Learning and development (L&D), also known as training and development, usually fall under the HR umbrella, and recently is more adopted and supported at the cross-organizational level to increase business goals. With L&D as a business strategy, a company can align its whole business goals influencing the performance and goals of its individual employees, customers, community, and stakeholders in general. creating a mutually beneficial relationship that helps bring in top talent and keep them happy.

Learning and development of people is 2022s agenda

For the past decade, we see the raise of L&D efforts in the customer success department, trying to provide easy access to self-help resources and knowledge bases. Marketing departments began to adopt in-house content marketing and production to provide their own learning resources. Even sales teams are much more informative and transparent because when the product is good, and prospects are well informed - you don't have to sell, only listen.

It’s a whole culture of learning that contributes to overall business growth.

For example, Deel’s support hub allows a broad understanding of international hiring procedures and makes labor law clear in down-to-earth language.

Elementor’s academy serves as a demand generation matching for marketing efforts allowing in-depth information on how to use Elementor for multiple use-cases

Gloat’s resource center increases its branding value as a tech company that expertise in HR.

So, why is L&D so important as we watch the Future of Work unfold? How can you support L&D initiatives in a way that’s cost-efficient and optimizes performance? This guide will address all of your questions and provide some advice for devising effective solutions for your organization.

Why does Learning and Development matter in the Future of Work context? 

“Robots won’t replace us” sounds like a line from dystopian movies like “The Matrix” but there’s evidence that by 2025, 50% of the workforce will be robots and AI. In such a future, L&D efforts might hold the key to enabling talents and companies worldwide to overcome these challenges and join forces for a fruitful future. 

Re-skilling and up-skilling should be at the top of everyone’s to-do list. A concerted effort must be made in order to continue priming and providing 21st-century skills. As a company, investing in those L&D efforts will help you attract and retain the best talent, boost productivity in the workspace, and even bring in more profit as a side effect of the countless improvements L&D introduces. 

What are the most critical skills in your team?

How do people learn best?

The learning pyramid is a controversial illustration that says we retain 5% of lectures we watch, 10% of what we read, 20% of audiovisual presentations, 30% of demonstrations, 50% of discussion groups, 75% of what we practice doing, and 90% of what we teach others. However, with a growing body of research revealing various learning styles, the learning pyramid is gradually falling out of favor.

While many people may agree with the learning pyramid, there’s increasing acknowledgment that some people learn better by reading -meaning they’ll retain more than the 10% the learning pyramid suggests–and others learn better by watching–so audiovisuals and demonstrations will rank higher in their pyramid. The list goes on, with some retaining more information that they hear, others retaining more from what they do, and so on.

Understanding that we all learn differently is essential to implementing effective L&D resources. With nearly 60% of millennials saying they want opportunities to learn and grow in the workplace and that availability of those opportunities impacts their decision to apply for a job, creating L&D resources and programs is a must-do. Keeping the various learning styles in mind is equally important because you don’t want to create something that your stakeholders will fail to engage with or find useful.

Here are some L&D trends that in my opinion that worth focus in 2022:

Trend 1: Micro-learning

Micro-learning, or micro-training, is a format of teaching that delivers content in short bursts. Instead of having an instructor walk the employees or students through the content in real-time, this content is completely self-paced, allowing them to study when it’s convenient for them.

The Association for Talent Development has concluded that 10 minutes is the maximum length for a microlearning segment and that segments between 2 and 5 minutes are the most effective for retention.

When it comes to how micro-training is presented, the content can take many forms, including text, audio, video, and interactive, whether as a standalone or a combination of all three. 

The goal is to make training less of a burden and easier to fit into a busy schedule, but the short bursts also increase retention because there’s less to remember overall. The short-term focus required to complete a micro-training module makes it ideal for skill-based learning.

While short snackable content is very natural in marketing, among the HR departments and trainers specialists, getting out of the 30-45 min paradigm is relatively new.

It’s more about understanding how digital content helps you explain ideas in a short time and less about doing the same 45 min lectures over zoom.

We might even see more collaboration between bizdev, sales, marketers, and L&D departments.

Trend 2: LMS - Building your learning machine

In order to create a learning culture, you will probably need a learning machine. While quality and “snackable” content are one part of the L&D equation. You must also find a reliable tool to manage, organize, present, and analyze that content efficiently. A learning management system (LMS) is the go-to solution for creating and managing training programs, classes, and courses in the digital space.

With an LMS, you can present content in a variety of formats–including written articles, attached PDFs, video files, audio files, quizzes, and so on–and shape your learning journey as you progress through the course. You may also create a dedicated space for them to engage with others in the same course and to ask instructors questions.

Most learning management systems feature quiz and test creators that can be graded automatically or marked for review by an assigned instructor. Other features, like live-streamed content, are also available with leading LMS platforms.

A newer form of learning machine is the Learning Experience Platform (LXP) currently adopted in high-tech sector. Compared to the LMS, the LXP allows a more user-centric approach where users decide how and what to learn and is assisted by AI suggesting further learning paths and personalized experiences.

Trend 3: Blended learning vs online learning

Depending on your organization’s available resources and the number of off-site people you employ, you might have the choice between a blended model or an online model.

• Blended learning involves a mixture of self-paced participation (asynchronous learning) and live participation (synchronous learning). This model is effective if you’re targeting your L&D program on maximizing the digital engagement of participants by adding a more guided personal experience rather than learning alone.

