Closing Skills Gaps | May/June 2021

M A Y/J U N E 2 0 2 1

CLOSING SKILLS GAPS UPSKILLING VS. RESKILLING | 16 Preparing for the Future of Work

SUPPORTING CONTINUOUS LEARNING | 28 Putting Learning Principles into Practice

BUILDING ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE | 38 Best Practices for Developing an Agile Workforce

BUSINESS

PERSPECTIVES

ON

MANAGING

WORLD-CLASS

TRAINING

NEW

KEN TAYLOR

FROM THE EDITOR

CLOSING THE SKILLS GAP

Technological advancements and the impacts from the pandemic are changing the way we work, and in turn, changing the skills employees need to perform their jobs. The World Economic Forum estimates that 50% of employees will need to be reskilled by 2025, and many business leaders are expecting those skills to be learned on the job.

MARKET LEADERS ARE RESKILLING THEIR WORKFORCE TO EMBRACE NEXT GENERATION SKILL SETS THAT CREATE A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE THROUGH PEOPLE.

To prepare for these changes, many organizations are prioritizing reskilling and upskilling initiatives this year.

In fact, LinkedIn Learning’s 2021 Workplace Learning Report cited upskilling and reskilling as the top priority for learning and development (L&D) professionals this year. Our own reader survey results echo this finding, with 50% of respondents revealing that closing skill gaps is a top area of focus for their organization in 2021.

This edition of Training Industry Magazine focuses on this important issue and examines how L&D can close current skills gaps to enable employees to perform their jobs as the business evolves. From putting continuous learning principles into practice to building organizational resilience, L&D plays an integral role in preparing employees to excel in their current and future roles.

The pandemic may have ushered in a host of challenges and change, but it also illuminated the weaknesses and gaps that already existed within organizations. Most organizations are

beginning to determine where they are and where they want the company to go. Market leaders have already begun the journey of reskilling their workforce to embrace next generation skill sets that create a competitive advantage through people.

Whether it’s preparing your organization with the skills to manage remote employees, critical thinking and problem-solving, embracing digital fluency, building resiliency and stress management, or even improving proficiency on existing and evolving corporate systems, the challenge ahead is significant.

Organizations are defining their priority skill sets to provide focus and a road map to creating a future-ready workforce that is prepared for the changes ahead.

The world of work will only continue to evolve, so L&D must prioritize employee skills development moving forward. L&D must partner with company leadership to identify future areas of growth and expansion for the business to ensure employees are ready to execute on their vision.

As always, we love to hear your thoughts on the perspectives shared in the magazine. Please feel free to send any suggestions for us to consider in future issues.

Ken Taylor is the president and editor in chief of Training Industry, Inc. Email Ken.

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CO N T E N TS

TA B L E O F VOLUME 14

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ISSUE 4

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MAY/JUNE 2021

FEATURES

16 UPSKILLING VS. RESKILLING

16 21 24 28 32 36

28 SUPPORTING CONTINUOUS LEARNING

38 BUILDING ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE

ADAPTING TO THE NEW NORMAL: UPSKILLING AND RESKILLING

By Chapin Brinegar and Hollace S. Masino

Cultivate an agile workforce equipped to adapt in the changing business landscape.

FINDING VALUE IN PRE-ASSESSMENTS

By Teri Beckman and Brenda R. Smyth

Assess employees’ knowledge prior to training to better align learner and business needs.

RIGHT PEOPLE, WRONG SKILLS: TURN TALENT YOU HAVE INTO TALENT YOU NEED

By Bianca Baumann

Leverage the full potential of the talent that already exists within your workforce.

PUTTING CONTINUOUS LEARNING PRINCIPLES INTO PRACTICE

By David Flanagan, M.Ed., and Avantika Srivastava, MHROD

Continuous learning must be supported by a dynamic, flexible and accessible learning culture.

MAKE 2021 THE YEAR YOU UPSKILL YOUR PEOPLE

By Kelly Palme

Organizations require new skills to adapt, survive and thrive in 2021 and beyond.

HOW TO FUTURE-PROOF YOUR WORKFORCE: UNDERSTANDING THE PAST TO MOVE FORWARD

By Roger Rinker

In the new world of work, employees need more feedback from multiple sources.

38

BUILDING ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE WITH A HIGHLY SKILLED LEARNER ECOSYSTEM

By Sonia Malik

Organizational success relies upon your workforce’s capacity to cope and thrive amid stress.

42

THE NEW LEARNING ERA: KNOWLEDGE FOR GROWTH

By Francesca Farinati

Learn why upskilling is now a permanent feature of our work and lives.

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IN THIS ISSUE

THOUGHT LEADERS

3

FROM THE EDITOR

By Ken Taylor

L&D is uniquely suited to respond to the pandemic by facilitating employee reskilling and upskilling.

9

GUEST EDITOR

11

WHAT’S NEXT IN TECH

13

By C.J. Reed, CPTM

Learn how IT training can successfully assist and support your remote workforce.

15 49 51

By Stella Lee, Ph.D.

Streamline employee upskilling and reskilling with these tips.

BUILDING LEADERS

By Sam Shriver and Marshall Goldsmith

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Employees grow when they learn to embrace uncertainty.

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

By Dr. Kristal Walker, CPTM

Incorporate diverse viewpoints into your training with a cultural intelligence framework.

PERFORMANCE MATTERS

By Julie Winkle Giulioni

A simple framework can help L&D develop the skills and competencies employees need.

SCIENCE OF LEARNING

By Srini Pillay, M.D.

Make reskilling stick by adopting these mindset practices.

LEARNER MINDSET

By Michelle Eggleston Schwartz

Encourage self-directed learning among team members with these tips.

INFO EXCHANGE

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CASEBOOK

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CLOSING DEALS

New hires learn better from centralized and collaborative sources, regardless of age.

Keep up with the latest in the training industry by reading news from the last quarter.

Vista Equity Partners’ acquisition of Pluralsight may be a good sign for digital L&D platforms.

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C.J. REED, CPTM

GUEST EDITOR

CHANGES TO IT TRAINING TO ACQUIRE SKILLS FOR WORKING REMOTELY It might be hard to imagine now, but a year ago many employees had no experience working from home. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, many organizations had workforces primarily accustomed to working in office and other professional settings on a regular basis.

Since remote work is not common in most construction sites or offices, the information technology (IT) training department at McCarthy Building Companies partnered with human resources (HR) to create webinars and tools to support our partners as we adjusted to this alternative way of working. Below are some recommendations from the series: WORKING REMOTELY – AS AN INDIVIDUAL When working remotely, employees must be deliberate in staying connected with managers and teammates. By taking advantage of communication tools, employees can reach out to colleagues for ideas and feedback as they would in the office. You should also encourage individuals to take breaks from work to casually catch up with co-workers.

ON A REMOTE TEAM, IT IS IMPORTANT TO MAKE SURE EVERYONE IS HEARD AND PARTICIPATING. The IT training department also recommended using video tools when appropriate in online meetings and interactions. This helps employees interact and communicate more transparently and

authentically, because they’re able to read facial expressions and other non-verbal cues. Moreover, video chats are often much quicker and efficient than an email or instant message.

WORKING REMOTELY – AS A MANAGER In the remote environment, leaders must manage results, not processes.

The IT training department identified which collaboration and communication tools employees can use to establish consistent one-on-one and group checkins with managers. Managers also setup “open room” meeting times in online platforms for their employees to jump in for quick questions and guidance. If an employee joins, the manager closes the meeting room to indicate it is occupied.

The IT training department also helped managers use online tools to help track employees’ tasks and progress. With this tool, managers can create tasks and organize them into three categories: do, doing and done. Both managers and employees can review tasks at any time and meet to reprioritize or reallocate.

WORKING REMOTELY – AS A TEAM On a remote team, it is important to make sure everyone is heard and participating.

Don’t let anyone fall through the cracks, and be patient as teammates adjust.

To avoid this, start each meeting with a check-in – asking each member to take a couple minutes to discuss what they are doing, what is going well and what is challenging. The IT training department also identified tools within our online meeting platforms to make meetings

more engaging and interactive – such as polling, chats, breakout rooms and virtual backgrounds.

You can also ensure all team members are heard by carving out time for team building and casual communication. Maintaining personal working relationships and checking in on teammates regularly is critical to long-term success. IT training provided quick guides on using internal social media platforms to encourage team cohesion and sharing. Our organization also began to host virtual happy hours and lunch and learns to provide skills training and development.

WORKING REMOTELY – SUCCESSFULLY The sudden shift to remote work required us to learn new online tools to help individuals, managers and teams in the remote environment. To avoid redundancies, IT training departments should identify and track which online learning tools and features are at the organization’s disposal. By reducing redundancies and establishing strong strategic alignment between your business’s and employees’ needs, your IT Training department can successfully assist and support your remote workforce.

C.J. Reed, CPTM, serves as the IT customer support manager for McCarthy Building Companies, which provides commercial construction. CJ has over 20 years of experience in the construction industry and is responsible for leading IT training and providing on-demand support for the company’s standard IT systems and services. Email C.J.

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STELLA LEE, PH.D.

WHAT’S NEXT IN TECH

UPSKILLING AND RESKILLING IS THE FUTURE OF L&D

Upskilling and reskilling the workforce has been a long time coming. The impact of artificial intelligence (AI), automation and robotics, as well as the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, on employment has accelerated this need as the world of work continues to evolve. In fact, according to the L&D Global Sentiment Survey, reskilling and upskilling was cited as the overwhelming response to the question “How will your L&D work change in 2021 as a result of COVID-19?”

With the increased workload and rapid change in both technology and economy, how can we better support upskilling and reskilling efforts? To start, we should consider the following:

TO SERVE CUSTOMERS VIRTUALLY, PEOPLE NEED TO LEARN IN THE FLOW OF WORK. PROVIDE A COMPREHENSIVE AND INDIVIDUALIZED TRAINING PLAN Each person’s need for upskilling and reskilling is different. In addition to a skill gap analysis, take your target learners’ context into consideration.

Gather people analytics and learning analytics, review their current situations, credentials, skills, interests, career goals and life experiences. An effective upskill and reskill plan needs to be employee-centered, context-specific and personalized. It needs to be based on the balance between the learners’ professional goals and the employers’ needs. Leverage learning technologies that support personalized and adaptive

learning, and build on the learners’ existing technical, transferable skills and experiences.

PROVIDE “JUST-IN-TIME” PERFORMANCE SUPPORT RESOURCES During the pandemic, many of us have been shifting our work and interaction from in-person to virtual. As a result, people need to adjust work practices and adopt new technologies rapidly without much guidance. To successfully work with remote teams, participate in projects using different tools and techniques, and to serve customers virtually, people need to learn in the flow of work. “Just-in-time” performance support means that we are focusing on the learners’ needs as they arise and provide resources accordingly, as opposed to offering pre-scheduled, topical training events. We need to leverage existing digital platforms and apps that people already have installed on their phones. For example, make use of instant messaging apps to quickly guide people through a new process or coach people through a particularly challenging set of tasks.

KNOWLEDGE SHARING GOES A LONG WAY Set up your digital platforms to encourage knowledge sharing at all levels of the workforce. As people transition into new roles and tasks, not only do they need access to job-relevant information, but they can also contribute to the lessons learned and add their own insights and tips to the platforms. In this time of change, people need to be empowered

to develop a community of knowledge and best practices. Many learning management systems (LMSs), social networking platforms, and company intranets already have components that can be used as a collaborative knowledge base. Use these tools as a starting point and focus on building up content, making it accessible to individuals and fostering a culture of sharing.

COLLABORATE WITH EMPLOYERS TO GAIN INSIGHTS If you are an in-house L&D unit, collaborate with business units to formulate a reskill and upskill plan for the employees of the organization. The business units will be able to identify specific skills needed and share which business processes have changed. If you are an external or independent learning professional, find opportunities to consult with employers. Employers will be able to provide insights on current employment trends that you can incorporate into your training design.

As the need for upskilling and reskilling continues, L&D can lead the change in enhancing people’s employability, improving their capabilities, transitioning people into new roles and being responsive to changing industry demands.

Dr. Stella Lee has over 20 years of experience in consulting, planning, designing, implementing and measuring learning initiatives. Her focus is on large-scale learning projects including LMS evaluation and implementation, learning analytics, and artificial intelligent applications. Email Stella.

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EMBRACING THE VULNERABILITIES ASSOCIATED WITH LEARNING SOMETHING NEW Jim Yong Kim immigrated to the United States when he was five years old, growing up in a town called Muscatine, Iowa. To simply describe him as talented would be to disregard the instructive value of his journey altogether. By the same token, it would be easy to do because his achievements are difficult for mere mortals to wrap their heads around.

For example, he was named valedictorian and president of his high school class while also representing his school athletically as the quarterback of the football team and point guard of the basketball team.

