Deeksha, with a solid educational background in human resources, bridges the gap between your goals and you with valuable insights and strategies within leadership development. Her unique perspectives, powered by voracious reading, lead to thoughtful pieces that tie conventional know-how and innovative approaches together to enable success for management professionals.
How to create training objectives for business success?
Why are we conducting training?
That’s where the story starts for all our training and development initiatives, which take the form of training regimens. These answers are summed up in the form of “training objectives.”
Having good training goals is not a nice-to-have; it is a must. These goals form the base of successful training programs. They help guide employee growth and lead to business success. This blog post will help you create strong training objectives that get real results. By knowing why training objectives matter, what they include, and how to match them with your business strategy, you can tap into the full power of your team.
Training objectives are clear goals you can measure. They are specific, achievable, relevant, and time-bound statements that show what workers should accomplish after a training program. These objectives help both trainers and trainees understand the purpose of the training and what to expect as results.
For example, your training objectives for a leadership development program could include:
Lead 3 cross-functional project teams over 6 months
Successfully mentor 2 junior team members to promotion readiness
Improve team satisfaction scores by 15% through better communication
Develop and execute 2 strategic initiatives from planning to completion
Reduce team turnover by 20% through improved engagement strategies
What do good training objectives look like?
The training objectives we just saw are clear and concise. But action often requires them to be more detailed and set the context accurately. Good training objectives share common features that make them effective guides for training programs:
Specificity: Objectives should clearly outline what participants are expected to learn or achieve by the end of the training.
Measurability: They should be quantifiable so that progress and success can be easily assessed.
Relevance: Objectives must align with organizational goals and the skills needed for job performance.
Realistic: Setting achievable objectives ensures motivation and success among participants.
Adaptability: Training objectives should be flexible enough to accommodate changes in the business environment or individual learner needs. This ensures that the training remains relevant and effective over time.
Let’s explore this further with another example. We have a training objective for our leadership development program as follows:
“Within 6 months, develop and implement an organizational change initiative that improves team efficiency by 20%, demonstrated through successfully leading a cross-functional team of 5-7 members, documenting progress through bi-weekly metrics, and presenting results to senior leadership.”
Does it adhere to the guidelines of good training objectives that we saw above?
First, there is a specific time frame for the task, i.e. “within 6 months.” The deliverable, “organizational change initiative,” as well as the other actions (leading, documenting, presenting) are also defined. We have also mentioned who else will work on the program (5-7 members.)
Second, the objective is measurable right from the start because we have taken care to define what success looks like in terms of milestones like 20% efficiency improvement target, bi-weekly metric tracking, and final presentation.
Third, the training objective is relevant to the multiple stakeholders involved as it addresses real business need (team efficiency) and develops crucial leadership skills (change management, team leadership).
Fourth, the training objective provides a reasonable timeframe for implementation and achievable improvement percentage. Thus, it is realistic.
Last, with a flexible implementation approach the training objective becomes scalable to different department needs. It allows for adaptability.
Why should you set training objectives?
The benefits of writing good training objectives are two-fold.
First, for the business themselves:
Ensure focus on right business priorities: When training programs focus on the specific skills people lack, they help the business move forward. By clearly outlining the skills and behaviors needed to meet the company’s vision, you ensure their training money is well spent.
Make ROI and impact easier to prove: Clear goals help you understand outcomes better by benchmarking against them. As a result, you can begin initiatives with set milestones to hit, in business terms using ROI, and later on harp on the tangible impact created to showcase L&D success.
Then, the employees:
Engage employees better with training: One big benefit of setting clear training objectives is how it helps employee performance and productivity. When employees know what is expected of them and see how their training relates to their jobs, they are more engaged and committed.
Create ownership over learning goals: Also, training that is connected to specific performance goals helps team members take charge of their growth and push for continuous improvement. It creates a culture of learning in the company. Employees are encouraged to grow their skill sets and look for chances to improve.
A lack of training objectives might manifest in training that makes people wonder, “Why is this happening?” ” What am I supposed to learn here?” and managers wonder, “Why is my team wasting time here?”
Without setting clear training objectives, you might fall into the pitfall of constantly running training and development programs that lead nowhere. Ultimately, as more money and time continue to go in without much impact to note for it, the fingers are pointed at L&D as a resource sink.
But here’s the deal: we know that L&D strategies have significant effect on ensuring business success. It impacts important areas like talent management, retention of people, and team’s effectiveness. The gap between your effort and the results that should be ideally yours to claim lies in training objectives. Connecting them directly is the key.
In the next couple of sections, we will understand all about alignment of training and business objectives.
What does alignment of training and business objectives mean?
Training goals should never stand alone. They should be closely connected to the business strategy of the organization. When training efforts match the company’s main goals, businesses see real results from their training spending. Training then serves as a key tool to reach business aims instead of just being an expense. This connection makes sure that the skills and knowledge learned in training are used to tackle the issues and chances your organization faces, boosting the overall success of the training.
This process has two key aspects:
Identifying business needs and skills gaps
The first step to match training goals with business strategy is to find out what the organization needs and what skills are lacking. This means doing a detailed needs analysis to spot the main challenges and chances the business has now and in the future. It also requires checking the skills and strengths of the current staff and finding gaps between where they are now and where they want to be.
For example, if your company wants to enter a new market, the training needs analysis may show a need for language training or training about cultural differences for team members who will deal with customers in that market. If your company starts using a new software system, it is important to find out what skills are needed to use that software among the staff and so on.
Integrating business vision and employee development
Integrating the business vision and employee growth is key for creating training goals that lead to success. When training matches the long-term goals of the company, it helps prepare employees for future challenges. This way, training is not only focused on the present but also on what comes next. When your people see how their jobs fit into the bigger picture, they feel more engaged and motivated. They know their growth is connected to the company’s success.
Also, getting employees involved in setting training goals helps them feel a sense of ownership. When team members have a say in their learning paths, they are more likely to engage with the training and pursue the goals. They know their opinions matter, which makes them more committed to their professional development.
How to write good training objectives?
Once you know what your business needs are and how they fit with your overall plan, it’s time to turn those needs into clear training goals. Let’s understand how we can do this the right way:
#1 Determining the scope and focus of training
The first step in writing effective training objectives is to decide the scope and focus of the training. This means clearly stating the knowledge, skills, or behaviors that participants should gain or improve through the training. A clear scope keeps the training focused and relevant for both learners and the organization. It helps to avoid scope creep, which happens when the training tries to cover too much, leading to a limited understanding of the topic.
Also, setting the focus helps in choosing the right teaching methods, materials, and assessments that match the specific learning objectives. For instance, a training program that aims to develop leadership skills might use case studies, role-playing tasks, and group discussions. This approach can create a more engaging and interactive learning experience.
#2 Using action verbs for clear, achievable goals
Using action verbs is important when writing clear training objectives. These verbs help show the specific actions that participants should be able to do after finishing the training. They change vague ideas into clear and measurable objectives. This makes it easier to check if the goals of learning have been met.
For example, instead of saying that trainees will “understand” a concept, a better way to state it is that they will be able to “explain” or “apply” that concept in a situation.
For instance, while writing your training objectives, try using these words:
Training objectives rely on clarity. That’s why it’s important to make the results measurable with the help of metrics. The first set is quantitative metrics, which will help you measure tangible changes tracked with data. Hence, if we are running a leadership development program, the objective should be:
✔️ Improve team productivity by completing 25% more tasks per sprint.
And not:
❌ Improve team productivity.
The second set is of qualitative metrics which tracks improvements in intangible areas. For a leadership development program, these objectives can include:
Demonstrate confident leadership in team meetings
Show improved strategic thinking in project planning
This way, you will create training objectives that help understand what success looks like, rather than point to vague outcomes.
#4 Document and refine
The last step: Clearly document the training objectives so that they are available to whoever needs them.
Similar to other processes, you should keep track of what’s working and what’s not. After writing your training objectives, the first step should be testing them against the SMART goal-setting framework. We have summed it up as five questions that you should be able to answer:
Test for SMART Criteria
Specific: Is the objective clearly defined?
Measurable: Can progress be tracked?
Achievable: Is it realistic given resources?
Relevant: Does it matter to the business?
Time-bound: When should it be completed?
Further, keep engaging with the stakeholders (the senior leadership, managers, and participating employees) to get their thoughts on these aspects. For instance, employees can inform you about the training content’s relevance to their jobs, and managers can offer insights on how achievable the objectives are with other workload in sight. Also, check for clarity and understanding at their end.
Further reading: How To Align Goals? Understand With The effective Goal Alignment Strategies
Wrapping up
In conclusion, creating effective training objectives is very important. It helps improve employee performance and links individual growth to the goals of the company. By setting clear objectives that follow the SMART criteria and consider business needs and skills gaps, you can make sure your training fits the overall business plan. It’s also important to regularly check and change objectives based on feedback and results to see how successful you are.
Use a strategic method for setting training goals that supports your business vision and promotes employee development for lasting success.
Deeksha, with a solid educational background in human resources, bridges the gap between your goals and you with valuable insights and strategies within leadership development. Her unique perspectives, powered by voracious reading, lead to thoughtful pieces that tie conventional know-how and innovative approaches together to enable success for management professionals.
Setting the right goals defines the accuracy of your path to success!
Take this FREE goal-setting self-assessment by Risely now to test the efficacy of your goal-setting.
Competency assessments are old school, more so for managers
While running an organization, we are always searching for the best or the most competent, as they say. But here’s the thing: Are we defining competencies properly? That’s a big question for people management roles, which need a mix of people and functional skills that are harder to track than the usual ideas.
Our conventional methods of competency assessments, like test scores and performance reviews done by managers, need an overhaul. This change is moving toward a broader approach that considers the many different sides of leadership competencies and the ability to adjust when faced with change. In this blogpost, we will explore competency assessments for managers in detail.
Competency assessments are a crucial tool used by organizations to evaluate an individual’s skills, experience, and competencies against job requirements and duties. They play a pivotal role in various stages of recruitment, ensuring that the right talent is matched with the right roles. Skills denote one’s ability to perform specific tasks, while competencies encompass attributes essential for a particular role’s success. Understanding core, functional, and behavioral competencies allows organizations to build a well-rounded workforce capable of achieving business goals effectively.
What are the three types of competencies at work?
The three types of competencies at work are core competencies, functional competencies, and behavioral competencies.
Core competencies are essential skills required by all employees regardless of their role.
Functional competencies are job-specific skills needed to perform tasks effectively.
Behavioral competencies relate to personality traits and workplace behavior critical for success in a particular role.
