Solving the real challenges for Heads of Learning in 2019

Over the last twenty years I have been to innumerable conferences and networking events aimed at people responsible for learning in their organisations. Indeed, I have been responsible for running several too. What is commonly relayed back to organisers of these events is that it may not have solved the real challenges of attendees. Why? Because the organisers do not ask the attendees what their challenges are in advance.

Here at The Learning and Performance Institute (LPI) we have decided to do something about this. This year, our main event (Learning Live) has been designed in specific response to the challenges of our attendees. We have taken the time to ask all those who register their interest to attend, what their top challenges are. As the event is limited to CLOs, Heads of Learning, People and Talent, we can be sure that the issues they raise really are the challenges faced by organisations when it comes to learning and performance.

I wonder how many other events can say confidently that they do this? For us, it has had a huge impact on attendee experience at Learning Live. Last year was the first year in which we curated our event content around the responses from registered delegates, and as a consequence, the results we gathered were astounding. 97% of people who completed the post-event survey felt that the event had "clearly addressed their challenges".

This year, we now have the challenges, and the programme has been designed. It makes for interesting reading...

Last year's number one issue was the digital transformation of the L&D function, but this year the primary challenge is "Building a Learning and Coaching Culture". Personally, having discussed this with many Heads of Learning, it seems that the two issues can go hand in hand. Trying to create an effective learning culture in a digital world is not easy, and yet we have unprecedented access to tools to help us.

Creating an environment where people are willing to share their own knowledge for the good of others and the company is not simple. But there are some great examples, and strategies that have been proven to work.

In 2018 $9.52 billion dollars was spent on technology in learning, a 30% increase on 2017, and yet many organisations still operate in permanent beta mode - switching from LMS to LMS, implementing social platforms without informing staff, and rolling out compliance-driven e-learning. So it is comforting to see that the people side of this digital revolution in learning is the big challenge.

Utilising AI to our advantage, for example, will be incredible for learning, but perhaps not without some essential human skills. That is the big difference now. Critical thinking is becoming essential, as outlined in the WEF report of most employable skills by 2020 https://www.inc.com/melanie-curtin/the-10-top-skills-that-will-land-you-high-paying-jobs-by-2020-according-to-world-economic-forum.html where they identified this as the most employable skill.

Furthermore, we are witnessing a move away from accessibility being more important than knowledge retention within business. Fundamentally, if it was true that facts are unimportant to know, in a post-truth democracy, and that you can just google anything, then people would have googled the science and know that knowledge encoded in long-term memory is the fundamental basis of critical thinking. In other words they would have just googled the fact they were wrong! True learning creates critical thinking.

So, here are some quick tips on how to create the learning culture you are really striving for:

1. Be more strategic. Focus on the business needs, and start with organisational performance as the goal.
2. Enable self-directed learning. Provide motivation and structure for employees. Empower people to learn away from traditional environments.
3. Market learning as a service. View your fellow employees as customers. Remember, you are competing with Google, YouTube for their 'learning attention'.
4. Encourage and allow user-generated content - this can be extraordinarily powerful in creating a learning culture in your organisation.

The ability to utilise technology to galvanise people and improve performance will be core to success in all the above.

If you are in a learning leadership role and would like to attend Learning Live to find out more about how to address your true top challenges, then you can register for free here LEARNINGLIVE , and we will do our very best to support you and inspire you.