The best L&D resources of March 2021
Lavinia Mehedin?u
Co-Founder & Learning Architect @ Offbeat | Learning & Development ??
This month was quite busy at Offbeat. We launched the third digital publication issue called Community, weekly updated our job board, and already sent personalized resources to over 50 people.
I hope everyone's safe, already vaccinated, or soon to be so, engaged and ready to learn. We're already preparing the 4th digital publication issue and some aaamazing surprises for our one-year anniversary. Can't wait to share everything with you guys!
Until then, enjoy last month's best L&D resources shared through Offbeat!
ARTICLES
Executing the CEO’s Agenda Through Targeted Learning
Continuing their "Future of workplace learning" series, MIT Sloan Management Review came back this week with another article on how can L&D execute the CEO's agenda. The 4 points addressed? (1) Develop a holistic view of strategy execution challenges, (2) use targeted learning to intervene in the places that matter most for the CEO’s agenda, (3) measure impact through leading metrics linked to execution, (4) Position the learning function to address strategic problems from the outset.
Advance learning to shape the future—and deliver today
Mckinsey came back this week with three tips to prepare organizations and employees for the future: (1) cultivate a learning orientation at all levels, (2) promote connectivity and engagement, (3) create a learning environment that supports reskilling.
An Emerging Landscape of Skills for All
In a new series, "The future of workplace learning", MIT Sloan explores some interesting subjects. One that caught my attention is around roles that feel like dead ends, what basic skills they might need, and how could we help them grow such skills. In addition, they talk about some cool programs IBM and AT&T are working on.
Developing Future-Ready Skills With Peer Coaching
"Developing human skills is a completely different ballgame, where seminars and instructor-led workshops won’t suffice". Hell, yeah! In addition to workshops or e-learning, the author suggests using peer coaching to develop the so-called soft skills.
Buffer's Engineering Mentorship Program
Some interesting ideas I got out of Buffer's Mentorship Program: (1) have mentorship champions who can recurrently meet with mentors and help them grow, (2) introduce mentorship chats between mentorship champions, (3) introduce async office hours one day a month when people could give updates in an async way.
[...] it's a very positive experience overall, really enjoy building a trust relationship with my mentees, and seeing them progressing, it's a rewarding experience for sure. It's also a good way for me get more involved with different product areas, and problems, outside of my strict day to day work
The future of capability building
Some of these topics might seem out of reach right now. But being aware of them does no harm. On the contrary. we can prepare both our mindset and our ways of working through incremental changes for what the future holds.
How to Design an Organizational Structure for Your Startup
First, I love how actionable this article is. It might not be meant for L&Ds per see, but if you're thinking about moving to a start-up as an HR this is priceless. Understanding org design can actually help you build trust among others. If you're a founder and working to scale your team, this will come in handy as well.
Your organization is bound to go through many iterations on the journey from founding to exit. The best way to ensure it is both agile and resilient is to focus on some of the key principles of organizational design we’ve shared. This should provide a supportive structure to build off of.
A complete guide for building a mentorship program
If you're currently building a mentorship program and don't know where to start, this guide might serve you well. Together with 8 other L&D professionals, we put together a step-by-step plan, from defining your why, to program structure, marketing and measuring your program.
Communities of practice. A case study
You are not alone. And colleagues in your organization aren't as well. Instead of struggling by themselves, creating communities of practice around different interests might come as a breath of fresh air. Anamaria Dorgo told me the story of L&D Shakers and the lessons she got out of building the community.
A down-to-earth talk about Learning & Development automation
How many Excels are you currently using? If you're like us, the answer is many! But it doesn't have to be this way. Moving data from one sheet to another doesn't have to be an L&D task. To serve your purpose, automation comes to the rescue, and Letitia Stefan, CEO of NiftyLearning tells you everything you want to know about it.
Why caring should be in the center of your L&D stakeholders’ management?
One of our many jobs as L&D professionals is to make sure everyone is on the same page when it comes to our initiatives. But who's everyone? And what do they need to know. Anna Bejgrowicz explores the topic of stakeholder management with great passion to answer these questions.
"Equip yourself with some techniques that will help you keep your relations with stakeholders regular. Be authentic and vulnerable. Run reality checks so that you won’t live in the world of unicorns, where some actions are only talked about and never seen."
Onboarding – an event or a journey?
The purpose of your onboarding process is twofold: performance readiness and employee experience. Tanja Kovacevic talks about how to achieve both, look through lenses to personalize onboarding, engage managers, and measuring the impact of your onboarding process.
"As L&D we should be clear about our role in the onboarding experience. Rather than being seen as OWNERS of it, we can only ENABLE it. A useful “mantra” that encompasses the above is – Onboarding is everyones’ job!"