• Online learning is purely available via an online learning management system. You might create an experience that is entirely self-paced or you may have an instructor oversee the course to assign tasks and offer information over a live group call or one-to-one session. 

The approach you choose will be based entirely on the availability of your workforce for in-person participation along with your company’s L&D budget. Self-paced online courses will be the most cost-effective in the long run, but it could come at the cost of engagement if you don’t invest in highly interactive, quality materials. 

From my experience, we all begin from different points and digital literacy levels. Therefore it's fine to begin it with a base level of content that you understand and develop it further in a lean production model as reality requires more investments in L&D efforts.

Trend 4: The metaverse and implementing effective learning experiences

The metaverse is often called the next generation of the internet. The idea behind the metaverse is to use a combination of technologies, like augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), to create a highly immersive experience for users. Companies are already exploring opportunities for shopping and entertainment, but it also holds great potential for learning and development.

While it’s credited to Mark Zuckerberg’s ‘Meta’, The idea of people meeting and having experiences together online is out there since online multiplayer gaming.

As the metaverse continues to develop, experts predict it will create an ecosystem that gives way to connections and communications.

It’s assumed that the metaverse will be widely adopted over the next decade and become a part of our day-to-day lives. So, while it might sound like a stretch for your organization to be already planning its L&D around the metaverse, remember the perks of having a first-mover advantage.

Even if you aren’t ready to adopt the metaverse just yet, it’s important that all organizations keep an eye on the concept as we move closer to seeing the metaverse become a reality. It’s expected that immersive entertainment, activities, and training will become standard components of the metaverse in the not-so-distant future. The gradual move toward this reality calls for increasingly interactive and immersive content already, which is why you need to hold your digital L&D content to high standards.

Recently I experimented Gather.Town, a metaverse solution for remote collaboration and events. Many Millenials who grew up playing RPG games would relate to its 90s looks and feel.

While it’s originally designed for collaboration, I see how such a solution might be a useful way for remote learning and training spaces that are more interactive and feel a more ‘natural’ way to learn together and communicate seamlessly without the need for external headsets.

Trend 5: Education as a service (EaaS)?

Education-as-a-Service (EaaS) is a model that seeks to offer supplemental or alternative resources for learning with a digital-by-design approach. Those in college can pursue EaaS resources alongside their coursework or those in the workforce can pursue it in addition to, or even as an alternative to, a college degree. 

The goal of EaaS is to offer highly accessible and affordable (if not free) education that helps an individual brush up on the most recent and relevant skills they need to succeed in the workforce. Typically, EaaS resources are provided in a self-paced format using an online portal, keeping costs low for providers and students while allowing the utmost flexibility in completing the courses or programs. 

As an organization, you can partner with an EaaS provider to offer training to your employees without the need to develop your own content, or you can even become an EaaS provider, allowing you to monetize your efforts. In fact, there are a number of strategies that organizations have successfully used to make L&D profitable.

Recently we see growth in EaaS efforts.

for example, Yandex’s Practicum and Y-data offer professional education in their fields of expertise.

Jolt helps people enter the tech industry through non-technical roles in the high-tech industry, such as sales, business development, and marketing.

Harvard Business School has its own online spinoff with business education, and it’s surely impressive.

Trend 6: L&D Monetization

To put it simply, creating highly interactive and valuable L&D content–and maintaining it over time–is not easy or cheap. As such, many organizations have begun finding ways to monetize their L&D efforts. 

The EdTech and HR Tech industries are booming as they continue to rapidly adopt emerging technologies, like AR and VR, that is helping the immersive “metaverse” come to life.

With skill-based academies, digital products, online education, and countless other avenues becoming standards for the consumption of educational materials, there are many opportunities to monetize L&D efforts.

Many organizations have successfully transformed their training and educational resources into paid certificate programs that anyone in the industry can gain access to for a fee. For example, I recently enrolled in Google’s UX Design Professional Certificate via Coursera. Meanwhile, internal employees typically receive access to those same materials free of charge, turning them into a valuable job perk and an excellent tool to up-skill and retain talent.

In addition to monetizing the content itself, your organization might also find opportunities in the tools it develops to help create or deliver the content. For instance, if you invest in a custom learning management system, that is a proprietary asset that could potentially be licensed to other companies or offered as a SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) product. 

Even without proprietary software, organizations can still monetize L&D programs by partnering with other companies in the industry to share the resources. Charging other companies to gain access to your L&D programs for their own users or employees is yet another path organizations have successfully taken in order to recoup the cost of L&D programs and even make them profitable.

Conclusion

Developing effective solutions for learning and development programs is not an easy task, but with an abundance of new tools available to support L&D efforts, it’s entirely achievable. Plus, with emerging technology like the metaverse on the horizon, organizations that pursue interactivity and innovation alongside their L&D efforts are sure to find themselves at the forefront of a digital revolution.

Whether you have created L&D programs in the past and you’re looking to revamp them to better suit the increasingly digital learning environment, or you’re pursuing the creation of an L&D program for the first time, staying ahead of trends, challenges, and best practices is key to success.

We’ve covered a lot of key topics in this guide, but there’s always more to consider. If you’re facing an L&D challenge in your organization or are interested in more information regarding L&D and content development, subscribe to the newsletter.