Written by Suresh Ramakrishnan on Digilah (Tech Thought Leadership).
Technology has played a key role in the way content is consumed across age brackets and more so in the corporate world.
One just needs to type in a few words on a browser and there could be a million links on offer.
With AI and ChatGPT coming into the fray, the options have multiplied many folds.
The biggest change or rather the challenge one is faced with has been – how to quickly arrive at what one is seeking. The deluge of content and the sponsored ones at that has the potential to create confusion. Sometimes offer contradicting information too depending on the source. Information related to diet or simple medical diagnosis are classic examples.
At the corporate level too, the struggle to create specific learning interventions for problems either at the individual or group level is intense.
The issues, just to name a few are:
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- Lower attention span among employees is a serious one to tackle. In the digital world we live in today, it is extremely difficult to remain focused and avoid getting distracted by mails, notifications, calls or messages.
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- The avenues to find content are one too many. The lucky one’s land on the content of their choice whereas most tend to lose track in the sea of answers thrown at them.
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- The big question of ROI – how does one measure effectiveness.
How does one tackle lower attention span?
The solution to this problem starts with the team lead. While giving regular feedback, the recommendation offered to upgrading one’s skill should have a specific roadmap.
The starting point is to make the individual receiving the feedback realise that an intervention is necessary.
The second step would be to educate or sensitise the individual on the path that has been charted out and the rationale behind creating the specific path.
The third step would be to create milestones or check points to understand the pace or if any changes need to be made to make the learning more effective.
Learning is purpose driven – It is up to the leaders / managers to define the purpose so that the individuals can visualise what they are likely to gain.
The purpose is what helps one avoid distractions. The focus is high and regular feedback sessions iron out issues if any.
How can one navigate through the deluge of content available at one’s disposal?
Imagine if the individual spoken about in the earlier paragraph is told what to upgrade or upskill but has not been told where to find the content related to it.
He or she would be hard pressed to keep track of the events / discussions / meetings happening in and around to get access to the relevant knowledge / skill. It could be a nightmare leading to frustration and lack of anything meaningful.
This is where the L&D team can come into play and guide them through curated learning paths through several online service providers and ensure the journey does not start and stop online.
There could be ample coaching / mentorship introduced at various levels and certain events / conferences that can help them with industry wide views.
The integrated approach makes learning fun and meaningful.
Yes, there are ways of keeping track of the learning through all channels using blended learning techniques which are becoming extremely popular. Some prominent technology platforms enable this.
The big question – effectiveness of learning?
Most online learning platforms offer valuable insights through course completion rates, diligence in taking a course, before and after quizzes, NPS scores (measured through techniques like discussion threads, referrals to name a few).
Curiosity in going beyond the learning path to seek additional information / knowledge. It requires a bit of ‘connecting the dots’ to produce a thorough analysis as focusing on one or few indicators however good, could be misleading.
This brings ‘action learning projects’ into focus – where several stages are created to assess the individual’s knowledge and skill application in real time scenarios.
The skills to be used would be those offered in the courses. The respective leaders / managers must spend quality time evaluating them and offering them suggestions wherever necessary.
Technology – the great enabler
The three points mentioned above lean more on human intervention, but one should not forget the role technology plays in ensuring the process is smooth.
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- Technology can help sequence learning; continuous assessment provides indicators of how well the concepts are assimilated.
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- There are creative ways to break the monotony using gamification. Content delivery can happen through videos, animations, and voice overs. The case-based scenarios entail a more broad-based solutioning approach. There are more than one way of analysing and solving problems and it is possible to guide them through this.
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- Remote teams can collaborate online and sharing knowledge / insights can happen in real time.
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- Learning can happen on the go and is device agnostic.
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- Leaders / managers can keep track of their team members and intervene at a point of their choosing.
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- Technology platforms have the best authors and content curators at their disposal and the dissemination can happen seamlessly across continents and in a language of choice.
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- Analysing learning at the individual level with great amount of detail is possible. This helps offer specific change one can bring about to make learning more effective.
The focus on adoption rates on online platforms
One gets to hear this across forums where the debates on adoption rates hits a crescendo.
Presenting three crisp case studies of large and prominent companies and how they tackled this problem,
Case study 1 – A hospitality giant with an impeccable record of service standards, ensures undertaking training is part of the KRAs of their employees.
A quarterly evaluation tracks completion rates and application on the job. Increments and promotions are dependent on these too. One may ask if a carrot and stick method is a clever idea?
Well, if you are accountable to certain service standards, compromises are not welcome. In that context, it is the right thing to do.
Case study 2 – A large manufacturing company had hundreds of long serving employees, many among them were not well versed with online techniques.
They combined physical sessions with online courses and the trainer guided them through the process. They opened a training area where individuals could undertake these sessions.
They conducted such session across offices / plants and locations. The adoption rates were phenomenal.
Case study 3 – A pharmaceutical giant created a reward mechanism (good one at that) for those who showed proper application of their learning through their action learning projects – where they suggested ways and means to tackle real problems that the company was facing.
The employees received their recognition and the company benefitted from not only upskilled employees but unique ideas too.
Will AI (artificial intelligence) change the way we learn?
AI can help in three distinct ways:
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- Depending on your search or interest, AI can suggest more courses, relevant topics or reading material that can add more value to the knowledge you seek.
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- It has the power (when put to proper use) to lessen the workload of L&D personnel to curate a learning journey. This will include both offline and online techniques.
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- If metaverse indeed becomes a reality someday, you will have several virtual agents complementing the work done by physical trainers / coaches. The extent to which they can go to fetch the right material is unimaginable (future thinking)
Conclusion
While technology has enabled training deployment, there are aspects or rather subjects especially soft skills that, as of today, needs a discerning eye from L&D folks and team leads to suggest a personal intervention.
Technology will have its limitations and may appear impersonal in addressing sensitive issues.
No one knows when technology will exactly replace a human being in form and conduct and until that day comes, human interactions will rule.
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