Beyond the Subject Matter Specialist – seven creative ways to find evidence of a learning need
Is there another way to assess learning needs other than interviewing managers and employees? Yes, of course. And not just one, but seven. And Apoorva Mathur took the time to talk about them all in this new Offbeat issue.
REPORTS
2021 Workplace Learning Report
Some of the chapters that drew my attention in this new LinkedIn Report: (1) People learn better together: 30x lift in learner engagement, (2) Top 10 L&D tactics that drive engagement in hybrid workplaces, and (3) Learnings and advice from L&D pros around the world.
While I was exploring the 2021 Workplace Learning Report from LinkedIn I came across another report they build, designed to serve L&Ds. Using both theory & case studies they showcase 5 characteristics that help learning pioneers drive change. The one that got my attention? Accomplished fundraisers.
Crucially, L&D pioneers have focused on establishing the wider value of learning first, which changes the conversation on ROI. Their business cases focus on how learning will support initiatives that already have a recognised value, rather than on trying to prove a direct contribution to the bottom line from learning itself. This enables them to deploy their budgets strategically, and avoid being held up trying to prove the value of every item of spend.
Raconteur’s ‘Digital Learning’ as seen in The Times
So many cool topics explored in one report. Those I found most interesting? How to develop relationships digitally, Building emotional intelligence one company at a time, and Boosting engagement in a future of distance learning.
Getting career progression right at small companies and startups
Your team is small. Yet you still want to provide clarity around seniority and career progression. If you thick both boxes, this guide might help you. It goes through how to build a foundation of career progression, leveling up, and what to do beyond the point of 30 people.
PODCAST EPISODES
Getting started with a skills-based talent strategy
Here are some of the topics discussed in this week's episode of the Digital HR Leader: (1) How to get started with implementing a skills-based talent strategy, (2) why a skills-based view of talent is critical for workforce planning, (3) how putting skills and careers at the forefront and enabling it with a talent marketplace platform supports engagement, and (4) how IQVIA is measuring the success of its talent marketplace.
Podcasts For Learning With Shannon Martin from Podbean
Now, this is something I've been looking at for the past year: using a podcast as a modern way of sharing messages and insights with our colleagues. Not only I find it efficient to boost awareness of certain topics, but I think it's also inclusive and user-friendly.
What are the business benefits of a Talent Marketplace?
Yet another conversation about Talent Marketplaces between David Green and one of his guests, Ruslan Tovbulatov. This one goes deeper into the benefits of building a talent marketplace through real case studies, and the technology behind it.
How Unilever has Created a Culture of Internal Talent Mobility
While the external talent pool is shrinking you have to build levers that will help you recruit from within. If you haven't started doing it already, you can draw some inspiration from how Unilever does things. David Green brought Jeroen Wels to Digital HR Leaders to talk about it.
VIDEOS
Performance Workshop: The art of goal setting
Building a cohesive engagement and performance process
How to Empower, Encourage, & Elevate Customer-Facing Teams
Upskilling | Content is Not Enough
OTHERS
People Leader Resilience Playbook
Yet another incredible, well-thought playbook from LifeLabs Learning you can share with people managers or use as a source of inspiration for your leadership development programs.
Free Calm Access for HR Professionals
This week started with a piece of interesting news for me. Calm, the meditation app, is offering 1 year of free subscription for HR Pros. If you're into meditation, you might find this useful.
ABOUT OFFBEAT
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OFFBEAT - THE QUARTERLY DIGITAL L&D PUBLICATION
For the first time since Offbeat was launched, we invited people to take over. Instead of intentionally going towards those we knew we wanted to share their perspectives, we asked everyone to join as Contributors. The cool thing? People responded amazingly. So here we are now, at the third issue of Offbeat, the digital publication, enjoying topics such as automation, mentorship, communities of practice, all the way to stakeholder management, onboarding, and learning needs assessment. All in all, this is the result of the love people showed to Offbeat and to sharing their knowledge with peers.
2020 was crazy. It pushed us. Sometimes maybe right on the edge. But the most important thing we got out of it? Different perspectives about our impact, ways of learning, and using technology. This is exactly what this issue is about. Some things we got out of 2020 in terms of lessons learned and resources.
Prologue is the first issue of Offbeat, the quarterly digital publication dedicated to L&D professionals. We brought together L&D pros from big and small companies, an L&D consultant, and one start-up founder to kick off a new way of helping peers grow through actionable advice. We bet you will find useful their advice on building leadership development programs, designing the L&D strategy, or transitioning from learning to performance.