Workplace Learning in 2022
Corporate Learning has continued to evolve in the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, responding to the rapidly changing needs of employees. Agility in learning and development is something organizations have always strived for, but the ‘new normal’ has made agility a survival skill as opposed to an aspirational goal. To be agile an organization needs to see learning as ongoing, lifelong, and part of everyday work. With this mindset, employees will have confidence to be adaptable and step up to new roles and tasks. As the year draws to a close, we look ahead to 2022, and see how the learning industry is responding.
Power Skills
They’ve historically been referred to as ‘soft skills’ and seen as something nice to have but certainly not critical for reaching strategic business goals. However, leaders in organizations are seeing more and more that these ‘soft’ skills are what help us get through challenges and ‘Unprecedented Times’. Skills related to teamwork, communication, productivity, and wellness are key to every employee’s performance.
The term, ‘Power Skills’, coined by Dartmouth University president Philip Hanlon, more accurately describes the skills that will continue to be built into learning as organizations recognize their role in employee performance, the development of a growth mindset, and ultimately, organizational success.
Geographically Remote Teams
With the COVID-19 pandemic has come a rapid transition to online work and learning. With all its challenges, one of the most far-reaching benefits has been access to a much larger talent pool. With remote work having become the norm, and a hybrid model of part-time in-office and part-time remote work gaining popularity, geographically dispersed teams and workforces are the norm.
To meet the needs of a workforce that requires access to online information almost constantly, learning solutions need to be accessible at the point of need, fit into a flexible work schedule, and be presented as small chunks of easy-to-use relevant information.
Agile Hiring and Onboarding
HR and L&D will continue redefining how they attract, recruit, onboard, and train new employees. Working with people from all over the world, from all types of backgrounds, and with varying degrees of skills and knowledge requires agility! The lengthy hiring and onboarding procedures of the past, that required learners to attend in-classroom onboarding and orientation workshops with other new hires, have had to adapt to the requirements of a socially distanced and far more remote world than they were initially designed for. As employee hiring and onboarding continues to take these new environmental, organizational, and employee-specific needs and constraints into consideration, online training for new hires will become more commonplace.
Learning Management Systems
With so much of our time now spent online, we’ve become used to consuming interesting, exciting content when we want to and how we want to. If learning content is to engage our learners and hold their attention while they learn, we need to deliver learning in a way that stands up to that.
As technology continues to advance rapidly, learning management systems (LMS) are constantly evolving, which is excellent news for learning engagement! Today’s LMSs enable learners to access learning and resources when and where they need it, making on-the-job learning impactful for them.
Modern LMSs are far more than the content receptacles they were in the past. They help improve learner engagement by allowing for relevant, trackable, multimedia learning journeys that are personalized to the needs of individuals. This personalization ensures learners have access to what helps them perform their roles effectively.
Digital Learning
Pre-COVID-19 many organizations still relied heavily on instructor-led training. When the world shut down, that option was removed. In response, organizations around the globe pivoted to change their classroom training to digital learning.
While we keep adjusting to and settling into our new ways of working, digital learning continues to offer engaging and accessible learning to employees as and when they need it. It opens up the options of eLearning, recorded video, video instructor-led training, social learning, collaboration, forum discussions, chatbots, and gamification.
While the comfort of having the option of in-person training may have been drastically limited, we have powerful and exciting learning tools and resources available to make digital learning an experience, as opposed to just an event.
Moving Forward
Adopting a digital learning strategy may seem like a daunting project to undertake, and it is by no means a simple task. It’s a purposeful journey requiring planning, commitment, communication, and courage to realize the transition to a blended or fully-digital learning strategy.
But that’s what we do at Enable. We partner with you to create a learning strategy and curriculum that aligns with your larger organizational goals and helps your employees effectively perform their roles. If you’d like to chat more about the future of your organization’s learning, send us a mail – we’d love to see how we can support you!
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