Training Industry Magazine - May/June 2019 - 13

PERFORMANCE MATTERS
JULIE WINKLE GIULIONI

MEET TODAY'S LEARNER

Offering learning and development (L&D)
solutions has never been more important
or complex. This importance comes
from a growing acceptance that today's
dynamic and disruptive environment
demands an ever-refreshing flow of
information and skills throughout the
organization. This complexity comes
from many different sources.
VIVA LA DIFFERENCE
Today's workforce spans four generations
toiling side by side. And, as people work
longer, that population will continue to
become older over time. Age isn't the only
diversity factor at play, either. Now, more
women are part of the workforce than
any other time in U.S. history. But gender
is just one part of the picture. Today, we
enjoy greater diversity in terms of sexual
preference and identification as well.
The workplace also represents the
richness of various ethnicities and
religions that help characterize the
melting pot that is our nation. This
diversity contributes directly to the
bottom-line. According to McKinsey &
Company, "ethnically diverse companies
are 35% more likely to outperform their
respective national industry medians."
Legislation and greater workplace
accommodations allow those with
a range of abilities to contribute
in ways they might not have in the
past.
According to research from
Deloitte Insights, "the U.S. labor force
has become more educated in each

EXPECTATIONS OF
LEARNING CAN BE
DRAMATICALLY
DIFFERENT FOR
EVERY INDIVIDUAL.

progressive generation." Yet, many
organizations find themselves with a
population ranging from marginally
literate individuals to those with
multiple advanced degrees.
BEYOND THE DEMOGRAPHICS OF
DIVERSITY
But the differences don't end there.
Beyond who comes to work, where
and how they work differs dramatically.
Some still show up to a shop or store.
Others are co-located with colleagues
in offices. A growing number travel to
shared work spaces or work from home.
Once employees arrive wherever they
might find themselves working, additional
layers of differences emerge. How
information and learning is consumed
varies widely based on age, education,
experience and evolving available
technologies. And expectations of
learning can be dramatically different
from individual to individual.
MEETING THE NEEDS OF TODAY'S
LEARNERS
As a result of the diversity that's at the core
of today's workplace, L&D practitioners
cannot view training audiences as the
monolithic populations we once did. Even
segmenting an audience into sub-groups
may not be sufficient in understanding
and appealing to the broad and varied
learning needs that exist within it.
Instead, it's time for L&D to reframe its
thinking and update its fundamental
mission to include "offering necessary
and tailored learning to audiences of one."
We must advance our thinking and build
on evolving practices that enable us to
meet the needs of each individual. And,
many of the pieces of this philosophy are
already in the works, such as:

* Microlearning: Being able to chunk
content down into discrete and
digestible elements is the first step.
But accommodating audiences of one
doesn't mean pushing all of the same
assets to everyone. Flexible systems
will allow for customized sorting,
configuration and deployment of
individualized solutions.
* On-demand learning: Pull (versus
push)- based systems put the learner
in the driver's seat. This helps to
accommodate the variability in terms
of when, where and how learning is
accessed. However, this only works
when the right assets are curated or
created, with an eye toward the widerange of needs that exist from person
to person.
* Knowledge management systems:
These
internal
repositories
of
information are naturally self-tailoring
tools that meet individual needs, but
only when they operate at close to
the typical learner's gold standard of
Google searches. All of this demands an
improved user experience that enables
learning assets and resources to
satisfy knowledge and skill acquisition
requirements at critical points of need.
* Coaching: Whether in real life or
virtually, with advancing technologyenabled tools, coaching is a natural
way to address the needs of individuals
and support their success.
Today's learners are unique. And L&D is
well-poised to offer solutions that will
help individuals grow, optimize their
talents and contribute to powerful
organizational results.
Julie Winkle Giulioni has 25 years of
experience working with organizations
worldwide to improve performance through
learning. Email Julie.

T RAIN IN G I N DU STR Y M AGAZ INE - UNDERSTANDING YOUR LEARNERS 20 1 9 I WWW. T RAI NINGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE

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https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/why-diversity-matters https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/why-diversity-matters https://www2.deloitte.com/insights/us/en/deloitte-review/issue-21/meet-the-us-workforce-of-the-future.html https://www.trainingindustry.com/magazine

Training Industry Magazine - May/June 2019

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