Training Industry Magazine - May/June 2021 - 37

3 Considerations to Effectively Develop Your Employees

Get Managers Involved in
Employee Development
L&D must ensure managers have
the necessary tools to develop
their teams.

Meet Learners Where They Are
Leverage technology to enable
learners to access information
when they need it most.

Prepare Your Talent Pipeline

L&D must prepare employees
for their current and future roles
within the organization.

Give employees space for self-directed learning and help
them connect their learning to their development.

more feedback and not just from one
person. Meaningful feedback paired
with meaningful career conversations
with leaders across business functions
allow employees to learn new skills
and aspire to other roles within
the organization.

The Leadership Gap
We live in a world where the majority
of people under the age of 30 grew up
using a computer. Yet, five years ago, an
executive leadership team told me that
their employees wouldn't do " computer
learning, " because they didn't have
computers or the internet. Really? The
reality is that, by 2028, Gen Z and
Millennials will make up 58% of the
workforce. Therefore, it is essential that
L&D leaders evolve to meet the needs
of those employees.
As we have seen in recent years, but
especially in 2020 and 2021, online
learning is invaluable in order for
organizations to adapt to the future
of work. As many of us know, poorly
constructed employee resource portals
and learning content will sink an L&D
function. In our learning department,
we had a joke many years ago that
- no matter what the question was
- you could find the answer on the

portal. What made it funny (and sad)
was that you would spend hours (if not
days) trying to find it amid other poorly
organized and redundant job aids.
This is not acceptable in today's world.
L&D is here to help learners find their
purpose. Give employees space for selfdirected learning and help them connect
their learning to their development, so
they feel engaged and excited in their
learning journey.
After upskilling and reskilling, one major
priority for L&D in 2021 is collaborative
learning. After being forced into the
online environment last year, L&D leaders
understand the need for social learning
where learners can work together and
stay connected. This can be achieved by
integrating learning tools with dedicated
collaborative workspaces, customized
content playlists and forums.

Checking in Before They
Check Out
Back in the day, we would spend days at
succession planning summits to discuss
" future moves " of top-tier talent. We
would talk about developing our talent
and the " next moves " for them. We would
record it and put it in fancy binders that
would gather dust on the shelves as
the year unfolded in before us. Looking

back, it all seems pretty surreal. There's
internal pressure to have a stockpile
of high-potential candidates, so many
times the talent isn't as prepared
as promised.

In the new
world of work,
employees need
more feedback
and not just from
one person.
Considering your current and future
employees as part of your development
strategy and providing consistent
feedback enables employees to take
control of their career trajectories,
reference other internal roles, and
clearly map the skills and competencies
necessary to move into new roles within
the company. The learning and talent
discussion will continue to evolve over
the coming years, so HR and learning
leaders must leverage technologies
that take a people-centric approach and
support a modern talent journey.
Roger Rinker is a business solutions
consultant for Enovation. Email Roger.

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Training Industry Magazine - May/June 2021

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