For example, a manager’s core competencies will include strategic thinking and effective communication. There functional competencies expand work areas like budget management and financial planning, performance evaluation and helpful feedback delivery, and project management methodologies. Lastly, a manager’s behavioral competencies include emotional intelligence and empathy.
What are the different types of competency assessments?
Different types of competency assessments include:
Self-assessment involves individuals evaluating their own skills and competencies.
Peer assessment involves colleagues providing feedback on one’s abilities.
Supervisor assessment entails managers assessing an individual’s performance.
360-degree assessment gathers feedback from multiple sources to provide a comprehensive view of an individual’s strengths and areas for development.
Where are competency assessments used?
Competency assessments are commonly used in various aspects of human resource management, such as recruitment and selection, performance appraisals, career development, training and development, succession planning, and organizational restructuring. They help organizations identify and develop talent, match individuals to suitable roles, and enhance overall workforce effectiveness.
Competency assessments also play a crucial role in identifying skill gaps and designing targeted training programs to address them, ultimately contributing to the organization’s success and growth. For example, a competency assessment for all the new managers in your organization can reveal different areas of improvement and inform decision in the L&D strategy.
What do competency assessments miss?
Competency assessments have been around for ages. So, why are we calling for a change? There are good reasons. Many of them. Let’s look further into why competency assessments need a revamp really quickly.
#1 Competency assessments are static measurements
Traditional competency models used to be very modern. But now they have trouble keeping up with how quickly jobs change. These models mainly looked at technical skills and management skills based on clear work roles. With technology moving fast and job roles shifting, the skills needed for success are always changing.
In fact, with the advent of tech like AI that promises to replace at least a few aspects of jobs as we see them today, the skills your people need to develop will rapidly change. As per McKinsey’s research, jobs will require technological, social, and emotional skills by 2023 as compared to physical, manual and basic cognitive capabilities. This points to a need for improving competency assessments as well, since the older metrics will no longer remain valuable.
#2 Dynamic job requirements are not accurately captured
This change means we need to shift from strict, one-size-fits-all assessments to more flexible and personal methods. These methods should meet the specific needs of individuals and organizations. Career development today is a journey, not a final goal. Because of this, competency assessments should look at a person’s potential to grow, adjust, and take on new challenges. They should not just assess current skills.
#3 Binary answers don’t show us the scope of progress
Instead, well-rounded competency assessments must showcase the scope of progress and potential gaps to fill. For instance, a manager unable to communicate assertively should not just be tracked on that skill. They need a comprehensive system that also explains the gap, the particular areas where it is impacting, and how to improve there.
Why should leadership development programs move on from competency assessments?
Modern leadership development programs are changing. They are moving away from a one-size-fits-all method. Instead, they focus on customizing development plans. This helps accommodate diverse leadership styles and different learning preferences.
Organizations understand that there is no single “right” way to lead. They use a more personalized approach to create effective leaders at all levels. This process considers each person’s strengths, weaknesses, proficiency level in certain skills, and how they prefer to learn. By understanding what each leader needs and wants, organizations can help them grow. This way, leaders can lead effectively in their own unique style.
Where do competency assessments come into this equation?
For most leadership development programs, the story begins with an assessment. It helps the L&D and HR professionals like you define what is to be taught in the next four or six weeks of training. But the trouble strikes when the assessment is not comprehensive enough. As we noted above, there are three types of competencies.
If we take the case of a marketing leader, it looks broadly like this:
Core Competencies
Functional Competencies
Behavioral Competencies
Strategic thinking and market analysis Data-driven decision making Cross-functional collaboration Digital literacy and technological adaptability
Marketing strategy development and execution Marketing analytics and metrics interpretation Budget management and ROI analysis Content strategy and development
Creative leadership and innovation fostering Consumer-centric mindset Adaptability to market changes and trends Team inspiration and motivation Stakeholder relationship management
An assessment should ideally cover all these fronts.
However, if you look at the popular solutions available to test competencies of marketing managers, you’ll be in for a surprise. Most of the competency assessments and frameworks are not made to offer well-rounded pictures. Instead, you will find fractured results that scarcely cover the entire profile.
The damage is greater regarding leadership development programs because leadership calls for a mix of functional and people skills. You cannot skimp on either side without expecting disaster. As a result, the heavily functional competency assessments and programs for managers must be supplemented with accurate assessments of people skills which does not bind itself to hard definitions but rather points to areas of improvement for diverse leaders and managers.
How to replace competency assessments for managers?
Gone are the days when just having a fixed set of skills would ensure lasting success. Today’s workplace needs leaders. These leaders should be skilled in their areas but must also have emotional intelligence, adaptability, and teamwork skills. They must be able to handle tough problems and motivate their teams. This means we need to change how we look at and grow leadership potential.
Since we understand competency assessments for managers are not fail-proof. What else can we do to improve the scenario?
Embrace continuous assessments rather than one-shot options
First up, instead of taking assessments at set intervals. Spread them out across the calendar year.
❌Traditional Approach (Not Recommended): All assessments done quarterly – March, June, September, December
March: Evaluate all 12 team members June: Evaluate all 12 team members September: Evaluate all 12 team members December: Evaluate all 12 team members
✔️Spread-Out Approach (Recommended):
Using a team member “Sarah” as an example for a year-long schedule, we get:
When?
What?
January 15th
Core Performance Review
March 28th
Campaign Effectiveness Check
June 10th
Skills Development Review
August 22nd
Project Impact Assessment
November 5th
Leadership Capability Review
December 12th
Year-End Strategic Planning
That will help you make the exercise more comprehensive and robust with detailed insights. It also saves your actions from falling into the trap of recency bias. But that’s not all! Spreading out evaluations across a longer timeline also ensures that your supervisors have the time needed to invest in proper assessments.
For instance, you should:
Schedule campaign reviews after major campaign completions
Time skill assessments before training budget planning
Place strategic reviews before annual planning season
This approach creates a more natural flow aligned with actual work patterns rather than arbitrary quarterly deadlines. That’s how you save competency assessments from becoming yet another box to tick.
Use multiple modes of competency assessments
Not all competencies are made to be measured on the same scale. As we saw above, there are many modes of competency assessments. Using any of them alone is likely to give you a partial view of the situation. Carrying the above example forward, for our marketing manager Sarah, we can explore:
Performance against KPIs
Skill development progress
Project-specific outcomes
Leadership growth
Team management effectiveness
Strategic contribution
Our conventional competency assessments start to falter as we move away from core and functional areas to more behavioral ones.
What’s the way out, then? L&D pros should use holistic competency assessments such as leadership skills assessments by Risely, which offer dual levels:
First, the manager does a self-assessment on the particular leadership skill.
Second, their team shares feedback anonymously.
The detailed report in the skill center then features insights from both these areas. Plus, it breaks down the collected data at the level of sub-skills. As a result, a manager can understand where exactly they need to work, as opposed to generic assessments and scores on particular skills.
Don’t stop at competency assessments for managers!
Assessments are not the end of the story. They are the beginning.
Rather than just checking off a list of functional competencies, in the next step, you should adopt a more flexible and thoughtful method. This learning and development strategy should reflect the changing nature of work, the value of soft skills, and the need for ongoing personal and professional growth – all culminating into personalized learning plans for leaders.
AI will be your best buddy on this journey. Modern-day AI-powered solutions for leadership development like Risely are helping L&D teams scale up access to leadership coaching and reach more people than ever. Our solutions strike at the right spot – increasing support for much-needed but often scarce services that are critical to the growth of your managers and leaders. While old-school systems like competency assessments are calling it a day, it’s high time you join the AI-powered learning bandwagon.
Wrapping up
Competency assessments for today’s leaders need a broad approach. This means we should look beyond just the usual methods. We can improve leadership by adding emotional intelligence and flexible leadership skills. It’s also important to focus on how teams work together and to use real-life projects. This way, managers can build the many skills they need in a fast-changing work world.
Using new ways to evaluate performance, like constant feedback and peer reviews, helps with regular improvement. Combining numbers with personal insights gives a complete picture of how well managers lead. As we progress toward using predictive analytics and custom development plans, the future of leadership programs will include different leadership styles. It will also use technology to help leaders grow continuously and succeed.
Deeksha, with a solid educational background in human resources, bridges the gap between your goals and you with valuable insights and strategies within leadership development. Her unique perspectives, powered by voracious reading, lead to thoughtful pieces that tie conventional know-how and innovative approaches together to enable success for management professionals.
Setting the right goals defines the accuracy of your path to success!
Take this FREE goal-setting self-assessment by Risely now to test the efficacy of your goal-setting.
The L&D Manager’s Guide to E-learning Content Development
It’s high time e-learning content development got a much-needed revamp. After all, no one enjoys cookie-cutter text and visuals sprinkled with a bit of dialogue and a couple of quizzes. The need is obvious; the trouble lies in shaping this content development process to accurately reflect the present realities.
In this blog, we will explore ways to supercharge your team’s e-learning content development. It will give you the knowledge and tools you need to make interesting e-learning courses that keep learners at work truly engaged.
E-learning began with distance education programs in the early 1900s. When computers came along, digital learning began to grow faster. This led to the creation of computer-based training (CBT) programs. Over time, e-learning changed from simple text-based lessons to exciting, interactive experiences filled with multimedia.
The rise of the internet and mobile devices made digital learning even easier and more available to everyone. Now, e-learning includes many types of formats, such as online courses, virtual classrooms, webinars, and mobile learning. In the latest updates, e-learning is taking an AI-powered avatar which focuses on personalization and scaling learning and development strategies.
E-learning content development refers to the process of building the learning content, the design experience and it’s delivery mechanisms. It aims to create great learning experiences, provide value to teams and support them in reaching business outcomes with effective learning and development.
What are the common formats of e-learning content?
There are many options in the market for e-learning content development!
Each format of delivering e-learning offers unique opportunities to engage learners and deliver information effectively. Choosing the right format depends on the learning objectives and audience preferences.
Online courses provide structured learning modules accessible anytime, anywhere.
Virtual classrooms simulate a traditional classroom experience through live interactions and discussions.
Webinars offer real-time presentations and allow for participant engagement.
Mobile learning caters to on-the-go learners, providing flexibility and convenience.
AI-powered learning is great to scale up personalized learning.
E-learning Content Format
When should you use them?
Where not to use them?
