The ever-accelerating pace of technological change has profound implications for professional skill sets everywhere. The old model where a person was taught the basics of a profession only at the beginning of their career has evolved.

To be successful now often requires continuous learning, and as leaders, we have a responsibility to help the people in our organizations keep pace with the market and technological changes. Otherwise, they, and we, will fall behind.

At Deloitte, we have made substantial investments in our learning and development (L&D) programs to ensure they are both personally and professionally suited to the needs and aspirations of the individual learner and scalable throughout the organization. Here’s what we’ve created, and where we believe our L&D programs are headed.

How to Personalize Learning at Scale

Looking at L&D through the lens of new workers entering our business can help give us a useful blueprint for how to reimagine it. While it’s true that many are digital natives, and some workers also prefer to learn in bite-sized bits (e.g., how-to videos) many also appreciate classroom learning and crave apprenticeship. (This is especially true in the remote-work, COVID-19 pandemic era).

In short, many want multimodal options — and we believe that this can be a great L&D model for everyone, not just one generation. No two people, jobs or career paths are the same, and different people bring different skills to their work. With our L&D offerings, we aim to accommodate as many roles, learning preferences and timeframes as possible.

As a result, there really is no such thing as a “typical” training module at Deloitte. We have intensive 12-week, in-person boot camps, one-day courses, one-hour eLearning courses, 15-minute podcasts and even pop-up prompts to help professionals with specific tasks. We also have “guilds,” essentially peer learning communities, to help people get direction on their career paths.

We don’t see any reason L&D can’t be fun. We even have a mobile game where users learn about technology topics while they play. Being engaged with what you’re learning, after all, is one lever to doing good and meaningful work.

Delivering the Knowledge People Need When They Want It

Since not everyone needs the same training or learns at the same pace, we employ a variety of assessments so an individual can gauge the depth of their knowledge in a particular area, and then recommend the most appropriate learning modules. These assessments also allow people to “test out” of topics they are already familiar with and move forward to the parts of a particular course they need most.

Artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, cybersecurity and sustainability are current high priorities for us, and we have intensive bootcamps — like our eight-week AI Academy — for the professionals who will be doing the actual hands-on work in these areas, as well as shorter offerings for those who only require a more conversational understanding — like the on-demand pathways available on our learning experience platform, Cura.

Given the enormous variety of training modules available on the market, we make “buy vs. build” decisions for our courses based on what is most leading-edge and relevant for our learners.  Especially for technology topics, we often lean on curated external resources to allow our L&D team to rapidly roll out development solutions that can keep pace with the market and technological changes.

We also have topics and content where we build the modules ourselves. This is frequently true for non-technical topics, which include leadership and other human skills, as well as content specific to the methodology, values and culture of Deloitte.

Experimenting With AI

Making L&D programs that are both personalized and scalable can be a challenge, and we believe generative AI may be increasingly useful in these efforts.

While we’re still in the experimental phase with the technology, we’re looking toward tasks like generating assets that will benefit the workforce.

We are also actively piloting a “tutor” use case for generative AI, where a chat-based tutor is integrated into the learning experience. In our program, the user will be able to ask the chatbot questions, engage in a Socratic dialogue and access critical knowledge in real time. We expect to further employ AI in our L&D initiatives as we evaluate new use cases down the road.

Rethinking L&D for a Fast-Changing World

The accelerating evolution of technology and business has turned learning into a lifelong process. L&D departments must invest in helping their professionals stay current with in skills and capabilities.

Reimagining L&D as a personalized opportunity, scaled to fit the needs of the organization, can help your professionals become the best versions of themselves and have a more positive impact on the world. The right programs can help your people stay engaged with their work, and ensure your organization remains competitive.

Disclaimer

This publication contains general information only and Deloitte is not, by means of this publication, rendering accounting, business, financial, investment, legal, tax, or other professional advice or services. Before making any decision or taking any action that may affect your business, you should consult a qualified professional advisor.

Deloitte shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by any person who relies on this publication.