Tag Archives: employee development

A Comparison of Education and Training Predictions From the 1990s to Today’s Reality

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From my associate, Grant Tate.

In the 1990s, I was working in the Netherlands with my company, Bridgewater Innovations Group, NL, BV. We did deep research on the way different countries around the world were applying technology in education and training. For instance, we studied the Netherlands, USA, Canada, Australia, Japan, UK. As a result of that work, I developed the presentation, “A View of Learning in the 21st Century.” Running across this report in my files, I was pleasantly surprised about the accuracy of our predictions.

‍I asked A.I. to compare and contrast those predictions with today’s reality, giving business leaders an overview of how accurate they were. Here is the result after my editing.

‍Learning Networks and Accessibility

One of the key predictions was the emergence of learning networks connecting homes, schools, and workplaces. This prediction has largely come true with the advent of the internet and online learning platforms. Today, learners can access educational resources and connect with instructors and peers from anywhere in the world. This has democratized education, making it available to a wider audience.

 

Individualized and Interactive Learning

The prediction of individualized and interactive learning has also been realized. With the rise of adaptive learning platforms and personalized learning tools, learners can progress at their own pace and focus on areas where they need the most support. Interactive simulations, virtual reality, and gamified learning have made education more engaging and immersive.

 

‍The Role of Technology

The prediction that sophisticated computer software would customize learning experiences has been realized to a large extent. Artificial intelligence (A.I.) and machine learning algorithms are now used to personalize learning paths, recommend resources, and provide targeted support to learners. AI-powered chatbots can also act as virtual tutors, answering questions and providing guidance.

 

‍Assessment and Feedback

The prediction that traditional testing would be replaced by continuous assessment methods has also been realized. Many learning platforms now incorporate formative assessments, real-time feedback mechanisms, and data-driven insights to track learner progress and provide personalized support.

 

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Integration of Work and Learning

The prediction that learning would be integrated with work has also come true. Lifelong learning has become essential for career advancement, and many companies now offer on-the-job training, professional development programs, and online learning resources to their employees. Microlearning and just-in-time learning have made it easier for employees to learn new skills and knowledge in the flow of work.

 

‍The Changing Role of Teachers

The prediction that teachers would transition from preachers to guides and coaches has also been realized. In today’s technology-enabled learning environments, teachers play a more facilitative role, guiding learners, providing feedback, and fostering collaboration. They also need to be proficient in using technology to enhance the learning experience.

 

‍Areas Where Predictions Fell Short

While many of the predictions from the 1990s have come true, there are some areas where the reality has differed. For instance, the prediction that time-based credit systems would fade in favor of competency-based assessments has not been fully realized. While there is a growing movement towards competency-based education, traditional credit systems are still prevalent in many educational institutions.

 

Conclusion

Overall, the predictions made in the 1990s about the future of learning have been remarkably accurate. Technology has transformed education and training, making them more accessible, personalized, and interactive. In the 1990s, we were exploring how network and computer technology would affect learning and training. The emergence of Generative A.I. opened up an expansive new channel of learning. If you want to learn about a new topic, simply ask A.I. to explain it to you. If you want to learn a new skill, A.I. can generate a personalized training program, with exercises—just for you. We’re entering another new era for education and training.

Comprehensive Guide to Developing Employees Part II: Elements to Enhance Employee Development

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Editor’s Note: This is the second installment of a two-part series surrounding what it takes to develop staff both within relatively small micro-businesses to more extensive organizations. Each article explores different aspects.

While employee development can be an essential strategic tool for growth, productivity, and employee retention, neglecting particular challenges results in uncertain value.