Text-based content like articles, white papers, and e-books
Suitable for in-depth explanations and theoretical learning
Not great for practical, application-oriented learning
Video lessons, either pre-recorded or live, or audio formats like podcasts
Demonstration and tutorials to support hands-on learning
When learning content needs regular updates
Interactive Modules such as clickable, scenario-based learning experiences
Suitable for simulations of real-world situations and role-play training
Hard to scale for multiple uses and applications
Webinars and Live Online Sessions
Connecting with experts for collaborative learning and immediate feedback
Not suitable for scenarios without common challenges
Microlearning content through nudges, emails
Suitable for learning on-the-go with personalization
Ideal for just-in-time learning but not sufficient alone for in-depth training
Blended Learning Packages
Mix of self-paced and instructor-led content is great for flexible and independent learning
Not suitable for situations where self-directed learning is difficult
Why should you invest in e-learning content development?
Investing in e-learning content development is the need of the hour for great L&D initiatives.
First, it’s vital because learning has gone truly online. For instance, leadership development is no longer contained in classroom and halls. Instead, it’s happening more and more at a personalized level every day with AI-powered tools like Risely.
Second, handling e-learning content development gives you the charge to bake your values and systems inside. It is an effective way to align e-learning content with your team’s true needs and objectives rather than relying on one-size-fits-all content created otherwise.
Third, investing in building a content repository of your own is an effective way to showcase a positive employer brand. There are a few great examples like AirBnB’s Data University which is known for quality content, effective learning experiences for people, and major business impact arising out of the skill development ecosystem.
What does good e-learning content look like?
Good e-learning content development process focuses on five key aspects. When you apply these principles while building a digital learning experience for your team, you can create e-learning courses that get learners interested, improve knowledge retention, and promote real changes in behavior. Let’s explore each of them in detail below:
#1 The written content
The written content is the base and backbone of your e-learning content development process. For formats like e-books and blogs, it forms the mainstay. The scripts and outlines are vital for video and audio material. Overall in the e-learning content development process, you should ensure that:
The written content is in easy to understand language. It also reflects the brand voice and tone of your company.
If needed, it should be accurately translated into multiple languages to increase accessibility.
You should supplement theoretical content with examples, case studies, and application-oriented modules to increase engagement and knowledge transfer at work.
It should be regularly updated to reflect the current state of affairs. This is particularly important for mandatory trainings like legal compliance which impact business operations.
#2 The visual design
The visual design in e-learning content development needs to align with similar principles. While ensuring that it is reflecting toward the right learning objectives, keep simplicity in mind. Also focus on using your brand’s color palette and other visual elements. These build a sense of continuation and consistence throughout.
You can look into tools like the W3 Consortium’s Content Accessibility Guidelines to ensure that e-learning content hosted on web is in line with standards. It includes details on key steps such as including alt texts for images. providing text captions, and using contrasting colors in design.
#3 The organization and roadmap
Next up, in the process of developing e-learning content, the organization and structure play an important role. Proper organization with distinct learning modules ensures that learners can easily navigate through the material, understand the hierarchy of information, and access relevant resources efficiently. A well-structured content layout helps in maintaining learner engagement, promoting knowledge retention, and ultimately achieving the desired learning outcomes. By organizing e-learning content effectively, you streamline the learning process and enhance the overall experience for your audience.
#4 The communication around content
When delivering e-learning for your team, communicate what is happening and why. Your participants already have busy schedules and multiple responsibilities to handle. Your job is to share training needs and explain how it will work and impact their lives tangibly. Key points should focus on how employees can use this training to their advantage, how to interact with the material, and where to apply what they learned. Otherwise, you will have a hard time securing their buy-in. It also ties into the next part, connecting learning content with goals.
#5 Alignment with learning goals
One important part of instructional design is making sure all content helps achieve the learning objectives. Before you create any content, define what learners should be able to do after the training. These learning objectives need to be clear, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based, which we call SMART. When you connect the content to these goals, it creates a better learning experience. Each piece of content should help learners understand and master the subject better.
How can you improve your e-learning content development process?
The e-learning content development process typically moves through four stages:
Initial Planning and Goal Setting: The first step in the development process is careful planning and setting goals. In this stage, make sure to clearly explain the purpose of the elearning content. It is important to identify the target audience and define the learning outcomes you want. You should also think about the budget, timeline, and the resources you have. Creating a clear design vision is very important in this phase. The design vision includes how the elearning content will look and feel. This involves branding, user interface (UI), and user experience (UX) factors.
Design and Storyboarding: Once you finish the first planning phase, the next step is to design and storyboard the e-learning content. This step includes outlining the content structure. You will also create a visual guide of how the course will flow. A detailed plan for each module and lesson is important too. Storyboarding makes sure the content is in a logical order. It helps create a smooth digital learning experience. Think of it like making a blueprint for your elearning course. It lays out the key parts and flow.
Content Creation and Assembly: With a clear storyboard as a guide, the next step is content creation and assembly. In this stage, you will develop the learning materials. This includes text, images, videos, audio narration, and activities. Use your creativity to present the information in an interesting and effective way. Good visuals, clear audio, and interactive elements can really improve the learning experience. Tools like the iSpring Suite can be very helpful at this stage. They provide features for making interactive quizzes, simulations, and multimedia presentations.
Testing and Quality Assurance: Rigorous testing and quality assurance are paramount before launching your elearning. This phase involves thoroughly reviewing and evaluating the content for accuracy, completeness, functionality, and user experience. Conduct testing on different devices like smartphones, tablets, laptops, and browsers to ensure compatibility.
But there’s more you can do to take things to the next level!
#1 Bring in the experts
Subject matter experts play a crucial role in e-learning content development by providing accurate and relevant information. Their expertise adds credibility to the course content and ensures that learners receive high-quality information. Collaborating with SMEs (both internal and external) helps in creating content that is up-to-date and aligns with industry standards. It is essential to involve SMEs from the beginning of the development process to ensure that learning objectives are met effectively. Open communication and feedback exchange between instructional designers and SMEs are key for successful e-learning content development.
#2 Use (not misuse) AI
When deciding the best way to move forward, think about your technical skills and budget. Also, consider what your target audience needs and what features you want. Focus on user experience, making things easy to use, and ensuring you can create content that works well with your learning management system.
AI tools are in vogue and they are great for personalizing e-learning content for your teams. For instance, the iSpring Suite provides strong tools to change PowerPoint presentations into engaging elearning modules. This makes it a great choice for people who know Microsoft Office tools. A few more recommendations for e-learning tools from us include:
Personalized AI-driven leadership development for people managers
Murf AI
Convert text to speech easily
Midjourney
Create custom illustrations to enhance the visual aspect of your course
DeepL
Translate course content effectively across multiple languages
Notion
Organize the course content during and after the design process
#3 Ask feedback, and implement it
Implementing feedback loops and using an iterative design process are important for making high-quality eLearning experiences. Regularly collect feedback from subject matter experts, instructional designers, and learners during the development process. This approach helps you find areas that need improvement. It also helps you enhance the content and make sure the final product fits the needs of your audience. Including feedback from learners and content experts can really boost the training’s effectiveness and relevance.
#4 Make it accessible for everyone
Accessibility should be very important in the e-learning content development process. You need to ensure that your courses can be used by learners with disabilities. Follow accessibility standards, like the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Look at things such as color contrast, font size, and use alternative text for images. It’s also important to have keyboard navigation. Providing captions and transcripts for audio and video is a must for learners who have hearing difficulties. By focusing on accessibility, you help create a more inclusive learning space for everyone.
#5 Keep the updates and improvements running
E-learning content is a living document, so constant updates and reviews need to be part of the process. This is particularly true for consistently updated learning areas, such as tech handbooks featuring new software use cases or legal compliance guides that consider specific laws and norms. Hence, ensure that you schedule reviews and renew the content accordingly.
Further reading: 3 Reasons Why Your Digital Learning Strategy Fails
To Sum Up
In conclusion, to master the eLearning content development process, you need to understand how it is changing. It is important to add interactive elements to keep learners engaged. Make sure your content matches your learning objectives. Follow best practices for making your content accessible and inclusive. This will help create powerful eLearning experiences. Use feedback to improve your designs over time. It is also key to pick the right tools and platforms for smooth content creation. Stay current with trends and use new multimedia strategies to make the learning journey better!
Deeksha, with a solid educational background in human resources, bridges the gap between your goals and you with valuable insights and strategies within leadership development. Her unique perspectives, powered by voracious reading, lead to thoughtful pieces that tie conventional know-how and innovative approaches together to enable success for management professionals.
Make effective content with the effective learner personas.
Grab Risely’s free template to create learner personas for your team.
How to run effective workforce skills assessments?
It’s the skill economy, and we are just living in it!
As long as this adage holds, building the right workforce skills will continue to be a top priority for L&D professionals. Workforce skills assessments are a critical piece in this puzzle. They not only show what’s missing, but they are also a window into understanding potential and creating a competitive edge.
This blog will uncover how you can make workforce skills assessments effective. We will start by understanding the basics and later delve (yes, delve) into the types, methods, and processes you should use for best results.
So, let’s jump straight in!
Workforce skills assessments check how good employees are in different areas. They help organizations understand what their team can do together. These assessments use various methods. They can evaluate technical skills, like Python coding, and also look at people skills such as communication and problem-solving. By doing these skills assessments, you find out what necessary skills your employees have. You will also see any skill gaps that need to be filled. This knowledge is important to match the skills with business goals.
In short:
Workforce skills assessments offer insights into the current repository of skills across the organization. It gives a bird’s eye view of skills and capabilities while also pointing to areas of improvement and potential for skill development.
When should you run a workforce skill assessment?
For most organizations, workforce skill assessments are regularly tied to performance appraisals. But it doesn’t need to be the case for your team. In fact, you can decouple performance and compensation.
You can run workforce skills assessments:
During onboarding to gauge initial skill levels
After significant training or project completion to measure progress
Before promotions or role changes to ensure readiness
Annually or bi-annually for overall skills evaluation
What can you access with a workforce skill assessment?
Now that we know all about the assessment itself, let’s look a bit deeper: what can we really assess with the skills assessments of our people? Turns out, a lot!
In workforce skills assessments, you can cover a wide range of skills including technical competencies like programming languages, digital marketing strategies, and data analysis tools. Moreover, people skills such as communication, teamwork, good leadership, and adaptability are also crucial to assess.
Covering all the bases is important if you want well-rounded people supporting your organization.
Why are assessments important for your workplace?
These assessments lay the groundwork for detailed learning and development plans. They save you from going in the wrong direction, and ensure that you are investing in the right direction with measured and carefully analyzed insights supporting your decisions. If we explore in detail, workforce skills assessments help you in many ways, such as:
Workforce skills assessments point out skill gaps in the workforce. They form a critical part of any skills gap analysis. After this, you can get a good picture of where your team stands, which helps match industrial benchmarks and build strategic advantages through skill development.
These assessments also help you analyze performance correctly. Skills assessments help you realize whether an employee is equipped to perform their job adequately.
