Amber Online Education: Transforming Learning in Vietnam
Amber Online Education is one of the most progressive self-managing organizations in EdTech and a prime example of RenDanHeYi. It stands out not only with its commitment to decentralized authority and shared rewards but even more so with the way it has co-created its products and services together with its customers.
This blog post is part of 50+ case studies of self-managing organizations we created for the 2024 inaugural ZeroDX awards. These organizations embody the principles of RenDanHeYi in their work structures:
Zero Distance to customer: Decision what to build is based on insights from the marketplace
Autonomy: Small teams with full decision-making autonomy enable speed in execution
Shared Rewards: Everyone in the micro-enterprise participates in its financial success.
Introducing Amber
Founded in 2015, Amber Online Education has rapidly become a transformative force in Vietnam's EdTech landscape. With over 40 passionate team members, Amber is not just another education provider; it's a movement aimed at revolutionizing how learning happens. Their offerings include immersive e-learning platforms, engaging virtual classrooms, and an extensive library of educational content that serves everyone from young students to seasoned professionals. At its core, Amber's mission is to democratize education, breaking down barriers of location and income to make quality learning accessible to all.
Agile and Empowered: The Amber Structure
In 2017, Amber transitioned from a traditional vertical functional structure to a flat, skills-based organizational structure.
The company is divided into small agile teams where each team has enough people with all the skills to be able to do the job from start to finish. These teams are empowered to make quick decisions and pivot as needed, ensuring that Amber remains responsive to the fast-evolving needs of the educational landscape.
Benefits of Amber’s approach:
- Speed and adaptability: Teams make decisions quickly to respond to market demands.
- Empowered employees: Each team is equipped with the skills to complete tasks from start to finish.
- Ownership culture: Employees directly impact the company’s trajectory, boosting engagement and accountability.
This flat structure ensures Amber remains nimble in the fast-paced EdTech industry while fostering innovation and collaboration.
Zero Distance to Customers
As part of the organizational revamp, Amber used the power of "value stream mapping" to eliminate waste, streamline operations, and truly embody their organizational philosophy.
As a result of their organizational transformation, the team decided to ditch 80% of their client work and reinvent the products and services they offered to their clients. Amber started engaging customers in co-creating training materials based on their needs as opposed to providing a one-size-fits-all solution. They also transformed hour-long courses into small modules in the form of creative, attractive mini-game learning.
A Culture of Transparency and Shared Success
Amber’s workplace culture is rooted in transparency and collaboration.
Key elements of Amber’s progressive culture:
- Open-book management: Employees have full visibility of the company’s financials.
- Profit-sharing schemes: Replacing individual bonuses with team-based rewards fosters unity.
This transparent workplace culture aligns with self-management principles, creating a fair and inclusive environment.
Peer-based salaries
One of the key steps to fully embodying their beliefs is the adoption of peer-based salary assessments to foster fairness and recognition of true contribution, rather than arbitrary top-down evaluations.
To enable peer-based salaries, they use the concept of Shu-Ha-Ri for this.
"Shu-Ha-Ri" is a Japanese martial arts concept that describes the stages of learning to mastery:
Shu (守): "Obey" or "Protect" - This stage is all about learning the ropes, understanding the basics, and strictly following the guidance of a mentor.
Ha (破): "Detach" or "Break" - In this phase, the individual has gained some experience and begins to experiment, explore, and refine their skills, often while still under the guidance of a mentor but with more independence.
Ri (離): "Separate" or "Transcend" - At this level, the individual has achieved a deep understanding and mastery of the craft, allowing them to innovate, teach others, and perhaps even redefine the discipline.
In short, Shu, Ha, and Ri can be understood as development levels apprentice, practitioner, and master, respectively. The process has roughly the following steps:
The main skills required for various jobs in the company are listed
Peers assess their direct colleagues on these skills and whether they believe them to be in the Shu, Ha, or Ri level
All assessments are openly shared
Pay is based on the average assessment of your colleagues
Salaries are made fully transparent and reviewed regularly.
Amber’s innovative approach to salaries reflects a deeper belief: that peers best recognize value, not bosses. This wasn’t just about pay; it was about respect, recognition, and equality.
Conclusion
Amber Online Education isn’t just adapting to the future of work and education—it’s actively shaping it. Its innovative practices—agile teams, customer co-creation, transparent management, and peer-based salaries—showcase what’s possible when traditional boundaries are challenged. Amber’s journey offers valuable lessons for organizations seeking to embrace self-management and redefine success.
