Organizations are under tremendous pressure to develop their people as quickly as possible to meet the very changing and extremely challenging environment of work, but very few have developed the road map for success. Brandon Hall Group research points out that one in three organizations believe they are prepared to develop the skills they will need in the future. Work is complicated, difficult, volatile and fast-moving. It is nearly impossible for a learning team that is currently too busy, distracted and spread too thin to use traditional approaches to developing and delivering learning to be completely effective and efficient.
What should learning teams do?
The answer is to transform current thinking and approaches to upskilling and reskilling the workforce. The learning development and delivery process must be more agile, flexible, adaptable and learner-focused. Employees need localized learning that can be consumed in the flow of work. Learning organizations should quickly deploy learning that is intuitive, highly relevant and easily accessible. Learning teams must retool their people, re-imagine their processes and reevaluate their technology to ensure they are addressing the needs of the employee to improve and/or acquire new skills. Right now, for many employees, learning feels siloed, removed and disjointed from what they need. The result is uninspired learners who don’t develop into high-performing employees.
Learning teams must put their organizations in a position to win the hearts and minds of their employees with outstanding learning. Most employees want to learn but feel they are not provided the opportunity to do so properly. Each employee has their own unique way to learn. Learning teams must create and deliver personalized learning for every employee at the speed and scale of business. Learning teams should employ the latest techniques and technology to develop fast, easily deployed, scalable and contextualized learning experiences for any workforce scenario. A better learner experience improves the process of skills acquisition which ultimately improves an employee’s performance. We all agree that improving employee and organizational performance is the end goal of all learning.
In summary, learning teams should focus on the following to overcome the challenges of upskilling and reskilling at scale:
- Ensure tight alignment between business goals and learning outcomes.
- Employ neuro- and cognitive-science principles.
- Reward and recognize learning.
- Managers and supervisors must play critical roles.
- Adopt more agile learning development processes.
- Deploy a state-of-the-art learning technology ecosystem.
To learn more about upskilling and reskilling, check out our recent speaking engagement on this topic at Inkling’s Illuminate 2021 Virtual Conference where we had the opportunity to be a keynote speaker. You’ll hear great insights and practical strategies on this important topic.
–Michael Rochelle, Chief Strategy Officer and Principal HCM Analyst, Brandon Hall Group
