Enhancing the capabilities of its employees through innovative virtual engagements, Sri
Lanka’s most digitally savvy bank HNB PLC, completed its flagship development
initiative the HNB Learning Premier League (HNB LPL), on 2 nd December 2022.
Modelled after the popular game of cricket, the HNB LPL is an industry-first learning
experience that connects with staff on a virtual platform. The initiative aimed to gamify
learning, enhance knowledge and cross-functional collaboration, increase digital
adoption, and encourage senior leadership to create a progressive learning culture
within the organisation.
“As a talent-led organisation, we take pride in creating new processes and systems for
our employees to learn and grow professionally. Given that employee satisfaction
translates to excellence in service, we were determined to establish a fun and creative
learning and development platform.
“We are proud to state that the initiative has been extremely successful, with 550 players
participating in the matches this year. We are delighted to see many staff competing for
the top titles,” HNB DGM/Chief Human Resource Officer / Chief Transformation Officer
L. Chiranthi Cooray said.
Sponsored by a member of the senior management, each team competed in matches in
the form of digital quizzes and challenges, which tested the players’ technical
knowledge of the bank’s products, operations, compliance, information security, and
bank lending.
“We believe in making learning enjoyable. When the pandemic challenged the
implementation of traditional learning methods, we wanted to innovate ways to continue
learning and the HNB LPL was one of those. The response was overwhelming and the
knowledge enhancement was clearly visible during the tournament. 46 teams, 506
players and over 3300 participants were involved where we saw the role based
certification completion move up significantly. Furthermore, the senior management
involvement as sponsors have also set the foundation to creating the leadership inspired
learning culture that we aim to create. This is just the start. We will continue to innovate
ways to learn and grow.” HNB Chief Learning Officer; Eomal Munasinha said.
The teams comprised of 11 players each, with each player contributing towards batting
(answering questions) and bowling (selecting questions). The games were held in stages,
namely knockout rounds, Super Eight, Final Four, and Grand Finals, spread over the year.
