It took me years to realize the importance of visibility in the workplace for career progression, and how to increase it despite the hidden and visible barriers.

This course is a product of my own journey and my commitment to sharing lessons learned from mistakes, insightful readings, and enriching conversations with accomplished women who have successfully navigated similar paths.

It might be most impactful for career starters or those in the mid-career transition to managerial or directorial positions.

Business Impact: ESMT Berlin is Germany's leading business school and sponsored me in developing this course. This course will also be free material for Asian female students and alumni who might struggle with workplace visibility, career advancement, and intercultural collaboration. Furthermore, this course will be used as additional learning materials for the participants of the Women Leadership Excellence Program at ESMT Berlin.

Learners will be able to explain the significance of workplace visibility and describe the factors that contribute to heightened visibility in the workplace.

What: Misconceptions of workplace visibility, consequences of lack of workplace visibility, behaviors that increase workplace visibility

Comprehension:

Learners will be able to dissect and articulate the unique challenges that Asian women encounter in the German/European workplace context concerning visibility.

What: Cultural differences on 8 dimensions and their implications in workplace norms, gender dynamics and the women-specific challenges in the workplace

Learners will be able to identify their personal barriers to workplace visibility and apply strategies to overcome these challenges.

What: Case studies to showcase personal barriers, personal reflection exercises, structured and ideally step-by-step guidance on identifying personal challenges

Learners will be able to recognize self-limiting beliefs, and behaviors, and implement corrective actions.

What: Definition of self-limiting beliefs and behaviors, examples and the most common ones. Why we developed them in the first place, and how to overcome.

Case studies and real-life examples.

Learners will be able to use a provided framework to assess their current level of workplace visibility and the effectiveness of their actions.  

What: Self-perception vs reality. Visibility assessment tool that includes a self-report but also feedback from key stakeholders on one's workplace visibility.

Learners will design a personalized action plan to enhance workplace visibility, incorporating specific goals and an evaluative action plan with a defined timeline for implementation.

What: Instructions on how to come up with a personal action plan for increasing workplace visibility, peer learning exercise to share the plan and the progress. Success stories.

Change is not just a matter of knowledge or desire but a complex interplay of emotional intelligence, cognitive ability, practical skills, and social influences. Recognizing the very multifaceted nature of behavioral change, it integrates emotional resonance (Heart), cognitive skills (Head), practical application (Hand), and social dynamics (Social) aspects of learning to foster behavioral change. By incorporating these four dimensions, the course aims to offer a more holistic and effective approach.

By aligning objectives with Bloom's Taxonomy, the course ensures learners progress systematically, deepening their understanding and skill application at each stage.

For people leaders who supervise Asian women, this course could be helpful additional resources to improve their subordinates' capabilities to promote themselves and their achievements.

Same for coaches who have been working with Asian women on career development.

Survey + Interview: I designed a survey to understand the needs and challenges of Asian women on visibility in the workplace. The survey received 60 responses. I also interviewed coaches who have been working with Asian women to see the perspective from outside. What I have learnt through the process:

Survey link:

https://esmt.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0NERGdZIVosJUnY

2) The junior ones tend to struggle more to make their voice heard despite the mix of cultural, organisational and gender dynamics/hindrance in the workplace. Language is a big challenge for presenting convincingly and for building networks.

3) The most challenging part for many was not being aware of the importance of self-promotion in the earlier days of their career. Once they understood this and tried to change, they also became more aware of the systemic barriers. Awareness hence becomes one of the key component of the course design (heart and head).

4) Many also pointed out the importance of getting external help, and learning from each other, and seeing inspiring examples from other Asian women. Hence the social learning integrated into the design of the course.

5) Many are very keen on changing the status quo. The course should be hands-on and practical.

After this has been established, the course goes into a deep dive into what stands in the way of Asian women making their contribution recognized by their organisations. (cognitive engagement in module 2).

In module 3, it is all about a personal action plan that the learner should come up and follow through (practical application).

