Employee engagement has become a critical priority for organizations seeking to retain and empower their workforce. But legacy engagement models centered on annual surveys are failing to deliver actionable insights in today’s dynamic, fast-paced business environment. Employees are demanding to be heard in real-time, not just once a year.

Fortunately, technology is evolving to enable a new paradigm — one of continuous listening, analyzing, acting and improving. The market is filled with innovative vendors tackling different pieces of this complex challenge.

We recently had the opportunity to connect with Luke Stritt and Chelsea Boryca from Quantum Workplace, a leading provider of employee engagement and feedback solutions.

Quantum Workplace is investing heavily in using AI and natural language processing to gain insights from employee feedback.

We also touched on Quantum Workplace’s focus areas like succession planning and one-on-one check-ins. Their vision of becoming the most actionable employee success platform resonated with us.

In our research at Brandon Hall Group, we see five key capabilities emerging in next-gen employee listening tools:

Always-On Pulse Surveys

The old model of annual engagement surveys is dead. Employees want more frequent opportunities to make their voices heard. Pulse survey tools from vendors like SurveyMonkey, Qualtrics, Culture Amp and TINYpulse by Limeade facilitate always-on listening.

Short, smartly designed pulse surveys can be deployed continuously to gather instant feedback from employees on any topic or issue. This gives organizations an always-current picture of employee sentiment and surfaces newly emerging trends and problems before they escalate.

AI-Powered Sentiment Analysis

With employees providing frequent free-text feedback, organizations are data rich but insight poor. New artificial intelligence capabilities help solve this problem. Vendors like Microsoft Viva Glint, Perceptyx and Culture Amp apply natural language processing to analyze unstructured text responses.

These AI engines automatically categorize themes and sentiments, identify hot spots across the organization, and track trends over time. This allows organizations to pinpoint areas of concern and drill down into the key drivers of employee perceptions.

Anonymous Social Platforms

Employees often avoid giving honest feedback on traditional company surveys and intranets. New anonymous social tools like Blind and Talkfreely provide a secure space where people can share observations, ask questions, and voice concerns without fear of retaliation.

These digital suggestion boxes make it safer for employees to speak up. Organizations get an unfiltered view of what people are really thinking, leading to faster issue resolution. Brandon Hall Group research shows that 62% of workers hesitate to share perspectives, a major lost opportunity. Anonymous social channels help tap into these insights.

Journey Mapping

Understanding the broader employee experience, not just engagement scores, is the next frontier. Journey mapping tools from vendors like LumApps, TI People and Xoxoday enable organizations to map out major employee journeys from onboarding to separation.

Users can provide confidential feedback on pain points or positive moments at different journey stages. This holistic view allows organizations to design more supportive, personalized experiences that deepen engagement across the employee lifecycle.

Action Planning and Workflow

The ultimate test of any listening program is whether feedback leads to meaningful change. Tools like Workleap Officevibe, Qualtrics and Culture Amp enable managers to easily dig into their team’s feedback and create action plans to address concerns. Collaboration features allow tracking of issues and ideas from submission to resolution.

This closed-loop approach is critical for building employee trust and showing that feedback is taken seriously, not just gathered and ignored. Our research shows that employees who believe their feedback spurs action are 4.6 times more likely to feel empowered at work.

From Surveys to Systems

It’s clear the future lies in integrated employee listening systems, not just more surveys. Piecemeal approaches will not drive the continuous cycle of listening, analyzing, acting and improving needed to truly engage today’s workforce.

Organizations must connect feedback channels, insights and workflows to create a responsive listening culture.

At Brandon Hall Group, we see this new breed of agile, AI-driven employee listening systems as the number one opportunity to drive engagement and retention. But technology alone is not the answer. To build a feedback-fueled culture, organizations need commitment from leaders, training for managers and readiness to take action on employee insights.

Done right, these new listening approaches will create a workplace where every employee feels heard, empowered and cared about as a human being, not just a worker. That is the future of engagement.

The post Reinventing Engagement: How Technology is Fueling the Feedback Revolution appeared first on BrandonHallGroup.

 Managing a global, distributed workforce presents unique challenges for any organization. With employees spread across multiple countries and cultures, it can be difficult to design and implement learning initiatives that meet the needs of everyone. However, with the right strategies in place, organizations can scale their training and development programs efficiently while providing personalized learning experiences for their employees. In this article, we will discuss the challenges of managing a global team and provide tips for creating a scalable learning program utilizing modern technology.

Brandon Hall Group research clearly shows that organizations have added or are looking to add tools such as social learning/collaboration platforms, courseware authoring, content systems and video platforms among others. L&D is using tech-driven training to make learning paths more adaptable for remote employees’ schedules and using data-driven insights to improve learning effectiveness.

However, a distributed workforce poses several challenges for L&D. One of the key challenges is to maintain engagement and connection with remote workers. It is estimated that only 40% of employees today feel they have opportunities to learn and grow at work. This is largely because remote employees may feel isolated, face greater distraction, or may not be able to manage time efficiently. Brandon Hall Group research supports this sentiment, revealing that employees are not always aware of opportunities for learning or career growth with 53% acknowledging they can be better at making sure employees are aware of career opportunities and 41% that they can be better at doing the same for learning opportunities.

It is important to be clear on what we mean by “scaling learning and performance.” Scaling learning and performance simply means expanding the reach of your L&D strategy and services in an intentional way to support more of the business. Within the context of your specific organization, that can take on many dimensions, including centralizing processes and technology, adding headcount or tools and ensuring L&D keeps pace with the growth of the business. Insights into L&D organizations show that more organizations are moving to a decentralized or hybrid structure. These structures offer a great pathway to scaling L&D, but they also require more coordination, collaboration and communication.

