Issue #1: Evolving to become a modern L&D team
Processes, thoughts and insights to level up you and your L&D team
Editors Foreword
Here’s a little welcome message to the first issue of LD MENA.
Featured Article - Transforming L&D Teams: Key Concepts for Modernization
The L&D landscape is rapidly evolving, necessitating a shift in how teams operate to meet the demands of modern learners. Based on insights from a recent presentation I gave at an L&D conference, this article outlines the key concepts and takeaways that can help organizations expand their L&D teams into modern, forward-thinking entities.
1. Understanding the Current Limitations
Traditional L&D processes often involve a slow and rigid structure characterized by:
A lengthy course creation timeline (5-10 weeks for a single course).
A focus on high-level requests, primarily from C-suite executives.
The delivery of long SCORM courses that may not meet the immediate needs of learners.
These limitations lead to poor implementation with content that is hard to find and not aligned with learner needs, resulting in a low percentage of success for the learning initiative. To evolve, L&D teams must recognize these shortcomings and seek innovative solutions.
2. Evolving to a Modern Learning Experience
To provide a modern learning experience, L&D teams should focus on several strategic areas:
Bite-Sized Learning: Create responsive, bite-sized learning modules that are easily accessed and cater to the fast-paced nature of today’s work environment.
Content Curation: Leverage existing content libraries and user-generated content (UGC) to enrich learning offerings without the need for extensive course development.
Stakeholder Engagement: Actively engage with stakeholders to understand business requirements and learner enquiries. This involves a systematic triage process using the WWWWH framework (Why, Who, What, Where, When, How) to ensure that learning solutions are relevant and effective.
3. Essential Skills for Modern L&D Teams
Transitioning to a modern L&D team requires a new skill set that includes:
Learning Experience Design (LXD): Understanding how to design engaging and effective learning experiences that resonate with learners. Thinking about the whole learner journey and how this initiative fits into everything else.
Data Analysis: Utilizing data to analyze engagement trends and identify gaps in learning offerings, allowing for continuous improvement.
Marketing for Learning: Implementing marketing strategies to effectively promote learning resources across various channels, ensuring learners are aware of available opportunities.
Gen AI Utilization: Leveraging generative AI tools to enhance content creation and curation processes, making them more efficient and tailored to learner needs.
4. Implementing a New Process
The transformation from a traditional to a modern L&D approach involves rethinking the entire process:
Current Process: Traditionally, the process involves a straightforward request-create-deliver model. It focuses on output rather than impact and does not look to do any form of promotion for this learning initiative.
New Process: The proposed model emphasizes a more dynamic approach that includes understanding the needs within the business, creating the right solution to meet the need, making people aware of this, making it easy to find and analysing performance.
5. New Process Breakdown
This new framework allows for more agility and responsiveness to learner needs, but what is included in each stage?
Requirement: Go further than just requests from the C-Suite. Look at requests from the business, understand business requirement, work with stakeholders, learner’s enquiries.
Triage: Make sure you understand what is really needed. Use a systematic triage process using the WWWWH framework (Why, Who, What, Where, When, How) to ensure that learning solutions are relevant and effective.
Resource: Don’t just think about using lengthy SCORM courses that can only be accessed on Desktops. Create Responsive Bite-sized Learning (optimised for both desktop and mobile), curate from the content library, use User-Generated Content (UGC), and develop Comms Pieces to provide a wealth of impactful learning.
Implementation & Awareness, including Marketing Our Learning: This is the area most L&D Teams don’t think about. Once it’s built, how do people actually know about it and also what is in it for them if they take it?! This includes quality checking for grammar and functionality, correctly implementing the learning onto the LMS/LXP so it is easy to find, carrying out marketing campaigns pre,dDuring, and post launch on all channels. Also using the learning platform to promote and bring awareness to resources.
Analysis & Maximisation: Focus on the Platform/Comms data to analyse and see engagement, trends and gaps, as well as updating the Learning Platform LX to be intuitive and relevant for the learner.
