The role of organizational learning in the corporate world has changed in the pandemic era. The pandemic forced into play the biggest workforce change management in living history, and businesses had little choice but to adapt. But not all teams have been to adapt so effectively and smoothly. As workplaces move to more online working, they’re spending more of their time learning and developing outside of meeting rooms and office spaces, without collaborating face-to-face with their colleagues.
Leaders will need to acknowledge that they can’t expect their teams to rely so heavily on one-way learning, and instead, will need to introduce effective tools and working formats where colleagues can learn better together. Workshops, for example, will need to involve smaller parties if whole offices or larger teams can’t be accommodated for in a way that will encourage the contribution and involvement of all team members.
Security Solutions for HR Tech Companies: AspireHR and Workforce Software Announce Rapid Solution for Companies Impacted by Ransomware Attack
Onboarding training shouldn’t take place with just passive-learning videos. Learning and development training will require leaders and managers to work closer and directly with their teams.
In 2022, we will see a greater commitment to tailored and dedicated staff learning – in the time of the Great Resignation caused by a failure from companies to appropriately connect with their staff – leaders must ensure their staff feel aligned, motivated, and supported.
We will see simple digital tools like Notion and Slack also become more popular, where teams can collaborate and learn in one digital workplace to manage projects, take notes, add tasks, build roadmaps and capture workflows. Tools like Slack also allow you to automate checklists and tasks developmental training, learning and upskilling.
Where possible, we will see leaders create more opportunities for meetups – these are critical for teams to build better connections, build stronger rapport, and align their work, mission and values. This will allow companies to see greater collaboration within their teams when they together both online and offline.
Biggest Challenges and Risks of Implementing Training and Development in 2022
We learned in 2021 pretty damning statistics that saw less than half of professionals state their mental health and wellbeing as positive. Many people found themselves struggling to stay motivated working from home while feeling repelled at the thought of returning to clinical cubicles and taking long commutes to work. But with hybrid working here to stay, one of the key challenges for leaders is being able to trust that their staff will proactively engage in their work. Micromanagement has been proven to be a counterproductive way of managing staff. A part of making hybrid working work is instilling more trust and accountability in staff by training them in a way that makes them motivated towards achieving high-quality work, constantly innovating, and willing to lead within their own teams with an aligned goal and purpose.
To help staff learn and grow, leaders will need to have greater empathy and enable them to apply that knowledge in a way that makes sense to them, and see how their learning and work will have an impact on the world. At every step, feedback and the ability to act on that feedback is what matters.
Managers must pay attention to what motivates people – if you don’t give people the latitude to make decisions based on their experiences and the insights they have to address challenges within their roles, they’ll simply leave.
Training and Development News: SalesHood Launches Enablement and Digital Learning for the Entire Organization With SkillsHood
How to Re-Invent or Maintain a Learning Culture in 2022
At Everest Engineering, we’re a human-centric, people-first workplace. That means we instill a workplace culture that encourages learning from the start when people apply to, and join, the team. We have peer-to-peer recognition programs to help strengthen rapport and help staff learn and play to each other’s strengths, learning about other cultures and building stronger bonds with teammates.
We have regular workshops, webinars, meet-ups and retros to publicly recognize and inspire ongoing staff learning. We run fortnightly 1:1s to review learning and progress, and get staff to both self-assess and do peer assessment to learn from one another.
We provide self-learning platforms offering subscriptions for staff to consistently upskill. Staff are encouraged to up-skill and execute self-fled learning on a daily and weekly basis.
It is for these reasons that we managed to double our staff during the pandemic, and have been shortlisted for “Great Place to Work” awards. As staff across the world go through substantial changes as a consequence of the pandemic, it’s become even more important to ensure staff can maintain motivation to be a part of a team that prioritizes exactly what they need to thrive.
Staff need to be provided with the best physical and virtual environments, with the right tools and support systems in place that will encourage powerful leadership within teams who are motivated to learn, grow and develop. With greater trust, flexibility and accountability, staff will be proud of their growth, and be happy in the place where they work too.
Leaders Are Struggling to Get Their Staff to Come Back Into Work
We will see more leaders focus on creating workplaces that are more inviting to work in. Leaders are struggling to get their staff to come back into work, and an effective way to encourage this is to convert the office into a co-working space. Co-working environments are designed to help workers genuinely enjoy coming in.
This can be done via a few simple techniques, like creating spaces for socializing or solitude, introducing BBQ areas or table tennis tables so staff can build rapport, and encouraging networking among peers. When staff is confined by cubicles they easily forget they are working with like-minded people working towards the same purpose and goals.
Creating spaces for hot-desking and permanent desking helps staff find more motivation and creative flow, having the flexibility to move around or have a more structured set-up. In a recent survey asking staff about how they felt establishing the office as a co-working space had impacted mental health, 96% of respondents stated that it has greatly improved.
Leaders are responsible for ensuring their staff can work at their peak performance, and be happy and motivated at work. There has never been a more vital time in modern history to implement positive workplaces where people truly want to be there.
We have an opportunity today to reframe the workplace, to reframe how we build trust in our staff, and consider how we can make our staff feel like they belong.
[To share your insights with us, please write to sghosh@martechseries.com]