Why does self-directed learning matter?
Digital transformation is now a reality, and our working lives have fundamentally changed.
A report published by Dell Technologies states that, due to rapid technological change and automation. 85% of the jobs that will exist in 2030 have yet to be invented. That "the pace of change will be so rapid that people will learn 'in the moment'... The ability to gain new knowledge will be more valuable than the knowledge itself."
Deloitte's research indicates that the half-life of learned skills is now only five years. The courses and resources L&D teams are developing today will not have the long-term value they once did.
For employees, this means a constant reskilling. We must all learn to improve and adapt to remain relevant and useful in the new economy. Continuous upskilling is an essential skill, and taking control of your own adult learning underpins that activity.
The 2019 LinkedIn Workplace Report, states that workers want learning in the flow of work - access to knowledge that they can access when and where they need it.
Workers who own their day to day knowledge journey are 74% more likely to know where they want to go in their career. They are also 48% more likely to have found purpose in their work.
Deloitte also states that employees now stay on average 4.5 years in each organisation. Employees will move on if they cannot find fulfilling educational opportunities in their workplace.
"94% of employees would stay at a company longer if it invested in their career development"
(2018 Workplace LinkedIn Learning Report)
"94% of employees would stay at a company longer if it invested in their career development"
(2018 Workplace LinkedIn Learning Report)
Compared to light learners (1 hours per week), heavy learners (5+ hours per week) are:
- 74% more likely to know where they want to go in their career.
- 48% more likely to have found purpose in their work.
- 47% less likely to be stressed at work.
- 94% of employees say they would stay at a company longer if it invested in their learning and development.
For employers, this rapid transformation of knowledge challenges traditional training strategies. As the range of individual needs grows it becomes ever more difficult to create content and experiences to serve these needs. Real-time classroom training and many traditional online options become expensive to deliver and maintain.
When the organisation provides the right environment and works in concert with staff, employees thrive and the organisation flourishes.
"high performing learning organisations, on average, are seeing a 24% increase in productivity and performance as a result of learning done well"
(Towards Maturity Report 2018)
"high performing learning organisations, on average, are seeing a 24% increase in productivity and performance as a result of learning done well"
(Towards Maturity Report 2018)
How can you avoid the common pitfalls of self-directed learning?
As with any new approach, there are pitfalls to avoid. With care, these challenges can become opportunities.
There are two aspects to a successful strategy:
- The environment must provide the technology, content and tools that people need to manage their own knowledge development.
- Leaders must provide the space and incentive for their staff to do so. It's about empowering staff with practical toolkits and sparking the motivation to use them.
Delivering Value: Making Learning work for both the Individual and the Business
Digital makes it easier than ever for individuals to find great knowledge to support their career growth. However, this needs to be balanced with the needs of the organisation.
A critical aspect of self-education is personal motivation. Daniel Pink, the expert in human motivation, outlines three aspects to motivation- Mastery, Autonomy and Purpose.
- The intrinsic desires to be good at what you do
- The freedom to find your own path
- The certainty that what you are expending effort on has meaning
The individual must see the value in the goal. If they find that goal for themselves, motivation comes naturally; if it is pushed out by the organisation, the value may not be clear. Goals set by the individuals must have some value to the business. Goals set by the business must have a transparent worth.
The organisation needs to build a shared vision where personal knowledge goals and business training goals are aligned. Employees move from complying with courses to genuinely engaging in learning.
"A learning organisation is a group of people working together collectively to enhance their capabilities to create results they really care about"
(Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline)
"A learning organisation is a group of people working together collectively to enhance their capabilities to create results they really care about"
(Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline)
Making Time for Learning: Helping your Managers Help their Teams
Self-directed online learning does not have to mean learning alone. While peers help motivate continuous learning and benchmark progress, it is the line manager that plays a vital role.
Employees will look to their manager for guidance and purpose. According to the 2018 Workplace LinkedIn Learning Report, 56% of employees say they would spend more time learning if their manager helped them define specific goals. It is also essential that managers help the employees to allocate time dedicated for knowledge acquisition.
It is important that managers are given the support that they need to develop their own coaching skills.
Managers who embed learning into conversations with their team can make this happen. During regular check-in's and formal reviews, managers can identify useful resources and learning opportunities within online platforms.
Through meaningful feedback and active collaboration on personal growth an employee can find autonomy and take responsibility for their own development.
Expert Content: Ensuring your Learners are Learning the Right Things
Self-directed learners become experts at identify sources of support for own learning and development. They demonstrate genuine responsibility for their personal growth.
Yet the business may be concerned regarding the validity of the content that employees have discovered for themselves. Articles and videos may be irrelevant. Employees could be dedicating their time and effort to learn from inaccurate and even dangerous sources.
Traditional Learning Management Systems are being replaced, or enhanced by new technologies. Ready-made content,created and validated by experts, is available on-demand.
Staff learn where and when they need to and always from sources that you can rely on.
Traditional Learning Management Systems are being replaced and enhanced by new technologies where ready-made content created and validated by experts is available on-demand across their organisation.
Staff learn where and when they need to and always from sources that you can rely on.
Time for Change
Employees expect a lot from digital learning resources - courses, assets or training sessions. This generation comes to the workplace looking for the same consumer-grade media experience that they enjoy at home. This is a challenge for L& D teams - to meet these expectation.
There are solutions that solve this challenge. A good example is Percipio. An intelligent learning platform that delivers an immersive learning experience.
Percipio leverages highly engaging digital learning content from videos to books to podcasts, curated into over 500 channels. These channels are continuously updated to ensure learners always have access to the latest knowledge.
Percipio helps learners acquire knowledge wherever and whenever they like. Adaptive learning paths suggest other courses to start and relevant curated content to browse. High-quality content is available in the flow of their work on any device, at any time.
L&D teams can work with the business to curate channels specific to their needs and empower managers to become learning coaches. By doing this, the time and effort freed up from delivering training on generic skills is re-deployed to focus what is unique to their business.
This allows the L&D team to become agile and responsive to the needs of the business.
Logicearth will work with you to curate this wealth of knowledge to deliver value to your organisation. We will support your people leaders to empower their teams. We are a partner with you as you transform your learning culture.
"The demand for easy-to-use, digital learning programs is one of the biggest issues on the minds of employees and employers today"
(Josh Bersin, Principal and Founder, Bersin by Deloitte, Deloitte Consulting LLP)
"The demand for easy-to-use, digital learning programs is one of the biggest issues on the minds of employees and employers today"
(Josh Bersin, Principal and Founder, Bersin by Deloitte, Deloitte Consulting LLP)
recommended reading
Training and Development skills for the digital age
Training and Development teams have been asked to provide better services and make a bigger impact on their businesses for the best part of 10 years now. Most organisations still rely on classroom training and poor quality elearning content. This has to stop...
Time to competence is the amount of time that it takes to get an employee performing to a certain level in a job. Competence includes knowledge, skills and the set of abilities needed to do a job...
Use online learning to close skills gaps
How do you measure the success of your training programmes? Is it by the pages a person has read, the pass mark on their assessments, or an observation of the things they do directly after taking a course?...
Logicearth can provide you with a scalable, cost-effective and engaging solution.
TRANSFORM GENERIC TRAINING OVERNIGHT
