As a key area in any type of business, L&D must constantly innovate to bring the organization closer to its objectives, meet the needs of students and manage the budget efficiently. All this while adapting to the changes in the external world.
Even during the pandemic, in 2020 companies spend over $357.7 billion on training programs—which is still more than what was invested only 5 years before—, but the big question remains: How real, positive, and sustainable is the impact that these efforts have on the company?
Measuring the ROI of L&D is still a difficult task, but it is more achievable when the expected results are clear and measurable—both quantitively and qualitatively—, and the training is adapted to the reality and current needs of the company, and to the economical, political and socio-cultural environment in which it operates.
Without a doubt, 2022 will be a challenging year when it comes to implementing successful learning programs. The new normal in business is still a concept in the making, but we do know that the unprecedented wave of remote workers who will remain in that modality has a huge impact on the company dynamics, culture, and ways of communicating, as in job loyalty.
Leadership development
New business leaders will have to develop the usual qualities and skills but applied to a new environment: the digital one. Many of them will have almost no physical approach with their team, yet they still need to motivate and inspire them while ensuring that everyone is aligned and committed to working towards the same goal.
Engagement of learners
Steve Glaveski, author of Time Rich: Do Your Best Work, Live Your Best Life, mentions in the HBR that some of the reasons why training is mostly ineffective are because we’re learning for the wrong reasons, the wrong things, and at the wrong time, which is why we quickly forget what we’ve learned. If it has already been difficult to engage learners in the old ways, the new normal brings challenges that can be solved in very creative ways if addressed in time.
Provide consistent training
Even when this is a challenge in itself, it gets worse when the second one is not addressed. Engage your learners, find ways for them to make the most of what they learn, motivate them to want more, and you will create a healthy flow when it comes to adequately and consistently training your team to achieve company and personal goals.
Follow-up and post-assessment
If you don't want your employees to go to training simply because they "have to," make sure there is a sensitive and conscious follow-up that shows that the company really cares about the impact of its L&D programs and the opinion of its learners. How to do this in a remote working environment? The ball is in your court, and this play is fundamental to creating a consistent strategy that can actually have a positive ROI and a real influence on your employees’ lives.
New skills application
If all of the above have been done well, likely, your employees will start to organically apply what they have learned in their day-to-day life. Why? Because you have taught them something they needed to learn, you have shown them with practical cases how this made life and work easier for them, and you have made them feel satisfied with the results.
Still, falling into old patterns is so easy and humane. The process of stopping an old habit to adapt to new ways must be carried out collectively from all areas of the company, maintaining the motivation and awareness that was achieved during the training.
We all know that a crisis is an opportunity for change, and in an area that has caused as much controversy and ambiguity as L&D, work-life after a pandemic can present unique opportunities to make the leap in every way.
How do you dream it?
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