Learning OrganizationCorporate training has changed tremendously and organizations that still adhere to the old way of providing learning opportunities to their employees risk spending a lot of money without a commensurate gain. Cultural and technological changes suggest there are 2 key strategies in contemporary organizations that can help to build a learning organization…

1- Incorporate Microlearning

Rather than relying solely on 2-day or 3-day type training whether internal or external, focus on introducing and incorporating microlearning modules that provide small chunks of learning on relevant topics. So – for example – instead of sending a team leader who has trouble giving feedback to team members for a 2-day communication skills course only, offer a web-based microlearning course on how to give feedback. This microlearning combined with some on-the-job coaching leads to better results. Also, microlearning allows an organization to fine-tune the learning to individuals and specific groups of people in a very cost-effective manner. A typical microlearning pathway for say a management trainee might include 40-50 web-based microlearning modules, each of 5-10 minutes with a combination of video, text, quiz and action plan built into each module.

Ask any business leader how people learn best and the response will almost always be “on the job.” This of course is spot on. Sales people learn by making sales calls, engineers learn by doing design work, customer service people learn by handling irate customers with difficult problems. The key therefore is not a lot of formal training but rather microlearning modules that support on-the-job learning.

2- Develop Your Own Content

Instead of just relying on professional trainers with external content, organizations need to develop their own content with small, easy-to-produce and easy-to-use chunks of content. Developing own content is essential for areas such as onboarding, compliance, organizational values and systems. Harnessing the wisdom of in-house experts to co-create content using smart tools like the course builder in eLoomi makes it possible to put together and assign in-house content as easily as posting LinkedIn posts.