“It’s about making sure all those are available at least for consid-eration
and then matching the required learning against the tools
available,” said Tiltack.
The type of information you’d like employees to absorb will
inform the delivery method, to some degree.
“If you want to teach process-driven skills, for example, you
might be able to accomplish that in a two-minute whiteboard ani-mation
or in a 15- to 30-minute e-learning module,” said Tiltack.
“But for softer skills like people skills or leadership management,
they lend themselves more to a classroom setting.”
THE LINK BETWEEN LEARNING
AND PERFORMANCE
While improved performance is generally an associated goal with
L&D programs, it’s not always a straight line of progress.
“If you’re trying to change behaviour, that’s really hard to do
with just the viewing of a video,” said Pelster. “You really have to
live that.” Moving the needle in a major way, in terms of behaviours,
requires some degree of repetition. “That’s where simulations, role
playing, mentoring and coaching come in,” said Pelster.
Tiltack agrees, “If you’ve planned a one-day management pro-gram,
it’s not going to translate into a significant change in your
day-to-day processes,” he said. “If you want a lot of change, be
patient.” The advertising industry, Tiltack points out, is a great
example of the need for repetition. “You’ll never see an ad that
begins, ‘By the end of this ad you will know the following things,’
but that’s what the vast majority of learning programs start with,”
said Tiltack. Instead, reinforcement is necessary. “If you’re doing a
series, for example, hopefully over the course of a series there will
be a more definitive change,” he said.
“You’ve got to be prepared to sustain it,” said Tiltack. “And you
do that providing the audience with multiple mediums to reflect
back on to consider what they’ve just experienced.” He said, “You
give employees multiple avenues. Just like we all learn differently,
it’s important that we get access to as many different learning
options to support what we’ve just gone through.”
HR can encourage leaders throughout the organization to help
members of their teams flex and reinforce new skills. “Managers
may want to follow up learning initiatives by challenging employ-ees
with new, engaging projects that help them build their skills
and experience,” said Prehogan.
cover feature
“IF YOU’RE NOT INCLUDING VIDEO
IN THE THINGS YOU PLAN TO DO,
YOU’RE MISSING ONE OF THE
BIGGEST TRENDS OUT THERE.”
– BILL PELSTER
Now, he says, the roles have changed. “The consumer of knowl-edge
can go to many different places to get the knowledge they
need,” said Pelster. “In a world where the consumer has choices,
how does HR and learning adapt and deliver that back to
the consumer?”
HR as the keeper of learning has to be something of a con-sumer;
finding, filtering and assessing what’s on offer. “What we’re
seeing now is, yes, organizations still need to do that component
of the work where they fund, create and provide the classes, but
we’re seeing a lot of curation of content, too” said Pelster. He adds,
“There’s an explosion of content available through multiple online
sources, and it’s quality content. That means the learning organi-zation
is in a curation role.”
CONTENT OFFERINGS ON MANY PLATFORMS
Not only is learning content now available from a wide variety of
sources, organizations have the capacity to make it more easily
and widely available. “Over the last decade, we’ve seen learning and
development resources become more concise and readily accessi-ble,
and with new technology, training is available from anywhere,”
said Avalee Prehogan, a senior regional manager with Robert Half.
Having learning modules available for instant use – on a mobile
device before a sales call – can be both efficient and timely, pro-viding
content not just when employees have time, but in the nick
of time when they need it most, says Prehogan. She said, “Video
tutorials and brief training modules are widely accessible online
for what is known as ‘micro learning,’ a way of teaching and deliv-ering
content in small bursts.”
While many formats are in use across the board, Pelster suggests
video, in particular, is a must for any learning lineup. “If you’re not
including video in the things you plan to do, you’re missing one of
the biggest trends out there,” said Pelster. “If we go back 10 years,
video was really expensive and not used that often, but now what
you’re seeing is the majority of learning out there is taking place
through video.”
ALIGN FORMAT, CONTENT AND OUTCOMES
It’s important to consider and understand how to use and deliver
not just video, but the other options at your disposal, suggests Kurt
Tiltack, managing partner with Pathways Training & eLearning
Inc., including e-learning, whiteboarding and classroom settings.
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16 ❚ SEPTEMBER 2018 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL
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