3. Expert Track: Recent Episodes
Nifty Learning
Welcome to a collection of thoughtful conversations with renowned experts on a variety of L&D-related topics. We take a look at everything from the purpose of L&D today, how the industry is changing to how L&D can stay relevant in an increasingly unpredictable future.
In this episode, we tackle some of the most important aspects of L&D work, answering questions about:
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L&D's internal customers
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how to improve L&D's understanding of the business
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the access to the company's strategy and how L&D can contribute
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the multidisciplinary aspect of L&D work
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whether the function should be rebranded
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how to work together with the other People functions
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personal development for L&D professionals
Highlights: * Learning experience design should consider that humans are driven by emotion rather than logical reasoning and incorporate ways to be impactful and effective (aka “sticky”). Reading recommendation: Motivational Design for Learning and Performance. * To make learning meaningful, L&D needs to create a relatable story around a specific piece of organizational knowledge (a procedure, process, business rule, tool/functionality). This is the core of Dr. Quinn’s latest book: Make it meaningful. * L&D should design impactful learning experiences regardless of company culture. Reading recommendation: Drive by Daniel Pink on purpose as a component of relatedness. * L&D must internally practice the appropriate mechanisms that create a learning culture to improve its credibility in the business. * L&D is crucial in an organization’s ability to tackle future innovation and competitiveness. Reading recommendation: Revolutionize Learning & Development.
Data sources to support L&D business cases: - in-house experiments, run with the support of sponsors/champions - anecdotal data or examples from other industries that show converging results - academic research and books (for example, for the value of social media, you can read The New Social Learning)
Quick wins that L&D can start working on today: A. Switch the approach of designing new learning experiences: instead of teaching the audience through a series of presentations, L&Ds could try other methods: problem investigation, collaboration, answering questions, and solving tasks that require the participant to apply the knowledge learned. B. Change the indicators that L&D measures: instead of attendance rates, time spent learning, course reviews, and time to course delivery, L&D should focus on the business metrics it supports. C. Find an enthusiastic adopter willing to work with L&D on designing a learning experience; present to management the improved business metrics. D. A learning experience should offer ample practice context - currently, only 80% of the content is theoretical, and 20% is practical; L&D should switch the proportion.
