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Microlearning Pioneer to Share Insights on the future of L&D and Job Proficiency at February Learning Technologies Conference in London
Burlington, MA, February 7, 2019 – Qstream, makers of software that uses science, data, and mobile technology to prompt meaningful behavior change, shares five best practice tips for chief learning officers to prepare their workforce to respond to the evolving needs of customers and market changes. With the popularity of microlearning on the rise, Qstream is seeing a fundamental shift in the learning and development environment — moving away from a focus on the quantity of training to one where the real L&D ROI is determined via quantifiable improvement in job performance through behavior change.
“Employee job proficiency has become the new currency of learning. This makes it critical to adopt personalized, adaptive, and collaborative ways of learning to get the highest engagement, and therefore performance, from your employees,” said Michael Connolly, Director of Enterprise Sales, EMEA at Qstream. “People are the core of organizational success so it is vital for leaders to support workforce development effectively and with lasting impact.”
Here are five best practices from Qstream for CLOs to create an effective corporate learning culture to improve employee performance:
- Link learning goals to business goals: Every leaning initiative, big or small, should have clearly defined and measurable goals that link directly back to a business goal. Otherwise, learning may become a nice-to-have instead of a must-have, which can diminish executive sponsorship and funding.
- Engage employees with a culture of positive and personalized learning experience: Companies succeed when they positively engage their employees. By investing in learning and development that is highly relevant to a job role, organizations are supporting employees to excel, which in turn has a direct impact on organizational performance. Most importantly, learning investments tell your employees they are personally supported in their professional development, especially if learning experiences, coaching, and feedback specifically address their own learning needs.
- Use proficiency metrics to identify or adapt learning programs: One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to effective learning strategies. To be agile, companies need to continuously adjust learning programs towards where the biggest impact will be and where the biggest gaps in proficiency are. Having proficiency and learning engagement metrics at the individual, team, or group level gives CLOs the intel they need to allocate resources and take action where it is needed most. For example, the metrics could inform if action should be targeted coaching at the line manager level, retraining, or deep dive learning for specific cohorts.
- Rethink the tech stack to modernize the learning experience: The modern workforce is becoming a millennial majority with Gen Z beginning to filter into the mix. It’s crucial CLOs adapt learning experiences to how digitally native generations will engage most – mobile, real-time, socially connected, on-demand, short form, and visual learning. Traditional read and understand learning is no longer effective or measurable. One way to keep learning diverse, fun, and engaging is with mobile microlearning in the everyday flow of work. This is true for all workers in knowledge-intensive fields, not just for the younger workforce.
- Learning must stimulate critical thinking: To make workers better – not just smarter – incorporate scenario-based simulations into critical thinking education to develop and ultimately help shape behaviors. This is especially helpful when combined with spaced education techniques such as spacing and testing. Fact-based learning is a critical foundation to performance, but learning leaders need to know how this knowledge is applied situationally at the time it is needed.
To learn more about microlearning that drives behavior change at scale, join microlearning experts Michael Connolly and Meredith Odgers of Qstream during their session at Learning Technologies, on February 14, 2019. More information can be found HERE.