In college, he graduated magna cum laude from Brown University before going on to Harvard to get his M.D. and Ph.D. in anthropology (which answers the age-old question many of us have struggled with: Why settle for one doctoral degree from Harvard when you can have two?).

In his professional career, Dr. Kim has gone on to positively impact millions of people around the world. A partial list includes: • Becoming a founding partner of Partners in Health, an organization dedicated to the treatment and prevention of diseases like drugresistant tuberculosis, HIV and Ebola in economically challenged regions of the world.

• Accepting an appointment as a director of the World Health Organization with a charter to help developing countries scale-up their protocols for treatment, prevention and care.

• Being named the 17th president of Dartmouth College.

• Becoming the only president in the history of the World Bank whose professional background was not in the political or financial sector.

ALL OF US WILL BE SUBJECT TO INCREASING DEMANDS TO LEARN NEW THINGS AND UPGRADE OUR SKILL SETS. Beyond all of that, many of you have seen and heard him the last year or so addressing the once-in-a-lifetime challenges presented by COVID-19.

Amongst all else, he has developed the ability to break down extremely complicated information — like virusinduced disruptive change — in a manner that communicates the facts, as well as a sense of hope and confidence that people need during times of uncertainty.

EMBRACING LEARNING With such an accomplished background, it’s not surprising that Jim Kim would have an interesting perspective on topics related to upskilling, reskilling and learning.

When asked for his thoughts on these subjects, it’s clear you hit a nerve.

Before Kim says a word, he pauses, takes a short breath and ever so briefly rolls his eyes skyward to make sure he

“gets this right.” He then says with a tone and in a manner that suggests he is convinced he is sharing a message that encapsulates the essence of his vast and impressive personal experience: “I have never felt more alive than the moments in my life when I stared my insecurities directly in the face and embraced the vulnerabilities associated with learning something new.”

Setting aside his intellectual gifts, consider the possibility that the primary driver of Dr. Kim’s legendary success has much more to do with this personal philosophy of learning than anything else. Consider a bit further that all of us, including learning professionals, will be subject to everincreasing demands to learn new things and upgrade our skill sets.

THE PATH FORWARD As Dr. Kim has clearly figured out somewhere along the way, your past … is just that! It is a documented road map you can point to that highlights the destinations you have passed through to get yourself here. Your value moving forward will be a function of your determination to explore territories that you have never been to and, likely, know very little about.

Marshall Goldsmith is the world authority in helping successful leaders get even better. Sam Shriver is the executive vice president at The Center for Leadership Studies. Email Sam and Marshall.

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DR. KRISTAL WALKER, CPTM

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

CULTURAL COMPETENCE: AN ESSENTIAL SKILL FOR CULTIVATING DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION As the practice of diversity and inclusion (D&I) continues to gain traction throughout the global workforce, training managers and D&I practitioners continue to find themselves contemplating which area of focus — diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging — deserves the greatest attention. To add greater complexity, training managers are challenged with creating content with the appropriate balance of perspective that includes lived experiences, best practices that support the well-being of all stakeholders and scientifically proven behaviors that interrupt unhealthy bias in all its forms. The good news is that no matter what approach an organization takes, training managers will be involved to help employees acquire the skills necessary to succeed.

FOSTERING DIVERSITY IS ONLY ONE PART OF THE PUZZLE. Fostering diversity is only one part of the puzzle. What does an organization do with all those individual perspectives if there is no common association? The answer is to enhance the cultural competence of the workforce so that all stakeholders demonstrate the appropriate skills and behaviors necessary for everyone to feel welcomed, supported and valued. This process leads to the building and nurturing of organic inclusive relationships, allyship and higher performance.

The Cultural Intelligence Center offers a simple framework for enhancing cultural competence (“Cultural Intelligence”

or “CQ”). The framework presents four unique areas of opportunity that training professionals can use to build relevant skills for a diversified workforce.

Adopting this framework can also lead to greater progress with D&I strategy, training and programs.

CQ DRIVE CQ drive is one’s personal interest and confidence when engaging with individuals from other cultures. A person with low CQ drive does not express genuine interest in working across cultures, whereas someone on the opposite end of the spectrum may thrive in those situations. If exceptional customer service at the point of sale is a key metric for measuring success, a person with low CQ may not be the best fit for the job, especially if the customer base is multicultural.

CQ KNOWLEDGE CQ knowledge is the understanding of similarities and differences within a specific culture. The problem with D&I efforts is that we have made so much of the work about race and ethnicity that we have missed golden opportunities to connect as individuals. Knowledge of cultural similarities and differences equips the learner with greater insight and discernment in place of potential bias and blind spots.

CQ STRATEGY CQ strategy is the desire to plan for a multicultural interaction. For example, if an American businessperson planned a trip to Japan to meet with a group

of executives, he or she would benefit greatly from spending time thinking through what they may encounter when engaging with Japanese customs and culture.

CQ ACTION CQ action is the demonstrated ability to adapt when working in multicultural contexts. This is the artistic skill of navigating differences of opinions, preferences or value systems. The only real way to achieve CQ action is to be self-confident so that rather than feeling inferior when differences do occur, one can express mutual respect and a genuine appreciation for difference.

The idea of learning a new skill is not always embraced; however, it is required for this day and age.

The lingering events — COVID-19 pandemic, social injustice or the drive to focus on our personal well-being — that we have all experienced over the last year on some level have required us to pivot in one way or another.

The beauty of it all is that even with unwelcome change, we still have the capacity to demonstrate lifelong learning by upskilling, reskilling or sharing knowledge when those opportunities present themselves.

Dr. Kristal Walker, CPTM, has over 15 years of experience helping clients engage people, apply processes and implement technologies to improve performance. She is the vice president of employee wellbeing at Sweetwater.

Kristal is also a facilitator for Training Industry’s Diversity and Inclusion Master Class. Email Kristal.

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Adapting to the New Normal: Upskilling and Reskilling By Chapin Brinegar and Hollace S. Masino

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, training initiatives once considered prudent are now essential.

Even before, there was a clear need for investment in ongoing employee development to meet the demands of rapidly evolving industries. In January 2020, just months before the full scope of the health crisis was understood, The World Economic Forum projected more than 1 billion people globally would have to be reskilled by 2030 to meet the needs of jobs transformed by technologies.

strategies can best be applied in a training landscape reshaped by the health crisis. What’s clear is that resilient organizations must have highly adaptable workers, and swiftly upskilling and reskilling employees is an effective solution to meet this need.

The pandemic has accelerated this demand, compounding preexisting pressures. In the months ahead, many organizations will find they must rapidly develop a more agile workforce that is mentally and emotionally prepared to succeed in the transforming market.

• Upskilling occurs when staff learn new skills or enhance current ones to adapt to changes within their current role; for example, when a sales rep learns how to use online conferencing tools to meet with customers virtually.

Learning and development (L&D) professionals will continue to play an indispensable role across industries in driving responses to the pandemic and, eventually, its aftermath. To succeed, they must reevaluate which pre-pandemic

Upskilling vs.

Reskilling To appreciate the benefits of upskilling and reskilling, it’s key to first understand their differences:

• Reskilling involves equipping employees with new knowledge and skills, so they can work in another part of the business; for example, teaching a sales rep social media skills, so they can move into a position on the marketing team.

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Benefits of Upskilling and Reskilling There are clear advantages to investing in upskilling and reskilling initiatives over new hire training.

These initiatives can:

Open doors to new roles. Perhaps

the biggest benefit of upskilling and reskilling is that they each create opportunities for valued existing employees to take on new roles and functions.

Future-proof against disruption. Training

plans for upskilling and reskilling begin with an evaluation of industry skill gaps.

Such forward-thinking analysis builds resilience and ensures preparation for the next disruption.

Increase collaboration. Both upskilling

and reskilling often involve job shadowing, cross-functional collaboration and collaborative learning — all of which forge stronger teams and strengthen shared goals.

Boost productivity, confidence and job satisfaction. Upskilling and reskilling

initiatives equip employees with the knowledge and skills they need to be productive members of the organization.

By extension, this training can boost employee retention by increasing workers’ confidence, motivation and job satisfaction.

As employees engage in upskilling and reskilling, the need to hire new employees or fill vacancies decreases.

According to Gallup, the cost of replacing a salaried employee can range from one-half to two times the employee’s annual salary.

Lower hiring costs over time.

Valuable Post-pandemic Skills and Attitudes When developing upskilling and reskilling programs, it’s important for trainers to focus on skills and attitudes best suited for post-pandemic realities. No matter the organization, the following are sure to be part of any effective training plan:

Whether focused on upskilling or reskilling, L&D professionals will play a critical role in reshaping workforces emerging from the pandemic by equipping employees with new skills, building on existing skill sets and supporting the development of new habits.

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A flexible, growth mindset. To adapt to the new normal, employees must be open to change and growth. By helping them establish this mindset, L&D professionals can enable employees to learn a wide variety of skills, improve self-motivation and cultivate habits of flexible, lifelong learners.

Emotional intelligence. The Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention report that the pandemic is having a significant psychological impact across demographics. Trainers have an opportunity to help employees recognize and express their feelings, as well as support their colleagues.

Emotional intelligence can generate stronger collaboration, greater team cohesion and increased job satisfaction.

Ability to master a wide variety of skills. As organizations adapt to post-

pandemic realities, they may need to quickly shift roles and responsibilities — often while short-staffed. Employees who have mastered a variety of skills will have the role flexibility required to meet

this demand. Some of the most critical skills for these times are: • Communication: Strong communication creates stability in the face of uncertainty by keeping teams and managers on the same page, uncovering barriers, and encouraging team members to contribute their insights and solutions.

• Critical and creative thinking: Employees that remain curious, have a high tolerance for ambiguity and are able to view problems from multiple angles will be well equipped to tackle the challenges of the postpandemic workplace.

• Well-being: Training that improves the physical, mental, emotional and occupational wellness of employees can decrease stress levels, prevent burnout, strengthen resilience, and boost creativity and productivity.

• Technology use: The transition to remote work and online business has made technologies, such as automated systems, artificial intelligence and information security, more important than ever. Helping employees become more tech savvy is one of the most important ways training can ensure they are prepared for the future.

Strategies and Best Practices Whether planning to upskill or reskill their workforce, it’s essential that L&D professionals begin with a clear program strategy. The following five steps can be tailored to the specific needs of any team, group or industry:

1.

Conduct an analysis to…

• Determine the budget, timeline and scope to place parameters on the project.

• Identify critical roles and responsibilities, performance benchmarks and core skills.

• Focus on the most valuable skills and attitudes that key groups will require to be successful both now and in the future – such as technology use, rapid learning and emotional intelligence.

• Take stock of current skill levels and existing resources and technology.

Not having to start from scratch saves time, money and energy.

The data gathered in the analysis phase feeds into other aspects of the upskilling and reskilling mission. Having more information up front provides meaningful insights needed to plan and execute successfully, which can foster a sense of certainty in an otherwise new and uncertain endeavor.

2.

Set learning objectives and define how they’ll be measured and assessed.

Employee performance will ultimately be the evaluative focus and lead to the achievement of business goals. With this in mind, start all reskilling and upskilling initiatives with clear, performance-based objectives. Doing so will align the entire process from design to evaluation. Moreover, it will ensure that the instructional focus remains on learner behaviors and application of skills – not just content.

3.

Prioritize

training

deliverables

based on immediate need, potential impact and ease of delivery, and build them. Accurately identifying what matters most can be difficult in times of rapid change. To overcome this challenge, begin by differentiating which deliverables are most urgent.

Then, assess which of these urgent tasks will have the greatest impact on employee needs and business goals.

Finally, estimate which of the most urgent tasks will require heavy lifting and which can be developed and delivered with ease. As you set your priorities, keep in mind that it’s often most productive and efficient to tackle the difficult work first.

4. Consider a beta test or pilot program, and modify your plans as needed based on the results. Conducting a smallscale launch of reskilling and upskilling programs provides valuable data about their feasibility and efficacy before implementing on a large scale. Think of it as a dress rehearsal or soft opening. By revising your plans based on your beta test data, you’ll increase the chances of employee adoption and the project’s overall success.

Forward-thinking analysis builds resilience and ensures preparation for the next disruption.

5. Deploy training and evaluate for refinements. Once upskilling and reskilling initiatives are launched, conduct evaluations and generate a lessons learned report. Remember that training evaluation should focus on multiple outcomes. To do so, be sure to use an established evaluation training model. Though the Kirkpatrick Model is one of the most common, there are many good models to choose from.

Whichever model you choose, the data gathered during evaluation will enable you to finesse your program and ensure it’s best-in-class.

A Final Consideration – Collaboration!

As trainers develop, design and deploy their upskilling and reskilling programs, it’s a good idea to forge cross-functional partnerships.