For Your Consideration

  • Finding qualified staff is seldom easy and may be costly. Even HR professionals are having recruiting difficulties, and 75% say there is a skills shortage in candidates, so prepare to build the employees you want.
  • Competition is competing for both market share and engaged employees.
  • Diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives are becoming increasingly more important to more people.
  • A culture that adapts to new environments, protocols, or shifting market demands can do well.
  • Acknowledge the connection between adapting your changing business structure with evolving employee development. Align employee development with the organization’s strategic needs. For example, do you face many impending retirements?
  • Workers who receive training and educational opportunities can become more productive and loyal. While there is a concern that developing highly skilled people will leave and take their knowledge elsewhere, employee training usually reduces turnover and absenteeism.
  • Recognize that you may need to rekindle employee development initiatives.

 

Guidelines to support employee development programs:

  • Secure widespread agreement among executives and managers.
  • Tie everything into performance management.
  • Be clear about your desired outcomes.

Failure to follow these can lead to decreased effectiveness for all impacted.

Employee Development Methods

Employee development methods can occur on the job, with the manager or an experienced co-worker leading the development activity, using training facilities, or online.

COACHING

Coaching involves a more experienced or skilled individual providing an employee with advice and guidance. 1:1 coaching is personalized, has a specific business objective, and occurs over time.

MENTORING

Mentoring may be formal or informal. Effective mentoring programs involve:

  • Matching mentors and mentees.
  • Hold both parties accountable with goals.
  • Designate the time & commitments needed.
  • Monitor the mentoring relationship.
  • Link mentoring to both talent management and business strategies.

 

INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT PLANS (IDP)

This document details an employee’s intentions, learning outcomes, and support needed. It also includes appraisal and assessment data.

CROSS-TRAINING

Cross-training (short or long-term) refers to training employees to perform job duties other than those usually assigned. Begin by identifying the knowledge and skills needed for each position and understanding current employees’ proficiencies to reveal gaps.

JOB SHADOWING

Job shadowing requires more than having an employee follow a colleague around all day. It works best when employees learn firsthand about the challenges facing people in other departments and the impact their decisions have on others.

JOB ENLARGEMENT VS JOB ENRICHMENT

Job enlargement adds more tasks and duties, typically at the same level of complexity. Job enrichment, on the other hand, adds responsibility and control. Motivation is unlikely when jobs are enlarged but not enriched.

JOB ROTATION

Job rotation (usually for a year or more) is the systematic movement of employees from job to job to provide a view of the entire organization. Downsides may include increased workload and decreased productivity for the employee, temporary workflow disruption, line managers’ possible reluctance to lose high-performing employees, or the costs associated with the learning curve on new jobs.

“STRETCH” ASSIGNMENTS

Developmental assignments allow employees to develop new skills, knowledge, experience, and competencies necessary for higher-level positions.

SUCCESSION PLANNING

Succession planning uses a 1-3 year window to identify long-range needs and build your internal talent to meet those needs- not to preselect them.

ASSESSMENT CENTERS

An assessment center, used for selection or development purposes, is not necessarily a physical site but a program of tools and exercises designed to assess people’s suitability concerning a particular role.

CORPORATE UNIVERSITIES

Corporate universities usually focus on job-related skills, specific proprietary knowledge, or certification needs to ensure consistent messages reach everyone.

LIVE & ONLINE DEVELOPMENT

Organizations typically use classroom-based learning for topics unique to the employer and online learning for universal topics. Online training allows for self-directed, just-in-time, on-demand instruction. Content is best delivered in small, easily understood pieces to keep employees engaged. Employees should know how to use online training systems and online support and easily access supplemental information.

Common Issues and Challenges to Developing Employees Today
GENERAL ISSUES

Typical hurdles for employee development programs include:

  • Lack of managerial accountability.
  • Gaps in talent development capabilities with inadequate feedback to grow people.
  • Inconsistent alignment between workforce and business strategies.
  • Inconsistent execution.
  • Limited use of meaningful analytics and tracking.

 

FUNDING CHALLENGES

When the business is booming, taking employees away from their work is a challenge. But when revenue slows often, there is less money in the training budget to get it done—the classic Catch-22.
Here are some tips for breaking free of this vicious lack-of-time or lack-of-money cycle:

  • Seek outside funding through grants. Note: some grants restrict which employees are trained, by whom, and on what topics.
  • Analyze cost-benefits, be selective, and prioritize.
  • Utilize videos, free online courses, and podcasts to tap free or low-cost resources.

