How Technology Reshaped the Learning & Development Industry

L&D and Future

Imagine the time 1980’s. People used cars less and public transport more. It was a time when mobile phones were only for the upper class and landlines were the norm. When the word technology was a big deal, and only a handful knew about it. When it used to take days to travel from one place to another.

Can you imagine living in this kind of a world? I bet you won’t easily answer yes!

We are used to living in a time where evolution is a daily activity. The 21st century sees advancements happening daily; people adapt to the changing world and technology with great ease and speed. Be it the changing ecosystem, people’s lifestyles, living standards, the air we breathe, and even the things we consume, everything is evolving. Undoubtedly, the changing times have led to companies changing their products and services, owing to the improved lifestyles of the consumers. While companies always work towards transforming business offerings, it is now time to work on the people who work behind the scenes.

Yes! We are talking about your employees – the ones who are actually behind the success of your business. All companies would like to think that they provide an excellent work environment, culture and facilities for their employees. But did you know that the needs of your employees are just not limited to this?

The most significant way to serve your employees is by training them and helping them upgrade their knowledge and skills. You might be thinking, “But I already orient my employees on their joining day and provide the necessary training.” This may be true, but you must also realise that learning and development is part and parcel of life and limiting it to one day, or even week, is just not fair.

Learning and development activities should be conducted regularly to keep your employees up to date with the changing trends. It will not only help them evolve themselves and their skills, but will also add on to the business productivity, as they will be able to perform their tasks more efficiently.

How do we prepare for the business of the future? Companies must reinvent their learning and development strategies according to the current trends and gift their employees a set of upgraded knowledge and skills.

How? Let us explore together!

Organisations should work towards providing an environment and experience-based learning. This means that learning and development activities be modified according to the environment, market position, employee requirements and their stage in the work journey, amongst other factors.

The future of learning and development will also see a transformation in the way knowledge is imparted. Till date, experts and trainers have been relying heavily on push methods of leaning, like training. This will change as the employees will shift to pulling and absorbing learning from everything around them.

Earlier learning was derived through guest lectures from market leaders, motivational speakers and famous personalities. These passive methods will be replaced by experiential training programs, simulation-based learning, job rotations and hands-on experiences, all given on-the-job.

We have always seen skill-based competencies drive learning at the workplace. Evolution says that this will change in the form of high-level frameworks being developed by companies to develop individual capabilities and skills.

How does it help?

Reshaping learning and development strategies can help companies in many ways.

It helps employees develop new skills faster, thereby improving productivity.

Constant workplace learning keeps employees engaged, attracts and retains top talent, and helps develop long-term leadership for the company.

Technologically backed mobile-based learning helps employees access it anytime and anywhere as per their convenience.

It fulfills the individual needs of employees by providing them with dynamic learning opportunities.

Some statistics say that the eLearning market was estimated to be more than 165 billion USD in 2015. Since then, it has seen a rise and is likely to grow by 5% between 2018 and 2023, exceeding 240 billion USD. With such massive investments in the learning and development industry, one can surmise the significance of training people at the workplace. This calls for a need for companies to invest in interactive learning tools and technologies to attract, engage and retain the work personnel and improve their work efficiency and effectiveness. The solution is to develop ultra-modern learning and development strategies to cater to the needs of the new-age workforce.

While planning to prepare your business for the future, write to us at [email protected].