Conventional classroom learners, functionally departmentalised, validation seekers – workforce as we have known so far.
Mobile, cross-functional, autodidacts and self-validators – the emerging young workforce.
The workforce profile has demonstrated such a tectonic shift; have L & D managers kept pace with the way learning is imparted in organizations? Have we progressed from teaching to learning to development? There is an increasing need to create an effective and successful learning atmosphere in the organization to enhance skill and knowledge of employees. Adaptive and individualized learning initiatives will lead businesses to create a project-ready workforce. A long-term sustained business success will critically depend on right training, skills, and leadership development of the workforce.
“Learning is not a product of schooling but the lifelong attempt to acquire it.” -Albert Einstein
What is changing?
At a recent panel discussion in NYU’s Stern School of Business, a much-debated question was “Will emerging technology and online learning dismantle the notion of “college” as we know it?” There is a lot to consider in a judgement of this nature, with both the education technologists and the academia bearing strong arguments. What is closer to reality though, is that learning in Corporates has clearly steered towards technology. And rightly so.
We are in a knowledge-based economy. The modern workplace is multigenerational, highly complex with diverse work styles, behaviors and needs. A holistic organizational transformation can only be achieved if we focus on more agile and adaptive training modules integrated with market ready elements which can bridge the ever-widening gap between employee learning needs and the organization’s ability to meet them. Technology can help achieve these objectives in a way that is economical and measurable.
The new era for learning and development
Online content, MOOCs, collaboration tools, and social media now fuel a training model where employees own their skills and experts share knowledge freely.
- Employee-Centric training to be aligned to Organizational goals
- Move from a ‘Push’ teaching to ‘Pull’ learning culture
- Employees to be equal partners in the Learning and development process
- Enterprise wide open learning resources available on a single platform, accessible to all
- Better adoption of leading edge learning tools
New age options prove to be more effective in today’s workplace
- Online, Mobile and Social learning
- MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses)
- Advanced Media learning like Gaming, Video and Simulation
Underlying this shift in the way people learn and acquire skills is what Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn, calls the new “employee-employer contract”. Companies no longer provide employees a lifetime career. Instead, they offer “tours of duty”—assignments for a period of time that gives employees new skills, education, and a set of experiences that provide benefits over a lifetime.
Eventually, the most successful and remarkable business will be the self-developing organizations where learning and growth are at their core. Such organization will achieve better employee performance, engagement, and satisfaction which will fuel new innovations across organizational level, which is the key long-term competitive advantage in the market.
Organizations that want to create a competitive advantage must deliver differentiated solutions to their people. As jobs become more and more specialized and the workforce continues to diversify, companies need to leverage advanced learning methods to increase the productivity of an organization’s talent and put people at the center of learning.
PeopleWorks provides a comprehensive module to help L&D leaders in organizations plan, schedule, execute and measure the effectiveness of their employee training initiatives. Empower your employees today to lead the business tomorrow.