As the pandemic fundamentally and continuously shifts industries, solutions will require ongoing communication and collaboration across teams. When employees work together to solve problems, it fosters engagement and teamwork, increases proposed solutions, distributes the workload, and enhances a commitment to continuous improvement — all of which increase the chances the initiative will be a success!

Chapin Brinegar, M.S., is the director of instructional design for Encompass Communications and Learning, with more than 16 years of experience in education, corporate training and instructional design. Hollace S. Masino, M.S., is a senior instructional designer at Encompass Communications and Learning, with over 15 years of experience in training, education and leadership. Email Chapin and Hollace.

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Finding Value in Pre-assessments A case study in using eLearning assessments to map individual learning paths.

By Teri Beckman and Brenda R. Smyth

Every year, companies make massive investments in employee training — from leadership and customer service to teamwork and technical skills. In 2019, the Association of Talent Development stated that the average organization spent $1,299 per employee on learning and development (L&D), and Statista Research reported that the total expenditure on workplace training in the United States in 2020 was $82.5 billion.

Even though companies are making major investments in their employee training, it is often accomplished by plugging everyone into the same classroom for hazmat preparedness.

Looking at a classroom filled with employees, it’s obvious that many are bored, a handful are confused and only some are engaged. Although it’s easy to forget that people come to our organizations with varying levels of existing skills, the differences in existing knowledge are plainly visible when employees attend training.

Sure, there are benefits to be gained by having an eclectic group rub elbows, but learning scientists suggest that the brain will only absorb so much new information. When there is a room full of learners with vast differences in knowledge, some individuals will hit capacity before the rest.

What happens when they’re receiving information that pushes their limits?

Do they retain that information? Do they experience frustration? Do more knowledgeable participants also experience frustration at the slow pace?

The answer to all is yes.

Gaining Effectiveness from Personalized Learning Professional development satisfaction and efficacy largely comes from applicability for the learner. Organizations are looking for a positive impact on their business: higher retention, greater productivity, happier customers and greater sales.

As expected, qualitative data from live training courses regularly reveals

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that learners on the fringes give high marks to facilitators, but the information being covered sometimes misses the mark. The content is either too much of a stretch, or the learner already understands and uses the information being offered.

While one-size-fits-all training is easiest to offer, meeting individual employees where they are ensures training satisfaction, efficacy and application of new knowledge. One solution to consider is to structure professional training to assess current knowledge first, then place employees into training along a continuum or at a specific level.

A Case Study on Pre-assessments to Direct Individualized Learning This case study was developed to determine if the benefits of learning effectiveness would be greater if the participants were intentionally segmented, and each person was directed to a training opportunity aligned to their current abilities.

To test this solution, pre-assessment self-evaluations were conducted in two different training areas —Microsoft Excel and management. These preassessment tests were developed to enable learners to self-evaluate competency levels.

Learners accessed these preassessments through an eLearning platform. Then, two methods were used to help learners identify appropriate eLearning starting points.

Microsoft Excel Pre-assessment Explained The Microsoft Excel pre-training evaluation was built using video clips of a facilitator discussing varying shortcuts, functions and operations.

Learners were first given a brief description of content for each of the three levels and then asked to guess

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their possible starting point (X100 – beginner, X200 – intermediate or X300 – advanced). Within each level, they were then offered six 15-second video clips of training content appropriate to that level. Following each clip, learners were asked to rate their familiarity with the material in the video on a scale from 1 to 5 (with 1 being not at all familiar and 5 being very familiar).

Results were calculated, and learners were given a recommendation either confirming their original level choice or suggesting another level.

Learners were then offered a single comprehensive course at their assigned level or were able to access more granular microlearning materials one at a time using the X100, X200 or X300 course codes.

self-assessments if they were available in other professional development areas. Further evidence that quizzes used in learning environments appeal to learners is that several participants took the self-assessment but accessed no further training.

Prior to adding the Excel pre-assessment into the eLearning platform, users had access to the same Excel training materials, and usage patterns were not greatly affected by the addition of the self-assessment. Satisfaction levels and predicted application of skills learned were largely unchanged by self-assessments, indicating that – while learners saw merit in taking the assessment – it didn’t greatly affect how they searched for or used the eLearning platform.

Management Pre-assessment Explained

Using self-assessments with supporting training recommendations enables learners to pinpoint their own strengths and weaknesses.

Participants in the pre-assessment study were all heavy Excel users who reported using the program daily. A survey conducted after learners took the preassessment and completed some training placed them at 60% beginner, 20% intermediate and 20% advanced.

Participants using the Excel learning assets said they would apply 88% of the information covered in the training.

The majority (60%) said they preferred the microlearning Excel options to the longer course.

All participants said they were either somewhat likely or extremely likely to use

To develop the management preassessment, research was conducted to identify 10 competency areas needed in leadership. Scenario-based questions were then developed to help assess existing expertise, such as: “When delegating, I am likely to …,” or “When dealing with an employee who seems resistant to change, I should … .” This style of question was selected to decrease responses based on what the learner might assume is the right answer.

The final self-assessment consisted of 56 questions (five to seven for each competency area) and were accessed one at a time, with results in one competency not being affected by results in another competency.

Participants in this study self-identified as low- to mid-level managers with more than one year of experience.

Unlike the Excel pre-assessment, each competency area was assessed individually. Learners received a rating of expert, proficient, intermediate or novice, along with training prescribed based on the learners’ responses.

For instance, a low answer on only one question would prompt one related training suggestion; low answers

“With the right learning support structure designed and in place, the learner is, for the first time,in the driver’s seat. Emerging understandings of how to organize and employ data to identify and then meet learners’ needs, based on an assessment of what they already know, have created an environment in which learners, with good data and good advice, can make their own educational decisions.”

— Peter Smith, “The Coming Era of Personalized Learning Paths”

on multiple questions within the competency area resulted in multiple training recommendations. While the eLearning platform has extensive items within each competency, suggestions were intentionally held to one per question to avoid overwhelming learners with too much prescribed training.

Following the addition of management assessments to the eLearning platform, participants were surveyed on satisfaction and intent to apply learning.

On a scale of 0 to 10, participants rated the management self-assessment at a 7 for accuracy in assessing their management skills. However, 85% said they were satisfied with the assessment in enabling them to pinpoint the training they needed within the platform.

All participants reported satisfaction with the volume of recommendations.

Satisfaction with prescribed training content was 8.5 on a 0 to 10 scale from “not satisfied” to “extremely satisfied.”

And intent to apply the information learned averaged 8.9 on a 0 to 10 scale ranging from “none of the information was helpful” to “all of the information was helpful.”

The use of self-assessments also received high marks. When asked how likely participants were to recommend this assessment to other learners interested in building management

skills, it received a 9 on a 0 to 10 scale of “not likely” to “extremely likely.” When surveyed about the general helpfulness of self-assessment in targeting management training, all participants reported it was “probably needed” or “definitely needed.” Additionally, 80% said they would use similar selfassessments if they were available for other professional learning and development areas.

This study and subsequent survey did not have a control group, because the eLearning platform used was not previously segmented by management competency.

Four Notable Outcomes from Self-Assessments The execution of and findings from these two self-assessments suggest that some topics are better suited for self-assessment for individualizing training. For technical skills like Microsoft Excel, self-assessments are simpler to construct, and abilities and knowledge can more objectively be measured. You either know how to do something, or you don’t. Self-assessing the diverse soft skills required in management is trickier and less objective.

Participation and perceived value in self-assessments to pinpoint or direct

training was high. In both studies, learners viewed the assessment as helpful and reported interest in additional assessments and high likelihood of recommending to others. Assessments work best when learners are directed to specific prescribed training. It was more effective to provide specific training titles and accompanying links.

Following the self-assessment and prescribed training, purported intent to apply information learned was high in both studies. This data can serve as a control group as adjustments are made to both the self-assessments and related recommendations.

A one-size-fits all training solution is often the easiest training option for organizations. However, using selfassessments with supporting training recommendations enables learners to pinpoint their own strengths and weaknesses, giving them greater control and incentive to apply their learning.

Teri Beckman is the director of eLearning solutions at SkillPath, a worldwide business training solutions provider.

Using customer insight research, she continuously transforms and updates the SkillPath online learning platform, STAR12. Brenda R. Smyth has an extensive management background and is a content creator and researcher at SkillPath. Email Teri and Brenda.

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RIGHT PEOPLE, WRONG SKILLS: Turn Talent You Have Into Talent You Need

By Bianca Baumann

Market and technology trends, along with business processes, change the way organizations work, as well as the skills employees need to get work done. Never has the inability to react to those changes been so obvious as during the pandemic.

Employees are asked to work in a more agile fashion, leverage new technologies and innovate while remaining focused on getting the job done. But even before the pandemic, there was a need to fill existing and expected skill gaps in organizations’ workforces to stay competitive. A McKinsey survey found that roughly nine in 10 executives and managers say their organizations already face skill gaps or expect gaps to develop within the next five years. According to Deloitte’s Human Capital Trend Report, an estimated 90% of organizations will redesign jobs, and 54% of the workforce will require reskilling. These numbers suggest that organizations don’t have the talent they’ll need in the near future.

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MIND THE GAP According to the McKinsey survey, the most common tactic to address skills gaps is still hiring new talent. This means, while already facing massive disruption, organizations are bringing new talent in to fill skills gaps. This approach is far from practical. Instead, organizations should focus their investments on workforce transformation infrastructure and identify ways to upskill and reskill existing talent.

Reskilling existing talent means retaining years of company culture, institutional knowledge and existing relationships within and outside of the business. If skills gaps are constantly filled with new hires, the power of a connected organization is lost in the shuffle.

Investing in reskilling is also more costefficient and results in greater business

impact. The McKinsey study shows that reskilling is used as a tactic by 56% of respondents of a global survey. The seven out of 10 organizations that focus on reskilling report that the business impact has been greater than or equal to their investments. They also report increased employee satisfaction and customer experience.

Therefore, it is time to rethink how organizations handle disruption. Instead of hiring new people, they should focus on transforming the talent they have into talent they need. But, how can organizations transform their workforce and reskill their talent?

WORKFORCE TRANSFORMATION Let’s first define what workforce transformation means. Transformation

is about people and processes. There are many definitions, but – at its core – workforce transformation is the shifting of a workforce’s talent, roles and functions — through its knowledge, skills and mindsets — to align with an organization’s changing strategic initiatives.

Transformational work is exciting, but it’s also disruptive. To be successful, it requires a systemic transformation framework and processes, such as collaborative design thinking. After all, while pushing boundaries and creating the workforce of the future, day-to-day business must continue. What might a transformation framework look like?

Transformation frameworks provide a systemic look at your organization.

All transformation efforts should start with an in-depth intake process before diving into a current- and future-state analysis to create a transformation blueprint. With the blueprint in hand, you can start executing on it. You will systematically work through each phase, collaborating with key stakeholders and develop necessary outcomes in an agile manner. Let’s look at each of the phases in more detail.

INTAKE PHASE It is crucial that organizations identify the overall goal of workforce transformation and align activities accordingly. At this stage, you are level-setting to understand the main players, identify objectives and possible obstacles, and create a document detailing areas of focus to complete in each phase in order to move forward in the framework.

Start this phase with an intent and clarity workshop to answer the following questions:

• What are you hoping to achieve with this transformation?

BUILDING YOUR TRANSFORMATION FRAMEWORK Transformation frameworks provide a systemic look at your organization.

To strategically approach any transformation effort, first identify the areas of focus within your organization that will drive transformation. Examples include organizational effectiveness and processes, business and partner alignment, leadership development, talent management, and measurement and analytics.

Although you may choose only one or two dimensions, it affords you the opportunity to capture related issues.

For example, an organization may focus on business and partner alignment and realize that they have related governance issues. Additionally, the work done by performance consultants directly impacts the learner experience; however, it is crucial to understand the fluid boundaries between the areas.

• What current challenges are you facing daily?

• From your perspective, why are we embarking upon this transformation?

• What are the consequences if we continue with the way we work today?

• What industry changes are impacting employees?

• What does success look like?

Ensure you align all internal stakeholders not only to get their buy-in but also to confirm that everyone is clear about which elements will be prioritized, what the initiative is all about and how to support the effort along the way.

CURRENT-STATE ANALYSIS Once equipped with the strategic direction, shift your focus to the current state of your workforce. During collaborative working sessions, take stock of the current state of your areas of focus. Returning to the performance consulting example, identify the current processes and documents used and uncover what works and what doesn’t.

You can also leverage data sources to tell you more about the current state

BUILDING YOUR TRANSFORMATION FRAMEWORK Transformational work is both exciting and disruptive. To push boundaries while still focusing on day-to-day business, a transformation framework can help guide organizations through a collaborative approach. Keep the following phases in mind:

• INTAKE: Identify overall objectives and areas of focus, then align with stakeholders.