If you find an employee missing critical skills, these assessment exercises form the core of targeted development programs. Similarly, skills missing across the organization point to the need for organization-wide training and upskilling programs. This also ties into succession planning and maintaining a robust talent pipeline.
By conducting workplace skill assessments at regular intervals and in a sophisticated manner, you also showcase how invested you are in the professional growth of your employees. It goes a long way in building a positive employer brand and retaining loyal employees.
One of the biggest benefits of assessing workforce skills is that you can customize learning programs. This helps you fill specific skill gaps. Instead of giving everyone the same training, you will create special programs that meet the exact needs of your team.
Creating a strong skills assessment program takes good planning and a smart approach. The first important step is to know the specific skills your organization needs for effective employee development. Using tools like a skills matrix makes this easier. It helps you see the current skills of your employees compared to what you will need in the future. This visual tool gives you valuable insights that can help you shape your assessment strategy and focus on what areas need development.
You can start here: Free Skills Matrix Template by Risely
Start with your business goals
First, make sure your assessment matches your business goals. Think about which skills are key for your company to reach its goals now and in the future. Next, look at the current state of your workforce’s skills. Are there gaps that are keeping your company from moving forward? Also, think about the future needs. What trends in your industry could impact you? How will technology change? What might customers want in the future? When you look at these points, you can design your assessment program to meet the current and future skills needs of your organization.
For instance, we could be running a workforce skills assessment to evaluate how easy or difficult an expansion into a new country is going to be. At that point, the assessments needs to focus on the skills that matter in this context. Let’s assume that we are working with the sales team at the moment. An assessment shows that while their negotiation skills are top-notch, cross-cultural communication could prove to be challenge.
What are the different ways to assess your workforce?
When you create your skills assessment framework, it is very important to think about the specific type of skill you want to measure. Different skills need different assessment methods.
For example, to check technical skills, you might use coding tests or software simulations. For people skills, like communication or teamwork, you could use behavioral assessments or situational judgment tests. For leadership skills, you could use detailed assessments like Risely’s range that provide organization-wide benchmarking and reports at the sub-skill level.
Primarily, you can choose from:
Employee self-assessments are important for understanding individual skills and where improvement is needed. It is good to create a safe space so employees can share their honest thoughts.
Peer reviews give a different view since coworkers often see things that managers do not. Make sure these reviews ask for clear examples of strengths and ways to improve.
360-degree assessments take this one step further with reviews from all peers connected to one employee.
A mix of above like Risely’s assessments that combine both self and peer feedback.
Choosing the right methods for the type of skill you are assessing is key. This helps to make sure your assessment results are accurate and reliable. These valuable insights will help your learning and development initiatives to be effective. It is also important to set clear performance expectations for each skill. This gives you a way to measure individual and team performance. By doing this, you will easily spot where improvements are needed while at the same time ensuring that you are not forcing your people to attain unrealistic standards.
Moreover, while skills assessments show what an employee can do, it’s also important to look at their actual job performance. Adding work performance reviews to your assessments gives useful context. It shows how employees use their skills in real-life situations. Check key performance indicators, project outcomes, and supervisor feedback to see how well your employees apply their skills at work. This hands-on view, combined with assessment data, helps you understand their competencies better.
Read more: Best 360° Assessment Tools for Learning and Development
Run assessments easily with tech
While we have seen many methods of assessing employees for their skills, tech can help you out in many ways on this journey:
For one, tech will help you cut down the biases and lack of transparency that are a common concern of employees being assessed. You can run truly blind assessments without human interference and allow honest results to guide your decisions.
Distribution of assessments online is a no-brainer. It goes without saying – sharing a common, standard assessment globally with your team is the best way to ensure fairness in the process of workforce skills assessments.
Third, you will be able to reduce the in-house burden of assessment creation by leveraging services like Risely. It includes ready to send assessments which are already vetted and validated by experts and trusted by your competitors.
And lastly, we know that assessments are just a part of the puzzle and not the whole game. The same tech solutions like Risely go beyond workforce skills assessments. They will help you with the other steps too, like creating goals and building personalized learning journeys.
Make Leadership Skill Assessments Easier with Risely
Risely offers assessments for around 20 key leadership and people management skills (even the hard-to-find ones like confrontation ability and assertive communication). These assessments are carried out in two phases. The first is a self-assessment the managers fill out; the second assessment goes to their team and solicits feedback, which is later presented anonymously. It allows for honest appraisal, which many 360-degree feedback tools fail at.
You can run your first one for free here: Leadership Skills Assessments, and create a learning journey based on the assessment results.
What can be your next steps after a workforce skill assessment?
Collecting assessment results is just the start. The true value is in how you look at and use that data to make real changes. You can use these insights in many ways, such as improve learning and development programs, enhance hiring processes, and build a more flexible workforce.
Think about the performance expectations for each job and how skills are spread across your team. If you see a big gap between the skills you want and the skills your team has, it means you need to train or improve those skills. Also, don’t just focus on the numbers. Look at the feedback and self-assessments from employees. It’s important to know how employees view their strengths and weaknesses and what they want for their growth. This understanding boosts employee engagement and helps create a positive work environment.
Broadly, there are two courses of action for L&D teams after doing a workforce skills assessment:
First, see which skills need more emphasis to reach strategic objectives. Conduct skill development programs focused on this area by picking the right people and building an incredible L&D strategy.
Second, see which skills need emphasis to reach professional goals of the individual team members. Supporting their journeys is a game-changer for motivation, loyalty, and retention.
Further, using real-time data tools will help you spot trends, see progress, and make smart decisions quickly. This ongoing method keeps your skills assessment program up to date and ready to meet the changing needs of your organization and the people.
Assess, analyze, and iterate for success
Assessments are never a one and done exercise. As we noted at the beginning, workforce skills assessments need to be regular and consistent to be really impactful.
There might be some roadblocks on your path too.
Some employees might hesitate to fill out assessments. It’s common when the culture is not very open. There are fears of repercussions. Or else, you would notice average ratings pretty much everywhere because no one wants to stand out and make themselves the center of attention. Focus on communicating why the assessments matter, use anonymous tools, and build confidence in the people. Make it clear that the aim is to help grow skills, not to punish anyone. It’s also important to keep the results private and focus on giving constructive feedback that helps employees improve.
Continuous learning, driven by these assessments, prepares your workforce to adapt to changes in the industry and new technologies. Retention rates improve as employees feel valued and supported in their careers. Make sure to highlight the value of continuous learning in your company culture. Encourage employees to take charge of their own development, look for learning chances, and adopt a mindset focused on growth.
As for the assessments, keep collecting feedback and iterating for improvements!
Wrapping Up
In conclusion, it is very important for L&D professionals to understand workforce skill assessments. This helps match company goals with employee development. By knowing workforce needs and creating good assessment frameworks, you can improve L&D strategies and encourage ongoing learning. Analyzing assessment data correctly is crucial. You should also create action plans based on what you find. This helps close skills gaps. To tackle challenges, using best practices is necessary for successful skills assessments. A proactive approach will help empower your workforce and boost performance.
Deeksha, with a solid educational background in human resources, bridges the gap between your goals and you with valuable insights and strategies within leadership development. Her unique perspectives, powered by voracious reading, lead to thoughtful pieces that tie conventional know-how and innovative approaches together to enable success for management professionals.
Support your team’s growth effectively with a skills gap analysis.
Grab your free copy of Risely’s Skills Gap Analysis template and kickstart learning.
The traditional way of learning at work is changing fast because of AI. This change allows companies to improve how they teach and develop their staff. By using AI, you can make learning experiences more effective, personal, and engaging for your employees. But exactly how? In this blog, we will look into several ways to integrate AI into your L&D processes and initiatives so that 2025 turns into an AI-mazing year of learning at work.
But before we begin, let’s set some context. AI in learning and development at work is not simply about adding an LLM to your workflow. There are more comprehensive solutions that can unlock massive value for your team. Since several organizations are turning into early adopters, there’s a lot of enthusiasm and expectations about what AI brings. As the change leader in this scenario, it becomes imperative for you to understand what AI can and cannot do and communicate these ideas effectively to the stakeholders around you, like the C-suite and the employees involved in learning programs.
AI is changing how we help employees grow. It provides helpful data, automates tasks, and offers tailored learning experiences. This technology helps HR and L&D leaders and employees make better choices for their career paths. It connects personal goals with what the organization needs. But that’s not the end of the story.
AI’s effect on employee development goes beyond just learning new skills. It’s also about building a culture of ongoing growth. It gives employees the tools they need to reach their full potential, which they might not have been able to access earlier. As a result, this leads to more job satisfaction, higher productivity, and a more engaged and motivated workforce.
Is AI going to replace people at work? What can L&D do about this anxiety?
A big worry about AI is that it might eliminate jobs. But we can reduce this worry by actively helping employees learn new skills. As Steve Hunt mentioned in a recent podcast episode with Risely, every technology that eliminates some jobs creates many more. We are undergoing a fundamental shift in the purpose and meaning of work for society at large.
AI shouldn’t be seen as a danger, but as a way to gain new skills and improve the skills you already have. Primarily, L&D teams should focus on:
Finding skill gaps and offering specific learning opportunities
Motivating employees to take on new technologies and grow their skills
By investing in employee development and making clear paths for career growth, organizations help their workers adapt to changes in the job market. This way, they can use AI to improve their careers and reach their career goals.
That’s about the employees, what about the learning and development teams – how should you use AI?
5 Ways to add AI to learning at work in 2025
Learning at work has changed a lot. We no longer stick to one-time training events. Instead, we are moving toward a continuous learning approach. When you embrace continuous learning, you can:
Encourage innovation and speed by creating a culture of constant improvement
Build a workforce ready for the future that can handle rapid tech changes
Improve employee engagement and keep them by investing in their growth
This change is needed so employees can keep their skills and knowledge up-to-date. They have to adapt to new technologies and changing business needs. Switching to continuous learning brings both challenges and opportunities for L&D teams. It asks for a cultural change that supports lifelong learning and encourages employees to take charge of their growth. AI technologies are important in this change. They offer personalized, easy-to-access, and interesting learning experiences for employees at a fraction of the cost.
A few ways to effectively add AI to your L&D strategy are:
#1 Build personalized learning experiences
AI creates personalized learning paths for employees. It makes them feel more confident and addresses their different learning needs, which cookie-cutter programs offered so far may overlook. For example, Risely, the AI co-pilot for people managers, offers a dynamic learning journey that fits the unique context of every people manager. The challenges of leaders and managers are diverse and affected by many factors, an AI can match this array of needs by identifying which areas need more support and when. This tailored approach keeps employees engaged with content that fits their needs. It leads to better knowledge retention and skill development. The outcome is a more confident workforce that can help the organization succeed.
