Editor’s note: As we ended a difficult and unique year and entered a new one, the Training Industry editorial team asked learning leaders to write in with their reflections on 2020 and predictions for 2021. This series, “What’s Changed and What Hasn’t?: Taking Stock of 2020 and Planning for 2021,” is the result. Plus, don’t miss our infographic, “5 Tips for Turning 2020 Disarray Into 2021 Direction: Insights From Learning Leaders,” which shares insights from the series.
There’s no doubt that 2020 was a year of change. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic forced much of the global workforce to rapidly shift to remote work, as organizations pivoted operations in order to stay afloat. These adjustments had a large impact in 2020, but which aspects will continue to have an impact into 2021 and beyond? While no one could have predicted these changes, it’s important to take a look back and apply the valuable lessons we learned this year as we plan ahead.
While learning and development (L&D) may not seem top of mind among all the challenges enterprises have faced since the beginning of the pandemic, it’s more important than ever to give workers the tools they need to succeed. This support boosts not only productivity but overall morale at a time when we need it most. As we continue to adapt to changes in the workplace, L&D teams and leaders should focus on two main objectives: enabling learning in the flow of work and providing the training tools necessary to help the organization achieve company goals in a remote workplace.
Learning in the Flow of Work
Conferences and in-person training and learning methods may come back at some point, but for now, it’s safe to say the shift to virtual learning is here to stay. While traveling to conferences and engaging with experts and like-minded professionals has its advantages, there’s now a real opportunity for learning in the flow of work to shine.
Rather than having to step away from the job to learn in a classroom or conference hall, learning now can occur anywhere, at any time — even in the middle of a work project. While this concept is not new, the pandemic could be the necessary catalyst for in-the-flow learning to become more popular.
Gone are the days of “step away for a week and come back” training approaches. For many employees, even before the pandemic, being away at a conference for a week was becoming untenable. With today’s pace of business and technology, and the number of organizations with strapped resources, employees don’t have the time to stop working to learn or solve a problem. They must be able to learn in quick bursts of knowledge that help propel their immediate projects. Learning is no longer about consuming a four-hour video but, rather, empowering team members to find help and move forward while the work is happening. In this way, learning in the flow of work is a game-changer when it comes to building a productive, motivated team.
Implementing in-the-flow learning is as easy as providing employees access to online learning platforms that give them on-demand access to the answers they need, as well as resources and tools that they can use throughout their workday and beyond.
Remote Versus In-person Learning
Last year, businesses were challenged with implementing new tools and technologies to serve the new work-from-home environment. While some companies have already started to bring employees back to the office or have adopted a hybrid work model, remote work is here to stay for many organizations.
To ease this shift, virtual communication and meeting tools have been vital to keeping productivity and engagement alive. Despite the shift to videoconferencing and virtual meet-ups, company goals and L&D priorities should remain the same. It’s important to uphold the same principles for learning initiatives, whether they’re accomplished remotely or in person. It will be important to keep the mission and vision front of mind, not the fact that people aren’t learning from the same location.
While operations may not feel normal, transparency, empathy, and setting expectations and high-level goals are still the key to L&D success. It’s important to focus on making sure that the conversations that happened at the water cooler still happen virtually. Try to be intentional about fitting in casual conversation into remote meetings, conferences and training. Asking the same questions remotely that you would normally ask in person is important — and remember, we’re all humans trying to navigate these uncertain times the best we can.
The main focus in 2020 was settling into remote work while surviving a pandemic. With the help of technologies and tools that enable people to work and collaborate from all over the globe, this year, L&D leaders should continue to focus on the shared mission of delivering high-quality content in an easily consumable way to keep employees motivated and productive. Thankfully, in 2021, we can expect the focus to shift to innovation.