• CURRENT STATE: Gather information through interviews and data analysis, and create a current-state map.

• FUTURE STATE: Envision how the desired state looks; create a future-state map identifying existing gaps and high-level solutions.

• TRANSFORMATION BLUEPRINT: Bring your high-level solutions to life through envisioning sessions.

• TRANSFORMATION PLANNING: Select and prioritize initiatives; prepare for change management and communication plans.

• TRANSFORMATION EXECUTION: Execute your transformation blueprint.

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of your workforce. This could be as simple as human resources information and engagement data from technology platforms to understand where employees spend time or struggle.

Aside from a detailed current-state map emphasizing focus areas, another output of this phase is often several learner personas to better understand the worker and create a human-centric experience. Personas allow you to create a learner profile – including demographic information as well as offering a deep dive into what learners see, hear, feel, do and think. From there, you can identify pain points and learner needs.

FUTURE-STATE ANALYSIS

Collaborative design thinking workshops are one of the best ways to envision the future.

and develop them further during collaborative reimagining workshops with appropriate stakeholders. Ideally, you also bring in employees directly affected by the upcoming changes.

During this phase, the emphasis is on the desired state you would like to achieve in your focus areas. It’s a continuation of the current-state map, and you start to envision the future.

Continuing with the previous example, in a perfect world, what would your performance consulting function look like? And how would that affect the overall learner experience?

It is crucial at this stage to bring in all stakeholders again, and present your findings and recommendations from the current- and future-state phases.

Getting feedback at this stage will help with planning.

The output from this stage is a currentto-future-state map detailing gaps identified and high-level ideas of how to close these gaps for your focus areas.

These high-level ideas will be developed further later.

With the transformation blueprint in hand, select and prioritize various projects that you have identified to help your transformation efforts. This phase is highly collaborative, and you will achieve your goals through a set of working meetings and guided consulting conversations to drive decisions within your organization. At all times, you need to ensure that any decision-making is based on your organization’s overall objectives for transformation.

Collaborative design thinking workshops are one of the best ways to envision the future. Start with your learner personas, and define the problem you want to solve for them.

This is derived from the current-state map and is further defined with problem statements. These statements build the foundation for ideating possible solutions to help close gaps.

TRANSFORMATION BLUEPRINT This stage is all about summarizing your findings and making recommendations to produce a blueprint for executing transformation. Take high-level ideas from the current-to-future-state map,

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TRANSFORMATION PLANNING

Every transformation initiative is only as good as its change management and communication plan. Disruption is high when it comes to transformational projects. Employees will see and feel changes every day, and they might worry about losing their jobs or being reallocated. A thorough change management effort will help alleviate some of this anxiety. Go back to the learners you have leveraged throughout this process. Make them your advocates, and have them help you communicate changes.

TRANSFORMATION EXECUTION The last step in the framework is to execute your plan. This includes everything from building out training programs to instituting new processes, tools, templates and portals. It often includes a content strategy to identify what content can be bought, borrowed, bent or built. And, of course, it goes together with change management and communication plans to enable a smooth rollout.

TURN TALENT YOU HAVE INTO TALENT YOU NEED Transformation analysis and planning can take up to 120 days or more depending on how many areas of focus you select. The execution can take even longer based on what changes you are trying to bring to your workforce. Nevertheless, the effort and investment can be worth it if it means you can continue building a connected organization. The workforce of the future is more than just people you hire off the street because they might have a skill you need. It is the future of your organization – the deep understanding of your organization and what it represents.

Most importantly, it is the right employees that can help you achieve your overall strategic goals and objectives.

Bianca Baumann is the director of learning experience design at GP Strategies. Email Bianca.

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Putting Continuous Learning Principles

Into Practice

By David Flanagan, M.Ed., and Avantika Srivastava, MHROD with contributions from Michele Graham, M.S., and Robin Cutro, CPA

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In 2020, unprecedented change affected us all. That “change” came in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic, where businesses, governments and learning institutions shut down, and both our work and personal lives changed in dramatic ways.

Amid such change, learning organizations began to retool. It is tempting to think of this retooling as temporary — simply bridging the gap until we can get back to business as usual. But the effects of the pandemic will persist for years to come. More importantly, this view fails to see a critical opportunity – the chance to accelerate a continuous learning and development (L&D) culture and take risks.

Success and overcoming challenges will become a springboard toward growth and innovation. So, how should we move forward?

The Value of Continuous Learning A continuous learning and development culture includes dynamic, flexible, relevant, engaging and readily accessible learning. It empowers learners and strengthens their ability to apply their knowledge.

The appropriate delivery format is key to an engaging and effective learning experience. The right mix of learning interventions and interactions is essential because it encourages thought leadership and fosters innovation.

The COVID-19 pandemic is merely the current disruptor in a constantly changing world.

To become “disruptionready,” organizations must create a continuous learning and development culture.

Impactful continuous learning and development transforms businesses.

Opportunities to reinvent and deliver come with opportunities to learn.

Organizations that place a high value on learning are better able to reinvent and innovate, and organizations that innovate have a competitive advantage.

An environment of continuous learning will maximize learning experiences, meaning learning is effective despite physical restrictions: • Learning is available at the moment the learner needs it. This significantly reduces the gap between learning and its application. (See Figure 1.)

• 2020 proved there is tremendous potential in hybrid learning. Both virtual and in-person classrooms allow

Figure 1.

The closer learning is available to the moment of need, the more likely the knowledge gained is applied, learning strengthened, and an organizational benefit gained.

Learning Availability

Learning Application

Moment of Need

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flexibility for learners and facilitators to pace learning and save costs.

• Technology is a catalyst in creating dynamic classrooms, both virtually and in person. An investment in technology infrastructure creates an opportunity for high-quality learning.

Increasing the Impact of Virtual Learning Learning that is continuously updated and optimized allows organizations to meet changing market conditions.

To ensure that learning delivers the intended impact, monitor: • Shelf life: Learning should be relevant.

It must be continually updated and refreshed by subject matter experts.

Retire outdated content that has no application. It is good to add more interactivity and learning interventions for content with a longer shelf life.

(See Figure 2.)

• Accessibility: Learning must be easy and intuitive to find. It should utilize multiple formats and platforms as required. If learning is difficult to access and systems are too complicated, learning assets lose

their benefit. As the moment of need passes, the learner may not connect how to apply the knowledge and skills gained from training.

Leveraging Existing Infrastructure and Technology Is your organization optimized for continuous L&D? For those organizations seeking to improve, the first rule of thumb is to let design, not technology, drive program and content development. In many cases, the technology currently available within an organization will suffice. Design first, technology second should be the approach.

The heart of an effective design is to start by following these simple steps: • Examine the organization’s strategy.

• Set key performance indicators (KPIs).

• Align learning design to the KPIs. As part of the design process, it’s important to understand learning styles among those accessing learning programs and content.

Figure 2.

Learning utility curve (learning fitness) – Creating more engagement for learning with a longer shelf life will increase learning impact and retention and application opportunity, adding benefit to the organization.

Learning Impact

Learning Application

Learning Fitness

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An environment of continuous learning is, by default,an environment of continuous improvement.

It’s also necessary to establish a design framework and assessment rubric.

The design framework sets design standards across all programs while the assessment rubric evaluates learning.

There are three primary elements to an effective design framework: • Motivation: Strategies include gaining learner attention, connecting to the learner’s emotions and putting content into context.

• Engagement: Strategies include building on recent experience, varying learning approaches, fostering collaborative learning and providing frequent interactions.

• Retention: Strategies include breaking down complex concepts into smaller, digestible elements; using games, mnemonics, or small knowledge checks; and adding visual elements to help learners digest and process complex content.

The design framework and assessment rubric allow an organization to leverage existing resources and begin building a continuous L&D culture.

Supporting Your Continuous Learning Culture Continuous learning cultures include multiple delivery modalities – inperson classrooms, virtual classrooms, self-paced virtual learning and blended learning. Self-paced virtual learning can be used anywhere and across various technology platforms.

Using self-paced virtual learning is

increasingly common, even within the in-person classroom environment.

What content works best for each learning modality? Well, it depends on your learning objectives, which should flow directly from your organization’s strategy.

The debate over whether self-paced learning will dominate over classroombased courses is moot; the two paired form a highly effective learning partnership. And, while most in-person classroom learning transitioned to virtual classrooms, the balance between self-paced, pre- and post-course work, and classroom learning remains critical.

With an array of technologies and strategies, how can diverse content and delivery types be organized to build a robust, continuous learning environment? Strategies include: • Asset management: An asset management system is essential for storing, utilizing, and maintaining learning content.

• Curriculum design: This is a way to assess existing learning content, determine new content needs and pre-plan entire programs.

• Playlists: Playlists are a tool for organizing learning content of all types into one coherent and organized lesson plan.

Ultimately, the goal of leveraging existing infrastructure and technology is to create a manageable, scalable, flexible structure that achieves the L&D goals of the organization and maximizes employee retention. A continuous L&D culture is one where learning is not a periodic event.

Rather, it is ongoing, and knowledge is shared, information disseminated, new skills learned, existing skills honed and employees are actively engaged in the learning process.

context, where learning transforms into application. Also, those leading learning sessions should evolve from instructors to facilitators. Facilitators create an active dialogue with participants and build engaging and collaborative experiences designed to maximize both retention and application.

Collaboration is key to making any learning modality effective. Ensure there are ample opportunities for learners to collaborate and network. Learning interventions – such as polling, breakouts and group exercises – are an excellent way to build participation and collaboration during a classroom session. These interventions not only break the monotony of one-way instruction but also keep the learners engaged. They make the sessions interactive and allow learners to network and ask questions.

Even self-paced learning can be collaborative when online learning communities are cultivated. These platforms give the learner opportunities to interact and share knowledge with their colleagues.

The effectiveness of the learning programs should be measured based on key performance indicators (KPIs).

KPIs keep programs strictly focused on the learners’ and organization’s needs. Ways to measure learning effectiveness include: • Participant assessments).

knowledge

• Job performance after training).

(before

(via vs.

• Impact (efficiency in deriving results and achieving organizational goals).

The classroom will continue to be an essential element in learning. At the same time, blending classroom learning with technology can increase the overall impact of the program.

Putting Continuous Learning Into Practice

Summary

An essential element of continuous learning is placing content into

The path forward from our current challenges should focus on building

a continuous L&D culture. The value of this focus creates an environment that is sustainable, equitable and disruption ready.

Transitioning learning programs toward a blended delivery approach will be a crucial element in a thriving environment of continuous learning. Learning does not have to be completely virtual, selfstudy or classroom – it should be a mix of all. An in-person classroom program can incorporate virtual self-paced tutorials, and creative reimagination is key to making learning programs more engaging.

As you create your hybrid learning program, remember to: • Spread the program over a period to ensure learning is continuous.

• Leverage existing technology that is within reach and simple to use.

• Identify the portions to deliver virtually and through self-paced (depending on the geography, audience size and content material).

• Place the right interventions and the medium to engage the learner and encourage active learning over passive viewing.

• Provide opportunities to collaborate both inside and outside of the classroom.

The new reality does not mean a complete shift in delivery methodology or compromise in learning quality; it is an opportunity to redesign and recreate learning experiences that are both flexible and sustainable.

David Flanagan, M.Ed., is a digital asset design professional and an associate director for the KPMG U.S. Tax Business School. Avantika Srivastava, MHROD, is a learning enthusiast and an associate director for KPMG Global Services, India.

KPMG Global Services, India. Michele Graham, M.S., is a director for the KPMG Tax Business School. Robin Cutro, CPA, is an executive director for the KPMG Tax Business School. Email the authors.

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W

e’re well into year two of the global COVID-19 pandemic, and upskilling is more important than ever. Remote employment and changing consumer demands require new ways of working. Add the influence of never-ending digital innovation to the mix, and it’s clear that people and organizations need new skills to adapt, survive and thrive in 2021 and beyond.

Indeed, six in 10 workers say the pandemic and resulting economic crisis have accelerated the need for new skills.

At the same time, nearly half say their current skills are becoming obsolete.

Many are likely to leave their current jobs if their employers don’t invest in their development. Yet, 46% of workers surveyed say their workplaces have

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reduced upskilling opportunities during the pandemic.

Simultaneously, some forwardthinking organizations, like Unilever, have doubled down on their upskilling investments. Unilever chief executive officer (CEO), Alan Jope, described his organization’s strategy, “We are stingy deployers of capital and operating expense, but there are three areas where if someone comes forward with a proposal the answer is ‘yes.’

Those three areas of spend for us are in green technology, in upskilling our people, and in IT investment and digitalization.” Likewise, The L&D Global Sentiment Survey 2021 places reskilling and upskilling at the top of learning leaders’ agendas.

