WAYS HR CAN USE E LEARNING. A Blueprint for Building a Talent Development Culture. Developed by. Institute

Transcription

1 WAYS HR CAN USE E LEARNING A Blueprint for Building a Talent Development Culture Developed by Institute

2 Google. Verizon. Capital One. Starbucks. These are just a few of the top companies who have made news with their commitment to employee learning. What else do these organizations have in common? They all use e-learning as one element in their talent development solutions. Why the renewed interest in learning? One big reason is because you won t be able to attract and keep talent especially the young talent that will help your organization grow without it. A recent Accenture survey of college graduates reveals that 80% expect employers to provide them with a formal training program. Another study, by the National Research Business Institute, shows that approximately one in four employees leave their job because of the lack of training opportunities. And, of course, these are exactly the people you need: ambitious, future-focused and committed to being the best at what they do. That s why successful organizations recognize that investing in learning and talent development is vital to their long-term success. For workplace learning to be successful, an organization must embrace a learning culture and demonstrate its commitment, starting at the top. It s a mission-critical function for HR to bring managers, C-level execs and employees together around a learning and development program. E-learning solutions can be a catalyst to make that happen. It can help make training and development engaging, convenient, and available 24/7. A 2014 survey of Chief Learning Officers shows that, for the first time, e-learning is the most widely used method for workplace training. And several studies have demonstrated e-learning s ability to increase employee engagement and productivity. This e-book outlines five ways HR professionals can use e-learning to build a talent development culture in their organization.

3 SERVE IT UP IN SMALL BITES Increase engagement and utilization by deploying e-learning in bite-size pieces Historically, soft-skills e-learning has not delivered on its promise. Utilization has been shockingly low. Here s why: A typical long-form e-learning module presents too much information. Learners are overwhelmed and subsequently disengage their minds wander, or they simply turn it off. Today s employees don t have much time for training. They also have a limited amount of attention. Recent studies show that our exposure to the Internet especially search engines and YouTube has rewired our brains and changed the way we access information. In the past, learning content tended to be linear, logical and complete. Today, our brains prefer to receive information in short, disjointed bursts, especially when we access learning online. Bite-size learning: six to 10 minute e-learning modules that provide the quick, targeted opportunities for talent development that learners want. Because each module requires a minimal time commitment, learners are more likely to log in and stay tuned. And because modules are fast-paced and focused, learners engage with the content and are better able to absorb the information.

4 MAKE E-LEARNING STICKY Focus on a single concept at a time Research on memory and cognitive load suggests that the human brain quickly gets overwhelmed when presented with too many concepts at once. The more we try to cram in, the less we remember. The Research Institute of America found that e-learning can increase knowledge retention rates by up to 60% over classroom-based instruction. The reason: Learners have control over the learning experience and can revisit the content any time they wish. An approach to e-learning that can boost retention even higher is single-concept learning. Single-concept learning is designed to eliminate information overload. It delivers a single powerful insight that s intended to change one behavior and achieve one desired outcome. = 1 Concept 1 Behavior 1 Outcome Think of a single-concept e-learning module as a building block of learning. Each can stand on its own, but they can also be assembled into custom development paths based on individual learners talent development needs. The building-block approach ensures training experiences are both relevant to learners goals and time-efficient. It eliminates long training experiences that cause low retention and have limited applicability. Single-concept content also lends itself to a blended learning approach with a manager or trainer. Managers can kick off a training session by viewing a module, and then discuss the concept and its application with learners to provide a social component. It keeps trainers on track and helps them avoid the temptation to try to cover too much in a single session.

5 USE E-LEARNING AS A COACHING TOOL Turn managers into coaches with a powerful behavior model The original idea behind e-learning was to replace humans. Just park employees in front of a monitor and let the computer do the training. Fortunately, that never worked out. Managers need to be intimately involved in developing their people. E-learning can help managers embrace this coaching role. Research from Stanford University explains why. According to the Fogg Behavior Model from Stanford, people take action when their motivation and ability to complete a task are both high. Managers realize that embracing their coaching role would help their team as well as their own careers. So the motivation is there. But often managers believe they lack the ability to coach. It s simply too daunting a task. When managers think of training, they imagine being responsible for training their team on a number of complex skills. The task feels overwhelming, so they end up doing nothing. Coaching employees on a narrow topic, using a bite-size e-learning module as the catalyst, makes coaching seem doable. It requires little preparation time and allows managers to help employees make a single, specific behavior change. When training feels doable, ability meets motivation and managers take action. They embrace their role as coach.

