Trends in Training and Development that Enterprises Use to Upskill Workforce
Businesses should consider it a priority to invest in their employees’ development. These emerging technologies have a huge potential to upskill your workforce and increase their productivity significantly. You can prioritize which among these trends will be more beneficial for your organization and implement them accordingly. Developing an effective employee training program will have a positive and long-term impact on employee productivity and will help you meet your business goals.
1. Artificial Intelligence-
As the market for artificial intelligence solutions continues to grow, every industry is becoming more AI and data driven. Incorporating AI in learning or training and development would mean more automation and personalization. You must have seen chat bots on websites? The way it responds to your queries and offers suggestions resemble a human presence on the other end. In a way, AI mirrors human intelligence and behavior, creating a personalized experience for the user. With the help of algorithms, AI-based learning platforms can perform data analysis, measure the ROI, share recommendations based on the users’ previous interaction with the tool. An AI-based learning tool can also share tailored training plans and resources for individual employees. So, investing in an AI-powered learning platform will enhance the learning experience of your employees.
2. Personalized Training-
Creating personalized employee training programs that are tailored to each employee’s learning needs is an approach that can deliver better outputs in terms of productivity. It has already been established that the one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work anymore. Hence, L&D teams are designing training modules with targeted objectives and milestones that an employee is expected to achieve. And at the same time, allowing the employees to set specific goals for themselves and map out the strategies to achieve these goals.
Although this approach is time consuming, it produces positive results. By creating a personalized training program, you are providing your employees with relevant resources that will improve their skills and increase their efficiency. Personalized training programs are based on the employees’ current skills, knowledge, and learning needs, and focuses on individual employee’s strengths and weaknesses and aims at improving and overcoming them.
3. Need-Based Training-
Self-learning courses have been on the rise, where employees select courses that they wish to learn on online learning platforms. So, instead of employees looking for sources to train themselves, why don’t you provide them with the required training opportunities? The L&D teams can conduct a survey of the skills that employees wish to learn or enhance. They can then arrange for workshops or create an online training module for the same. Providing continuous and customized learning opportunities will help your employees learn new skills and implement them at work.
4. Gamification-
Gamification, simply put, is the application of certain gaming techniques into the employee training program. It is widely known that recognition and rewards motivate employees to perform better at their workplace. Gaming usually involves competitive behavior, where players try to aim for the highest score. Therefore, enterprises want to create a competitive environment at work to boost employees’ productivity. Employee training programs can be gamified by introducing leaderboards, providing badges/certificates as a token of recognition, introducing reward points when they complete a level in the course module etc. Enterprises are utilizing this trend to increase participation and motivation and eventually increase engagement and productivity. Employees believe that working in an engaging work environment empowers them to put in more effort.
5. Augmented Reality-
Though a bit expensive, it is totally worth investing in for the immersive learning experience that it provides. Incorporating augmented reality into training programs generates much more engagement than a regular training session. AR displays a computer-generated 3D visual on the learners’ mobile screen that is superimposed over a normal image or object. Augmented reality is being used in many industries such as healthcare, automobile, architecture, sales, etc., to provide in-depth training to employees. With this technology at hand, employees can be provided with an in-depth understanding of a product. For example, sales professionals can see an augmented version of their product which they can rotate and zoom for a better view. They can use this feature while pitching the product to their prospective clients. Here are the benefits of Leveraging Augmented Reality for Corporate Training
The terms augmented reality and virtual reality are usually spelt in the same breath. But there is a vast difference between the two.While augmented reality allows you to view an enhanced version on a device screen, virtual reality completely immerses you in the learning process by virtually changing your current environment.
A number of industries have incorporated virtual reality as part of their employee training programs, in order to improve their learning experience. Moreover, it’s a safe space to try out various theories and see what works best. This practice of providing in-depth learning has already caught up with most companies and is believed to gain more exposure in newer avenues.
6. Experiential Learning-
Experiential training is nothing but learning by doing. Employees are presented with real-world situations that actually apply to their job.
Simulations training and role play are prime examples of experiential learning, where employees have to work upon hypothetical yet real-world scenarios and come up with a logical solution to mitigate problems.
This type of training allows for critical analysis and quick thinking. Learning from mistakes as well as successful attempts helps in improving the learners’ skills and abilities.
Therefore, experiential learning is a trend that many organizations will be leveraging to bridge the gap between theory and practice.
7. Microlearning-
With businesses becoming more mobile-oriented, the need for microlearning is ever increasing. Microlearning will definitely see an upsurge in the coming years. Creating short knowledge nuggets, designed to address the immediate learning needs of the employees, and making it available at the precise time of need is what makes this form of learning more important. The short bursts of information can be in the form of text, videos, animation or even audio. The idea behind microlearning is to equip the employees with learning material that they can access whenever they want.
8. Mobile Learning Apps
Creating a mobile app specifically for employee training increases employee engagement significantly. As mobile users are increasing, the amount of time they spend on apps has also increased. Therefore, creating a mobile app will make your training program more engaging and interactive. A vendor who specializes in developing mobile applications can help in designing an app that suits your business type and employee requirements