2021 FOCUS: SKILLS, NOT JOBS For human resources (HR) and talent leaders, this amounts to incredible challenges and opportunities.

“Regardless of whether your company is hiring or retrenching, the C-suite is counting on you for leadership,” Mike Smith, Global CEO at Randstad Sourceright, noted in the firm’s 2021 Talent Trends Report.

“At no time has workforce strategy been more critical to business outcomes than it is today, and you’ll need to elevate HR’s function further to meet and exceed expectations,” Smith wrote, challenging HR and talent leaders to think and act boldly.

UPSKILLING TO THE RESCUE Organizations can embrace upskilling and help your organization avoid a disastrous talent exodus. Upskilling aligns the skills of your people to your company’s evolving business strategy.

It also boosts their productivity, as 41% of workers who lack confidence in their skills feel that tasks take longer as a result.

You can implement an advanced, effective and iterative upskilling strategy in seven steps. Whether you’re just now getting started or your upskilling efforts are well underway, you can leverage this seven-step process to gauge your current strategy and expand your efforts to create and capture even more business value.

STEP 1: IDENTIFY FUTURE SKILLS What critical skills will your workers need in the coming years? Answer this question for your company, departments and business units, and individual workers.

First, consider your company’s business strategy and objectives. Identify three to five skills necessary to achieve your organization’s goals. A company that needs to improve call center service, for example, might need enhanced communication, empathy and data science skills.

Sometimes it makes sense to start at the department level, especially if you work at a large, complex organization.

Your head of sales might say, “Our department really needs to focus on negotiations,” so that becomes a critical skill.

Of course, critical skills for individuals will vary. Encourage your workers to own their upskilling and support them with career conversations. Most of the time, an individual worker’s aspirations will support organizational objectives. Encourage this, and stay open-minded to people trying new things.

STEP 2: ASSESS SKILLS This is about establishing a baseline of current capabilities. It allows you to measure progress in a meaningful way and set upskilling goals. When you’re starting your assessment, focus on the three to five future skills you’ve identified as critical.

One way to establish a skills baseline is to do it manually. You can survey your people through independent assessments or 360-degree reviews.

You can also pull data from your human capital management (HCM) software, applicant tracking system (ATS), learning experience platform (LXP) or similar applications. If they’re not integrated, you’ll probably be managing data with spreadsheets.

A more comprehensive and less laborintensive way to establish your baseline is to use purpose-built technology that meets the challenge of fragmented and ever-evolving data sets. Find a platform that integrates with your HR tech, continuously collects skills data from your workforce and ensures your people’s skills are current.

STEP 3: SET UPSKILLING GOALS Add targets to your plan. More specifically, gather a baseline of existing skills to help determine how your organization will go about learning the future skills it needs to fill gaps. Again, take into account your organization as a whole.

Plans, like skills, will vary person to person. How many skills can people focus on simultaneously? Encourage your people to pick one or two based on their gaps. Any more than that can make learning unwieldy.

sense for your people. Remember, the most advanced upskilling strategies help people build skills through practice, feedback and reflection. Examples of learning methods include: • Online, self-directed. A project manager watches a once-a-month webinar series about keeping teams aligned and practices what she learns with her teams.

• Team-based learning (virtual or in-person).

A marketing team wants to streamline its processes, so it participates in a teambased Agile methodology workshop where it restructures its processes in a series of virtual learning sessions.

• Peer-to-peer. One customer service rep finds an online forum that discusses ways to deal with difficult customers.

Peers then practice, get feedback and reflect together prior to conversations with real customers.

• On the job. A retail supervisor asks an associate to help manage shipping, sharing increasingly more instructions and responsibilities over time. This is real-time, on-the-job learning, so it’s important for the supervisor to provide feedback throughout the process.

Keep in mind that people learn best when multiple learning methods are leveraged and learning is personalized.

Encourage your workers to own their upskilling and support them with career conversations.

STEP 4: MAP LEARNING TO SKILLS

STEP 5: MEASURE SKILLS PROGRESS

You’ve set your upskilling goals. Now comes some fun — figuring out how to achieve them. This is about picking learning methods that make the most

Are your people retaining and using their new skills? Continually track progress against a series of key metrics – including a skills inventory and progression — to

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see how people are filling their skills gaps. You can also track: • Trending skills – by surveying employees on the skills they view as critical.

• Skills by department or business unit.

• Skills by group.

• Skills by role.

• Skill certifications, credentials earned.

badges

and

Data can come from content providers, a learning experience platform (LXP) or other upskilling solutions.

posted that lists data science as a critical skill. The worker can apply, and continually develop their new skills.

Simultaneously, the manager gets a motivated, internal candidate.

Internal mobility initiatives like this reinforce learning as well. Research shows that people forget an average of 90% of what they’ve learned within a month unless its applied.

STEP 7: COMMUNICATE METRICS OF SUCCESS Demonstrate how your upskilling strategy is impacting your business priorities, and reinforce the value it delivers. To communicate your

STEP 6: MATCH SKILLS TO OPPORTUNITIES Help leaders recognize what talent already exists in your organization.

You can do this by creating a dynamic career marketplace for internal mobility that connects your people with new projects, stretch assignments, gig work and even completely new jobs.

Demonstrate how your upskilling strategy is impacting your business priorities, and reinforce the value it delivers.

Let’s say a worker who’s learning data science skills sees an internal project

success, choose metrics important to your business leaders and stakeholders. These can include, but aren’t limited to, employee engagement, time to productivity, workforce retention, sharing and collaboration, percentage of people working on new assignments, new roles, and revenue growth.

WHEN IN DOUBT, KEEP IT SIMPLE If you’re a people leader, upskilling is a great opportunity to drive positive and impactful business results. That said, upskilling doesn’t have to be complicated. Take it step by step. If you’re looking for a good place to start, talk to the head of a business unit and identify three to five critical skills people need. Gather preliminary results and feedback, and keep building from there.

Kelly Palmer is a thought leader on the future of work, learning and career development. She is the chief learning and talent officer at Degreed, co-author of the book, “The Expertise Economy,” and the former chief learning officer of LinkedIn. Email Kelly.

Avoid an Upskilling Fail in 7 Steps You can give upskilling life, and make 2021 a big learning success in seven steps: 1. Identify future skills: Determine which critical skills your workers will need to help your business thrive in the coming years.

2. Assess skills: Establish a baseline of current capabilities, so you can measure progress.

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3. Set upskilling goals: Add targets goals to fill skill gaps.

4. Map learning to skills: Decide which methods you’ll use to achieve your goals.

5. Measure skill progress: Continually track progress against a series of metrics.

6. Match skills to opportunities: Connect people with new projects to continue learning.

7. Communicate metrics of success: Show leaders how upskilling impacts your business, reinforcing its value.

CHANGE REQUIRES SITUATIONAL LEADERS. Change is constant.

Develop Situational Leaders who can adapt and grow.

situational.com

How to Future-proof Your Workforce: Understanding the Past to Move Forward

By Roger Rinker

their employees. Therefore, managers should be involved in developing their people’s skills. You could even say that managers are your organization’s secret, skills-building weapon. The business and learning and development (L&D) need to ensure that managers have the necessary tools to develop their teams.

After more than 30 years in corporate human resources (HR) and talent development, you see a lot of things.

Some decisions that – in retrospect – seemed small at the time were – in fact – meaningful, important and ultimately had impacts on company culture. In many cases, these decisions changed the trajectory of the careers and, in some cases, the lives of the employees within the organization. Looking back, it is clear that mistakes were made and unrealistic solutions were agreed to. To be clear, these were not malicious decisions with immediate impacts but rather a string of seemingly small events that shaped the culture around talent development and succession planning.

This article shares lessons learned as an HR professional to illuminate

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leadership’s role in decisions regarding employee development and futureproofing workforces for both present and future generations.

Learning to Develop Your Workforce Effectively How many leaders and managers receive elementary training? Many talent development professionals haven’t received the relevant training to keep up with the needs and wants of a rapidly expanding workforce. So, how are frontline managers expected to develop their employees efficiently?

More often than not, employees don’t leave a “bad company”; they leave a bad manager. Managers should understand the job, the business constraints and

Consider the proverb, “Experience is the greatest teacher.” How much time do managers spend planning new experiences to engage employees in their development? Or – considering much of what we learn, we learn from others – how much time does a typical manager spend strategically thinking about upskilling employees while neglecting giving feedback on performance?

While many organizations opt for annual performance reviews, this is often too infrequent and ineffective.

Have weekly or monthly meetings with employees where you make lists of their must, should and could do’s; prioritize the items in those lists; and offer feedback on employees’ prioritization and execution of their tasks. One-onone meetings can be done in five to 10 minutes and will make more sense than the traditional performance review that comes just once a year. In the new world of work, employees need

3 Considerations to Effectively Develop Your Employees

Get Managers Involved in Employee Development L&D must ensure managers have the necessary tools to develop their teams.

Meet Learners Where They Are Leverage technology to enable learners to access information when they need it most.

Prepare Your Talent Pipeline

L&D must prepare employees for their current and future roles within the organization.

Give employees space for self-directed learning and help them connect their learning to their development.

more feedback and not just from one person. Meaningful feedback paired with meaningful career conversations with leaders across business functions allow employees to learn new skills and aspire to other roles within the organization.

The Leadership Gap We live in a world where the majority of people under the age of 30 grew up using a computer. Yet, five years ago, an executive leadership team told me that their employees wouldn’t do “computer learning,” because they didn’t have computers or the internet. Really? The reality is that, by 2028, Gen Z and Millennials will make up 58% of the workforce. Therefore, it is essential that L&D leaders evolve to meet the needs of those employees.

As we have seen in recent years, but especially in 2020 and 2021, online learning is invaluable in order for organizations to adapt to the future of work. As many of us know, poorly constructed employee resource portals and learning content will sink an L&D function. In our learning department, we had a joke many years ago that – no matter what the question was – you could find the answer on the

portal. What made it funny (and sad) was that you would spend hours (if not days) trying to find it amid other poorly organized and redundant job aids.

This is not acceptable in today’s world.

L&D is here to help learners find their purpose. Give employees space for selfdirected learning and help them connect their learning to their development, so they feel engaged and excited in their learning journey.

After upskilling and reskilling, one major priority for L&D in 2021 is collaborative learning. After being forced into the online environment last year, L&D leaders understand the need for social learning where learners can work together and stay connected. This can be achieved by integrating learning tools with dedicated collaborative workspaces, customized content playlists and forums.

Checking in Before They Check Out Back in the day, we would spend days at succession planning summits to discuss “future moves” of top-tier talent. We would talk about developing our talent and the “next moves” for them. We would record it and put it in fancy binders that would gather dust on the shelves as the year unfolded in before us. Looking

back, it all seems pretty surreal. There’s internal pressure to have a stockpile of high-potential candidates, so many times the talent isn’t as prepared as promised.

In the new world of work, employees need more feedback and not just from one person.

Considering your current and future employees as part of your development strategy and providing consistent feedback enables employees to take control of their career trajectories, reference other internal roles, and clearly map the skills and competencies necessary to move into new roles within the company. The learning and talent discussion will continue to evolve over the coming years, so HR and learning leaders must leverage technologies that take a people-centric approach and support a modern talent journey.

Roger Rinker is a business solutions consultant for Enovation. Email Roger.

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March 13, 2020 – a day that will be etched in our memories forever. For millions around the globe, it was a day that marked the end of “life as we knew it” and ushered in a “new normal.” Health dangers and economic uncertainty like we have never experienced before accompanied an altered existence in which the freedoms we’ve always taken for granted were challenged to their core. And terms

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like social responsibility, mental wellbeing and resilience took on whole new meanings!

knocked down by challenges, but they return stronger and more steadfast than before.

What Does Resilience Mean?

A resilient person works through challenges by using personal resources, strengths and other positive capacities like hope, optimism and self-efficacy.

Overcoming a crisis via resiliency is often described as “bouncing back” to normalcy.

Resilience in positive psychology refers to the ability to cope with whatever life throws at you. Resilient people are

Similarly, organizational resilience is the sum total of individual employee resilience and is contingent upon strong employee engagement and a unified sense of purpose.

IN THE MODERN WORKPLACE, SUCCESS RELIES ON AN INDIVIDUAL’S CAPACITY TO COPE AND THRIVE AMID STRESS. Defining Organizational Resilience According to Deloitte, resilient organizations plan and invest for disruption and can adapt, endure and rebound in a way that enables them to not only succeed in its aftermath but also to lead the way to a better state.

A resilient organization: ♦ Rebounds and resumes decisionmaking quickly.

