The Extra Mile: How Go1 helped ASL Aviation take the next step on their L&D journey

Welcome back to another exciting edition of The Extra Mile, where we interview Go1 customers and their Customer Success Managers (CSMs) about their relationships, challenges, learning goals, and everything in between. 

If you haven’t already, take the time to catch up on previous editions of The Extra Mile, where we’ve chatted with Mandy Rutherford from Wave Utilities and Dan Ritchie from H2M Associates, along with their wonderful Go1 CSMs. 

This time, we’ll talk to Susana Pires, Group Health and Safety Manager at ASL Aviation, and her Go1 CSM George Ellison-Bunce, about their first impressions, goals, and what the future holds. 

Why did ASL Aviation choose Go1?

According to Susana, ASL Aviation partnered with Go1 for two key reasons. Firstly, they were on a mission to optimise their internal tools and systems, including their learning platform, which they had failed to make the most of. 

“Many years ago, ASL developed an internal [learning] platform, but it reached a point where innovation, standardisation, modernization, and creativity was needed. This was all triggered by an internal project that aimed to optimise and standardise tools and systems,” she said. 

Additionally, Susana had a list of non-negotiable requirements. ASL Aviation wanted a partner that offered 24/7 support, had an easily navigable platform, and allowed ASL to create and upload its own content. In Go1, they found a partner that ticked all these boxes — and many more.  

“Go1 was able to fulfil all our initial requirements: easy to navigate the platform, availability of content, possibility to create and upload our own content, and 24/7 support,” she added.  

Building the relationship

With these goals established, George and Susana’s professional relationship was off to an excellent start. 

Susana had nothing but good things to say about her first impressions of George, recalling, “George is friendly, knowledgeable, customer-oriented, open to suggestions, always willing to help and find solutions to questions or challenges presented.” 

George returned the favour, recounting, “My first impression of working with ASL was that Susana had a very clearly defined vision for the platform and its requirements.” Susana’s vision and dedication made George’s job much easier, ensuring they always had clear goals to strive for. 

From this point, their relationship has gone from strength to strength. George outlined his process for building relationships with customers to ensure everyone receives a bespoke CSM experience that suits their needs.

“I approach working with every new customer with a really open mind — I don't want to presume I know everything about them, or what elements of Go1's solution will work best to support their requirements,” he said. 

“To achieve this, I hold several discovery sessions with my clients to ask a tonne of questions to really dig into the core reasons for partnering with Go1, and how we can work together to achieve success.

“I also don't take myself too seriously and always take a personable approach — I'm not one for an overly professional attitude for the sake of it. Also, if they like cats that helps.”

George’s efforts never went unnoticed or unappreciated, with Susana explaining that their relationship evolved “greatly” over time. 

“We have regular meetings to discuss any issues, suggestions, challenges, or just to follow-up on actions/steps to improve,” she said. 

Meeting learning goals 

Throughout all this, meeting ASL Aviation’s learning goals remained front of mind. Before long, this was a resounding success.

When asked whether working with Go1 helped her team set and meet achievable learning goals, Susana answered enthusiastically: “Yes!”

“We were able to include, in the yearly key performance indicators, goals and objectives for training, which are measured quarterly and presented to the executive board. We were also able to develop an internal training matrix that we aim to implement early 2024 to all our entities worldwide,” she elaborated. 

Most importantly, the response from employees was overwhelmingly positive. 

“The [learning] benefits we have seen were improvements in certain areas (links, drop down menus, etc.), the development of our own training processes, and the positive feedback from employees using the platform.”

To learn more about how Go1 helped ASL Aviation meet its learning goals, check out our case study on ASL Aviation. 

Overcoming challenges

As with any L&D project, challenges are likely to arise. However, through careful planning and clear communication, both parties overcame these obstacles.

As Susana recalls, finding the right training content to suit her team’s learning needs was initially challenging. However, George was extremely helpful by suggesting lots of relevant material. Moreover, ASL Aviation faced challenges using their SSO feature and integrating with other platforms, which remains an ongoing task.

Thankfully, these challenges rarely lasted long. When asked how they problem-solved when issues arose, Susana responded: “very rapidly.”

“George was able to either support us in getting things done, or contacting the technical specialists that were able to support us,” she added.

From George’s perspective, problem-solving is simply part of the job. He emphasises that each client is different, so active listening is the best way to overcome challenges.

“CSMs at Go1 take the time to fully understand the goals and objectives of the organisation they're working with to ensure value is delivered through Go1's solution. This takes place across the whole working relationship with our customers, through regular check-ins and agreed cadences,” he said.

“Through having these regular check-ins we're able to focus on what's working, and adapt areas where success hasn't quite taken off yet to create meaningful, measurable impact.”

The future is bright 

Throughout this process, Susana has learned many new things to take ASL’s L&D offering to the next level. 

“[I’ve learned] how to better use the platform, some tricks and tips on how to navigate the platform or upload training material, the possibility to use different training formats (interactive, document, video, etc.) and how to explore additional features such as the calendar planning,” she said. 

And the best news is that this is only the beginning of the relationship between Go1 and ASL Aviation! Susana noted that she is “extremely satisfied with Go1”, which is why she recently proposed a long-term, 5-year contract renewal. 

For George, this is fantastic news, as he looks forward to working more with Susana and the entire ASL team.

“I really, really enjoy working with Susana — she's very driven, incredibly personable, and a joy to work with,” he said. 

The feeling was mutual, with Susana singing the praises of her Go1 experience so far. 

“We would like to emphasise the empathy and the sympathy of the team, the constant willingness to assist us, and the happy faces we see every time we meet online. Well done Go1 team!,” she said. 

For more insights, subscribe to the Go1 newsletter to stay on top of all the latest L&D trends. Or, you can book a demo today to find out how Go1 can help with your team’s learning needs.