#2 Democratize access to learning in your organization
How many people can you meaningfully train in your entire organization? For most L&D teams, the number isn’t huge. Moreover, since many learning at work opportunities run in cohorts, employees must wait before getting help. It means letting the problems arising due to lack of skill development pester for a long, and at times, they grow into bigger troubles. For instance, if a manager is bad at delegating and has to pass six months before they can get training, their entire team will face overburdening work for that time. Meanwhile, more challenges like turnover due to tight deadlines and heavy workloads become prominent.
Adding an AI coach like Merlin to this manager’s learning and development plan will help cut down on the problem. It will help the manager access support and help in a way that fits their unique needs, such as the challenges with a couple of specific team members. Similarly, an AI coach can reach hundreds of managers without the L&D team needing to scale up operations and having multiple leadership coaches on the roaster. It’s also a great way to reduce challenges arising from geographical and time zone differences among workplaces.
#3 AI-driven analytics for tracking learning progress
AI-powered analytics give L&D leaders useful insights about employee growth and how well learning programs work. By monitoring learning progress and engagement, AI can find out where employees are doing well or having difficulties. This approach, based on data, helps HR leaders to tailor learning help, offer specific support, and see how learning actions affect the entire organization. AI-driven analytics makes sure that learning programs match business goals and help the company’s overall success.
#4 Enhance employee engagement through gamified learning experiences
Integrating fun and game-like features into learning experiences helps improve employee satisfaction. This method encourages a culture of workplace learning. AI-powered platforms use elements like challenges, rewards, and leader boards to motivate workers and make learning enjoyable. For example, Risely uses daily nudges as a microlearning pathway for leadership development. It shares a small actionable insight to support a small bit of progress toward each manager’s specific challenges.
By using these game-like features, employees can remember what they learn better. It also creates a friendly competition and teamwork among them. By adopting AI for gamified learning, companies can make the learning process more fun and effective. This plays a critical role in increasing employee engagement and satisfaction.
#5 Improve skills gap analysis with AI’s predictive abilities
Another interesting use case that L&D professionals can explore with AI’s abilities is improving the skills gap analysis for their teams. The conventional skills gap analysis exercise takes time and resources. Ultimately. this exercise offers us a list of skills and competencies that the team needs to build in order to fit in. But what if, we could figure out what the team needs to succeed in the future?
The predictive abilities of AI can forecast what skills would be in demand soon. That way, you are not just chasing after what has already happened. Instead, you can make the first move in the industry and build a competitive edge. For example, let ‘s assume you are leading L&D for a retail chain. With the help of AI for learning at work, you can:
Identify emerging skill trends in the retail industry
Predict potential skill obsolescence
Anticipate technological and market changes that will impact required skills
Your next would be planning a learning and development program using these insights. Further, as we discussed in the first point, you can personalize the learning track to meet the individual learning needs and align with the business goals simultaneously.
Read more: 7 Easy Ways to Use AI in Learning and Development
Wrapping Up
AI is changing how we learn. Many new tools and platforms are now available. They help organizations improve their learning and development programs. These AI-driven solutions offer personal learning experiences, automate tasks, and provide insights based on data. There are many options, like platforms that adapt to each learner and mentorship programs that use AI. Organizations must assess their needs and pick the tools and platforms that match their learning goals and objectives in effective ways.
In conclusion, using AI in workplace learning is not about taking over human skills but making them better. AI gives people personalized learning, helps them gain new skills, and supports their growth. By using AI, companies can build a culture where learning never stops. Employees get to play fun games and benefit from helpful AI insights. We can check how well AI learning programs work through set goals and feedback to keep improving. As we move into the AI age, it is important to use the right AI tools, fit them into what we already have, and keep an eye on future trends in AI and workplace learning. Welcome this change to make a more lively and employee-focused learning space.
Deeksha, with a solid educational background in human resources, bridges the gap between your goals and you with valuable insights and strategies within leadership development. Her unique perspectives, powered by voracious reading, lead to thoughtful pieces that tie conventional know-how and innovative approaches together to enable success for management professionals.
Turn your L&D plans into reality with Risely’s easy to apply templates!
Grab your free copy of Risely’s learning and development strategy framework and get started.
The retail organizations around us are changing. Technological developments promise faster deliveries than ever, and retail employment is not the same exciting prospect anymore for college students. Before looking at how the leaders are responding to these changes, let’s answer something critical: Are retail leaders prepared to take on the future?
The retail sector is facing the heat not just from the economic downturn alone but also from troubled global matters and stemmed revival after the pandemic. That’s one side. The other is managing the employees and the store. The first is challenging because of the typical high attrition of working frontline in retail. The financial benefits are no help, so the matters relate to the experiences. The second area is posing challenges because there are better options on the internet. Retail needs to focus on building great customer experiences to survive the drought brought upon by e-commerce, which again boils down to how loyal and good your employees are.
There’s one thread tying all of these together: The store manager.
These often assertive but usually tough people are the heart and soul of retail chains. A lot rests on their shoulders—right from managing the employee register to ensuring that the customer exits with a smile on their face. Historically, long-term employment with a retail chain would mean a series of promotions into managerial and leadership roles. But times are changing, and so are demands. The managerial role in retail is now about managing stakeholders, supply chains, tech, people, and so on.
Managers and leaders at every level in retail businesses need more training and support to achieve remarkable results that are becoming synonymous with survival. While historically, we have witnessed a drought of leadership development opportunities in retail, there are voices demanding change quite openly now.
For instance, in research by Spencer Stuart across retail organizations globally, it was found that leading and empowering people was one of the most important abilities a retail leader needed! That’s not all. There’s more context to highlight why retail leadership development is the need of the hour. HR leaders from these retail organizations shared that the biggest risk in succession planning for retail right now was the inability to address development gaps – which directly hints at the need for better leadership development initiatives for retail organizations.
But, is it really worth the fuss?
How do leadership development initiatives impact the retention of leaders?
Research cited above points to 25 to 48% of CEOs and direct reports being expected to leave their organizations within a year from the survey date. What’s next, then? Unfortunately, not many teams are sure, owing to the lack of leadership development practices. They are grappling with gaps in the talent pipeline, and most of the next generation does not seem fit to bear the load. The leaders and managers are bound to search for exits when the traditional career progression route is no longer feasible, and there are no alternate avenues on offer.
The growth promised through these programs is a great benefit on top of competitive aspects like pay and benefits. When similar offerings populate the industry, differentiation is made of L&D initiatives that boost employee loyalty by supporting them right where they need it. Leadership development opportunities can help curb the turnover of leaders and managers in retail. This is because investment in leadership development offers a sense of professional security.
That’s not all. There’s more that retail leadership development can change.
What is the impact of retail leadership development?
We can sum up the major impact of retail leadership development as follows:
Make your people stay: First, retail leadership development is important to fight up-and-coming challenges with the right workforce. External hiring, training for your industrial relevance, and then fighting the battle would prove costly. Instead, if you invest in bringing out the leadership potential of your people, you will have a more loyal workforce who values you as much as you do them. Building loyalty among your team members in a high-turnover industry is one of the best ways to secure competitive advantages.
Bring your people together: Leadership and management development programs will help you emphasize your organization’s core values and mission. In turn, the receivers of these messages, the leaders and managers who are learning, double up as culture agents with the frontline staff and ensure they have a sense of purpose at work.
Propagate the right behaviors to the frontline: Training managers in your core values and the right mix of management skills will help you create a trickle-down effect. As a result, the ideas and behaviors you want to emphasize are built with the managers as role models for the frontline staff, leading to the ultimate success, which is a great customer experience.
Tailor leadership programs to meet your needs: There’s a lot available in the open market when it comes to developing leaders and managers, but the question is—does that match what you need? Most likely, it will not. Most leadership development programs are cookie-cutter and not made to fit. As a result, the impact remains half-hearted. Investing in leadership development yourself will allow you to control the content and application.
Be future-ready: It’s no secret that the world is changing. The retail industry now needs to negotiate terms with consumers who are conscious of the level of comfort e-commerce can offer. There are also tech disruptions to keep in mind, like AI. All of these changes require leadership that is willing to take on challenges.
The old image of a rigid store manager is no longer the face of the retail industry, so let’s replace that archetype from the leadership development programs too?
Regarding retail leadership development, the most common forms include screaming ideas into an audience, which, although traditional, does not appear very effective. Since we are talking of preparing for a modern world, leadership development practices in a retail environment also need to modernize and get in tune with the present.
For instance, AI-powered leadership development fits neatly into the retail leadership development paradigm because it can meet the needs of distributed teams at scale even when the contextual needs are heavily varied. What does that mean? Let’s break it down into five key features of retail leadership development for the future.
#1 Not pull away people from work
One of leadership development’s biggest troubles lies in taking time for it. Most managers and leaders don’t have the hours (or sometimes days) that the conventional leadership workshops, seminars and getaways demand. They do have unique challenges that these programs don’t help with because they are made with an Ideal Customer Persona in mind.
Retail leadership development must embrace microlearning to meet managers where they are, most likely on the store floor. It means offering learning in bite-sized bits that are actionable and not just offering a checklist of best practices to follow. For example, Risely’s daily nudges for people managers share a small actionable idea that they can practice right then. This nudge is aligned to their job role and level of proficiency in particular leadership skills, and it even identifies which team members would be best to work in that area.
All of this takes about 15 minutes at best, including getting the idea, trying it out, and maybe even talking about what happened with the AI coach Merlin right then!
#2 Train a lot of people similarly even at different locations
The most basic part of training a retail organization is understanding that it is distributed. For example, one company that we work with, Fosters, has people spread over six to seven separate locations. Pulling them all into a single leadership development program would mean pulling key people from each place and potentially jeopardizing operations for at least a day or two.
That’s why retail leadership development solutions need to account for a centralized set-up that scales down into your context. For instance, Risely’s AI-led co-pilot for leadership development is accessible anywhere at any time. The managers do not need to seek permission to take a coaching session or wait until the company organizes the next one. All of them have access to an AI coach who is personalized to their job role, level of leadership skills, and professional goals.
Also, Merlin offers voice mode in over 40 languages, so don’t worry about typing out long paragraphs about what’s bothering you. It’s as simple as sending that voice note to a friend describing your annoying day at work. Simplification in accessing coaching and support through interventions like these is critical for retail leaders since they are in a high-stress and emotionally draining job that leaves little bandwidth to “learn” at the end of the day.
