Let Employees Learn When and Where They Want To

Despite the plethora of mobile apps for this, and the dizzying array of cloud-based solutions for that, when it comes to how businesses offer learning to employees, most organizations still rely primarily on

classroom-based workshops.

It’s ironic when you consider that businesses continue to face tight and uncertain budgets; more and more of today’s workforce is choosing to work remotely; the trend toward mobile computing just keeps growing; and the generational makeup of the workforce is getting more complex.

Consider just these two statistics:

·       By next year, millennials — people born between 1977 and 1997 — will comprise more than one-third of the global workforce.

·       There’s recently been a two-fold increase in the prevalence of mobile tools for learning, according to Aberdeen Research.

As Aberdeen puts it, mobile is no longer a “nice to have” for learning programs but a strategic part of any comprehensive learning plan. Bearing all of that in mind, you’d think companies would be on alternative learning methods like white on rice.

Some are. In fact, companies that want to succeed in driving employee development will embrace flexible training alternatives.

Research by futurethink Innovation Institute in 2009 found that almost 62 percent of companies believed that successful learning programs would need to include e-learning options. A whopping 85 percent agreed that most learning going forward would be collaborative. And every company in the study agreed or agreed strongly that learning was going to be done in short time frames, using “micro-modules” for more-focused learning and better results.

That’s some of what flexible learning looks like. At least from the employee’s perspective. For the learning and development leader, it all hinges on — or at least is substantially enhanced by — a new evolution of learning technology. For example, e-learning, collaborative learning, and the implementation of micro-modules have a greater chance of success if they’re supported by automated content-integration solutions.

These operate behind the curtain between the employee and the learning and development leader. They help leverage the full power of the new trend in flexible learning.

Reviewsnap’s automated Learning Content Integration (LCI) module is one example. It lets learning and development leaders extend information gathered from an employee’s performance reviews to automatically develop targeted learning plans for that person.

Some of the ways Reviewsnap’s LCI module makes it easier to consider expanding your learning formats include:

·       Enabling learning leaders to automatically create development goals and recommend specific learning activities based on an employee’s performance appraisal ratings.

·       Allowing employees to easily access a full external learning curriculum, in addition to their company’s custom training and learning content.

·       Providing online access to a full learning management system (LMS).

·       Providing real-time access to reporting analytics and transcripts of learning activities.

In a nutshell, Reviewsnap’s LCI improves talent management by integrating learning activities and performance management. It’s another way business is changing how it manages employee development.