I would love to pretend as if 2020 was any other year but we all know that isn’t the case. Rather than focus on the challenges we all faced, I would like to highlight why 2020 was a successful year for Kahuna. By most measures, the company outperformed expectations all the while strengthening relationships with customers by supporting their efforts in growing operational capability within the workforce.
So let’s start with some of the basics. Year over year we experienced the following:
We attribute the strong performance to one overriding factor: Skilling initiatives tied to operational outcomes are being prioritized. I wanted to reflect a bit further to both explain why we think this is the case and what our priorities will be going forward.
REALskilling Initiatives Are Real
There is a lot of discussion about skills and competency initiatives, however, the discussions are often riddled with reasons why these initiatives have traditionally failed and the inertia they can be met with. So, we spent a good bit of time this year discussing what makes Kahuna and our customers different. Why are they successful? Why did we see such an uptick in engagement from existing customers?
We introduced a term that we think encapsulates these thoughts: REALskilling. This term is meant to identify skills initiatives that seek to do the following:
- Creating a common language between HR and Operations through an operational skills ontology
- Quickly developing the workforce operational capability
- Effectively using precious training dollars to close specific skill gaps
- Integrating skills and proficiency into critical operational decision making
If 2020 taught us anything, these qualities are vital to an organization’s ability to survive, let alone thrive in dynamic, challenging times.
Measuring Value Is Ever More Important
For REALskilling to become a sustaining reality, measuring value and impact is required and as such we put significant emphasis on Value Engineering in 2020. We are incorporating this thinking into the entire Customer Engagement lifecycle. Our customers and prospects have very much appreciated our focus on identifying the true business drivers for their skills initiatives to provide a basis for measurement into the future. For our Healthcare organizations, we even have an ROI calculator now available to help you understand the value you can unlock by digitizing your caregiver skills journey. We will continue to enhance our capabilities in this area over the coming year as our use cases become even more defined and measurable.
Ability to Execute…Remotely
As March rolled around, we rolled up our sleeves! We focused on execution and getting back to basics. While I want to commend our Customer Success team for their ability to deliver complex projects remotely, I am equally if not more impressed by our customers’ ability to do so. We are extremely fortunate to have customer champions that are driving change within their organizations effectively. It is not easy and our collective success is directly attributable to your remarkable efforts.
Like many of you, Kahuna is contemplating the working arrangements for our employees as things hopefully return to some sort of normalcy. In doing so, we will continue to prioritize quality service delivery and the health, safety, and well-being of our employees. After this year, I don’t believe these are competing priorities but rather they can be very complimentary.
Some Highlights From 2020
We LOVE our new office!
2020 did start out with such promise from a physical standpoint for Kahuna. We successfully moved into a new office space that is set up to support our growth for the foreseeable future. Of course, things changed, but we are excited to facilitate a safe return to whatever the new normal office life will be!
Kahuna Advisory Board (KAB) and Waves
Shortly after opening the new office, we were able to host the Kahuna Advisory Board (KAB) and WAVES user conference. Many of you traveled from far away places in what seems like a faraway time. We feel very fortunate to have been able to collaborate with all of you and make some new connections. While our plans for 2021 are not determined yet, we look forward to getting these conferences back on track when it is feasible to do so.
Kahuna Ohana continues to grow!
We are very fortunate to have added some amazing people to our Kahuna family this year. Their presence is already being felt by our customers and prospects. Unfortunately, we were not able to do our customary Kamp Kahuna company meeting in San Diego this year, but we did manage some really fun virtual events. It should come as no surprise to anyone who knows us that these events largely centered around amazing food, drinks, and competitive trivia!