Understanding the Challenges of Global Teams

One of the main challenges faced by global teams is the time zone differences. This can make it difficult to coordinate virtual meetings and make sure that all members can participate. To address this issue, organizations should take advantage of digital tools that allow participants to join meetings from anywhere, regardless of their location. Additionally, communication platforms like Slack can be used to facilitate effective collaboration even if team members aren’t located together.

Cultural differences can also affect how global teams work together and understand one another’s needs and preferences. Organizations should focus on cultural intelligence when creating Learning and Development initiatives for their employees. By providing access to resources that help employees learn more about different cultures, organizations can make sure that everyone has an understanding of each other’s perspectives before engaging in collaborative efforts.

Finally, different regulations in different countries may impede cross-border operations for some businesses. To reduce these obstacles as much as possible, companies should consult with legal professionals who specialize in international business laws before launching any initiatives across several nations or regions. Doing so will help them gain a better understanding of the applicable regulations for each region. In turn, they can develop strategies that adhere to those rules while still achieving their desired goals.

Overall, managing a distributed team presents unique challenges. But it also offers great opportunities for growth through leveraging technology and cultural intelligence to foster collaboration across borders. By considering time zones, language barriers, cultural differences, lack of face-to-face contact and legal regulations when establishing learning programs, organizations will be better equipped to capitalize on the advantages offered by a distributed team structure while minimizing potential challenges along the way.

Maximizing the Impact of Training and Development

When it comes to optimizing the impact of Learning and Development initiatives, organizations must take steps to ensure that their efforts are tailored to the specific needs of their employees. This can include aligning programs with overall organizational strategy, regularly gathering feedback from staff members across different countries, developing a system for assessing effectiveness, encouraging collaboration between teams and departments, as well as exploring options for remote learning such as eLearning modules or webinars. By taking these measures into account, companies can ensure that they provide employees with personalized learning experiences that will enable them to acquire the skills required for their roles while staying connected with their peers across the world.

Tips for Developing a Scalable Learning and Development Program

For successful Learning and Development programs, it’s essential to establish clear roles and responsibilities across the organization. Learning teams help ensure training aligns with long-term goals and create an environment of continuous learning where employees feel comfortable asking questions or seeking assistance.

Applying technology for streamlining processes and increasing efficiency is also beneficial, as digital tools like virtual classrooms or online courses let organizations reach multiple locations without sacrificing quality standards while providing cost savings from travel expenses. Moreover, personalized learning experiences provide an extra layer of connection between team members when cultural differences are considered. With these tips in mind, businesses can ensure their staff has access to the skills necessary while keeping a global perspective alive.

The collaborative efforts of leadership and stakeholders can create a powerful synergy to drive the successful scaling of learning and performance initiatives for a distributed workforce. Learning governance is key to ensuring stakeholder engagement and alignment of the learning strategy with the broader business plan. Brandon Hall Group research shows that organizations with a learning governance structure in place are far more likely to have an effective learning strategy (70% vs. 30%) and far less likely to experience roadblocks or challenges (40% vs. 60%).

The Role of Technology in Scaling Learning and Development

Technology has revolutionized the way businesses achieve their workforce and Learning and Development goals. By employing technology, organizations can streamline operations, improve efficiency and provide employees with tailored learning experiences. With the right tools, companies can rapidly scale up their plans to meet the needs of all their personnel regardless of location.

One great way to take advantage of technology is through virtual meeting communication platforms. These platforms allow for real-time conversations between groups in different time zones, making it easier to connect teams across various parts of the world. This same technology can also be used to create shared workspaces where individuals from faraway countries can collaborate on projects together while exchanging ideas.

Another benefit of leveraging technology is automation. Automating tasks such as employee onboarding or training sessions helps save time and resources while maintaining consistent standards everywhere.

Automation also reduces errors and makes it easier to track progress or measure results. Organizations should also consider using technology to store and share educational materials with staff members. By providing access to eLearning materials anytime, anywhere, companies can make sure employees have convenient access to up-to-date resources no matter where they are located in the world. Additionally, cloud storage solutions make it easy for staff members around the globe to coauthor content creation projects.

Further, by curating a diverse range of learning materials, using microlearning support tools, adapting to the current learning needs and choosing learner-friendly platforms for training delivery, organizations can make training accessible and foster a culture of continuous learning in the organization.

• Integrate innovative technologies such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), mixed reality (MR) and artificial intelligence (AI) for immersive and interactive learning and to create simulations for skill-based training.
• Use AI to personalize learning paths, recommend training based on individual strengths or learning pace and answer learners’ queries using NLP (natural language processing) chatbots.
• Leverage AI analytics to track learning progress and identify areas for improvement.
• Use AI-powered tools to generate and update learning content.

The increasing availability of technological solutions provides businesses with a variety of options for rapidly scaling their Learning and Development programs efficiently and effectively. By understanding employees’ requirements and deploying tech accordingly, enterprises can ensure that their efforts are successful at an organizational level while still offering every individual employee a personalized learning experience crafted specifically for them.

Click this link at www.eidesign.net/insights/ to learn more about how you can maximize the impact of your training and development initiatives.

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What started as a simple Learning Management System (LMS) and an online learning library has expanded to a complex ecosystem including any number of potential tools and platforms, from Learning Experience Platforms (LXP) to content creation tools and social/collaboration environments. Along the way, Learning and Development (L&D) teams have had to evolve from learning experts to learning technologists.

Learning ecosystems are made more complex by the fact that they don’t exist in a vacuum, but are part of a much larger technology environment. For this reason, learning leaders must build strong partnerships with their colleagues from other parts of the business. From IT to Purchasing to Human Resources, these partnerships are critical to building, growing, and maintaining an effective learning technology stack.

Managing technology needs within L&D requires coordination across a lot of different teams. The good news is most organizations (62%) involve business stakeholders in their learning governance approach. This is critical because the more involved business stakeholders are in learning governance, the stronger the learning strategy tends to be and the faster the organization can resolve issues when they come up.

