When we think about the “future of workplace learning,” it sounds like a big, heady topic best left to academic elites to solve. However, in reality, the concept is fairly simple: We just need to meet our users and team members where they are and not necessarily where it’s most convenient for business leaders. In concept, that’s simple; the execution, however, is a much steeper hill to climb. Nonetheless, the way learners approach information is changing rapidly, and overall most companies have a lot of catching up to do.
By considering and quickly embracing three ideas:
- Employees are mobile
- Employees are social
- Employees like bite-sized pieces of information
…your organization will start living the future today—and, most importantly, do a better job of meeting your users where they are.
As more companies embrace flexible, geographically dispersed work environments, the idea that learning only happens at the office or in a classroom is far past its expiration date. We’re already starting to see the benefits of mobile workplace learning—greater self-discovery, the ability to cross share, and the ability to get information when and where people want it.
While the “future” may seem far away, we need to start thinking now how we can make learning independent of location so we reach learners wherever they are.
How to Get Started
- Understand your company’s mobile strategy. What’s the mobile device policy? Who has access to mobile devices, or can employees bring their own? Identify the platform(s) you’re designing for to understand your options.
- Make sure whatever you’re presenting is in a format that’s applicable and usable in a mobile setting—think bite-size content, text-light, readable on multiple screens, etc.
- Think “performance support” vs. long-form learning. Design for the user and for the scenario or capability you’re trying to build or enhance, and provide handy tools for users to access on the go.
Employees learn 70 to 90 percent of information “informally”—that is, outside the structured “classroom”—via good old-fashioned practice and trial and error. And, as humans, we’re social by nature. So according to Charles Jennings, it’s time to embrace informal, social learning channels.
This isn’t rocket science. With the speed and amount of information we’re juggling today, and our constant access to it, social/informal learning is a huge opportunity for companies. When business leaders provide avenues for more informal, social learning—such as access to social media related to people’s jobs—we can help them do their jobs better. The added bonus? Social media can help determine if training is hitting the mark and uncover where learners really struggle. That helps us do our jobs better. There is power and accelerated impact with social tools for companies with distributed business models such as retailers or hotels. This creates a way for disconnected employees to help other employees.
How to Get Started
- Embrace social platforms, informal learning, and knowledge sharing to your benefit via a structured organized destination.
- Uncover the areas in the organization where tribal knowledge is locked up and, if it were unleashed, could have a significant impact on your business. Use social tools to tap that knowledge base.
- Have a targeted approach and process. Don’t just launch it and expect it to just work.
- Gather lots of insight from the users and refine it repeatedly. Identify a small group of power users who will embrace it, make it stick, and provide ongoing feedback.
With mobile taking over, screens are getting smaller, and we’re not sitting in one place for very long. Combined with the importance of informal, “in-the-moment” learning and practice in fostering real knowledge retention and mastery, and you have to start giving users access to information and learning in a way that makes more sense to them—in bite-sized, easy-to-digest chunks. Go beyond traditional seat-time learning. We don’t have the time or attention span for this—or, as Dr. John Medina more eloquently states, “We don’t pay attention to boring things!”
These short, modular, bite-sized information nuggets are the fuel for continuous learning and execution in organizations because humans need easy information access and practice to push performance to the next level. These types of performance support tools increase user knowledge and retention by anywhere from 200 to 700 percent when executed well. In other words: This stuff works.
How to Get Started
- Keep whatever you’re trying to do short and simple.
- Mix your media to keep it interesting (e.g., video, graphics, text, etc.).
- Think again about the platform. Determine when you push a video vs. an e-learning module. Identify if your people have access to Wi-Fi or are wired. Determine if there’s value in building a mobile application.
- Use quick hits to emphasize or reinforce key pieces from the long-form learning. Have those performance support nuggets available when people need them.
Is Traditional Learning a Thing of the Past?
As we think about these concepts of mobile, social, and bite-sized information, remember that most times they exist in an ecosystem that has a long legacy of setting a precedent and foundation. (Think compliance-based learning management system with a robust curriculum attached.) They need to coexist with longer-form content, knowledge, and curriculum, with these new tools acting as accelerators to execution and performance.
Meeting users where they are is the first step in developing talent and skills effectively.
Mobile, social, and bite-sized information are worthless unless also applied with design thinking and a user-centered approach. This goes beyond just workplace learning—these concepts can and should be leveraged beyond just the training and development function. Indeed, these ideas are fundamental to improving our performance across the board—in our personal lives and in the professional world of pushing our companies’ strategic and operational performance to the next level.
In addition to working with executive teams to align on and deploy corporate strategy, Paul Ignasinski also works to develop Root’s new client roster and co-leads digital strategy initiatives. Before joining Root, Ignasinski spent 15 years leading business development and corporate strategy initiatives with a focus on executing new business initiatives and change management strategies for both small and large companies, including Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Kmart, and Tesco. He also has experience in the media industry, where he successfully architected the start-up of a direct-to-consumer music distribution model for established, legacy artists and an eBook distribution platform. He earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in business administration from the University of Michigan.