 

GENERATIONAL CONSIDERATIONS

There was an unspoken “sink-or-swim” approach to bringing new employees up to speed in earlier generations. Consider redesigning supervisor and leadership development.  Millennials usually expect clear direction, guidance, and goals from their leaders, along with well-defined assignments, benchmarks, continuous feedback, and discussion.

COMMUNICATIONS
  • Clear communication about employee development programs is essential. Do not create unrealistic expectations, overpromise next steps, or generate confusion about who receives development opportunities. Be clear about which programs are mandatory. Is there a career impact if someone opts out of development?
  • What, if anything, will you tell your “high potentials?” This area can be a double-edged sword.

 

Use Evolving Technology

Most integrated learning management systems (LMS) and performance management (PM) systems use a competency-based model and become integral to the performance appraisal process. After the system quantifies gaps, it recommends learning or development opportunities.

Metrics

Insight is critical. Measure participant reaction, participant learning, participant behavior on the job, business results, and return on investment.

Choose a Global Lens

Be culturally aware of the expectations and differences in learning and talent development practices. Explore appropriate word choices, humor, nonverbal gestures, greetings, and attitudes toward time.

Finally, all employers should ensure that employee development programs do not create liabilities for discrimination, retaliation, wage and hour violations, or breach copyright laws.

Comprehensive Guide to Developing Employees Part 1: The Business Case For Employee Development

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Editor’s Note: This is the first installment of a two-part series surrounding what it takes to develop staff both within relatively small micro-businesses to more extensive organizations. Each article explores different aspects.

Regardless of the size of your organization, employee development is an essential strategic tool. It can enhance an organization’s continuing growth, productivity, and employee retention. However, employee development will be clunky for employees when neglecting particular challenges, leading to an uncertain value to the organization.

In this first installment of a two-part series, I will discuss the considerations in making strong business case for employee development, guidelines to consider, and the various development methods available.

 

The Business Case for Employee Development

Finding qualified staff is seldom easy and may be very costly. According to research published by SHRM, up to 83% of HR professionals are having recruiting difficulties. Of those HR professionals, 75% say there is a skills shortage in candidates.

Some key considerations:

  • Competition is all around us, and they are competing for both market share and engaged employees.
  • Diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives are becoming increasingly more important. A trap is allocating more energy to external recruiting than developing and promoting current employees.
  • Create a culture that celebrates continuous learning and quickly adapts to new environments, protocols, or shifting market demands.
  • You may need to rekindle employee development initiatives. Recently, limited budgets, scarce resources, shifting business priorities, and lack of time or senior management support have been impediments to a viable approach. By providing creative development, executives signal that you value employees.
  • Acknowledge the need to adapt to your changing business structure. Leaner, flatter, and continuously evolving organizations especially need employee development.
  • Workers who receive training and educational opportunities will become more productive. While there is a concern that developing highly skilled people will leave and take their knowledge elsewhere, employee training usually reduces turnover and absenteeism.
  • Align employee development with the organization’s strategic needs.
  • Do you face the impending retirement of staff?
  • What succession planning initiatives are you putting in place before you hit an emergency?

 

Guidelines to Support Employee Development Programs:
  • Find a common ground: Secure widespread agreement among executives and managers that development fits into workforce planning, succession or retention programs.
  • Tie everything into performance management: Differentiate between short-term plans for projects, long-term plans for the organization, career development plans for the employee, and skill-building for immediate performance deficiencies. Handle each at its appropriate phase of the performance management process.
  • Understand what each employee values: Knowing what each employee values and how that relates to their desired development needs should significantly affect the type of development activities provided.
  • Know your desired outcome: Be clear about which skills will be enhanced by particular employee development initiatives.