CONSEQUENCES

Poor partnerships between corporate Learning teams and IT can have significant consequences for maintaining an effective learning technology environment. One consequence is inefficient technology implementation, where the learning technology may not fully meet the team’s needs or integrate well with existing systems.

Additionally, limited technical support can result from a lack of understanding and prioritization, leading to delays in resolving issues and providing necessary updates. Inadequate training and user support may also arise, hindering the team’s ability to effectively utilize the technology. Security and data privacy risks can increase when collaboration is lacking, potentially exposing sensitive learner data.

Furthermore, a poor partnership can limit innovation and scalability, impeding the adoption of new technologies and hindering the organization’s overall Learning and Development efforts. To mitigate these consequences, it’s crucial for the Learning team and IT to establish open communication, collaboration, and shared decision-making to ensure the effective maintenance of the learning technology environment.

Beyond IT, partnerships with other key teams in the business like HR and Purchasing or Procurement are equally important. When it comes to the learning technology ecosystem, HR is a key stakeholder in identifying capabilities and defining use cases. They are closer to the needs of the workforce when it comes to learning and technology and should be brought in early and often as decisions are being made.

Procurement processes, particularly in large enterprise organizations, have been formalized and require strict compliance to approve large investments, which most technology is. Building partnerships with Procurement often looks like education. Educate them on the work that you do and why you need the technology. Let them educate you on their policies and processes. Most Procurement professionals are more than willing to help you craft your business case to help you succeed in your goals.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

• What are the specific goals and objectives of the learning technology, and how can internal partnerships contribute to those goals?
• Which departments or teams within the company have complementary expertise or resources that can enhance the learning program?
• How can the Learning team align their goals with the strategic priorities of the company, and which internal partners can help facilitate this alignment?
• What are the potential barriers or challenges that may arise when building internal partnerships, and how can they be addressed or mitigated?
• How can the Learning professionals ensure effective communication and collaboration with internal partners throughout the selection and implementation of the learning technology?

BRANDON HALL GROUP POV

Here are 10 tactics for building effective internal partnerships:

1. Identify shared goals and interests — Look for overlaps between departments or teams and build partnerships around mutually beneficial outcomes. Understanding each other’s priorities is key.
2. Improve communication — Open and frequent communication helps build trust and alignment. Designate partnership liaisons, hold regular check-ins, and create processes for sharing information.
3. Highlight interdependencies — Make clear how each partner relies on and impacts the success of the other. This interconnection can motivate collaboration
4. Establish clear roles and responsibilities — Define each partner’s contributions and expectations upfront to avoid confusion. Revisit as needed.
5. Build personal relationships — Take time to understand each partner’s working styles and values. Personal connections strengthen partnerships.
6. Celebrate shared successes — Recognize achievements made possible by the partnership. This reinforces the value of working together.
7. Engage leadership support — Secure buy-in and advocacy from senior leaders. Their endorsement sets a collaborative tone.
8. Allow for flexibility — Adjust the partnership as needs and circumstances evolve. An adaptable approach helps manage change.
9. Create accountability structures — Establish shared metrics, reporting processes, and oversight mechanisms to track progress.
10. Focus on mutual benefit — Partnerships should serve all stakeholders’ interests. They must be win-win to be sustainable.

CONCLUSION

Building effective internal partnerships is crucial for maintaining a successful learning technology ecosystem. The evolving nature of learning technology requires collaboration and strong relationships with various departments within an organization. By identifying shared goals, improving communication, and establishing clear roles and responsibilities, organizations can ensure the seamless integration of learning technology. Celebrating shared successes, engaging leadership support, and focusing on mutual benefit further strengthen these partnerships. With a strategic approach and continuous adaptation, organizations can leverage internal partnerships to drive innovation, enhance learning experiences and achieve their overall Learning and Development goals.

The post How to Build Effective Internal Partnerships to Support Your Learning Technology Ecosystem appeared first on BrandonHallGroup.

You don’t have to tell Learning and Development (L&D) leaders that learning measurement is not their biggest strength. Brandon Hall Group research has established this year after year after year.

One of Brandon Hall Group’s clients calls learning measurement “our unslayable monster,” and that pithy little phrase became the inspiration for our recent webinar, presented in collaboration with our partners at Litmos, “Slaying the Monster: Success Stories in Delivering Learning ROI.” You can watch the recording of that webinar here.

Our featured expert, Jen Jackson, Senior VP of Global Customer Experience at Litmos, didn’t dwell on the problem. She focused on the solutions and stressed that the learning measurement monster can indeed be mastered.

“When people look at learning measurement, they often look at whether people like the experience and what they learned. But the thing that really matters is the application of skill and whether that is creating a difference for the business,” Jackson said. “That is what everyone should be looking for once they have invested in training: the impact it had on the organization.”

Jackson said that measuring the ROI of learning, which many organizations focus on, can be a complex task, primarily because the benefits of training often take time to materialize. A great complement to ROI is ROE (Return on Expectations), which more organizations are beginning to use. To effectively measure ROE, Jackson said, Learning professionals should:

• Collaborate with leadership to establish clear and realistic goals for the training program.
• Tailor the program to align with these specific objectives, encompassing behavioral changes, learning outcomes and desired results.

“By combining the assessment of both ROI and ROE,” Jackson said, “you gain a more comprehensive understanding of the significance and impact of your employee training efforts.”

These comments during the webinar — along with deeper explanations and examples — led to an interactive session in which attendees filled the chat box with great questions and insights from their encounters with the measurement monster.

You’ll want to listen to the success stories of how Litmos partnered with three clients — Sabre, TTEC and ServiceMax — to improve the business impact of learning.