In module 4, learners are showcasing their learning and progress within a supportive community (social learning). They can also draw inspirations and motivation to sustain their efforts in workplace visibility.

1. Segmentation and Prioritization: The content is broken down into 12 distinct habits, allowing learners to focus on one concept at a time. Each habit is then presented in manageable chunks (real life examples, description, perception of others, strength and how to break it).

2. Relevance and Contextualization: Each habit is presented with context specific to women's experiences in the workplace. This relevance aids in schema formation, where learners can connect new information to their own experiences and knowledge.

1. Coherence Principle: The prototype focuses on a specific set of self-limiting behaviors in the workplace, particularly those more prevalent among women. The content stays coherent and relevant to the learning objective, avoiding extraneous details that could distract or confuse the learner.

2. Segmenting Principle: As mentioned in the commentary before, yy breaking down the content into smaller, manageable parts, the prototype follows the segmenting principle, which is beneficial for preventing cognitive overload and enhancing learning efficiency.

3. Multimedia Principle: The prototype uses text and visual elements (images and videos). I used AI tools to generate images depicting the specific real-life scenarios to make the words more relatable to the learners.

4. Personalization Principle: The content is delivered in a conversational tone, uses changes of perspective (perception by others...and prompts the learners to reflect on their personal experience.

Option 1 - Articulate Rise 360 as the authorizing tool and build an openly accessible web-based course.

Similar to my last project https://rise.articulate.com/share/41glRooDHjsPrEa--LlTH8yOWiaK7Not#/, I could imagine building the full course using Rise 360 and then publish it as a web-based learning experience.

The benefits are:

1. User-friendly design: Articulate Rise 360 is known for its intuitive and sleek design interface. It would be easy for me to develop the whole course without requesting additional support.

2. Responsive and mobile-friendly: Courses created in Rise 360 are inherently responsive, meaning they adjust seamlessly to various screen sizes, from desktops to tablets to smartphones. This is crucial in today's mobile-centric world and for our user group.

3. Interactive and engaging content: Rise 360 allows for the creation of highly interactive content and embedding learning elements from other platforms.

1) I can't do this alone. The course development requires additional support from media and learning designers if I'd like to launch the full course next year.

2) I shouldn't do this alone. Every time I asked for feedback from peer learning designers and media designers, the idea became better, and the course more impactful.

After this prototype, I'd like to be mainly the subject matter expert of the course, and have at least one peer learning designer, and one media designer work with me on the course.

• December 2023 - Introduction of the course concept, design and prototype back to the Learning Innovation Lab at ESMT Berlin

• December 2023 - Team formation

• Jan - Feb 2024 - Module 1 (1. testing with ESMT students)

• Feb - Mar 2024 - Module 2 (2. testing with ESMT students)

• Apr - May 2024 - Module 3 & 4 (final testing with ESMT students)

• Jul 2024 - Release to the public. Use in the Women Leadership Excellence Program

• Aug 2024 - Feedback and improvement

While the course is being built, some of the learning elements, just like the prototype, can be used and tested with potential user groups.

1. Start the course with a live virtual event or webinar. This event can introduce the course content, objectives, and instructors. It's also a great opportunity for learners to meet each other and form a community.

2. Reach out to the women's networks in Berlin and other German cities. I personally know a few of them in Berlin and can activate the contact again.

3. Invite inspiring women from my network to raise awareness of this topic. They can help promote the course via social media and by sharing their success stories.

It however has been quite time-consuming to come up with the right prompts. Also AI generated images tend to be confusing if they include any text. I had to prompt it in a way to avoid any English words.

The other challenge was to have a consistent style across the images of the course. AI images generated tend to differ in style and due to its current limitations, it cannot act on prompts on style reliably. This made me realize that I need a professional media designer to come up with a style guide and generate consistent images for the course.

Level 1: Reaction

• Post-course surveys to gather immediate feedback on learners' satisfaction with the course content, delivery, and overall experience.

Level 2: Learning

• Utilize interactive quizzes throughout the course to engage learners and assess their understanding of the content in a dynamic and engaging way.

