As organizations face unprecedented change and volatility, the need to quickly and effectively reskill and upskill their workforce to meet new demands has dramatically increased. However, most companies remain challenged by just how to accomplish this. Brandon Hall Group Research found that only half of companies believe their learning approach is positioning them to meet future work requirements.
Organizations should completely rethink their approach to learning if they want to prepare for future work requirements, according to Brandon Hall Group’s 2021 Upskilling/Reskilling Study.
This environment of unprecedented change and volatility requires a much more agile learning environment aligned with the goals of the business and the learners. Learning must become much more personalized and contextual if companies want to engage their learners and drive real impact on behaviors and performance.
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Brandon Hall Group’s 2021 Upskilling/Reskilling Survey shows that organizations find themselves in a challenging spot when it comes to learning’s strategic role in the business. On one hand, more than three-quarters of companies say that business leaders rate learning as highly important to the organization. This makes it clear that learning is a priority and a critical success lever. However, only 45% of companies rate themselves highly on how integral learning is to the organization’s culture.
“This is driven by learning’s seeming disconnect with the business. Learning strategies are not properly aligned with business outcomes and the actual process of learning with many employees seems completely divorced from their jobs,” said David Wentworth, Principal Learning Analyst at Brandon Hall Group. “Ensuring learning is personal, relatable and easy to access within the flow of work will make it more impactful and sustainable.”
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As part of its 2021 Upskilling/Reskilling Survey, Brandon Hall Group offers six strategies to drive personalized learning at scale.
- Ensure close alignment between business goals and learning outcomes.
- Leverage the right technology.
- Employ neuro- and cognitive-science principles.
- Adopt more agile learning development processes.
- Reward and recognize learning.
- Managers and supervisors need to play a critical role.
“Even companies where personalized learning is a priority, and time money and resources are available, they face many challenges with personalized learning at scale,” said Brandon Hall Group CEO Mike Cooke. “The thing that companies said was challenging most often was that their managers don’t have insights into what their employees are learning. This element is often overlooked and managers can play a huge role in contextual, flow-of-work learning.”
As with many initiatives, a lack of technology plays a big role in personalized learning. Delivering learning at scale requires a technology ecosystem to develop and deliver personalized learning, Brandon Hall Group research reveals. For many companies, this is an entirely new endeavor and it can seem overwhelming. Nearly half say that it is too difficult to administer and maintain, and 47% say the organization’s staff are not properly trained to design and deliver personalized learning.
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