• Sabre, a prominent technology solutions provider in the travel industry, had no consistent method of training its sales teams. The company was also unable to track accomplishments and struggled to coordinate training for globally dispersed teams. Using the Litmos LMS, the training team was able to generate quality reports to monitor learning programs, which led to a streamlined training process, significant time and cost savings and a 28% increase in customers in one year.
• TTEC, a global customer experience company, faced challenges in efficiently onboarding and training call center agents for their clients. TTEC partnered with Litmos to streamline their training initiatives and collaborated with Litmos on several projects, ensuring swift and effective training solutions that ultimately led to exceptional customer experiences.
• ServiceMax, a global provider of field service software solutions, faced challenges in enhancing employee knowledge and engaging customers through eLearning initiatives. The company needed to improve employee learning paths and offer customer certification programs. After implementing the Litmos LMS, more than 300 employees completed crucial job-related courses and ServiceMax expects to generate $1 million —between face-to-face customer training and online training — using Litmos.

In the webinar, Jackson also discusses the key questions organizations should ask themselves to improve their learning measurement:

• How does learning contribute to business goals?
• How can we measure the impact of learning on key performance indicators (KPIs)?
• What KPIs should we measure?
• How can we continuously improve learning initiatives to maximize business impact?

To delve into the entire conversation and begin considering your organization’s approach to learning measurement, make sure to watch the webinar recording.

The post How to Slay the Learning Measurement Monster appeared first on BrandonHallGroup.

Most employers — 87% according to the Brandon Hall Group HCM Outlook 2023 study — have adopted a hybrid work model that enables employers to work away from a central office location at least some of the time. Two-thirds of respondents to that same study said this model was effective or very effective.

But in some industries — including financial services — executives continue to believe that employees must work full-time in an office to foster culture and collaboration. Leaders of some large global banks believe that face-to-face interactions with clients and colleagues are critical to drive business even as hybrid work is overwhelmingly popular among financial services employees.

That thinking among financial services leaders could backfire. A survey of 300 managers and staffers at large financial services companies around the world by Kyndryl, the world’s largest provider of IT infrastructure services, shows that:

• 86% of respondents said it is important or extremely important to work remotely at least some of the time.
• 75% said they would at least consider looking for other jobs if they were not able to work remotely some of the time.
• 72% prefer to have the option of working remotely at least three days a week.

Understanding the Gap

At a time when talent retention and employee experience are among the most critical business issues, financial services companies pushing to get people back to the office full-time are swimming against a strong current.

“When you look at the talent in the financial services industry, they are saying they want to be in a hybrid environment,” said Ivan Dopplé, Global Practice Leader of Kyndryl Digital Workplace Services. “They feel strongly about workplace flexibility. They want a meaningful mix of in-office and remote work. So, providing employees with flexibility is important for talent retention. A hybrid work model can also help banks find and attract the very best talent.”

Brandon Hall Group research also shows that on-site work at many companies does not look much different than remote work. This frustrates employees, who don’t understand why they have to commute and lose flexibility when they could do the same work at their home or remote offices. Hybrid work should be more than working in different locations; it should offer different experiences at each location.

“Most financial services employees prefer to work away from the office when doing high-focus, individual-oriented tasks such as status updates, data analysis and training or learning activities,” Dopplé said. “Networking and team-building activities were most often preferred to be done in an office environment.”

Key Research Takeaways

The Kyndryl research also found that hybrid work models:

• Fuel productivity. More than 80% of respondents said hybrid work enables them to get more work done and makes it easier to meet deadlines. Dopplé added that 76% of respondents said having a hybrid work schedule enables them to deliver a higher quality of work.
• Increase collaboration.
  • 64% of respondents agree or strongly agree that hybrid work models enable their teams to be more collaborative.
  • 61% agree or strongly agree they are more likely to seek input on work from teammates when working remotely.
  • 78% agree or strongly agree that having a hybrid work schedule makes them more engaged on days working in the office with their teams.

“Most of the respondents indicated videoconferencing tools, messaging systems such as Slack or Teams and access to an IT help desk are critical. No real surprises there, but without reliable access to these tools and support, hybrid work cannot be successful,” Dopplé said.

• May enhance diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
  • 67% of respondents said virtual meetings are an easier environment than in-person meetings to contribute ideas.
  • 64% said they were more likely to contribute ideas in a virtual meeting.
  • 78% agree or strongly agree with the statement, “I am just as empowered to advance my career when working in a hybrid setting as I was working in the office full time.

“When shaping the research,” Dopplé said, “we were curious to learn perceptions about unintended inequities that may be created or exacerbated by hybrid work models. But participants suggested the contrary.”

• Improve work culture.
  • 85% of respondents agree or strongly agree that working in a hybrid environment makes a positive impact on their company’s work culture.
  • 87% agree or strongly agree that having a flexible work arrangement has a positive impact on their daily employee experience.
  • 91% agree or strongly agree with the statement, “My manager trusts me to get my work done remotely.”

However, Dopplé said, more than half of respondents said that while managers trust employees to get their work done remotely, the managers would prefer that their team members work in the office most or all of the time

Recommended Action Steps for Financial Services Leaders

Prioritize Employee Autonomy and Flexibility Over Control

Many financial services companies lauded their employees’ ability to be productive and innovative while working from remote locations during the pandemic.

Now many institutions want to return to “normal,” failing to understand that the work world has changed forever. Employees had an opportunity to reassess their relationship with work and have decided that the old way no longer works for them.

If employees could be productive away from the office during the pandemic, they can get the same results now. If adjustments to the hybrid work experience are needed, focus on the best ways to improve it rather than trying to force workers back into a system they don’t want and that could drive them from the company.

Clearly Differentiate Between On-Site and Remote Work Experiences

Hybrid work should be more than working in different places. It should be about working in different ways and having a mix of experiences that complement each other. Financial services companies should engage their employees to understand what the optimal hybrid experience looks like and take steps to reach it.

