, and acquire new ones on the job. RIL used three main levers to
meet their goals -

4. LEADERSHIP BUY-IN
“At Reliance, we are continuously looking for ways to making learning and
development more efficient, effective and impactful for our employees
Regardless of what generation you belong to, we all have the opportunity
to benefit from the digital revolution in learning and that is why
Lynda.com is such an exciting addition to our growing buffet of learning.”
Ashwani Prashara
CHRO - Hydrocarbons
Organization-wide institutionalization of Lynda.com required the team to generate buy-in and
accountability among the senior leadership. The proposition of “learning as a growth
imperative” and the benefits of partnering with LinkedIn Learning were emphasized across all
leadership interactions.
The team was attempting to reorient mindsets at an organisational level rather than merely
settling for a one-time sponsorship; hence, a structured and in-depth approach to building
confidence in the initiative and the chosen platform was imperative.
IMPLEMENTATION

5. IMPLEMENTATION
The launch and the first three months were critical for achieving results and strengthening
a digital learning culture. To maintain control, Reliance staggered the deployment plan by
targeting different businesses, namely, Hydrocarbons, Jio, Retail, Network 18(Media), Life
Sciences, followed by Reliance Foundation, Hospital and Schools.
• A core team was formed comprising members from both Reliance and LinkedIn to
play the roles of integrator, facilitator, and moderator for all the individual streams.
• Cross-functional teams were formed to drive specific work streams: Awareness,
Leadership Liaison, Roll-Out Execution, Content mapping to competencies,
Marketing and Promotions.
• Measurable goals for each of the teams were set at the very beginning to ensure a
clear line of sight for an organisation as diverse as Reliance.
SETTING UP THE CORE

6. IMPLEMENTATION
The most critical task was to evoke interest and curiosity among employees and make them
invested in self-growth and continuous learning. It was important to be innovative and think
out-of-the-box.
• Industry best-practices were applied for optimal results. This required multiple rounds of
senior leadership meetings across all the business segments at Reliance.
• Content mapping for more than 300 competencies and topics were used to deliver focused
learning content to various businesses. The content relevance resulted in higher adoption
and positive word of mouth.
• Marketing collaterals such as posters, standees, screensavers and intranet banners were
enhanced by video content and top management mentions to drive engagement.
INTERNAL ACTIVATION

7. IMPLEMENTATION
50,000 Tent Cards with QR Codes placed across the organization
Extensive promotions through the pre-launch period ensured that “New Age Learning” and
“LEARN-APPLY-EXCEL” became company-wide buzzwords.
INTERNAL ACTIVATION

8. Flash mobs wearing Lynda.com t-shirts created a memorable buzzInnovative video Logs
by leadership team
Street plays that depicted Lynda.com’s learning advantages100 Floor walks helped
create awareness

9. A specially recorded video
message from Shri Mukesh
Ambani, Chairman and
Managing Director of Reliance
Industries Limited, was
delivered to convey his
personal commitment towards
continuous learning culture
within the organisation. His
message was played on the
day of the roll-out which went
viral and garnered more than
10,000 views within minutes.
IMPLEMENTATION
LEADERSHIP MESSAGE

10. A three-step process of measurement, feedback, and course-correction was put in place to keep
the programme on track. Weekly plans with timelines were executed and roadmaps created
along with sub-goals. Monthly reviews were set up with key stakeholders from Reliance. These
processes ensured a smooth and successful ramp-up phase.
SUSTENANCE & MEASUREMENT
“The planning, implementation, and adoption of Lynda as a learning
platform across the organisation was in line with the ‘One Team’
value at Reliance Industries. About 25 cross-functional teams, each
with specific job roles and quantifiable goals, came together to
ensure the target was achieved within the desired timeframe.”
Dr. David Selchen
Chief Learning Officer

11. THE RESULTS
~25k ~70,000
hours
activated users
within a month
of learning clocked
in first 6 months
1.1mn
videos viewed in
first 6 months
The primary reason for success was that the initiative was cross-functional. It was co-owned by
Human Resources, Branding & Communication and the Chairman’s Office.

12. “The Lynda programme has been launched successfully across the
board and plans are underway for the next level of learning. While
the progress is heartening, the ultimate goal remains to ensure
that every person in Reliance experiences Lynda.com at least once
and completes a minimum of one course online. That is our true
measure of success.”
Vijeta Soni
Head of Learning Technology
& Innovations

13. Founded in 2003, LinkedIn connects the
world’s professionals to make them
more productive and successful. With
over 562 million members in more than
200 countries and territories worldwide,
including executives from every Fortune
500 company, LinkedIn is the world’s
largest professional network.
LinkedIn Learning is an online learning
platform that combines industry-
leading content from Lynda.com with
highly-personalized course
recommendations from LinkedIn’s
professional network of more than 500
million members.
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