6 USE E-LEARNING TO CREATE SMALL VICTORIES Help managers view their coaching development as an accumulation of small victories Once managers recognize their coaching ability, they will begin to engage in their talent development role. And their confidence will continue to grow if they celebrate small victories. In a landmark paper, psychologist Karl E. Weick observed how we can successfully address complex problems using a small wins approach: focus on incremental, achievable steps instead of the daunting big picture, and you re much more likely to solve the entire problem. Let s apply this to managers. When managers see themselves as responsible for training and developing their people, the task seems too great and they freeze. But when they see it in bite-size terms, as coaching employees on one specific skill, they know they can do it. Each successful coaching experience becomes a small win. HR can help build a small victories learning culture for example, by recognizing and applauding each win. As the wins pile up, managers motivation and coaching ability increase, building momentum. Managers invest in the learning culture and their commitment filters down to their employees.

7 LET EMPLOYEES AND PROSPECTIVE HIRES KNOW YOU RE INVESTING IN THEIR FUTURE A visible commitment to talent development will help recruit and keep top performers Eighty percent of new grads expect a formal training program from employers. And according to a 2014 report by IBM, new employees are 42% more likely to stay at their job when they receive training. The study also found that e-learning programs can boost employee engagement by nearly 20%. So demonstrate your organization s commitment to training and talent development. Showcase an environment where employees are engaged and constantly learning. Talk up training in your recruitment literature, on your Website, in employee meetings. Show how you re using bite-size e-learning to make training more effective, more relevant and easier for employees. And don t neglect your managers. Show them how you re helping them in their talent development role with better coaching tools.

8 About the author Stephen Meyer is CEO and Director of Learning and Development at the Rapid Learning Institute. Prior to starting the Rapid Learning Institute and its parent company Business 21 Publishing in 2002, Meyer was the Director of Publishing at The Hay Group, a leading HR, benefits and compensation consulting firm. At RLI he developed the concept for six- to 10-minute Quick Take rapid learning modules. Meyer received his MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Want to learn more? Click here to schedule a call with a Rapid Learning Specialist or call us now : Rapid Learning Institute (RLI) provides online training and talent development tools for businesses, government agencies, nonprofits and educational institutions in the areas of sales, human resources, management, leadership and safety.

9 INTRODUCTION: Accenture. (2014). Great expectations: Insights from Accenture 2014 college graduate employment survey. Hartford, CT: David Smith, et al. Longstreet, L. & Winkley, M. (2011, December 1). E-Learning and the impact on employee engagement. Retrieved from trainingindustry.com/learning-technologies/articles/elearning-and-the-impact-on-employee-engagement.aspx Anderson, C. (2014). E-Learning reaches a milestone. Chief Learning Officer, 13(7), SERVE IT UP IN SMALL BITES: Carr, N. (2010). The shallows: What the internet is doing to our brains. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company. 2. MAKE E-LEARNING STICKY: Pappas, C. (2013, December 1). Top 10 e-learning statistics for 2014 you need to know. Retrieved from com/top-10-e-learning-statistics-for-2014-you-need-to-know Pollack, E., et al. (2002). Assimilating complex information. Learning and Instruction, 12, USE E-LEARNING AS A COACHING TOOL: Fogg, B. J. (2009, April). A behavior model for persuasive design. In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Persuasive Technology, Claremont, CA (40-46). New York, NY: ACM. 4. USE E-LEARNING TO CREATE SMALL WINS : Weick, K. E. (1984). Small wins: Redefining the scale of social problems. American Psychologist, 39(1), LET EMPLOYEES AND PROSPECTIVE HIRES KNOW YOU RE INVESTING IN THEIR FUTURE : IBM Corporation. (2014). The value of training. Somers, NY: IBM Training.