While some financial services workers who work directly with customers probably do need to be on-site all or most of the time, management should work to provide them with some level of flexibility. For employees who don’t usually work with customers, companies should find ways to make coming into an office a valuable experience that employees can embrace and benefit from.

Give Employees the Tools Needed to Succeed in Hybrid Work

The success of hybrid work depends heavily on technology — mobile apps, wearables, instant messaging, video conferencing, assistive technology, real-time data and analytics, and much more. Financial services must select tools that fit their business needs and the needs of employees. One example: There are tools that help employees filter through the various types of messages they get every day. This enables employees to focus on getting meaningful work done while working off-site and having time for team meetings and collaboration while on-site.

However, many companies — after investing heavily in digital workplace technologies during the pandemic — have failed to fine-tune their use and functionality in the new hybrid world. Only 41% of organizations have the right technology for workplace navigation and only half have tools to help employees adopt technologies, according to Brandon Hall Group research, Is Your Employee Experience What You Intended?

That should change. Just having access to these tools is not enough. They must be adapted for specific use cases within banks and financial services offices. Workers also need resources to help them adopt the new technologies into their daily workflows.

Nurture Collaboration

As was demonstrated during the pandemic, high-quality collaboration can occur virtually or in-person. But it doesn’t happen by itself. Organizations must make a habit of soliciting input from colleagues who work in the same office and virtually from colleagues across time zones. Kyndryl’s research suggests that leaders who enable this kind of agility realize improved collaboration, productivity, organizational culture and employee satisfaction. Here are a few ideas:

• Use collaboration technology effectively. Take advantage of tools like video conferencing, screen sharing, whiteboards, etc. Make sure everyone is comfortable using them. Provide tech support if needed.
• Be flexible and accommodating. Accommodate different time zones and schedules. Record meetings and make notes available. Offer flexibility in working hours.
• Encourage overcommunication. Don’t assume remote workers have the same context. Loop them in on relevant messages/announcements and update them on decisions regularly.
• Role-model desired behaviors. Leaders should actively participate in collaboration, demonstrate transparency, communicate frequently and set the tone for openness.
• Gather feedback and improve. Check-in regularly on how collaboration is working. Encourage suggestions for improvement and make adjustments based on feedback.

Promote Cultural Engagement

Even though most financial services employees surveyed expressed a strong preference for hybrid work, physical separation inherent to hybrid work can complicate the kind of engagement that fuels innovation and advances business initiatives.

Financial services organizations that embrace hybrid work should be intentional in cultivating cultural engagement. Kyndryl, for example, found passionate employees willing to be cultural ambassadors. They developed local activities and championed company culture-related events. Other ideas include:

• Create or support employee resource groups (ERGs) focused on specific identities, cultures or interests.
• Have leaders and managers regularly communicate company values, mission, and goals.
• Spotlight employees who exemplify your culture via newsletters or the intranet.
• Create mentoring and buddy systems to onboard new hires to the culture.
• Recognize and reward employees who promote and uphold the culture.
• Share stories and examples that reflect your organization’s values and culture.

The post How Financial Services Companies Can Embrace and Facilitate Hybrid Work appeared first on BrandonHallGroup.

Brandon Hall Group studies continue to show that learning measurement is a perennial challenge for Learning and Development teams. Despite the emergence of more sophisticated learning and business analytics techniques, struggles with learning measurement continue to persist at frustrating levels. Closing the gap between the language of the boardroom and the language of L&D around actual business results and organizational impact is a required skill for today’s Learning leaders to master.

In a VUCA environment where technology is again outpacing the ability of the workforce to keep up, the tangible, measurable impact of learning is no longer a nice to have. Any function within the business that cannot clearly show the value and impact of its work on the results delivered in the business will be in jeopardy. Now is the time to strengthen your measurement strategy and learn to manage the business of learning.

COMPLEXITIES

The problem is that most Learning leaders are incredibly skilled at building learning that works — as learning. Meaning that the learning program meets its objectives and is sound from an instructional perspective. Regardless of modality, most Learning teams can produce, or curate, content that meets learning objectives. Because of that skill, we often consider the job done at that point.

It’s a problem because the job is only done if the learning causes the learner to move the needle on expected business results. We spend a lot of energy on learner experience and satisfaction, and a little less energy on validating knowledge and skills. We spend very little time on actual performance results, yet that is where the real power of Learning and Development lies. In the era of big data, it’s past time learning stepped into the arena.

When looking at how L&D teams approach measurement, data clearly shows proficiency in identifying learning outcomes and targeting learning effectively. The same data also shows a frustrating lack of proficiency in knowing how to collect data, pull business data, integrate LMS data with other business systems, even in leveraging LMS pre-built reports. All of that points to a serious skill deficiency among Learning leaders.

CONSEQUENCES

CLO, Director of L&D, Head of OD, Training Manager — whatever the title, you have to understand that you are the general manager of the business of learning for your organization. Budget pressures are nothing new to Learning. The expendability of Learning as a so-called nice to have is also nothing new. While there certainly is no magic bullet when it comes to protecting the Learning function, between the shift to a Learning business partner model and an increased ability to connect the dots between learning and business results, CLO acting like a CEO has never been more important.

Learn to speak the language of business inside the language of learning. Your deliverables are the company’s deliverables, and your team has a critical role to play in the success of the business in the long term. Learning impacts business results. One way to start down that path is to leverage a model like Brandon Hall Group’s Learning-Performance Convergence Model. The model starts with the business result that learning is meant to impact, a KPI or OKR that is being measured at the enterprise level. From there, the next step is to map to the Learning or Individual Performance Outcomes that should reflect the specific outcome expected from a learner. That will organically lead you to the Learning Objectives for the program.

• Business Outcome (KPI, OKR)
• Performance Outcome (Measured how?)
• Learning Objective

The model goes on to lay out learning modality assessments and scenario construction which then leads back to measuring the performance outcomes.

