My L&D Wish List - What's On Yours?

It is this time of year again and everyone is running around like chickens without heads in order to cramp in last minute Christmas shopping, work, parties and year-end projects. Thinking about Christmas, I thought about my personal wish list which quickly got me thinking about my L&D wish list.

Over the last year, it was great to see that more L&D folks started asking the tough questions and realizing that how we deliver content and training needs to change. Unfortunately, so far, it’s just been talk and not too much action yet so let’s hope that 2018 will start us off in the right direction. And without further ado, here is my L&D wishlist:

Use Marketing techniques to spice up learning

In order to create meaningful learning, let’s look at how Marketing engages prospects and customers. In L&D, we need to move to a more data-driven learning design to deliver content that’s actually needed (don’t know what that is? Check out Lori Niles-Hofmann’s eBook).

If you feel that you are not quite ready for this yet, at least start thinking about your content strategy, and how you can deliver the right content, to the right audience at the right time (hint: data is kind of important for that). You can check out my SlideShare on the topic here.

Get inspired by non-L&D resources

If you are an instructional designer, learning experience designer or hold any other design-related role in L&D, think outside the box and get inspired. Often, we get stuck in our own little eLearning world, templates that are given to us by the Articulate community or other websites. Meanwhile, we are surrounded by amazing design every day: advertising, video, magazines, etc. So get inspired by design resources outside L&D, such as Dribble and Designer News. Take a cup of coffee or tea in the morning and spend 15-20 minutes on browsing sites like the above and elevate your design skills.

Say “No” sometimes

L&D folks are sadly often still order-takers. “Oh, your team isn’t doing well, you need training? Sure, let me pull it out of my magic hat!” We all know that training isn’t always the right solution but we still have a hard time saying no. Be brave, use data available to you to show what works and what doesn’t and saying no will become a breeze. It will allow you more time for the really impactful projects that not only make a difference to your learners but to the bottom line.

Well, I hope Santa knows I was good this year and maybe, I will at least get one of these items on my list! What is on your wish list this year?