The past couple of years have thrown many organizations into constant pivot-mode. Organizational leaders have scrambled to keep their education strategies afloat in the midst of the pandemic and have brought in new ways of supporting their team development processes. As a result, organizational training has taken a bit of a backseat for some companies. But as companies learn to function even more effectively during the pandemic (and bounce back from it when it is well controlled), corporate training will take a front seat once again.
A key question organizational leaders should be asking themselves in 2022 is “What corporate learning trends should I align my company with this year?” By becoming aware of current corporate learning trends, business leaders can ensure their organizations stay on the cutting edge of training and their employees remain engaged, skilled, and ready for whatever the future brings.
Learning Trend #1:
Keeping Up With The Pace Of Change
Employees need to be able to quickly and easily access the training resources they need. This is especially important as companies change their modes of work with remote participation. It’s vital that employees have access to opportunities to learn swiftly and keep up with the quick pace of training.
You can make learning options accessible to employees at all times and on any device through mobile learning functionality. A few benefits of mobile learning include accessibility for all users, lower training costs for companies as most employees already own smartphones or tablets, and increased productivity. As employees are given freedom outside of office hours to learn, they often increase productivity in other areas of their work.
Talk to me about Text/SMS training that can be customized for your teams. This is a low-cost option where your teams will receive daily short burst training via text message, which helps inspire and maintain engagement for longer periods of time.
Learning Trend #2:
Individualized Training Is The Name Of The Game
Personalized and Individualized training is trending in 2022. As employees’ training needs have changed, organizational leaders are making training more personalized to increase engagement and knowledge retention. Hyper-personalization is a concept in which the learning experience becomes highly customized for each individual.
Bespoke training and coaching for individuals and teams and strategic development plans for professional ascension are now expected. To personalize training, assess the needs of individual learners by having them take simple surveys regarding their learning styles. Then, have your L&D team personalize the learning experience for individual groups of learners.
Learning Trend #3:
Upskilling And Reskilling Are Drivers Of Engagement
Upskilling is to promote further development in areas and skills where professionals already have some level of knowledge. To respond to an ever-changing environment, it is important to be continually learning, reinforcing previously acquired knowledge and acquiring new concepts.
Reskilling, on the other hand, is when a professional is looking to develop new skills in order to perform other jobs or requalify. This concept is all-important for any professional who wants to keep up with technological changes and, consequently, the job market.
Learning Trend #4:
Take Care Of Your Employees Well-Being
Thinking about people’s well-being has never been more front and center as it is today. With more and more people feeling a downturn regarding their mental well-being due to the multiple layers of loss from the pandemic, companies must do away with misconceptions on mental health and create a safe and supportive environment.
Training should teach employees about common working conditions and educate them to recognize the signs of mental health conditions both in their colleagues and themselves, things such as stress, burnout, anxiety and depression.
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Learning Trend #5:
Corporate Commitment To Diversity And Inclusion Training Is A Must
A study on diversity conducted by McKinsey & Company shows that companies with more diverse management teams are more profitable. The companies with the highest gender diversity are 21% more likely to perform above market average than companies with less diversity. In the case of cultural and ethnic diversity, this figure rises to 33%.
We know this: different individuals have different realities, and bringing people with diverse experiences and backgrounds together helps improve the business through new ideas and fresh perspectives. Employees have an expectation from their leaders to see a strong commitment in this area.
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Training needs will change from year to year. What was successful one year may not be necessary or successful the following year. Commit to evaluating what skills development opportunities you are offering employees to be sure that what you offer is what they need, when they need it to meet the goals of the organization.
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-jen