Brandon Hall Group members can find a copy of our Learning-Performance Convergence Model here.

Non-members can find a copy of the Learning-Performance Convergence Model here.

CRITICAL QUESTIONS

• What business metrics are we using to measure the effectiveness of our learning?
• Are we becoming more proficient at measuring learning year after year?
• What technology can we leverage to compile analytics to make our business case?
• How can we use analytics to show that we are a true partner when it comes to business performance?

BRANDON HALL GROUP POV:

1. Leverage business targets to drive learning design. The Brandon Hall Group Learning-Performance Convergence Model lays out a methodology you can use to work for business target to learning objective to instructional modality. Speak about learning in terms of the business.
2. Be in it for the long haul. Many organizations don’t measure learning because they don’t even know what they’re looking for. Stick to a proven strategy — or fail quickly with one that’s not working. But stick with learning measurement. Many of our respondents tell us they have shown an increase in proficiency — with learners and well as their learning function itself — from just two years ago.
3. Measure more than once. One-and-done measurement of a class or course doesn’t cut it anymore. Show how learning helped employees go from point A to B to C, instead of just showing what happened at the finish line. The most powerful analytics are those that show progression over time.
4. Leverage technology to gain broader and greater insights. Leveraging your company’s existing data strategy and analytics capabilities in the context of learning can be a powerful way to build your skills and exposure of the work of learning to the broader organization.

CONCLUSION:

To lead learning like a CEO, focus on results and outcomes first. Connect the dots between learning and business results. Do not get stuck on “correlation is not always causation”. You’re looking for evidence, not statistical certainty. You can also ask learning participants and their managers to rate to what extent a learning initiative had a hand in achieving specific results. It’s qualitative evidence — but can be a critical tool for C-Level support.  As with all change, start where you are and take the next right step for your business.

The post Lead Learning Like a CEO appeared first on BrandonHallGroup.

The age of the experience economy has driven many changes in how companies do business with customers, how employers treat employees and how workers engage with learning opportunities.

Simply put, how an individual experiences any aspect of your organization drives their perception and loyalty. For employers, crafting and maintaining a positive employee experience has become a business imperative.

Brandon Hall Group’s 2023 study, Culture Eats Strategy: Is Your Employee Experience What You Intended?, probed deeply into employer and employee perceptions of the employee experience. The study revealed that most (67%) respondents are likely to refer someone to work for their organization. Almost that same percentage (68%) report that they are either Satisfied or Very Satisfied with the current employee experience provided by their company. Interestingly, that number shifts dramatically outside of North America with just under half (47%) responding that they are Satisfied or Very Satisfied.

Not surprisingly, technology is a critical dimension of the employee experience, easily elevating it to great heights or disrupting it with far-reaching consequences. Organizations need engaged, motivated employees to drive innovation and business results. The workforce needs support to continue to grow and develop along with the changes in how work is being done. Because of this convergence, we know that one of the most impactful ways companies can empower a positive employee experience is through learning technology.

Effective learning technology provides on-demand development opportunities that employees can easily access. This allows workers to take control of their own learning and development to the extent possible while still maintaining company and regulatory requirements. In fact, investment in employee training and development programs to enhance skills and knowledge is the highest-rated initiative globally to improve the employee experience, outpacing the second-highest item by 11 percentage points overall. That margin jumps to 18% outside of North America. Providing easy access to learning technology shows employees that the organization values their growth.

With quality learning technology, employees can upskill quickly on topics relevant to their roles and interests. Curated content, personalized recommendations and intuitive platforms allow for self-directed learning. Employees might learn a new skill to increase productivity or take a course on management tactics before transitioning to a leadership position. The ability to quickly build capabilities empowers employees to take on new challenges and progress in their careers.

Learning technology also enables social and collaborative learning through features like discussion boards, peer coaching and mentor matching. This connects employees, allowing them to share knowledge and learn from each other. Collaborative learning fosters teamwork, relationships and a sense of community. It also reduces organizational silos. Employees feel valued when organizations provide opportunities for peer knowledge sharing and relationship building.

Data and analytics embedded in learning technology provide insights into skill gaps across the employee base. Leadership can use this data to develop training programs that target key competency gaps. Focused development empowers employees to gain the most relevant skills to advance their careers and deliver impact in their roles. Data also helps assess the effectiveness of learning programs to ensure optimal resource utilization.

Where and how work gets done has shifted. Between deskless workers in more hands-on environments to the ever-growing remote and hybrid workforce, learning technology brings development opportunities to employees wherever they are. Online learning platforms allow access to courses, videos, virtual instructor-led sessions and more. This provides flexibility for employees to learn in the flow of work. Adaptability and self-service learning resources empower employees to develop skills how and when they want.

Learning technology also enables consistent onboarding and training for new hires. Multimedia learning content engages learners and allows new employees to ramp up quickly. Onboarding learning tracks prepare employees for success in their new roles. Ongoing training empowers continued growth and development. Consistent learning opportunities lead to greater employee competencies across the organization.

To truly empower employees, organizations need learning technology platforms that are intuitive and easy to use. Complex platforms with a steep learning curve lead to frustration. User-friendly interfaces with personalized dashboards allow employees to easily navigate learning. Technology that freely allows users to search courses and content promotes utilization. Seamless mobile functionality empowers employees to learn on the go.

Technology is at once the great enabler and the great disrupter. When looking at strategies to improve your employee experience, consider all dimensions of that experience and your approach to it. Start by asking yourself the following questions.

• Does our culture encourage collaboration and provide support for growth?
• How frequently are we surveying our team members for their feedback and perspective?
• How can we better leverage our existing technology to ensure ease of use and therefore, promote utilization among our workforce?
• How can we better leverage emerging data technologies to gain greater insights into our employment experience using our existing employee data?
• Are we treating our employee experience like a key business outcome or a “nice to have” initiative?