#3 Train people at different levels in the organization
Every organization has people working at several different levels. This leads to an obvious complexity: Who to train and who not to? What if we told you that every leader on your team deserves support? Broadly, the numbers in corporate organizations suggest that only about 10% of leaders are able to access training. It leaves out most of the people who work day in and day out with the frontline staff.
AI coaching and leadership development drastically reduce costs and barriers. As a result, you can train all the people in your organization at a fraction of the cost, time, and effort. AI coaching is adaptable to job roles, so it can help anyone from the CXO club to frontline managers who battle it out every day.
#4 Meet the unique contextual needs of retail leadership
Retail leadership is not for the faint-hearted. A number of factors are involved, from building customer experiences to managing supply chain networks. The trouble is that a leadership coach would not know about this unless they come from a retail background. This makes coaching and development services for retail leaders a niche and expensive area. But that’s not all. Not all retail leaders are cut from the same cloth. Some have to handle people by giving speeches; others do so in closed rooms where big deals are discussed. Both of these people need different skills.
AI supports this differentiation in the support being provided to leaders across a retail organization with personalized learning pathways. Risely, for instance, starts by asking you to configure challenges and assesses you on leadership skills to create a roadmap that would suit you. It further pulls insights from company policies and ties into individual professional goals to create a well-rounded learning experience. It is an entirely different paradigm from the leadership development best practices offered so far to retail leaders.
#5 Reinforce organizational objectives and values
In a business that’s known for high turnover, loyalty is chased. So why are we leaving it on the table when effective leadership development and shake things up? Investing in leadership development creates a positive employee brand that ensures your people stick with you. But that’s just one part.
Leadership coaching that is outsourced or conducted through external providers is more often than not likely to suffer from a disconnect from your values. It’s not because of inability but simply because of design. Embedding your mission and ideas is possible only when you train people with in-house experts, which is a costly affair on its own. So, what’s the way out?
An AI coach helps with this, too! Risely’s AI coach, Merlin, learns your company’s policies and values and offer them along with suggestions whenever your team is taking a coaching session. This is a great way to reinforce your core ideas rather than letting them catch dust in some lengthy documents that barely get read.
Retail leadership development is surely in for some amazing changes as the world progresses. Come 2025 and bid adieu to one-size-fits-all learning programs plaguing your people. Instead, gift them learning that meets their needs.
Read more: How To Make Leadership Development Programs Succeed In Your Organization?
To Sum Up
Retail leadership development is the need of the hour as we navigate more complex relationships and changing dynamics with the increasing popularity of e-commerce. Manager and leadership development promises a lot to retail organizations. There are many benefits to be sought in improved customer experiences, better frontline performance, and increased employee loyalty.
But the last bit of trouble lies in the prevalent old-school modes of leadership development in the retail industry. They are often not optimized for the right context where your learner is. AI bridges this gap by offering personalized learning paths to managers and learners for unique challenges.
Deeksha, with a solid educational background in human resources, bridges the gap between your goals and you with valuable insights and strategies within leadership development. Her unique perspectives, powered by voracious reading, lead to thoughtful pieces that tie conventional know-how and innovative approaches together to enable success for management professionals.
Setting the right goals defines the accuracy of your path to success!
Take this FREE goal-setting self-assessment by Risely now to test the efficacy of your goal-setting.
Healthcare systems are critical to any society. How are we training the people who run them? Learn how leadership development is evolving in the healthcare space with the introduction of AI.
When it comes to the healthcare sector, we often interact with the front end. At the back, another parallel system keeps the show running—the administrative function. They are hidden, yet their presence can be felt in every small or big action, from disoriented teams to misplaced documents. In this healthcare administrative setup, the leaders and managers are like the backbone. They are crucial in ensuring that the show not just runs but does so effectively to support millions of people every day.
The sad part of this story is that it’s not an easy job at all. When it comes to being a manager in the healthcare sector, we are not just asking for solid leadership abilities; there’s a higher need for empathy and caution. It’s not only fast-paced and dynamic but also emotionally taxing. As a result, we witness high burnout among managers in the healthcare sector.
There’s no single cause for this challenge. Healthcare leaders are constantly facing the heat due to:
long work hours that hurt the work-life balance
staff shortages causing overworking
emotional investment in work
high-pressure work environment
While talking of managers here, it’s not uncommon for employees in this sector to handle empathy fatigue while continuing to strain themselves. This went overboard during the COVID-19 pandemic when demands from the healthcare sector hit the sky on quick notice. Since returning from that wave, the sector has coped with distress.
Inherent support systems at work can be one of the most effective solutions for increasing access to support for healthcare workers. This puts managers and leaders at the frontline as coaches and mentors for their teams. Yet, even this is mired with problems due to a lack of investment in healthcare leadership development.
So, what’s the way out? Let’s begin by appropriately contextualizing the role of leadership development in healthcare.
Why is Leadership Important in Healthcare?
Developing leaders in the healthcare space is vital for success because it directly improves employee experiences. Great leaders provide the valuable support, coaching, and motivation that healthcare workers need to sustain themselves in a physically and emotionally straining environment. They are also the key to creating a talent pipeline for succession and effectively building career paths.
To sum up, healthcare leadership development helps you:
Enhance customer experiences: Leadership development programs in healthcare are focused on developing skills that enable seamless experiences for service seekers. This ensures that your employees are focused and dedicated to the task, thus leading to better performance even in high-stress scenarios that are common for healthcare workers.
Enhance people’s experiences: Customers are one side of the equation; your employees are the other. As we noted earlier, too, well-trained leaders better support their teams and carry them forward through challenges. It is also a motivational factor for the employees to see that their growth matters to the organization and aligns with wider business plans.
Manage your people better: Focusing on developing the leaders in your healthcare organization ensures that you have a ready pipeline of talent who can take up bigger roles in the future as the current generation moves on. Leadership development can also help you solve high turnover and absenteeism because it helps employees find the right skills, purpose, and plans for their careers.
What’s the Status Quo of Healthcare Leadership Development?
Let’s break this down with an example.
HealthRight 360, one of the major healthcare providers for vulnerable people, emphasizes the role of leaders in its mission. As an organization committed to making a difference in the lives of people without access to insurance, it is at the frontiers with numerous service providers working every day. It calls for leaders who can unite teams around the mission and translate its core values of empathy.
As part of the healthcare industry with an extensive volunteer network, HealthRight 360 faces some of the most common challenges prevalent in both of these areas, namely, a shortage of resources, people, and time. Thus, prioritization and making the right choices to positively impact people become super important.
What Challenges Do Leadership Development Programs in Healthcare Face?
Healthcare leadership development programs face myriad challenges due to the sheer number of complexities built into the environment itself. First, there is the resource crunch that we discussed earlier. It is not just about funds but also about the availability of people and bandwidth.
As a result, we witness these challenges in healthcare leadership development programs:
Lack of resources to run programs for leaders
Healthcare leaders do not have the hours to invest in leadership development training programs that could take them out of work. In fact, one of the biggest challenges for L&D teams in healthcare is ensuring that people grow while not missing out on work. As a result, even the smaller and shorter alternatives suggested to leaders, like eLearning, are hard to implement, let alone extensive methods like one-on-one coaching.
At times, seeking investment for leadership development and making this case in front of the stakeholders makes things difficult since it is not viewed as an area that can directly bring in revenue. For nascent L&D teams, getting the ROI numbers is a challenge.
Meeting niche expertise needs
A healthcare leader operates in a specific context that happens to be pretty niche. It involves a high level of clinical expertise and a similarly high level of people expertise. The learning and development methods for healthcare leaders need to equip them with a holistic understanding of this environment. Sadly, a majority of leadership development programs available out there are cookie-cutter and do not provide the exact value needed here.
Creating a pipeline for succession
Healthcare institutions often lack the structured infrastructure for preparing leaders for senior roles. Without the strategic approach to identifying and nurturing future leaders, healthcare organizations end up with leadership gaps and succession risks. It is also vital to consider that talent with niche healthcare leadership competencies leaving the organization is a major loss.
Matching competency levels in functional and people skills
Healthcare leadership requires a complex mix of skills. While functional knowledge is critical to success, leaders also need to demonstrate emotional competence and great people skills. In the absence of adequate leadership development programs, leaders are left to grapple with people management challenges without the right toolkit. This poses constant challenges since healthcare employees are prone to burnout and need consistent support.
So, what’s the way out?
Picturing the Ideal Healthcare Leadership Development Program
Healthcare leadership development programs are thus stuck in an impasse because moving further in any direction can break the delicate balance of their environment. As a result, most L&D managers in healthcare remain on the lookout for leadership development solutions to reach out to distributed teams. Their major objective is to tie people around shared values, systems, and leadership approaches even when they are spread across different teams and offices.
To create this ideal solution for healthcare leadership development, we need to think along three pillars:
#1 Meet healthcare managers where they are, literally and metaphorically
There are layers to this challenge.
First, leadership development needs to meet the managers where they work. Healthcare managers often double up as field staff, so they cannot spare days to invest in leadership training. They also do not have the same range of allowances that permit corporate employees to take up the usual leadership development programs. Thus, learning needs to be where they are.
Second, leadership development for healthcare managers needs to align with their skill levels. This is frequently overlooked in the sector, and there’s a gap that any training program would have to bridge. It begins by emphasizing the people management aspect of the job and then further supporting them on the challenges as they show up. Implementing high-level training programs with bullet points on how to do things is not going to prove useful.
Thus, leadership development programs for healthcare managers need to embed themselves in the sector’s flow of work and people management routines.
#2 Define a consistent leadership style for the organization and spread it evenly
Corporates have their vision and mission documents. The culture teams further populate this area with documents describing the values at the core of their mission, leadership styles, and so on. These are often very low on the list of priorities in the healthcare sector. One of the challenges for healthcare L&D is then defining this common leadership culture and propagating it across the organization. We must also consider that not all teams work in a shared space with the same bandwidth.
With this in mind, we need a leadership development method that balances a central focus on organizational philosophy with individualized attention to professional challenges. Directives and documents for coaches seem like the most obvious route to achieve this. However, the questions of diverse interpretations, multiple coaching styles, and lack of constant support soon rise.
#3 Reach out to more healthcare leaders and support them effectively
The third pillar where leadership development programs in the healthcare industry need support is the coverage they offer. Thus far, even traditional corporates have been limited in terms of how many leaders they can effectively train and support. For the healthcare sector, the challenges are made more complex by low prioritization of development initiatives and resource crunch.
Leadership development programs for healthcare thus need to take a turn toward accessibility and scalability, wherein more people managers can seek help easily without hesitation or losing out on precious work hours. Moreover, scalability will allow L&D teams to show ROI much more easily. It happens as outreach to more employees translates into a bigger impact at the organizational level compared to investing in the development of a select few.
