Time-poor employees are overwhelmed by choice when it comes to their learning and development. Caroline Evans reveals how to get teams learning rather than searching for the right resource.Â
Ever spent so much time scrolling through Netflix trying to decide what to watch, that you barely have time to watch it by the time you reach a decision? That’s the dilemma many employees are facing when it comes to upskilling.
They want to learn and develop, but the overwhelming number of courses, videos and workshops available makes it difficult to know where to start or what will have the biggest impact.
Meanwhile, many businesses are upping their investments in various learning materials and platforms – hoping to tackle talent shortages, give employees more choice and show commitment to their team’s growth.
But the real problem isn’t a lack of resources, it’s an overabundance of them.
With more choice, employees are increasingly finding themselves stuck in decision-making mode, spending countless minutes sifting through learning resources, but this can often leave little time left for actual learning.
For HR teams, this presents a critical challenge: how do you cut through the noise and ensure employees can easily access the right development opportunities? Where do you invest your money? Which platform or courses will be the most worthwhile and give your employees the skills they need to navigate a changing workplace?
Curation and clarity
In a nutshell, it’s not just about offering a library of learning – it’s also about curation and clarity of the resources available. HR teams need to curate learning content for quality and relevance; while also ensuring they remain easy to access for employees.
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Just as Netflix excels by surfacing the right content, for the right viewer, at the right time, HR teams need to develop smarter, more intuitive ways to guide employees towards the development opportunities that suit their roles, goals and time constraints.
That means moving beyond presenting employees with a vast, unorganised catalogue of courses, and towards delivering schematic learning pathways that align with specific roles and career aspirations.
Ultimately, this will enable employees to spend less time searching and more time growing. This can be a significant mountain for time-poor HR leaders to climb.
Alongside this curation, HR teams also need to centre on clarity – how can they make quality learning opportunities as easy as possible for employees to access?
Learning on-the-go
It’s about simplifying processes, ensuring mobile accessibility to learn on-the-go, and gathering constant feedback from employees to refine learning offerings and development opportunities.
Clear, concise communication about the learning resources available, coupled with tools to ease the navigation and prioritisation of those resources, will ultimately empower employees to take charge of their own development.
And when employees feel confident in their ability to find relevant opportunities quickly, they’re more likely to engage with those opportunities.
Mobile accessibility is particularly important in today’s fast-paced work environment, too.
Employees should be able to access learning materials on their smartphones or tablets, for example, to enable them to best fit learning around their working day.
This could help them to digest bite-sized learning modules during their commutes, in breaks between meetings or other shorter periods of downtime.
Gathering feedback from employees about their learning experiences is also crucial for continual improvement.
This can help HR teams to identify areas where the learning experience can be enhanced, ensuring courses remain relevant and impactful.
Effective engagement
While finding the right pathway is essential – it’s also not the only solution needed; effective engagement is just as important. HR leaders also have a pivotal role to play in this process.
Promoting a culture of learning is essential to foster employee engagement with learning initiatives. This involves creating an environment where leaders advocate for development and employees openly share knowledge.
For this to work, line managers should also have regular check-ins with their direct reports to discuss their career goals, identify skills gaps and create personalised development and training plans.
In a world where time is an increasingly precious commodity, simplifying the learning experience is critical to unlocking employees’ full potential.”
These plans should outline specific learning activities that will help employees achieve their goals and contribute to the overall success of the business. In tandem with this, it’s important that businesses are also upskilling line managers – so they’re equipped to adopt and empower a learning culture across their team.
Offering a variety of learning formats, from formal training and certifications to on-the-job learning and mentorship, will also ensure diverse needs are met – again boosting employee engagement.
Return on investment
The impact of solving content overwhelm goes beyond individual growth. It directly affects the ROI of a business’ L&D investments.
When employees are actively engaged in upskilling programmes, businesses see improved performance, higher retention rates and, ultimately, a stronger competitive edge in the market.
In a world where time is an increasingly precious commodity, simplifying the learning experience is critical to unlocking employees’ full potential and, in turn, ensuring learning investment truly drives business success.
Ultimately, a business’ ability to compete in today’s rapidly changing market depends on its ability to adapt and innovate.
By simplifying the learning journey and empowering employees to take charge of their development, HR teams can help their organisations build a workforce that’s agile, resilient and ready to meet the challenges of the future.
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