Brandon Hall Group Bronze Smartchoice® Preferred Provider Totara Learning brings all these dimensions together with their Talent Experience Platform. Combining the core of enterprise learning management with a truly collaborative learning experience and linked to advanced performance management, Totara’s Talent Experience Platform (TXP) provides the configurability, integration capability and power needed by the business while delivering a seamless experience for the learner.

When your development technology is effective, it also supports a collaborative and supportive culture. This single element consistently ranks highest among attributes that contribute to a positive employee experience. Ensuring a culture remains collaborative and supportive requires intention on the part of all involved. It begins with clearly defining organizational expectations around a collaborative work environment — what it looks like in the specific context of your company and how it plays out in daily work.

Once you set those expectations, holding leaders accountable to behave in alignment to those expectations becomes critical. This does not necessarily need to be punitive in nature, but empowering leaders to point out in real-time when someone is acting contrary to expectations. Over time, this helps reinforce the intended culture. It might look like simply saying, “Hey — when you ask questions of the team but don’t wait from them to respond, that tends to shut down collaboration — and that’s not how we want to lead here.”

Culture change of this nature is not a 0 – 60, one-and-done proposition. It takes simple, clear intention and repetition over time. Be in it for the long haul to reap the true benefits.

Always remember that the employee experience is ultimately an outcome of many different factors. As such, it should be a filter on every decision being made in the business. “How does/will this affect our employees?” is a question leaders should be including standard in any decision-making effort.

Creating an employee experience/employee value proposition scorecard and reviewing it periodically throughout the year can help keep your leadership team honest and focused on these considerations. It is important to consider because positive employee experience is directly related to positive employee engagement, which has a documented impact on discretionary effort and subsequent business performance.

Implementing the right learning technology shows employees that their development matters. This empowers engagement, improves retention and enables a positive work experience. But technology alone is not enough — organizations should promote a continuous learning culture through manager support, learning incentives and an emphasis on development in core values. Paired with the right culture, learning technology gives employees development autonomy. This leads to an empowered, agile workforce that can drive innovation and thrive amidst ongoing change.

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The shift to skills-based talent strategies is the key to future business success and relies on accurately identifying and measuring workforce skills. However, many organizations struggle with skills assessment and verification. This limits the value of investments in development and training.

Effective skills measurement starts with an assessment to create a baseline. But only about one-quarter of companies believe they adeptly gauge skills and track progress, Brandon Hall Group research shows.

High Proficiency in Assessing Skills and Measuring Progress

2021: 16%

2023: 27%

Source: Brandon Hall Group Study, Think Like a CEO: How Learning Drives Business Impact

Existing approaches to skills measurement often lack assessment of skills proficiency before training and focus only on knowledge transfer after training.

A new eBook, co-produced by Brandon Hall Group and ETU, provides guidance and insight on transforming skills assessment and verification.

Skills Assessment

Forward-thinking companies are transforming assessment using a two-pronged approach:

• Technology- AI-powered tools can automate the skills assessment process by analyzing data from various sources. Natural Language Processing (NLP) algorithms can extract and analyze unstructured data (in email text, for example) to identify specific skills mentioned by candidates or employees. Immersive learning methods, such as simulations, replicate workplace scenarios and assess how proficient the learner is in each skill.
• People-driven. Employees or job candidates can demonstrate their skills through assessment surveys. They can also create portfolios that showcase applied skills and discuss the skills they have and their aspirations to evolve and grow. Managers can provide insights through performance appraisals, feedback sessions and other processes. Employees and managers who participate in skills assessment are more aware of what organizations are looking for and more engaged. This leads to a well-rounded picture of the available skills within the organization.

Leading organizations use both approaches, using technology to pre-populate skills data. Then, skills identified by employees, job candidates or managers can be overlayed or integrated.

Assessment identifies skills, but proficiency levels are crucial for talent decisions. Here again, a combined approach works best. While advancing, technology has limitations in judging competency. People provide important perspectives but lack scalability.

Simulations are emerging as an effective solution — evaluating applied skills in realistic scenarios. Behaviors are automatically assessed against needed competencies. This blends technology efficiency with human-like discernment.

Skills Verification

Verification confirms whether skills are applied on the job. But research reveals only 35% of companies measure this critical step. Technology like AI-driven knowledge tracing and natural language processing can provide continuous verification at scale. Simulations are also valuable for dynamically evaluating proficiency over time.

With assessment and verification, skill gaps become visible. This enables targeted development and closes the loop until competencies are attained.

Neglecting robust skills measurement restricts the success of upskilling initiatives. The combination of skills assessment and ongoing verification provides the insights needed to optimize human capital investments and business performance.

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Proper Use of AI for Learning and Development

Despite the potential benefits of AI in the LMS market, some challenges need to be addressed. One major complication is the ethical use of AI in learning, such as ensuring fairness, transparency and avoiding biases in algorithmic decision-making. Another complication is the need to strike the right balance between human intervention and AI automation to maintain the human touch and preserve the instructor-learner relationship.

When evaluating LMS providers, companies should consider:

• What are the most important capabilities for our needs?
• What is their approach to AI and how are they ensuring safe use?
• What does the product roadmap for a provider look like in the near term and longer term?
• What level of customization will a provider support in terms of look and feel and learner experience?
• What level of services and support do we need to ensure a successful implementation?

Learning Pool as the Answer

We recently sat down with Learning Pool, a Brandon Hall Group Smartchoice® Preferred Provider.

Learning Pool has spent the last year focused on repositioning, reimagining and reintroducing themselves as the solution provider of choice for both learning platform and learning content. By offering both sides of the coin, so to speak, they have crafted a strong value proposition for enterprise organizations. They accomplished this through an accelerated product roadmap bringing more than 90 new and updated features to market.

