Change management has been a significant issue for digital novices in accepting and adjusting to new digital platforms and procedures. Learning leaders must support digital transformation by creating clear learning pathways to help employees gain the digital skills they need to be successful.

Let’s examine some aspects of successfully navigating digital transformation as a training leader in your organization.

Embrace a Learning Mindset

Digital adoption is the ability to take up and understand how systems and data are interconnected to provide information that can help us do our jobs. Therefore, the adoption component involves being open to acquiring new digital abilities along the road. This means that cultivating a learning mindset among employees is vital.

However, not all employees have an open mindset toward learning, and learning and development (L&D) professionals must assist them in cultivating one before deploying a range of new tools, features and updates that might substantially impact employees. Post-COVID-19, digital technologies are being introduced at an incredibly fast rate. Without a learning mindset, employees are at risk of falling behind in today’s ever-changing business environment.

Developing a learning culture encourages all employees to continue to hone their skills, which is crucial in preparing your workforce for the digital work environment of the future.

Start by Structuring Learning Content

Learning needs to be structured in a way that shows a clear progression toward the desired outcome, such as achieving skill mastery in a particular area. This means creating clear learning paths for employees.

To create structured learning pathways, follow these considerations:

• Learning content should be straightforward, and learners should be able to understand it quickly.
• Incorporate learning into employees’ daily responsibilities to assist in better knowledge retention.
• Structure learning paths in a way that supports continued growth over time, from training on beginner-level skills to higher-level skills and procedures.

Gain Employee Buy-In

Employees who are invested and enthusiastic about learning will reach their goals more swiftly. Learning new tools will help them reach their objectives, retain their current customers, grow their new customers, and achieve their goals. Here are some things L&D leaders can do to encourage their employees to hone their technical skills and abilities:

• Learning paths, although exciting, may also be intimidating if the learner doesn’t receive adequate support along the way Thus, training managers need to anticipate where employees may need more support throughout the learning journey.
• Personalize the training that each business function wants to focus on while meeting learning objectives.
• Work with stakeholders to build learning programs aligned with business goals; executives must convey a unified message and assist employees in understanding why the courses are important.
• While rolling out tools, explain new features and support employees in adopting them by pairing them with colleagues who have already used the tools.
• Experiment with various formats for self-directed training: live virtual demos, podcasts, job aids, video streams, and animations, among others.

Support Your Team To Drive Adoption

Consider these strategies for supporting your employees as they navigate their learning path:

• Clearly communicate with your team during each phase of the process. Let them know their progress at any given time, and connect the training with communication so they feel encouraged.
• Conduct training your employees will find meaningful and relevant — again, it should be specialized and tailored to your business.
• Monitor and adjust the training content based on employee performance.
• Utilize a help desk to ensure the proper support is accessible when issues arise. Having additional expertise on hand ensures employees that you are there for them.
• Have a FAQ for often-asked questions so learners can receive support when they need it.
• Make use of knowledge management systems and other learning technologies to make training available in a single, accessible place.
• Encourage direct managers to support their team members’ training and development.

Conclusion

For effective change management in the age of digital transformation, it’s critical that we assess digital adoption. By supporting learners alongside the digital adoption process, training professionals can help companies remain competitive  regardless of digital disruptions.

In this article, Dr. RK Prasad discusses the key takeaways from one of his fireside chat conducted at LearnFlux June 2022. This excerpt helps identify the need to improve the Learner and User experience on digital platforms continuously.