Since we have these actions in mind, we should also consider latching to the latest technological developments and using them to reach our goals. AI is one such factor that has shown many use cases in healthcare leadership development.
Let’s explore a few of them in the next section.
How is AI altering Healthcare Leadership Development Programs?
AI for leadership development is one of the hottest areas discussed globally by the L&D industry. Does it have some applications in improving healthcare leadership development programs?
Use microlearning to push growth every day
We have noted that one of the most common challenges for healthcare leaders is that they cannot devote the time needed for leadership development programs. Getting away from work for a few hours every week adds more strain to an already overwhelming schedule, as do programs that span multiple days. Microlearning is the savior here.
Microlearning is not just about reading a bit of information about people management here and there. Ai is putting an interesting twist on this to make it more impactful. At Risely, it unfolds in twin moves:
Nudges: First up, managers on Risely get daily nudges focused on improving their people skills. It focuses on the skills they need (which are assessed first thing), the team members this manager is working with, and the context in which they work. So, a healthcare leader struggling to be assertive at their new job with a team member named Alex will receive an actionable tip to do precisely that, not just anything from a random box of tips & tricks.
Activities: Leadership is not just about learning things; it’s more about doing them in real life. Risely takes this message to the core, which is why most daily lessons are equipped with short activities like watching a video lesson, taking a quiz, or practicing a role-play. These are again personalized to the leader’s context—their skill levels, challenges, job context, and so on.
The fun part? All of this takes about 15 minutes a day at best.
Use AI coaching to meet contextual needs
Another challenging aspect that we noted earlier is the lack of contextual support. Being a leader in a healthcare setting puts one in a unique spot. The job demands are physically and emotionally straining. Few people, either seniors or coaches, are available to support one in these roles since the experience being demanded becomes very niche.
Scaling healthcare leadership development via coaching thus proves to be expensive and time-consuming for the L&D team itself. (At the moment, we are not even going into aligning the coaches with company values and building relationships with the learners, which would be more complex issues for L&D teams that get into this.)
So, who can solve this? An AI coach like Merlin understands every manager’s unique context and offers support solely based on what’s needed. The great thing about AI leadership coaches is that they are always available, even when the work hours are over, and the manager is sitting alone, pondering how to confront someone. That’s where an AI coach shows up and saves the day!
With Merlin, people leaders can access multiple ways of learning. They can simply talk about situations and seek advice. But there are more interesting ways to engage an AI co-pilot in your leadership journey:
Role-play a situation: Is there something weighing heavy on your heart? It’s probably a difficult conversation that you need to have soon but are not sure how to approach it. Role-plays with Merlin help you practice these (as often as you want) by setting up the scenario and defining your partner’s expected behaviors.
Develop specific skills and set goals: You can chat with Merlin about everything related to skill development, from diagnosing what’s missing from your arsenal to creating strategies and roadmaps for growth.
Turn it into a culture agent: An AI coach must be generic, right? Except that it’s not. Setting up Merlin involves researching your company policies and values to ensure that they are reflected in the coaching conversations. While asking for guidance, team members can quickly glance at what the official documentation says, which is great because we both know that they will never open the PDFs otherwise.
Want to see how it works? Catch Merlin in action here:
Focus on scalable solutions for healthcare leaders
Last but not least, we need to reach out to many more healthcare leaders and deliver support. As an L&D team, our mission is to support organizational growth as well as personal goals, but a resource crunch can get in the way. As we noted in the point above, AI can solve this.
Picture this: Your team gets an AI coach supporting managers even while you are asleep. Not just one manager, but as many as you have. You no longer need to worry about scheduling meetings with the right coaches, the costs of accessing them, and regularly hiring for new ones since the previous set leaves. That’s precisely what Merlin does.
That’s not the end of the story. Risely offers people management skill assessments that you can run for the entire team with one click, as opposed to designing them from scratch, getting them printed and distributed, putting reminders to get them filled and returned, and then evaluating them. Leave the whole cycle aside in favor of people skill assessments that you can run as the administrator, with both self- and team ratings and evaluations at the sub-skill levels.
Did we tell you it ties into a learning journey personalized to the manager and offers them bite-sized lessons daily? It does! Give it a spin here; it’s free: Risely’s Leadership Skill Assessments.
There’s no doubt that AI is reinventing healthcare leadership development programs. The question is, are you and your team in the loop? Or, are you missing out by holding conventional methods dear?
Looking Forward
To sum things up, we have the most common challenges of healthcare leadership development programs:
Lack of resources to run programs and multiple stakeholders who are hard to convince
Need for niche expertise that understands both functional and people aspects of the job
Tying into the broader strategic HR goals like succession planning and career pathing
Creating a better understanding of the healthcare leader’s role and where they need support
Developing low-cost, scalable solutions that balance organizational objectives with personal needs
While the traditional methods of leadership development cover some or all of the bases, there’s a large gap to be filled. This is a more challenging case to tackle than corporate leadership development because it demands niche talent to run the initiatives amid a more straining environment.
The latest tech solutions based on AI, like Risely, are enabling new approaches to solve these long-held challenges. Innovative ways to personalize and scale leadership development solutions for healthcare leaders are on the way to make a difference.
Deeksha, with a solid educational background in human resources, bridges the gap between your goals and you with valuable insights and strategies within leadership development. Her unique perspectives, powered by voracious reading, lead to thoughtful pieces that tie conventional know-how and innovative approaches together to enable success for management professionals.
Join the Risely tribe. It’s free!
Sign up today and explore the range of leadership development solutions that fit you like a tailored suit.
How to Make Non-profit Leadership Development Work?
Learn how non-profit leadership development programs play an important role in organizational success, with one of the USA’s biggest animal welfare non-profit organizations showing the way of AI adoption.
Non-profit organizations are one of the most vital pillars of the American society. But here’s a sobering fact: they are also some of the most high churn workplaces, with some research suggesting annual rates as high as 24%. Non-profit organizations are often mission-oriented, but people within them frequently have unmet professional aspirations.
For instance, research by NonprofitHR shows:
The top two reasons for voluntary turnover were better opportunities (reported by 57% of the people) and lack of opportunities for career growth (reported by 43% of the people.)
About 48% of the respondents faced challenges with retaining people working in entry-level roles.
The result is evident. The non-profit organizations are losing their share of young workforce as they are unable to offer a roadmap toward growth. Amid the resource scarcity that characterizes non-profits, as well as the highly demanding nature of the work, the workers are left with few choices but to move on.
One critical factor in this gap is the lack of support that people managers offer in such workplaces. Since non-profits are characterized by resource scarcity, there are bigger claims on the time, money, and efforts before professional development programs can scoop up.
In such a scenario, the people managers have a great role to play. A number of roles in non-profit sectors call for frontline work, putting the managers in a position to directly influence, coach and guide their team members. Given the varied nature of non-profit missions, a lot of this happens outside conventional workplaces with desktops and coffees.
At times, it’s not in the hands of managers either. Most managers in non-profit organizations are not trained in vital people management skills like coaching and motivating others, and thus set up for failure (which itself happens due to time and resource scarcity). Since the model of leadership is incomplete in itself, there are further hurdles in the development process.
The Nature of Non-profits Poses Unique Challenges for Leadership Development
Let’s understand this better with an example.
The Best Friends Animal Society is one of the USA’s foremost warriors for pets in shelters. As a sanctuary for homeless animals, it brings together a passionate group of volunteers working on-field for rescue, support, and care. With a workforce of 900+, more than half of whom work remotely while the rest are distributed in care and training operations, Best Friends has a dynamic work environment frequented by emotionally charged moments. This blog post will take up their case to learn more about non-profit leadership development programs.
Since the workforce is distributed and partly remote, centralized development programs for people managers are a huge task. The complexity increases for teams across multiple states or countries, with different departmental objectives, personal goals, and learning needs being the first layers demanding personalization.
Moreover, as many people are working on the ground, there is limited time available to participate in leadership development programs that could last days or take online courses frequently offered as replacements.
This unique set-up poses challenges for managers to find the time they need for growth and development. And then there’s this emotionally charged field of animal welfare where they need to be prepared to handle diverse and sensitive situations effectively. Yet, it’s not always feasible for them to commit the time to do the manager training or even short e-learning courses.
Janis Cooper
Director of Leadership and Staff Development
A lot of non-profit organizations have similar stories, leading to a few common leadership development challenges:
Establishing consistent leadership and management development programs
This becomes a big challenge because uncertainties are the rule, not the exceptions. There are frequent changes and reallocations that the leadership of non-profits is always grappling with, leaving little bandwidth to invest in the professional development of their people. Moreover, as Janis explained, several people are working in the field. It leads them to have uncertain work hours, availability of time, and mental capacity to learn effectively.
The matters are further complex due to the involvement of volunteers. Since not everyone is a full-time employee with specified work hours, learning budgets, and defined trajectories, organizing development programs is much more complicated.
Enabling learning on the go for busy professionals
Suppose you are managing a team of volunteers. You know that you need to have a leadership development program in place for them. But your options are;
A great leadership coach with solid credentials and an hourly charge of $600 who is available for your team every alternate Wednesday.
A recommended leadership development workshop led by people you look up to, which involves three-day residential learning at the charge of $5000 per person.
An online course on a reputed platform that your team may or may not consume passively to tick boxes and get a certificate.
These options are not just hypothetical. Most offerings for non-profit leadership development training are unrealistic and do not align with the job requirements. To take any of these courses, people need to shell out significant fees, take a good deal of time off work, and need a level of mental freedom that our industry does not offer. This creates a big quandary for L&D and HR teams of non-profits who are searching for effective ways to develop people leaders.
Getting leadership development training that matches the context of non-profits
Workplaces in the non-profit sector differ from corporate ones in a major way – a lot more emotional investment is asked for at every level. As a mission-driven team, you are deeply tied to the outcomes you build toward. For the leadership roles, this poses a unique challenge where they need to focus on professional growth for their own sake and balance it with a high amount of passion and empathy toward the cause. That’s why burnout and emotional distress are quite common in non-profit organizations, which call for a higher focus on non-profit leadership development training focused solely on building emotional resilience, healthy ways to be empathetic, and building work-life balance.
Measuring the impact of leadership development for non-profits
Every workplace has a hard time tracking the impact of leadership development programs. The story is the same for non-profit organizations. It is further complicated by two factors:
First, the HR teams must manage multiple stakeholders. Investing in leadership development training for non-profit managers would be feasible only with their approval. Thus, measuring impact is vital in making a solid case and securing the necessities.