From the experience and ease of use perspective, there is an updated UX design that is customizable, able to be personalized and features common navigation. Within this updated UX is the inclusion of more branding elements in the system meaning customers can configure landing pages, color schemes and navigation terminology to suit the preferences and needs of the company. They have also moved to a single, integrated profile inclusive of all products and offerings and SSO access for administrators.

Learning Pool has also integrated some new capabilities through the acquisition of their Skills Builder platform. Skills Builder maintains a library of over 22,000 skills pulled from job role data and tracked across markets for 10 years. The library is machine learning-enabled and human-curated. The machine learning engine pulls skills from resumes and based on user self-evaluation, evidence of expertise and the proof point (showing where the skill came from), creates a skills profile that can be used in a variety of applications. One key difference is the inclusion of a measure of user preference for using a particular skill.

This measure factors in learner preference, so when the system recommends learning paths, courses or job opportunities, it will do so through the filter of the individual’s preferences, not just historical career path. The Skills Builder platform also enables development in a variety of ways — including recommended learning paths and projects — which is a marketplace approach to short-term assignments within the company that provides on-the-job experience to grow skills, as well as opportunities — which are permanent positions in the company that help match skills and customized development plans related to skills needed for a targeted role. Future releases will integrate performance data into this process as well.

The Manager View within the Skills Builder tool allows managers to understand both the current and aspirational skills profiles of their team. The tool can also highlight the ease of replacing a skill from the team should a team member move on to another role mixing both internal and external insights. Managers can also keep track of their team’s readiness based on the skills data in the system. The tool can be integrated with an MS Teams chatbot allowing reminders, notifications, and content searches.

Learning Pool has also added an AI-driven chat-based coaching tool that will be launching in Q4 2023. This ChatGPT integration utilizes custom scenarios and personas to allow individuals to practice conversations before they happen. Using the tool, you can either participate as the manager or the employee to experience both sides of the scenario to help learn what to do.  Once you complete the scenario, the tool generates a feedback score based on the interaction. The difference between Learning Pool’s AI-driven coaching tool and other products on the market is the ability to fully customize the scenarios and the personas for the simulations to your environment. It is a completely bespoke configuration based on customer preferences.

What Learning Pool has brought to life in their offerings is a modern learning and development platform solution that leverages smart technology to enable the execution of a solid, data-driven and skills-focused learning strategy in an easy-to-navigate ecosystem.

To learn more about the Learning Pool solution, value proposition and expertise, you can download our full report here.

– Matt Pittman, Principal Analyst, Brandon Hall Group

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What does it take to create a more impactful, engaging learning experience that improves individual and business performance? A strong learning strategy, the tools to execute it and the ability to demonstrate value.

Several factors are driving corporations to improve their learning experience strategies:

• Improve Learner Engagement — Organizations struggle with developing and delivering learning content that captures the attention of the learner.
• Create a Stronger Link Between Learning and Performance — Learning in many organizations is developed without specific individual and organizational objectives in mind.
• Better Measurement — Learning is not improving in many organizations because the ability to measure impact on performance is not in place or is lacking.
• Technology — Learning technology is quickly evolving and organizations are in serious need of re-evaluating their learning technology ecosystem to offer a more modernized approach to learners.

Modern Learning Requirements

Organizations have had difficulty catching up to the new standard of learning required. Learner requirements have evolved quickly and their need to have access to knowledge and information when and where they need it is more important than ever. Most learning is still very event-based, without enough follow-up, reinforcement or opportunities to apply knowledge. This leaves organizations ill-equipped not only to meet the rapidly changing challenges of today but to ensure their workforce has the skills and knowledge required for the future.

Rethinking Learning Strategy

Organizations need to rethink their approach to the learning strategy to keep pace with the rapidly changing dynamics of their learners and business. The key questions for the business are:

• How can we transform learning to have more of an impact?
• How can we minimize the costs associated with managing the tools and processes required?
• Does the organization have enough of the staff and/or skills to design, curate, and deliver an effective, impactful learning environment?
• How can we best leverage the best of emerging technologies to create truly impactful learning solutions?

Vertex Professional Services as the Answer

We recently sat down with Vertex Professional Services, a Brandon Hall Group Smartchoice Preferred Provider®.

Vertex is a company that has been around for a long time, having changed ownership and alignment a few times in the last few years, most recently being brought under the V2X Parent Company umbrella in May 2022. Despite the challenges inherent with multiple changes in ownership, Vertex Professional Services continues to thrive as a critical training partner for some of the biggest manufacturing and technology brands in the world.

VPS’s strength is in its systems engineering approach to solution delivery. When they partner with you on a training solution, they work on the problem like engineers and produce a solution that is ultimately system-agnostic and not dependent on any single platform or technology to implement. This is likely the key to their longevity despite their name-recognition challenges.

Their systems engineering approach allows for creative applications of technology in learning, including very successful light simulations they’ve created for a medical device company supporting training of staff on proper use of the device. VPS has employed similar solutions in military and aerospace environments as well.

In the last year, Vertex has introduced a new product offering called an Interactive Digital Document, which allows you to deploy documents from a SharePoint location directly into your LMS.

Vertex has seen great success with the tool in clinical settings as well as with field technicians in operational environments. These PDF files embed executable microcontent (video, animation, callouts, etc.) inside the document, creating a fully interactive job aid for a specific procedure or set of procedures that an individual can access and utilize in real-time on a tablet or smart device.

Vertex’s capabilities run the full spectrum of training solutions. They have increased their capacity as well with strategic partnerships with offshore teams in India. They see no drop in volume, though complexity may be taking a back seat to budget considerations this season.

If you have a large-scale, complex technical training project and are looking for a partner to bring it to life, Vertex is absolutely worth a look.

To learn more about Vertex Professional Services solution, value proposition, and expertise. You can download our full report here.

– Matt Pittman, Principal Analyst, Brandon Hall Group

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