Technology has transformed the way we learn and it’s up to organizations to keep up or risk being left behind. It plays a vital role in supporting key change initiatives across the organization and studies show that the most effective organizations utilize learning-enabling technology more often than their ineffective counterparts.
Training Industry, Inc. recently completed two studies to better understand the best practices for the training organization when working on broad-scale change initiatives and on strategic initiatives specific to sales. Both studies showed that less than 26 percent of learning leaders felt their organizations were very effective at supporting important change initiatives. This clearly shows there is vast room for improvement.
Across both studies, the organizations that were effective at supporting change initiatives acknowledged three critical areas to consider when implementing training:
- Partnering with or purchasing from a company or individual with experience in the type of change that your organization is trying to implement;
- Customize the content to goals and learner needs;
- Communicate more often and ensure buy-in support.
We analyzed what essential skills learning leaders were seeking from the marketplace to support their program. As Figure 1 illustrates, the top three skills were subject matter experts (55 percent), design and development support (55 percent) and sourcing of technologies and tools (54 percent). These three skills correlate with the best practices that effective organizations deemed critical for supporting change initiatives.
Figure 1: Essential Skills Sourced from the Marketplace
Emerging Technologies: Current & Future Plans
Technology is instrumental at accelerating learning by making it accessible at the point of need. In our study on supporting strategic initiatives in sales organizations, learning leaders were asked which sales tools and technologies their companies currently use or plan to use for training purposes.
As Figure 2 shows, mobile learning is currently one of the least-used technologies to support sales training. However, mobile learning is the leading technology that sales organizations plan to use in the future, with 35 percent of learning leaders citing this option most often. (See Figure 3)
This trend is not isolated to this one study. Mobile learning also showed to be an emerging technology in our recent study on great training organizations, where it had the highest planned use rate among other technologies (25 percent). In fact, it was the only technology in which planned use exceeded actual use (20 percent).
Along with mobile learning, organizations are also showing strong interest in the planned usage of gamification and utilizing technology that supports mentor networks. Only 12 percent of organizations are currently using gamification, yet it is the second-leading technology in planned usage, clearly indicating that virtual training is on the rise. There is also strong growth with mentor networks, falling third in planned usage.
Sales training organizations can often be a leading indicator for trends in adoption of tools and technology. It is interesting to see the expected use of these three technologies by the group whose training most closely impacts a company’s revenue.
Figure 2: Tools & Technologies – Currently Use
Figure 3: Tools & Technologies – Plan to Use
Summary
When preparing for change initiatives across the organization, companies should remain focused on keeping the communication lines open throughout the process, seeking help from experienced partners when necessary, and continuously customizing content to the needs of the learner.
Organizations that are effective in training for these changes are fueled by support from learning technologies. Remember, learning leaders from effective companies use tools and technologies more often than those from ineffective organizations. Embracing technology is the gateway to effectively managing the business of learning.