• Incorporate reflection exercises that encourage learners to think deeply about what they have learned and how it relates to their experiences.

Level 3: Behavior

• Leverage peer learning forums where learners can share their action plans and discuss what they have started implementing in their workplace.

  
  

Level 4: Results

• Success stories from learners who have applied the course learnings effectively in their professional lives.

Responsive Design

• Device compatibility: Make sure this course is continuously tested to make sure that it is responsive and functional on various devices and screen sizes, from desktops to tablets and smartphones.

Simplified and clear content

• Readable content: Only use simple language and avoid jargon. Make sure texts are easily readable with appropriate font size and contrast.

• Multimedia content: Provide captions for videos, transcripts for audio, and alt text for images.

Continuous testing and feedback

• User testing: Conduct usability testing with a diverse group of users, including those with disabilities or limited internet bandwidth, to identify and fix accessibility barriers.

Reach and distribution analytics:

• Usage metrics: Measure how many people are accessing and using the course.

• Sharing and virality: Track how often the course is shared among users and on social media platforms. This helps in understanding the course's appeal and relevance to the target audience.

• Geographical spread: Analyze the geographical distribution of users to gauge the global reach and cultural relevance of the course.

Impact and engagement analysis:

• Success stories: Collect and analyze qualitative data in the form of success stories. These narratives can be a powerful indicator of how the course is helping women in their professional lives.

• Community feedback: Monitor feedback from online forums like padlet activities, social media, and direct user feedback. This can provide insights into how the course is perceived and its real-world impact.

• Engagement patterns: Understand which parts of the course are most engaging or frequently accessed. This could indicate the topics or formats that resonate most with the audience.

1. Full Control and Customization: A website-based approach offers complete control over the design and user experience, which Rise does not provide.

2. SEO and Visibility: A website approach can leverage Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to increase the visibility of this course, and be embedded on my employer's website for example, to reach a broader audience.

1. Facilitate discussion forums and make sure the padlet activities in the course is supervised, monitored and actively managed.

2. Create an alumni network for the course where past participants can connect, share opportunities, and continue learning. Offering advanced modules upon completion of this course to keep learners engaged beyond the initial course.

3. Gamification elements like badges at defined stages of the course, or social media celebrations of milestones for learners.

4. Design activities that motivate the learner to achieve small wins throughout the program, for example finding a mentor, sponsor or speaking at an event.

Especially for the learner engagement tactics, while going through the possibilities:

1) I realized that after a decade in Europe, I have a broad network that can be leveraged to promote the course.

2) The one thing I indeed need to explore is to add community learning, or peer-2-peer learning into the course design.

3) Also, it challenged my thinking to make the course less of a solo-learner journey, but invite the key stakeholders of the learner (supervisor, colleagues, friends) into the learning experience itself. This will help create the change in real life for our learners.

The other areas that need further exploration is:

1) I decided not to have a learning management system to make the course freely available and easily accessible. However, this would mean limited understanding of learner groups and learning behaviors and, consequently, difficulties in designing for impact and engagement. Also, without the learner profile, learners themselves may feel less accountable for completing the course. One workaround probably is to have an MVP hosted as a public website and collect feedback before investing in hosting the course on an LMS.

2) Time and capacity constraints. The next step is to secure a media designer for the project. While working on the timeplan, I reckon that if this course should be made available soon, a dedicated media person would help me focus on content development and speed up the development.

2) The other reflection is going back to the remaining question of part 3 - How to have a better user understanding if the course should be made publicly available? Either I should rethink the platform question and opt for an easy LMS, or I should think about how to capture the digital activities through cookies/third-party tools like forum etc.

3) Last reflection is on accessibility and the continuous testing: How can I recruit a good mix of women from different backgrounds to test the course? And also what is the meaningful way to collect feedback.

1) Browser based and responsive to different devices

2) Flexible and modular

3) Bite-sized

4) Collaborative and interactive

5) Engaging experience with high relevance and practicality