Family Relationships Form the Foundation of Resilience Family relationships play a vital role in building resilience. This starts at a young age when we are heavily influenced by our guardians and parents. More resilient children are raised with warmth and affection in a family that’s structured and supportive. Family resilience has been defined as a family’s ability to “withstand and rebound from disruptive life challenges, strengthened and more resourceful.” Dr. Froma Walsh, one of the leading authorities on family resilience, has identified nine processes around the beliefs, organization and communication of families that can shape their response to adversity, using it as a catalyst for growth. It’s about enriching relationships and making family members more skilled at coping with future stresses.

♦ Manages and mitigates organizational risks on a continuous basis. ♦ Is communicative, collaborative, cooperative and creative. ♦ Fosters a diverse and empowered workforce. ♦ Invests in an adaptive and flexible infrastructure. ♦ Has committed leadership and program management. ♦ Embeds resilience into the culture of the organization.

Resilience in the Workplace In the modern workplace, success relies on an individual’s capacity to cope and thrive amid stress. Individuals can

build their resilience in the workplace by developing a variety of effective strategies that reduce vulnerability and susceptibility to stress.

There are six different resilience competencies organizations should seek to develop to cultivate a resilient workforce, including:

Self-awareness allows an individual to recognize their strengths, identify their weaknesses and enhance their skills.

This allows an individual to take charge of their personal and professional development.

Self-regulation is being able to regulate your thoughts, actions and emotions. According to Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee in their 2002 book, “The New Leaders: Transforming the Art of Leadership,” people who selfregulate see the good in other people and are able to identify opportunities in different situations. They are good communicators, hard workers and are able to keep going when times are tough.

Optimism

is having the ability to be realistic and hopeful. It’s about having confidence in oneself and one’s teams.

Such people are natural leaders and are able get work done.

Strength of character is being able

to use your strengths to be a good leader and create good leaders.

Mental agility

is the ability to do creative troubleshooting and adapt in dynamic situations. Such people have a growth mindset and are able to transform along with their organizations.

Connection is about having strong relationships and effective communication skills. In the workplace, connections mitigate conflict and drive client relationships, team effectiveness and employee engagement.

Resilience is not only important for its impact on burnout, adaptive workplace behaviors and protecting against workplace stress; resilience is also a contributing factor to physical well-being.

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How to Build A Continuously Build Resilient Organization Skills in the Flow As each organization transitions to a of Work post-pandemic workforce, the need to anticipate, strategize, plan and execute at speed increases significantly. Chief human resources officers (CHROs) need to build resilient, flexible and responsive organizations in which resources, operations and processes can sense and respond to change.

According to a Gartner report, CHROs are currently faced with three urgent priorities: How do we get the right skills in the right place at the right time? How can we redesign processes and structures to adapt better to disruption? How can we respond to demands from our customers, as well as leadership, managers and workers? The main actions to build a more resilient organization are: ♦ A dynamic approach to reskilling. ♦ Rethinking work, workforces and workplaces. ♦ Adopting agile practices to reboot human resources and people operations. ♦ Developing new types of leaders.

Since the future of work is unknown and the pace of change is so fast, the skills strategy that organizations adopt must be dynamic and drive quick results.

The strategies outlined in a 2018 IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) study still apply today: Leverage digital tools to create personalized learning experiences for every employee. Organizations need to understand the current skills of every employee, know where the company needs to progress and personalize learning paths. Companies should take time to understand the needs of the market, the business and their workforce, creating deeply personalized skilling experiences in the flow of work.

Aim for deep visibility into the skills you have today. Signal to employees the roles and skills that are growing in demand, and provide employees with engaging, meaningful ways to cultivate their skills in the areas that matter most. This approach assesses and measures the skills of the workforce on a regular basis. The outcome is an objective, reliable skills

Expanded data collection

Rapid decision making

Reworking “work” Flatter, faster organizations

More remote work

Emergence of top-tier employees

Supply chain and stakeholder robustness

FUTURE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT Separation of critical skills and critical roles

Leadership and talent readiness

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More technology

Shifting from designing for efficiency to resilience Increased organizational complexity

baseline to monitor a company’s skills position over time and provide necessary details for targeted workforce planning.

Curate content and a marketplace for skills-driven learning. To remain competitive, companies must adopt an open technology architecture, and select partners able to take advantage of the latest advancements. Within the organization, build agile teams, and create a culture where learning becomes viral.

Creating a talent marketplace provides opportunities for job sharing and internal mobility that focus on skills development.

Continually identifying the key skills needed for success and aligning future skilling strategies throughout the entire employee lifecycle – from recruiting to compensation – is essential to keeping employees and learners relevant.

Redesign Work to Enable Employees to Be More Responsive Organizations can use their new work priorities to rethink and reconfigure their workforces with evolving business needs. The future of work involves considering the work, workforce and workplace comprehensively.

Hybrid workplace will be the norm.

The work environment must adapt to support the new hybrid workforce and work culture. The environment itself must be intelligent and dynamic, connected and secure, and independent of time and place. The workspace must enable access to corporate resources and support collaboration to allow all workers to effectively contribute.

The composition of the workforce will change. The workforce composition will transition to a blended model made up of both full- and part-time employees and another dynamic group made up of strategic partners, consultants, contractors, interns and gig workers.

This approach allows for organizations to be agile and draw upon a skilled talent pool. The future of work is about rethinking the way work gets done.

Action Area

Implications for the Enterprise

Impact

Measure employee performance continuously and transparently

Clear and continuous coaching and performance conversations are essential to proactively address workforce and performance issues.

Very high

Invest in the new role of leadership

The role of leaders requires new and different skills and behaviors.

Predict strong leaders with analytics and invest in their development.

Very high

Build and apply capabilities in agile and design thinking

HR must be equipped to help design and manage agile teams through operations, rewards, performance management and workplace productivity tools.

Very high

Pay for performance — and skills — in a fair and transparent way

The old model of pay for tenure prevents growth, innovation and hiring of top people.

Very high

Continuously build skills in the flow of work

Employees and leaders must be learning all the time, with both formal and informal learning embedded in the culture, coupled with capability academies for deep skills.

High

Design intentional experiences for employees

Today’s workforce expects meaningful employee experiences that are highly personalized, responsive to their needs and constantly improved.

High

Modernize your HR technology portfolio

The move to a cloud-based architecture enables speed, scalability and flexibility.

High

Apply data-driven insights

People analytics is now essential to understanding, managing and continuously improving organizational performance.

High

Reorient and reskill your HR business partners

HR must act as strategic advisors, trusted coaches and data-driven problem solvers.

High

Source talent strategically

Top talent can come from novel sources, so companies must look inside and outside to find the best hires to remain competitive.

High

Humanity at the Heart of the Cognitive Enterprise As new technologies, business models and global disruptions converge to transform the enterprise, it has become more important than ever to elevate the work and skills of employees and teams. According to the IBV study, “Accelerating the journey to HR 3.0,” business executives agree that HR must be radically redefined.

Personalization, skills, data-driven decision making, transparency and agility are at the core of this new HR. The analysis revealed 10 priority action areas (See Figure 2).

Invest in the new role of leadership.

Leadership today needs to focus on collaboration, listening, and the ability to navigate uncertainty. Leaders put the team first and exhibit behavioral traits such as agility, communication and adaptability. They are seen as coaches, empowering their teams to innovate.

Build a sense of psychological safety and personal autonomy. During crises, leaders need to create cultures that acknowledge and allow for the mental and emotional pressures people face in their daily personal and professional lives.

THE FUTURE OF WORK INVOLVES CONSIDERING THE WORK, WORKFORCE AND WORKPLACE COMPREHENSIVELY.

employee takes responsibility for building their knowledge by cultivating a growth mindset. Develop the resilience they will need to expand their networks and remain relevant in the future of work.

Leading Forward

When people have autonomy, they have more freedom to take advantage of breakthrough methodologies. As a result, they are in a better position to help themselves and their organizations stay ahead.

This past year revealed that the most efficient organizations able to weather disruption were the ones that had already started preparing for the future of work. These organizations had embarked on a transformation with their employees at the core of their strengths and capabilities. Their ability to adapt with courage and flexibility is a testament to the competencies engrained in their people. These resilient organizations learned how to navigate turbulent times, reinvent themselves and discover new ways to achieve greater outcomes in the future.

Encourage people to develop career resilience. Drive a culture where each

Sonia Malik is a learning strategist at IBM. Email Sonia.

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Knowledge development (KD) is globally recognized as a key cultural component of any great company. In its annual report, the World Economic Forum identified “the ability to learn” as one of the most important skills to acquire in the digital age.

To succeed in any industry and prepare to participate in its continuing evolution, you must adopt habits and practices that empower lifelong learning. Whether you’re a new associate or an experienced

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manager, this behavior is necessary to help your company stay relevant. Gone are the days of a job for a life. Upskilling ourselves is now a permanent feature of our work.

What does it mean for a company to create a knowledge development department that strategically aligns the training function with your organization’s goals? How can you make sure learning is essential, meaningful and accessible to everyone?

THE WORKFORCE OF THE FUTURE In literature, there are two main catalysts for almost every decision made by a knowledge development leader: the half-life of a skill and the skill mismatch.

The half-life of a skill refers to the period of time a skill is innovated, flourishes and then becomes irrelevant.

In a few years, that valuable skill you gained in school or in the workplace

is half as valuable as it was when you acquired it.

To stay relevant and to build the workforce of the future, a cutting-edge company has four solutions: RESKILLING: Raising the skill capacity of current employees by teaching them new or qualitatively different skills.

REDEPLOYMENT: Redeploying workers with specific skills to make better use of the skill capacity already available to them.

designed and delivered, change mindsets accordingly and implement a knowledge-sharing culture. However, learning leaders often place too much focus on creating great training events and not enough on creating a culture that supports employees’ learning.

talent gaps and provide guidance on prioritizing the learning agenda.

For instance, if a team is expected to be experts on machine learning, but everyone is a beginner, this skill gap should be addressed as soon as possible.

Upskilling ourselves is now a permanent feature of our work.

The skill self-assessment survey also helps leadership easily identify and leverage internal experts to facilitate tacit and explicit knowledge sharing.

Courses created and maintained by employees will foster cultural change.

Curiosity and knowledge transfer are at the heart of building a strong culture of learning.

HIRING: Acquiring individuals or entire teams with required skillsets.

CONTRACTORS: Leveraging contractors, temporary employees or freelancers from outside the organization to cover immediate needs.

Regardless of cost, it’s a good practice to retrain employees and retain your talent. Those who receive the necessary training are able to perform their jobs more efficiently. The question is no longer, “Where do employees find the time to learn something new?,” bur rather, “How do we integrate our tolearn and to-do lists?”

Alternatively, the skill mismatch is the discrepancy between the skills sought by employers and the skills possessed by individuals.

A new report by Boston Consulting Group highlights that a skills mismatch is imposing a 6% annual tax on the global economy in lost labor productivity.

According to the report, the skills mismatch is the key barrier to human capital development. In order to realize the full potential of human capital and fix the global skills mismatch, workers must learn continuously. They must maintain their performance throughout ongoing technological change and be trained for activities that do not yet exist.

In turn, employees also need to take responsibility for their own professional development.

KNOWLEDGE DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK I have developed a simple framework that provides guidance not only for the measurement of skill gaps, but also for the implementation of an ecosystem to ensure the broadest possible access to training opportunities. The knowledge development framework involves three phases (see Figure 1).

The steps enable KD leaders to define learning strategies and instill continuous transformation in their workforces.

Comparing the expectation with the reality will help quantify and assess

Job description to create consistency across the organization.

The KD leader works closely with their human resources business partner to create clarity around the talent strategy, the career framework, and the job description of existing and desired roles.

With this framework, you should be able to identify whether you have skill gaps.

Now, how can you proceed to ensure the broadest possible access to training opportunities and set up an infrastructure for upskilling and reskilling?

CREATING A KNOWLEDGE REPOSITORY The KD department must be responsible for the creation and maintenance of a knowledge repository that serves as a one-stop shop for employee development. This will ensure that you are consistent in the way you are educating your employees.

Skill map to clarify expectations for each position.

Skill self-assessment survey to prioritize the training agenda.

The KD leader partners with senior leaders to create a skill map.

For each competency area, clarify the level of knowledge expected in each department and role.

The KD leader, human resources business partner and the leadership team promote a voluntary survey in which associates are asked to reflect and comment on their level of knowledge across a range of skills.*

To make it happen, companies must rethink the way education is

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* May be subject to local legislation.

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Curiosity and knowledge transfer are at the heart of building a strong culture of learning.

Company Onboarding

Department Onboarding

This catalog must contain learning resources, presentation decks, recordings, job aids and case studies to help employees in their development journey. If you’re partnering with an external learning provider, everything should be embedded in the same career path. Avoid fragmentation to create clarity.

Ideally, each pathway consists of cumulative levels that bring the learner from “skill awareness” to “skill expertise.”

