My Learning and Development new year revolutions!

It’s 2019 and I am inspired yet again to be more bold and more determined than ever to design and deliver peak learning experiences for our clients.

Here’s what’s on my list:

1.      Maintain the focus on demonstrating how the training has delivered impact. Even if this is via anecdotal evidence. Aim to determine the metrics that matter to the business and track the results so that L and D finds its rightful place when making decisions for the future and building capabilities.

2.      In this vein, continue to promote the more modern learning systems and apps where the analytics are much deeper and provide real-time data about what learners are doing, watching and consuming. There is no question that this is the future so it's time to embrace this fully.

3.      Focus more on the learner! Sounds simple but I am determined to truly work through the full user journey from the time they hear about the training to when they step in to their experience, be it digital or in person. This will encourage us to think about what the experiences are that the learners need in order to be successful in their roles.

4.      Definitely on the list for more experimentation:

Explore more about what virtual and augmented reality can bring to learning. Although these technologies haven’t yet reached a ‘critical mass’ in terms of their usage, I am determined to use them in some way as a powerful tool to increase speed to competency.

As things become more personalized, I intend to play more in the space of how this will enable knowledge transfer to happen at scale. AI and machine learning is making this possible and it’s time to step in to this brave, new world.

Learn more about the emerging learning chatbots that will support basic learning functions and be able to answer simple questions and support post-course learning. IBM seems to be leading the way in this space so I will be keeping a close eye on what they are developing.

5.      Maintain our path to micro learning where appropriate. Learners are more and more accustomed to short and sharp ways of receiving performance support. In the last decade, the workplace learning model was far more simple: you created courses and delivered them. Now, with the complexity of business pressures, time is critical and ‘scrap learning’ no longer has a place.

6.      Continue to promote our MCI LIVE virtual classrooms as a way of ensuring that even in the incredibly fast paced world of work, there is still the opportunity to participate in shorter bite learnings, direct from their desks.

7.      Follow on from previous years and recommend vocational qualifications to the right target group. Certificates and Diplomas continue to hold relevance and make an enormous difference to people’s belief in themselves and in their career progression. I am determined as ever to make traineeships great again….. Lifelong learning remains a key component in professional development.

8.      And of course, I am still a true believer in the power of play and gamification as captured in the ‘What the Duck’ methodology. It never fails to amaze me how this simple set of tools and strategies makes an enormous impact on teams and their level of motivation. This is the definitely the year of the Duck! I want to see more success stories where impact is immediate and measurable. Teams who are not achieving targets or losing motivation are able to turn themselves around in a short time frame.

I look forward to a year of rich conversation, collaboration and of course exploration of a wide spectrum of exciting and innovative ways of learning!