COVID-19 has changed life and work. What role does learning and development, Instructional Design, and Distance Learning play for the future?

By: Edward Epstein, Co-Founder, Be Group

It’s clear the effects of COVID on our work and life are here to stay in the short-term. And, some of the effects will also prove to be long-lasting. L&D professionals are being called upon to step-up.  Clearly this exists in the education space (as we have all seen and experienced), but also in the workplace.

As business leaders, if you’re not evaluating your L&D team and their capabilities – then you should be. These professionals are in-demand to deliver results for your employees (current and future), your culture, and your clients.  If you’re interested in adding to your team or you’d like to discuss please email me at Ed@begroupconnects.com.

Summary Points:

• COVID has transformed the working world; adaptability and resilience are most important. Organizations should and will depend on L&D to help keep the pace moving swiftly and seamlessly into the new normal
• LinkedIn is reporting a double-digit increase on remote job openings changing everything about work, including culture
• Delivering training, education, and culture with a digital, virtual focus has never been more important; not just soon, but now
• The technology component is what matters most, in a world that went virtual, overnight
• The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics anticipates that job growth in the L&D space to be >11% through 2026.  Additionally, that may be underestimated as COVID remains
• In recent months, 56% of global employers have significantly increased their L&D capabilities
• 66% of L&D professionals report their functions have become more strategic within their organizations
• 68% say urgency around launching learning programs have risen significantly
• Shifting trends, more employees show a willingness (and involvement) to keep the cameras on and available; creates a noticeable increase in workplace socializing via video

Starting with the bottom line, when a company is required to educate, it’s an Instructional Designer or Learning and Development professional that plans, designs, and implements the best way to deliver.

COVID-19 was a near-instant awakening, invading our personal and professional lives and casting uncertainty over the future of how we work, socialize, and even learn. Nearly everything is now remote, virtual, and digital.  Instructional Designers are key to creating accessible and inclusive learning models. It’s their skillset that embraces technology to support distance learning for successful learning outcomes. Notable points resulting from a survey consisting of 1500 Chief Learning officers:

• 81% of learning leaders will adopt new training techniques
• 70% note their blend of training delivery methods will change
• 73% plan to develop more custom content

In addition to education and professional development, business leaders are required to think about management and leadership. Similar surveys reveal that a significant challenge, after adjusting business operations, is employee engagement and productivity. Digital transformation was already a priority. However, now it is turbo-boosted. Organizations must investigate everything, from connecting with colleagues to client meetings.

Where capabilities and budgets allow, companies have fast-tracked this transformation to increase collaboration, taking courses together, and collaborating virtually. The goal — interactive and social aspects of learning can surface within a technology base.

For L&D leaders, knowing what employees and clients need to learn is not enough. They need to ensure their learning programs are effective in helping their audience learn. Post-COVID, this requires new practices, changing approaches to meet learners where they are and whenever they’re ready to learn.

Did I talk about culture? It’s one of the most important differentiators for companies.  And, it has a bright spotlight on it since COVID (as it should). If culture is the foundation for success and the backbone for delivery, then it’s more relevant than ever with employees that are remote from coworkers, their teams, and management. So how do you manage, maintain, and leverage culture? How do you proactively do that by design?  Learning and Development, Instructional Design!

• Nurture people and their skills
• Educate management, as they are the single thread of leadership and information dissemination
• Over-communicate, create community and a platform for discussion
• Create a public common purpose and goal
• Recognize employees who act in the way you desire and hold people accountable for their behaviors
• Get feedback – listen, learn and adjust (then repeat)

Generally speaking, Learning and Development will need to adjust in order to successfully deliver, or better said, to add value.

• L&D should be required to interact and collaborate with every business function prior to constructing what it believes is a learning solution.
• Overcoming the business challenge is the goal, get closer to the consumer and don’t deliver what L&D wants to teach.
• Leave the PowerPoint decks in their folders. Design principles are required to be user-centric, as value needs to be seen from the eyes of the consumer (not from the designer). Incorporate agile-based approaches for technical needs and learning campaigns.
• Adjust to your consumer, they’ve changed. In the recent past, teaching was delivered by the experienced. But today’s consumer lives in a Google world.  Today’s learning consumers need to want to learn, not forced through some metric or performance milestone. Peer learning, discussion forums, and just better engagement mechanisms that deliver attendance and results.
• The measurement of learning and the L&D teams should change. They should be connected to business performance, outcomes, and KPI’s.

On behalf of Be Group, we hope this information made sense. If you’d like to discuss your L&D team or add to it, please connect with me.