Final thoughts
For so long, L&D Teams have focused on the need to produce learning as soon as possible and then move on to the next project as soon as it is done without looking back. This shift to a modern L&D Team really focuses on how we not only produce more learning but also make it contextually relevant to our learners while also getting their buy-in, which, after all, is the true goal for all learning initiatives.
- John Hinchliffe
Editor & Founder, LD MENA
Upcoming Events
Doha, Qatar - L&D Event from Gary Clarke and Jamila Dogaru
Dubai, UAE - L&D Meetup from LD MENA
L&D Insights, Tools and Resources
Using your content libraries more effectively
Here, we explore and examine practical solutions regarding how the sheer volume of available content often leads to confusion and disengagement, undermining our efforts.
Measuring and reporting your L&D efforts and activities
At first glance, measuring learning and development seems easy: the number of courses completed, employees trained, and your average training satisfaction score. Within this video, we explore what is there and how you connect L&D to business results and organizational growth.
Saudi education ministry, SDAIA sign SR440m deal to establish educational endowment portfolio
Find out what Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Education signing a memorandum of understanding with the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority means for establishing an educational endowment portfolio.
Global Skills Report: Coursera
Delve into the Global Skills Report 2024 by Coursera which offers insights from over 148 million learners and key economic indicators, emphasizing the critical skills necessary for thriving in a rapidly changing world.
AI in L&D: From talk to action
In the ongoing saga of "What's everyone else doing with AI, and am I falling behind?", L&D superstars Egle Vinauskaite and Donald H Taylor decided it was time to peel back the hype layers in this insightful report.
Content Curation: 6 steps for quality content curation
Sifting through the masses of online content to make good decisions about what to read, listen to or learn next is difficult. Sometimes, next to impossible. A way to make sense of the constant bombardment of content is to curate. Here we explore 6 steps for quality content curation.
Marketing for learning: How to build learning campaigns that work
The phrase “learning campaign” is bounced around a lot in our industry, isn’t it? But what is a learning campaign? And how can L&D teams adopt this marketing-based approach to learning engagement? This blog will answer exactly that.
Case Study: Find out how a national electricals retailer created a culture of proactive, continuous learning across a 3,000-person business
Within this case study, we explore how, with the help of inrehearsal, a dynamic video-led content library, AO, a national electricals retailer, has transformed its workforce’s approach to learning, and inspired employees to proactively engage with L&D.
Find out how they did this, the challenges they face, how the solution was implemented and what the end results were for them and their workforce.
M.E. and L&D
In each issue, we delve into the inspiring journeys of trailblazers in the L&D sector across the MENA region, uncovering their unique insights, their origin stories and innovative approaches that have helped them in their careers to hopefully inspire your own journey.
This issue we are truly blessed to have been able to interview the incredible Dr. Corrie Block, who is widely recognized as the #1 Executive Coach in the UAE.
In this interview we explore his humble beginnings, the moments in his career that shaped his incredbile future and how pivotal figures have inspired him to become the #1 Executive Coach in the UAE.
The insights in this interview are so genuine, honest and jaw-dropping. We are truly thankful to have had this as our very first M.E. and L&D interview and cannot encourage you enough to explore this interview now!
Fuel this newsletter
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Thanks for joining us for the first issue of LD MENA!
- John Hinchliffe
Great stuff John. Congratulations on launching this initiative mate. Yet another example of you leading from the front as it comes to building a community.
My feeling is that there's a place for longer form content in learning as well. If I want to explore new concepts, or learn something difficult - I prefer to learn adopting principles of 'Deep Work' (I love that book!). Complete focus on what you're doing with no distractions.
Then the microlearning can help to reinforce that learning and solidify it using spaced repetition. That's my thoughts anyhow, and always love a healthy debate :)
Again, great stuff - and I hope to contribute in some way one day.