 

Although these guidelines do not guarantee a successful program, failure to follow them will almost certainly make the development program less effective for the employee and the organization.

Employee Development Methods

Some employee development methods occur on the job, with the manager or an experienced co-worker leading the development activity on-site. Other development occurs at training facilities or online.

Coaching: Coaching involves a more experienced or skilled individual providing an employee with advice and guidance. The hallmarks of 1:1 coaching are: it is personalized and customized, it has a specific business objective, and it is accomplished over time. Approach coaching like any other strategic goal. It requires a plan to obtain results, qualified, willing coaches, and a follow-up evaluation.

Mentoring: Mentoring may be formal or informal. Effective mentoring programs:

  • Match mentors and mentees based on skills and development needs.
  • Hold both parties accountable with goals.
  • Designate the time & commitments needed.
  • Monitor the mentoring relationship.
  • Link mentoring to both talent management and business strategies.

 

Individual development plans (IDP): An IDP details an employee’s intentions, learning outcomes, and support, including adult learning strategies, experiential learning, and interaction. It includes appraisal and assessment data that reflect actual and potential performance.

Cross-training: Cross-training refers to training employees to perform job duties other than those usually assigned. Cross-training can be a short-term or ad hoc fix or an ongoing, planned process and may help staff meet qualifications for future career advancement. All cross-training should begin by identifying the knowledge and skills needed for each position and understanding current employees’ proficiencies to reveal gaps.

“Stretch” assignments: Developmental assignments allow employees to develop new skills, knowledge, experience, and competencies necessary for higher-level positions. Many workers do not know what experiences they will need.

Some Key Findings

Our experience has shown:

  • First-level leaders are more likely to succeed if they have had more cross-functional experiences.
  • Mid-level leaders are more likely to succeed if they have had experience handling tough challenges.
  • Executives are more likely to succeed when they have had high-visibility experiences along with having to manage high-risk situations.

 

Job enlargement vs. job enrichment: Job enlargement adds more tasks and duties, typically at the same level of complexity. On the other hand, job enrichment builds more depth through more control, responsibility, and discretion. Motivation is unlikely when jobs are enlarged but not enriched.

Job shadowing: Job shadowing requires more than just having an employee follow a colleague around all day. It works best when employees learn firsthand about the challenges facing people in other departments and the impact their decisions have on others.

Job rotation: Job rotation, which usually runs for a year or more, is the systematic movement of employees from job to job within an organization. Typically, formal rotation programs offer high-potential employees customized assignments to provide a view of the entire business.

Assignments can increase product quality, allow employees to explore alternative career paths, and perhaps, most importantly, prevent stagnation and boredom. Downsides may include increased workload and decreased productivity for the employee, temporary workflow disruption, line managers’ possible reluctance to lose high-performing employees, and the costs associated with the learning curve on new jobs.

Succession Planning

Succession planning uses a one- to three-year window to identify long-range needs and builds your internal talent to meet those needs. These plans prepare employees for new roles in the organization – not preselect them. Succession planning doesn’t have to be complicated and can significantly benefit smaller organizations with fewer resources.

Assessment Centers

An assessment center is not necessarily a physical site but a program of tools and exercises designed to assess people’s suitability concerning a particular role. Assessment centers may be used for selection or development purposes and can involve several employees or candidates at a time. These may involve standardized activities, games, and other simulations to help predict the candidates’ future performance.

Corporate Universities

Corporate universities usually focus on job-related skills, company-specific proprietary knowledge, or certification needs. They are designed to benefit the organization, not just the individual, with consistent messaging that reaches everyone.

Online Development

Organizations typically use classroom-based learning for topics unique to the employer and online learning for universal topics. Online training allows for self-directed, just-in-time, on-demand instruction. Content is best delivered in small, easily understood pieces to keep employees engaged. Employees should know how to use online training systems and online support and easily access supplemental information.

Up next: In the next issue, we will identify, explore and also help you better understand some of the common issues and challenges when developing employees.