Last week we looked at the 4 main choices to the State of High-Stakes Learning survey question “What types of learning and development opportunities have the most value for you?” and how collaborative online learning experiences can address those issues.
Today we’re taking a look at some of the responses to the question, What’s preventing you from taking your career to the next level? which included statements like:
“Feeling burnt out after work- not devoting time at home to self-study and not seeing immediate progress with home self-study”
"Too much to do no time for L&D”
“Fear of taking the next step. I'm a rock star in my current role, but the idea of being a novice is frightening”
“Not seeing immediate progress with home self-study”
Collaborative learning can be vastly more effective than self-study. It brings in the power of learning in a cohort. It brings in company context to generic or off-the-shelf content. There’s more motivation built-in, with both gamification and interaction. And it is what we at Intrepid feel is learning & development’s job—to help learners bridge the gap between the skills and knowledge, and on-the-job application. Putting the onus on the individual learner to make all those connections, motivate, and then apply learning on the job from self-study is too big an ask! it’s something of an abdication of corporate L&D’s job. While we think it’s great to offer people a way to explore whatever their interests are, when it comes to business-critical topics, home self-study just isn’t a good solution.
“Too much to do, no time for L&D”
The phrase “learning in the flow of work” has rapidly become a buzzphrase, but it’s a solid idea. And most learners, according to our survey research, feel that only 60 minutes a week learning would help them progress both individually and in moving business goals forward. Most are spending 30 minutes a week, so it’s only a half-hour more that needs to be carved out. Online learning that’s chunked, has “how much time will this take me” notifications on content, and that makes sense in small pieces that add up over time, mean “learning in the flow of work” can easily happen. Even for very busy employees.
Getting managers involved in supporting learning through dashboard analytics, manager views of learning experiences, and marketing communications about the success of courses can also help the time-starved learner get the support they need to find that half-hour more per week for learning.
“Fear of taking the next step. I’m a rock star in my current role, but the idea of being a novice is frightening.”
It can definitely take support to help people feel comfortable trying out new ideas or skills. Collaborative learning offers a safe space to try, apply, reflect, and apply again. It gives people a cohort of other learners in the same boat with whom they can bond, commiserate, share, and learn from. And when managers get involved, entire departments can work together to implement new ideas in a much less frightening way.
Download the State High-Stakes Learning survey report and infographic and see what you think about options for solving the problems learners raised. Collaborative learning just might be the answer both they and you are looking for.
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