There are those who think that the old ways of training are still valid and sufficient for today’s workforce, and there are those who realize that the world has moved on and a new approach to supporting workplace learning is essential.
We all know the old stuff the Traditionalists prefer. Let us see what the second group of L&D professionals, Modern Workplace Learning (MWL) practitioners, do:
- They are rejecting the creation of expensive, sophisticated e-learning content and preferring to build short, flexible, modern resources (where required) that people can access when they need them. AND they are also encouraging social content (or employee-generated content) – particularly social video – because they know that people know best what works for them.
- They are ditching their LMS (or perhaps just hanging on to it to manage some regulatory training) – because they recognize it is a white elephant – and it doesn’t help them understand the only valid indicator of learning success, how performance has changed and improved.
- They are moving to a performance-driven world – helping groups find their own solutions to problems – ones that they really need, will value, and actually use, and recognise that these solutions are often ones they organise and manage themselves.
- They are working with managers to help them develop their people on the ground – and see the success of these initiatives in terms of impact on job performance.
- They are helping individuals take responsibility for their own learning and personal development – so that they continuously grow and improve, and hence become valuable employees in the workplace
- They are supporting teams as they work together using enterprise social platforms – in order to underpin the natural sharing within the group, and improve team learning.