Top Priorities for L&D Leaders Today

Over the last decade or two, the use of learning and leadership training solutions, particularly e-learning, has exploded. Small firms have grown their use of e-learning by 900 percent in the last 16 years, making online learning the new normal. Despite this, according to a recent Brandon 44% of businesses are unhappy with their present Open Source Learning Management System. Employee learning and development solutions are rapidly changing to suit the growing demand for a new approach that prioritizes leadership training, soft skills training, ongoing and reinforced learning, and more. Here are five things that serve as the backbone of priorities for L&D professionals in 2021:

Priorities for L&D professionals in 2021

Taking a look at the impact of training

Investing in any learning and development solution comes with a certain amount of risk. L&D experts not only have the task of identifying the proper solution for their business; they are also tasked with analyzing the solution’s impact, confirming that it is working, giving ROI, and demonstrating a use case for the solution’s continued use. While most employees want to evaluate learning based on ROI, organizational impact, and job performance, a tiny percentage want to assess understanding based on ROI, organizational effectiveness, and job performance.

In 2021, one of the top priorities for L&D professionals will be more selective and raise more queries about how they can measure the impact of a training program.

For instance, a learning and development system like PlayAblo gives you visibility into utilization rates and evaluations that show you how your team is improving over time.

Getting managers to prioritize learning for their teams

If managers don’t buy-in, the good impacts of leadership training won’t go very far, and this has typically been a blind spot for businesses. According to the 2020 LinkedIn Learning Report, executive buy-in is not a challenge for 83 percent of L&D professionals. Yet, just 27 percent of L&D professionals report that their CEOs are active top-down supporters of learning across the firm. As a result, 32 percent of L&D professionals believe that motivating managers to make time for learning should be a top priority.

So, another of the critical priorities for L&D leaders should be to look for software that allows managers to interact directly with their teams, such as the ability to recommend specific content to team members.

Concentrating on soft skills training

It’s no secret that with the advances in technology and the technical skills required for success at work changing, individuals will need ongoing reskilling in new technological abilities. Despite this, learning and development experts recognize the value of soft-skills training, which has a significantly longer shelf life. According to a study, L&D professionals would prioritize skills like leadership and management, creative problem solving, design thinking, and communication in 2021. Learning and leadership training solutions that focus on these soft skills will be the most effective in 2021.

Hence, search for solutions that offer practical training on how to be a better employee, leader, and person by focusing on skills such as empathy, providing and receiving feedback, and more.

Providing microlearning that integrates into the job flow

Making time to learn has potential professional rewards for many individuals. Despite this, several professionals believe they do not have time to study at work. L&D experts will be looking to break out from the old approach of giving one-off corporate training courses that are tough to remember and reinforce this year. They’ll be on the lookout for solutions that make it simple for employees to corporate learning opportunities into their daily routines.

How to obtain it? Look for solutions that provide micro-learning opportunities, such as 5- to 10-minute learning tasks.

Incorporating blended learning options

While many L&D professionals are attempting to move away from what appear to be dull corporate lectures, this does not rule out the possibility of in-person training. Employees may find it challenging to integrate in-person training into their daily work lives. Still, a combination of relevant and participatory in-person workshops paired with online microlearning that reinforces the workshop’s learnings can be incredibly beneficial and effective. In 2021, L&D professionals will begin to look into these types of solutions more.

Therefore, look for learning solutions that blend online and in-person learning experiences that reinforce one another, rather than merely delivering a content repository.

Approaching a collaborative training model

It’s easy to see why collaborative learning is becoming more popular. The old ways of in-person classroom training simply don’t cut it anymore, with so many executives opting for work-from-home choices in 2021. Again, with low course completion rates in traditional learning models, the old ways of in-person classroom training don’t work today.

Now, more than ever, teams need a new – and better – approach to define learning needs, exchange subject-matter expertise, and seamlessly collaborate on training content. They need a technique to re-energize learning by capturing and holding people’s attention.

Collaborative learning is an excellent answer to this problem

Why? It is quick and adaptable. Businesses can design courses in minutes, not months, with the proper technology that leverages collaborative learning. This approach to workplace learning is a more efficient means of reacting to learning demands and saves money. People are at the center of collaborative learning. They are a company’s most precious resource. Employees can indicate their learning needs, and in-house experts can create courses to fulfill those needs.

Collaborative learning takes place all over the place. People are happiest when they have control over their learning environment, have the opportunity to contribute their skills and experience by developing content, and have their efforts appreciated by their peers. People will desire to learn this way, and L&D personnel will not have to spend as much time chasing them down to finish exercises.

Conclusion

L&D professionals will move their priority in 2021 and beyond to learning solutions that emphasize leadership training, soft skills training, ongoing and reinforced learning, and more.

It can be tough to find a solution that addresses all of these concerns. PlayAblo is a company that focuses on employee learning and development and provides continuing leadership training to the entire team. Unlike traditional content platforms or in-person training, PlayAblo uses scalable blended learning coupled with mobile-optimized microlearning to distribute high-quality training materials.