Those pathways can comprise selflearning options, live webinars, books, job aids and other forms of content. Be sure to identify the boundary conditions for approaches rather than portraying each approach as the sole solution.

The recommendation is to divide your offering into four sections:

It’s important to remember that synchronous learning experiences, such as virtual or in-person master classes, should complement the regular training agenda. These experiences offer associates the opportunity to receive immediate feedback from the experts, build their network and share their knowledge. Associates need to authentic activities and adequate practice in order to apply new skills and knowledge to their jobs.

1

COMPANY ONBOARDING: It’s the perfect time to tell stories about your organization’s history, values, people and vision for the future. Usually, this section will take new employees through their first week in your company, and help them understand the company culture and how you operate.

2

DEPARTMENT ONBOARDING: Consider a tenured team member transitioning to a new team.

Changing departments is comparable to starting a new job in a new company.

As a person gets started in a new group, they must begin with a refreshed understanding of the organization and their basic skills and knowledge.

This offer will comprise foundational knowledge across competencies.

3

CAREER-PATH COMPETENCIES: Once the foundation is set, the KD leader needs to work with internal experts, identified through the skill self-assessment survey, to create and maintain pathways for each area of expertise required across departments.

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Nudge your learners to put their learning into practice when they return to work. The ecosystem of support that surrounds a learner before and after training has more effect on knowledge transfer than any traditional approach to training delivery.

4

TALENT ACCELERATOR PROGRAMS: Define future roles and set up an infrastructure for upskilling and reskilling. These programs help prioritize focuses on hard and soft skills, facilitate internal movement, and scale-up employee transitions. Talent programs are designed to enable the most ambitious, curious and bold associates to become the next generation of global business leaders by providing relevant

Career-path Competencies

Talent Accelerator Programs

learning experiences. Such programs also offer the opportunity to close the divide between under-represented communities in current teams, especially leadership. As such, they contribute significantly to a company’s diversity and inclusion agenda.

CREATING A LEARNING CULTURE The ultimate goal of knowledge development is to help organizations and employees achieve their goals. For that to happen, creating a culture that encourages employees to continuously learn – and the infrastructure to support that learning – is crucial. And, never forget, recognizing and drawing attention to successes in knowledge development is critical for the future of the practice. Learning professionals should be adept at attracting learners to what they’re offering.

If you follow the above recommendations, your knowledge development strategy will be solid and robust. You will gain the support of the leadership team and serve as a voice in and resource for your organization.

Francesca Farinati is the tech knowledge development leader at NielsenIQ. As a global manager, she’s an advocate for knowledge and an ambassador of lifelong learning cultures. Her focus is to promote an organizational culture that facilitates tacit and explicit knowledge sharing and organizational learning.

Email Francesca.

TRAINING FOR EVERY EMPLOYEE Lorman Education Services provides online training for teams and enterprises. Our courses cover a broad range of skills, meet the continuing education requirements of nearly 100 accreditation agencies, and give professionals the training they need to stay productive.

Learn more at lorman.com or by calling 866-352-9539.

SKILLS DEVELOPMENT COMPLIANCE TRAINING PROFESSION SPECIFIC CE

CASEBOOK

eNewHires: ONBOARDING MILLENNIALS AND GENERATION Z

BY IVY COWGILL

CHALLENGES FACING A RETIRING DIVISION Faced with a retiring workforce within a large Fortune 500 financial services division, the company began onboarding young millennial and Generation Z employees. However, outdated onboarding methods and modalities, such as being paper based and requiring memorization without knowing “why,” coupled with two battleweary subject matter experts (SMEs) as the training team, proved insufficient for this incoming workforce. Before the divisional policy knowledge walked out the door, something had to be built.

To overcome these challenges, the newly appointed training leader would need to change the new hire program, which called for a revamp to optimize job performance and expedite turnaround from the training room to the work floor. A dynamic, blended approach for optimum engagement and performance improvement was the result.

Aside from the younger workforce entering this division, the training leader discovered three problems following a thorough needs analysis: 1) information and resources were scattered, 2) a lack of an educated training team, and 3) not fully knowing what they know as an operational division (i.e., working in silos).

Faced with these big challenges on top of the needs of a younger workforce, the training leader, with the support of the divisional stakeholders, focused on three all-encompassing solutions: 1) technology

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modalities used with eLearning tools, 2) social learning opportunities, and 3) foundational adult learning methods for optimum success. Each solution could be broken down into micro-solutions. This layered approach resulted in a robust new hire onboarding six-week program for the highest level of performance, as well as a synergistic training team for new hires to reach a 96% success rate in their performance following training.

AGE REALLY ISN’T A FACTOR IN THE EQUATION WHEN A NEW HIRE ONBOARDING PROGRAM IS DONE CORRECTLY.

eLEARNING TOOLS Since this large division was tasked with processing and inputting nationwide new client information into the system, as well as a customer support phone team, the training leader determined there were tools required for the workforce to proficiently look up and handle policy details, protected health information, and state laws. The faster the processors could input a new client, answer questions and move on to the next client, the better.

The largest solution determined by the training leader entailed a SharePoint

community of practice to offer a communal location for resources impacting the entire division, then areas broken down by department, and finally a training section. This community quickly resulted in faster responses and turnaround times to save from having to locate answers within staff email inboxes. Consistency and transparency were also provided across departmental lines, as well as ongoing or just-intime employee and leadership training solutions that were easier to determine and deliver. Ultimately, the leader obtained clarity in truly “knowing what we know” as a synergistic division.

The training leader implemented a digital OneNote notebook solution that encompassed the full six-week schedule with dynamic links to the various online SOPs, technical manuals and processing guides. Not only did this provide one source to learn from, it also offered trainees a “living-breathing” resource to utilize back at the desk for consistent learning and handling of client policy information. The goal was to provide learners with enough hands-on practice through the six weeks of training that when they returned to their jobs, they would no longer need to use the dynamic manual, but it was still available if needed.

Finally, online evaluation surveys were employed throughout the training process. Feedback opportunities were provided on the new hire program structure, trainers, SMEs and the mentorship program. This meant that the new hire training provided was leveling

up and becoming stronger and better for each new group to experience; this had the side effect of the newly built training team also becoming more proficient and synergized in performance.

professional bonds were also created that later resulted in corporate loyalty and stable career pathing.

Since part of the job requirement was having minimum experience with computers and software within this division, the trainees quickly adapted to learning the technological solutions provided and even became part of the evaluation process in offering improvements. This enabled young trainees to play a crucial role in giving their voice to the onboarding structure, resulting in increased loyalty.

KNOWING THAT LEARNING DOESN’T HAPPEN IN A VACUUM NO MATTER THE AGE, SOCIAL LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES WERE PROVIDED THROUGHOUT.

Knowing that learning doesn’t happen in a vacuum no matter the age, the trainers provided social learning opportunities throughout the new hire program, starting with real world role-playing, hands-on performance exercises, mentorships between a new hire and a high performing employee and job shadowing, as well as leader shadowing.

Combining all these social elements gave a deeper understanding of the job expectations, as well as the team, divisional and organizational cultures.

FOUNDATIONAL RESEARCH-BASED METHODS Even though most of the solutions implemented by the training leader were technology or eLearning based, the foundational concepts of solid adult learning theory and instructional design played throughout, starting with a thorough analysis, nurturing key stakeholder partnerships, feedback opportunities at every level for full transparency and course corrections, tangible analysis and measurements to show the return on investment from the training organization, as well as building and supporting a seasoned and passionate training team.

The training leader noted that a happy and intriguing discovery surfaced by providing such deep social learning opportunities within the new hire onboarding program; the trainee became deeply invested in the success of the team. Strong friendships and

Knowing the learning curve was beyond steep for the trainee, great effort was taken by the training leader and the training team to methodically lay out the instructional design aspects of the new hire program to layer the concepts in the hopes that the trainee would learn

SOCIAL LEARNING

a new concept, practice to proficiency, and then move on. This was reinforced with the mentorship program in order to offer support where needed, especially during times of confusion or frustration to keep trainees pushing through.

This resulted in a very low drop out and termination rate as observed and tracked by the training leader.

IT WASN’T ABOUT AGE AFTER ALL Although the retiring workforce was starting to exit at an ever-increasing rate, shifting the age and experience level of the incoming employees, implementing a new hire onboarding program that focused on technology modalities, social learning opportunities and foundational adult learning methods offered a robust and successful training solution that resulted in highly engaged, proficient and loyal employees within this growing and thriving division.

The combination of all three solutions provided for a stimulating and fully immersive learning experience for the trainees. It was determined that age really isn’t a factor in the equation when a new hire onboarding program is done correctly via taking both the learner and the business into consideration.

Ivy Cowgill is a performance improvement consultant, coach, NLP practitioner, and the CEO of Rockin’ Leader, specializing in building and transforming teams, as well as providing strategies to professional women stuck in taking their careers to the next level. Email Ivy.

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JULIE WINKLE GIULIONI

PERFORMANCE MATTERS

PUTTING TOGETHER THE DEVELOPMENT PUZZLE

During a recent conversation, a long-term client shared how she and her family entertained themselves during the darkest days of the pandemic — by assembling jigsaw puzzles. Each evening they’d come together and find the pieces that would fill in the image they were trying to complete.

Did you know there’s a name for people who enjoy completing jigsaw puzzles?

It’s “dissectologist” (based upon a time when the puzzles were referred to as “dissected maps”).

While I’m not one to work on jigsaw puzzles in my spare time, the conversation and the label itself did get me thinking about parallels to learning and development and its changing role.

Over the past several years, building skills and competencies within an organization has become more puzzling than ever before as a result of trends like: downward pressure on seat time, increasingly distributed workforces, the need to become more efficient, and the shift toward more learner control.

Today’s L&D professionals must be more intentional, creative and flexible than ever before to meet organizational challenges and take advantage of innovations and newly available development options.

Rather than delivering a “completed picture” or the comprehensive training events of the past, they must parse learning out differently, more incrementally, as interconnected pieces that learners put together for their individual benefit.

As a result, highly effective learning professionals are increasingly leaning into their dissectologist role.

1. Are learners consuming or constructing the content? For instance, when it comes to learning a simple new process, an instructional video or job aid may be all that’s required because consuming this information is sufficient to build awareness or skills. On the other hand, highly sophisticated competencies require more engagement, learning by doing, trial and error and coming to one’s own conclusions about how to be most effective. That involves constructing insights and understanding.

The challenge, however, is that traditional frameworks may not be nimble or discrete enough to inform new approaches to learning. We might need to organize the available puzzle pieces (or the vast number of learning options and objects) differently to be able to deploy them more flexibly toward today’s development challenges.

2. Is the activity solitary or social in nature? Given the nearly universal pressure to reduce seat-time to its realistic but bare minimum, this second distinction is key. There are plenty of activities that learners can do on their own to enhance knowledge or skills.

As L&D professionals, we need to take advantage of these opportunities — and when we do, it preserves that precious face-to-face time for the activities that demand and produce value through social exchange.

For me, it’s been helpful to sort the learning puzzle pieces into a simple two-by-two matrix based upon two factors:

Table 1.

Consuming

Constructing

Solitary

Social

Self-assessment and reflection New assignment Greater responsibility Stretch assignment

Networking Information interviews Communities of practice Coaching

Special project

Mentoring

Books Articles & podcasts Videos/TED Talks Online learning Apps

Workshops/webinars MOOCs Conferences Feedback Cross-training

Table 1, with suggestions for beginning to build out my schema, offers one way of sorting the individual jigsaw pieces.

But, as a learning dissectologist, this is your puzzle. And the most important question is: How will you organize the pieces so they can be assembled in fresh configurations that create a clear and complete picture of individual and organizational success?

Julie Winkle Giulioni has 25 years of experience working with organizations worldwide to improve performance through learning. Email Julie.

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Empower Your People. Improve Performance.

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SRINI PIL LAY, M.D.

SCIENCE OF LEARNING

CLOSING THE SKILLS GAP: WHY MINDSET MATTERS

Recent technological growth has many companies focusing on reskilling. To allow these new skills to be adopted and implemented at the rate of change, leaders must foster mindset shifts. What mindset practices do you need to address in order to make sure reskilling sticks, and how can you implement them within an organization at scale?

BIG PICTURE When organizations plan on reskilling, they rarely attempt to prepare minds first. When they do, it is not done in a way that boosts cultural coherence and connection. You can avoid this by first designing a program for buyin from leaders, and subsequently implementing a program for onboarding existing employees. In this way, you grow a transformative mindset culture that feels consistent and rewarding.

MINDSET SHIFTS In order to learn new skills, the brain needs to be prepared. Teaching new skills in an environment of work overload or tremendous uncertainty requires three important mindset shifts: 1. ALLOW FOR FOCUSED AND UNFOCUSED TIME While the brain’s attention and memory regions must be active when learning new information, learning how to apply this information requires unfocused time to activate a network in the brain called the DMN (default mode network), which is responsible for putting puzzle pieces together.

