It's been a tumultuous couple of years and yet we're still in times of great uncertainty. Globally we're seeing some of the biggest organisations having to introduce mass lay-offs, tighten budgets and streamline internal processes. Given the current circumstances, the emerging key theme for organisations this year - and perhaps the next - is doing more with less.
“…Every organisation in every industry will need to infuse technology into every business process and function so that they can do more with less.
…Doing more with less doesn’t mean working harder or longer. That’s not going to scale. But it does mean applying technology to amplify what you’re able to do across an organisation so you can differentiate and build resilience.” – Satya Nadella | CEO Microsoft
So, where does capability building come into this?
As organisations seek to future-proof themselves, the need to prioritise the learning and development of employees becomes ever more apparent. The pandemic sped up digital transformation within organisations but also increased the ever-enlarging skills gap. To plug this gap, organisations are focusing on developing the skills of its employees within its L&D programs to enable themselves to stay ahead. In LinkedIn’s most recent Workplace Learning Report, it’s clear that the key focus is on skills.
Identifying you organisational capabilities needed to thrive in the next few years is going to be vital to stay ahead and, in fact, identifying these capabilities in isolation isn't enough. You then need to transform the capabilities into competencies that can be trained to every level of your organisation, and should be applied across teams to introduce consistency, implement new working practices, and set your 'standards for excellence'.
Hitting refresh on Learning & Development
With this being said, a fresh approach to learning is required for organisations to not only thrive, but to do more with less. Some areas to focus on in order to aid this transformation are:
- Align HR and L&D to form a more cohesive unit and align skill building with career paths in order to promote the "growth mindset" amongst colleagues
- Build a culture centred around continuous learning and celebrate colleagues as they continue to develop
- Break down silos between teams and promote knowledge sharing to increase both awareness of skill sets and surface uncommon knowledge
- Drive consistent working practices by introducing more readily available training and resources to users
Creating an inspiring space to learn
Centralising your training within an engaging platform is key to boosting availability of content and measuring the impact of your training on the wider business. Getting started can seem daunting, but you might already have the majority of content and resources available to you.
- Define your 'standard of excellence' and build out your baseline courses. These courses can cover the essentials for any new joiner or act as a refresher for existing employees. Topics to cover could include: key contacts, GDPR, branding, culture or customer service.
- Look within for content. It can seem daunting when you start planning your first set of courses, but reach out to colleagues for resources that they already have available such as onboarding documents or training PowerPoint decks. By building a course plan you can flesh out modules / chapters with existing content - just ensure you review the language being used to maintain consistency!
- Create a virtual learning environment that can become a central hub for your organisation. This space, like our own 'Percy Academy', should provide a clear, easy to use space to access courses, track completed or outstanding courses and provide visibility on which training is being consumed by specific users. Percy Academy also adds the ability to tag and categorise your courses for easy access.
- Make it engaging! Training shouldn't be 'death by PowerPoint', it should be compromised of interactive quizzes, engaging video or audio, and practical exercises. By putting in that extra effort, colleagues will be inspired to learn more.
- Gamify and celebrate. Introduce badges or certificates, launch internal competitions and highlight key successes and, as training becomes more widely adopted, you will notice change rippling through your business. Try to identify positive changes within your business that can be linked back to training - the more this is highlighted, the bigger the momentum behind training becomes.
Discover, with your team, how Percy Academy can enable your organisation to deploy an engaging virtual learning environment, upskill your colleagues and enable your business to grow and do more with less.
Click here to talk to the Perspicuity team about setting up your own virtual learning environment.