Whether employees are learning how to use a new machine or learning new leadership competencies, providing breaks during the skill acquisition period is critical if you want the learning to stick. You can do this by planning “unfocused” time for 15 minutes every hour, or at least every 90 minutes. Aside from breaks, unfocused learning, such as doodling while listening, can improve memory and retention.

2. TEACH MINDSET COMPETENCIES TO MANAGE CHANGE Reskilling efforts will activate the brain’s conflict detector, making a person hold on to old ways of doing things. This can be mitigated if managers teach learners how to manage switch cost — the emotional price that you pay for change. One way to do this is to use a technique called “spreading of alternatives.”

To do this, ask learners to write down all the advantages of the current system and what the new learning will add. Ask them to do this until they truly understand why the new learning is worth it. It also helps to give adult learners a choice about what they want to learn. Autonomy is a key driver of motivation, so where choice is possible, provide it.

3. TEACH MINDSET COMPETENCIES TO BOOST AGILITY In the workplace, “agility” refers to the ability to reprioritize on a whim, and avoid burnout in the process. Two key methods are “feedback control” and

“impedance control.” These involve looking at the system in which you are working to limit the feedback to only what is relevant, and to identify what is slowing things down.

BEING FLEXIBLE IS KEY TO LEARNING. At a systems level, this is key, as up to 29% of people who are highly resilient still experience burnout due to inefficient systems. Allow people to choose when they want to share feedback, opinions and learning, and when they would rather do things alone and in their own time. Being flexible is key to learning, especially in the current hybrid working environment.

SCALING LEARNING Technology can help scale this learning in a relatively stress-free environment.

Stress blocks new learning as it makes the brain go into habit mode. However, any learning management system can store key steps in implementing the unfocused, change and agile mindsets. Also, you can send out reminders so people remember that learning new skills can be fun, less stressful and adaptive in a world that is constantly changing.

Dr. Srini Pillay is the CEO of NeuroBusiness Group. He is a Harvard trained psychiatrist and neuroscientist, and on the Consortium for Learning Innovation at McKinsey & Company.

He is also the author of, “Tinker Dabble Doodle Try.” Email Srini.

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TOP

20

COMPANY

SALES TRAINING & ENABLEMENT

2021

2021

NEW TOP 20 LISTS LAUNCHED

TOP

20

COMPANY TRAINING OUTSOURCING

CONGRATULATIONS TOP 20 COMPANIES VIEW THE LISTS The Top 20 Companies are a service provided by Training Industry, Inc. Due to the diversity of services offered, no attempt is made to rank Top 20 lists.

MICHELLE EGGLESTON SCHWARTZ

LEARNER MINDSET

EMBRACING A CULTURE OF SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING

There may be no “I” in team, as the saying goes, but there is definitely an “I” in learning. When it comes to professional development, learners should be at the center of their own learning experience – identifying their learning needs and finding solutions to close skills gaps. A culture of self-directed learning empowers employees to grow their skill sets and contribute toward business goals.

The desire to learn is universal – despite myths that suggest learning is only important to younger generations in the workplace. All employees want to learn. And the effectiveness of that learning is amplified when the training is delivered in a modality that the learner prefers, according to Training Industry research.

LEARNERS SHOULD BE AT THE CENTER OF THEIR OWN LEARNING EXPERIENCE. Continuous learning is needed to keep up with the pace of change in today’s evolving business world. The ability to learn, unlearn and relearn are necessary skills to remain agile and adaptive – and they are only growing in importance.

In fact, the World Economic Forum listed active learning as a top skill to master by 2025, highlighting the critical role learning plays in employee and organizational performance.

The shift to remote work has required employees to take greater control over their learning and development. As

challenges arise on the job, employees seek out information to solve their problems. To ensure learners are finding the right information, L&D must develop a learning strategy that provides necessary resources to employees in the flow of work.

endless access to information. With so many new technologies on the market, the buying process can be overwhelming. To streamline decision-making, L&D should select tools that fit the unique needs of their organization.

Here are a few tips to create a culture that embraces self-directed learning and empowers employees to grow:

• Provide access to resources: Having a robust library of learning resources is great, but if learners don’t know where it is, then it’s useless. Ensuring employees have access to training content is a necessary step in a learning strategy. Utilizing learning experience platforms or learning libraries can help to organize learning resources in one central location.

• Promote the benefits of learning: Selfdirected learning requires a significant amount of initiative and motivation on the part of the learner. Get employees excited about managing their own learning journeys. The effectiveness of a self-directed learning culture hinges on the employees’ recognition of the need to learn new skills, as well as their motivation to close skill and knowledge gaps. Employees ultimately want to know how learning will benefit them. By addressing this question, L&D can increase learner buy-in and engagement.

• Increase manager involvement: Selfdirected learning provides employees with the flexibility to select what they want to learn and how they want to learn it. While this is certainly a benefit to learners, managing your own learning journey can be challenging.

To maximize learning effectiveness, managers should be involved to ensure employees are focusing on the right skills and helping them apply new skills on the job.

• Utilize the right tools and technologies: Technology provides

• Foster peer-to-peer learning: Social learning is a big part of the learning experience. Creating opportunities for employees to connect and share experiences can provide a meaningful network of support. These opportunities could include discussion boards, communities of practice or a library of user-generated videos of employees sharing insights.

A culture of self-directed learning empowers learners to manage their learning experience. As the rate of change continues to increase, lifelong learning is going to be key to employee and organizational success. Moving forward, organizations must prioritize active learning to develop an adaptive workforce that is ready to pivot.

Michelle Eggleston Schwartz, CPTM, is the editorial director at Training Industry, Inc. Email Michelle.

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CLOSING DEALS

$3.8 BILLION ACQUISITION DEMONSTRATES THE VALUE OF ONLINE TECHNICAL TRAINING IN 2021

BY TARYN OESCH DELONG, CPTM

Last December, Pluralsight announced that Vista Equity Partners would acquire it for $3.5 billion — by our calculations, the largest reported sale of a training company in industry history (although, notably, Coursera’s recent initial public offering valued the company at over $7 billion). In March, the company announced a revised agreement with an 11% increase over the original agreement: $22.50 per share instead of $20.26 per share (about $3.8 billion).

to do with new free time, searched for eLearning opportunities like the ones Pluralsight offers through its individual course offerings. Companies, looking to pivot from in-person training to remote learning, searched for partners that would make it easier for them to do so through enterprise offerings — again, positioning Pluralsight to gain even greater market share.

Pluralsight, which describes itself as a “technology workforce development company,” offers technical skills development and engineering management solutions. The company has also recently announced a couple acquisitions of its own: DevelopIntelligence, provider of skills consulting and virtual instructorled training (VILT) for information technology (IT), software development and engineering teams, and Next Tech, a cloud-based computing environment provider that enables the authoring and hosting of labs for hands-on software development, data science and machine learning training.

THE DEMAND FOR SKILLED SOFTWARE ENGINEERS CONTINUES TO OUTSTRIP SUPPLY.

A PERFECT STORM As a TechCrunch article pointed out, the demand for skilled technical professionals was high even before the pandemic, but the shift of many teams to remote work last year drove online learning consumption through the roof.

Individual learners, looking for ways to boost their careers in a challenging economy or simply looking for something

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Technical skills gaps, meanwhile, proved to be even more troublesome in a remote workplace, where difficulties with connectivity, remote collaboration and cybersecurity were exacerbated by distance and home networks. In fact, Training Industry research found that the technology industry increased its use of virtual instructor-led training from 29% to 39% and self-paced eLearning from 29% to 34% of their training after the start of the pandemic.

“We have seen firsthand that the demand for skilled software engineers continues to outstrip supply, and we expect this trend to persist as we move into a hybrid online-offline world across all industries and interactions,” said Monti Saroya, co-head of the Vista Flagship Fund and senior managing director at Vista, in the initial press release announcing the acquisition.

WHY SO MUCH? With a 2020 revenue of just $391.9 million, why did Vista Equity Partners invest so much in Pluralsight? Ken Taylor, president of Training Industry, Inc., believes it’s because Pluralsight has the potential to be “more than just a collection of courses” and to become a “delivery platform.” The company grew by 24% last year, so Vista Equity Partners is “paying a high multiple for a high growth rate company” that it likely believes will enter more markets, he says. Plus, $391.9 million is nothing to sneeze at in the training industry, particularly in such a niche market.

“Pluralsight has good margins because they primarily sell digital learning,” Taylor adds, though with a cautionary note: Skillsoft, another online learning company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year before being acquired by Churchill Capital Corp II and merged with IT training company Global Knowledge. What’s to stop the same thing from happening to Pluralsight? “Why won’t the cost of maintaining the catalog become so big and so unruly and so difficult to manage that they end up with the same kind of problems?”

Taylor points out that we’ll have to wait to find out, but with the future of learning shifting ever more toward digital, Pluralsight seems to be well aligned with what’s to come.

Taryn Oesch is the managing editor of digital content at Training Industry, Inc. Email Taryn.

COMPANY NEWS

ACQUISITIONS AND PARTNERSHIPS Kahoot!, the global learning platform company, has acquired employee engagement and learning app provider Motimate. This acquisition will allow Kahoot! to strengthen its focus on employee engagement while continuing to build the next generation of tools for employee learning, engagement and corporate culture, while strengthening its position in the corporate learning market.

IXL Learning, developer of personalized learning products, announced its acquisition of Rosetta Stone, the leader in technology-based language education.

Rosetta Stone empowers more than one million people in 150 countries to read, write and speak 30 languages. With this acquisition, IXL continues to expand its influence over the quickly growing field of online learning.

Carimus, application developer and technical consultancy organization, announced its acquisition of Joulebug, an environmental and wellness-focused social platform for companies and employees. Joulebug gives co-workers a space to share posts and photos of the environmental actions they are taking.

The integration will expand Carimus’ footprint in the realm of wellness and sustainability.

Velocity Advisory Group, a leadership development and management consulting firm, has acquired Leadership Pacing, founded by Bob Weinhold. As a Partner at Velocity Advisory Group, Mr. Weinhold brings extensive experience in the Healthcare and Pharmaceutical sectors, as well as M&A and Business Transition specialties.

RLG Capital & Trinity Private Equity Group announced new investment in learning platform company eLearning Brothers to support the acquisition of The Game Agency – an industry leader in game-based learning technology and content. The investment and acquisition further expand eLearning Brothers’ suite of innovative learning technology products.

Accenture (ACN), the global professional services company, has acquired fable+, a consulting firm specializing in business agility and analytics-driven transformation.

With this acquisition, Accenture adds to its repertoire fable+’s proprietary cloud-based app, which allows leaders to measure psychological safety and team performance, while quantifying key culture factors that drive performance.

INDUSTRY NEWS ADVANCING CREDENTIAL TRANSPARENCY AND ACCESS

Greenlight Credentials, the world’s largest blockchain-secured ledger of verified life-long learning records and related credentials, has entered a partnership with national non-profit Credential Engine. The partnership will advance credential transparency and access by allowing learners to seamlessly share essential information with education and training providers to increase their opportunities to earn quality credentials.

The two organizations will continue their efforts to make credentials comparable across a wide variety of platforms.

NEW RESEARCH INITIATIVE TO ADVANCE INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP WITHIN ORGANIZATIONS

Deloitte, the multinational professional services network, has partnered with the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton

School for a new research initiative that aims to advance inclusive leadership within organizations. Their research will allow Deloitte professionals, Wharton students, and other organizations to become more inclusive leaders. Based on their research findings, Wharton’s McNulty Leadership Program (MLP) will deliver a series of workshops annually tailored to Wharton’s undergraduate, MBA and Executive MBA communities.

NEW TALENT DEVELOPMENT SOLUTION

Human Capital Management (HCM) company Paycor today launched Paycor Talent Development, a performance management software that empowers companies to focus on continuous development with coaching conversations that will help employees feel more engaged, create the right level of focus and deliver better business

outcomes. Paycor Talent Development offers a low touch, yet robust, development management platform that provides automated workflows to support employee processes.

BLENDING LEARNING AND PERFORMANCE

Betterworks, the leading strategy execution enterprise software company, announced a new approach to employee development by integrating its OKR platform with Udemy for Business, a world-class enterprise learning platform powered by Udemy, the world’s largest global marketplace for learning and teaching online. The new product integration allows employees to search, discover, and launch Udemy for Business courses from within the Betterworks interface as well as link learning progress and outcomes to measurable goals.

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LEVEL UP

AT HOME Prioritizing your growth as a great learning leader has never been more important.

Keep learning and developing important skills at this time by investing in virtual professional development designed for you, the learning leader.

View the calendar at the trainingindustry.com/ continuing-professional-development/calendar