Second, there is a usual delay in adopting innovative solutions based on advanced tech. It keeps non-profits under the grasp of older management philosophies and training methods.
As a result, non-profit leadership development programs need to be very clear about tracking the right metrics, setting benchmarks, and effectively showcasing impact.
All of these challenges of developing leaders in non-profits tietie into the broader HR issues, such as planning career progression paths, creating succession pipelines, and better retaining people. Investing in non-profit leadership development impacts all of these since it shows the people that you care.
What are the Leadership Development Goals for Non-profit Organizations?
Similarly, Best Friends Animal Society’s critical area is developing people leaders and managers. They have developed programs to support these professionals at different points in their career journeys, from onboarding to remedial training if needed.
To sum up, their objectives take this shape:
Ensure that the people leaders are supported at all times in their jobs since the nature of work does not align with fixed hours or locations.
Provide access to personalized training, particularly for skills like emotional competence and communication critical to professional success.
Engage the latest tech in leadership development to meet the needs and expectations of the workforce, in order to retain them at the organization.
With these ideas in mind, the team moved ahead with integrating Risely into their existing and planned manager development programs.
How to Create an AI-powered Leadership Development Strategy for Non-profits?
While the team had multiple leadership development programs on their agenda, they added Risely to the mix to increase support coverage and reach more people, which was a critical gap in the strategy.
You can hear it out from Janis, who leads Leadership and Staff Development at Best Friends Animal Society:
Fundamentally, we can see three pillars of Risely contributing to the success of leadership development programs at non-profit organizations like Best Friends Animal Society:
Nudges and activities for daily learning
Microlearning is a lifesaver for busy professionals, which is very common in the non-profit sector as we discussed earlier. It becomes even better when it matches their contextual needs and helps them beat people management challenges by investing as little as 15 minutes a day. Nudges on Risely are personalized at multiple levels:
Your skill development needs: First, it focuses on the skills you need to work on. As a result, the leaders of organizations like non-profits that call for high human skills but offer little time to learn them effectively can leverage this mode of learning and development.
Your team members: You might struggle in delegating tasks to one team member and confronting another. Risely takes care of that too by ensuring that microlearning resources are shared with your specific team members in mind.
Your strengths and areas of improvement: What does having a low score on communication skills really mean? It could be need of improvement in listening, or a lack of clarity, or something else entirely. Risely’s action-oriented nudges meet you at your level of skill growth.
Your job function: It would not make sense to teach a sales manager something only an engineering manager deals with, so why do we do this in people skills. Risely’s nudges are personalized to your job role. Thus, the situations, tips, and advice you receive matches your unique context.
On-demand coaching with the AI Merlin
One-on-one coaching is among the best tools to support developing leaders. But as Janis explained, most employees do not have the time needed to invest in learning that way. Plus, it creates a big organizational overhead. An AI coach like Risely’s Merlin solves for this by ensuring coaching access 24/7, even when the team member is on the road.
For non-profit organizations, people pose a unique challenge. There’s the need to value their time while also supporting their growth. Increasing the access to coaching through AI-powered services like Merlin helps Best Friends meet the growing needs of their people leaders.
For example, suppose a manager is on the way to address a conflict with a network partner. They can practice this conversation with Merlin since it can take up people’s roles as you define them and become your role-play training partner. That’s just one scenario: there are plenty of difficult conversations that people managers need to have and situations that put them in doubt where a coach’s nudge will help.
Since coaching is already on-demand and hyper-personalized, it saves the L&D function some effort of hiring coaches, matching them contextually, and constantly monitoring the flow. Moreover, you are deploying the latest technology for L&D, thus showcasing how much you value your employees.
With Risely’s AI coach Merlin, managers are now going to have a virtual coach at their fingertips basically available anywhere and anytime, even when they are on the road caring for animals.
Janis Cooper
Director of Leadership and Staff Development
In-depth skill assessments for every learner
Assessments and growth go hand-in-hand, as one leads to the roadmap of the other. Yet, conventional skill gap analysis leaves much to be desired. By deploying Risely’s leadership skill assessments for people managers, Best Friends Animal Society is changing things up massively.
Risely’s leadership skill assessments are a great tool for measuring the health of 30+ critical leadership development skills. They also offer analysis at the sub-skill level, thus going deeper into both diagnosis and problem-solving. Company-wide benchmarking helps managers stay motivated and look forward to reaching and creating new standards across the organization.
All three key actions tie into each other. The ease of assessing numerous managers on leadership skills frees up L&D bandwidth big time. It further goes into creating personalized learning journeys for them, which pave the way for coaching with Merlin and daily growth through nudges and activities—thus setting up a positive growth cycle.
Looking Forward
As an animal welfare organization, Best Friends Animal Society highlights the values of transparency, accountability, and trust in everything they do. Risely’s AI coach, Merlin, helps reinforce them in conversations with the team members by becoming a company culture agent. You can program the AI coach to reflect upon company policies and values and even include them as suggestions. So, even if your manager is lost on the way, someone is holding them back and showing them the way toward achieving what matters the most to you.
We are really thrilled that we are equipping our managers not just with the latest technology but with the skills and confidence that they are going to need to lead in our fast-paced and mission driven environment.
Janis Cooper
Director of Leadership and Staff Development
In the coming year, Best Friends Animal Society is exploring ways to add Risely to more of its leadership and staff development programs. The AI-copilot for leadership development has enabled Best Friends to reach out to more people who need support, enhance employee experiences, and ultimately do more of what they love doing—caring for animals.
Non-profit leadership development programs are super important in your success story. The only challenge is that so far they have been designed without your interests at the core. At Risely, we are trying to flip the script.
Sign up today and share your thoughts on what resources would benefit you the most. Connect with our sales team at info@risely.me to explore sustainable pricing options tailored for non-profit leadership development.
Deeksha, with a solid educational background in human resources, bridges the gap between your goals and you with valuable insights and strategies within leadership development. Her unique perspectives, powered by voracious reading, lead to thoughtful pieces that tie conventional know-how and innovative approaches together to enable success for management professionals.
Join the Risely tribe. It’s free!
Sign up and access the world of AI driven leadership development.
AI is changing the learning experience. It offers personalized learning paths, automates tasks, and gives useful insights about learner progress and areas that need improvement. AI for learning and development does not need to mean content creation alone! In fact, there are many effective ways to leverage it in your team. You are at the right spot if you wonder what, why, and how. This blog will decode seven impactful yet easy ways to 10x your L&D superpowers with AI.
Say “trends,” and you’ll hear back “AI!” As one of the hottest and most anticipated L&D trends for 2025, we want AI to change the world for us.
Creating engaging and useful training content is very important for learning and development success. AI tools are becoming strong supporters of L&D experts. They help by automating the work of creating content. This gives more time to work on important plans.
But, what exactly does that mean?
Let’s look at seven new uses of AI in learning and development (L&D). These technologies are changing how companies train their employees. AI helps you create personalized learning paths, offers virtual mentors, and adds fun through gamified experiences. All of these tools can make learning better for your people.
When your L&D teams use these advanced AI tools, they can work more efficiently. You can also engage employees more and improve training programs. This way, employees get the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in today’s workplaces, while your impact becomes the talk of the town.
#1 Use AI to Personalize Learning Content
One big benefit of AI in learning and development is its ability to create personalized learning experiences. AI algorithms can look at a lot of data about each learner. This includes their job roles, skills, how they like to learn, and what they want for their career. Using this data, with the help of AI, you can make adaptive learning pathways that fit individual needs.
Personalization is a huge benefit when it comes to learning, especially when the content and challenges are dynamic, such as in leadership development. Since there are many factors in a leader’s learning ability including their learning preferences, time availability, years of experience, industry, etc. personalized journeys make more sense than the usual cookie-cutter leadership development programs. AI helps you achieve this. For example, at Risely, we begin the process by asking the leaders about their people management challenges and then assign learning modules along the path.
Similarly, we can think of a learning platform that changes the difficulty level of lessons based on how the learner is doing. If an employee is doing well in a certain area, the AI system can suggest harder material to keep them interested. But if a learner finds a topic tough, the AI can offer more help or recommend other learning resources. By giving tailored learning paths, AI helps your organization’s employees learn at their own speed and focus on the areas where they need the most support.
#2 Add an AI Coach to Offer 24/7 Support
Providing personal coaching and guidance is hard. This is true for big organizations with different workers. Just think of the diverse needs that the sales and engineers managers have within your organization. And that’s just two job roles. AI-powered virtual mentors give steady and tailored support during the learning process to each role.
These virtual coaches serve as personal guides. They answer questions, give feedback on assignments, and provide encouragement. For example, in a sales training program, a virtual mentor can give salespeople real-time feedback on their pitches. It can suggest ways to improve and point out their strong points. Or, an AI coach like Risely’s Merlin offer support to people managers 24/7 for whatever situation or challenge they need. It ensures that they are constantly covered and never need to hesitate before seeking help, even for very niche or specific issues.
For instance, suppose you are a manager named Andrew who needs to take updates from a difficult colleague. You know the conversation is going to go downhill. There will be excuses, unclear answers, and you will lose your mind. What if you could prepare and practice? That’ll help you when the punches are thrown your way.
With Merlin, our AI coach for people managers, you can set-up role plays after programming what the other person behaves like. Here’s what your conversation with the reluctant colleague, Neil, might look like:
Try it out yourself here, it’s free to start: Meet Merlin!
#3 Use Gamification to Pump Up Engagement
Keeping learners engaged is very important for any training program to succeed. AI makes learning more fun and interactive through gamification. This leads to better completion rates and help people remember what they learn. Gamification adds game-like features, such as points, badges, leader-boards, and challenges, to learning. What’s more, AI adjusts these features to fit each learner’s likes and progress, which boosts engagement and motivation.
There are many ways to add fun to learning and development with AI, such as:
Personalized challenges: AI creates challenges that match each learner’s skill level and goals.
Adaptive feedback: AI systems give quick feedback and support, improving the learning process.
Progress tracking and rewards: AI checks how learners are doing and give points, badges, or other rewards to keep them motivated.
#4 Forecast Learning Outcomes with Predictive Analytics
AI can help learning and development by predicting future learning results and trends. It looks at past training data, how learners perform, and industry standards. This way, AI can figure out how well training programs work and find ways to make them better. Imagine an AI system that tells who might fall behind in their training. It can also show which training programs will help improve job performance.
These insights help L&D leaders make smart choices. You can use data to get the most from your training money and align L&D programs with company goals. Predictive analytics also helps your L&D teams act ahead of time. Then, you can give the right support to learners who need it the most.
Do you know what’s the hardest part of ensuring that coaching is successful for employees? It’s neither the money nor the time. More often than not, it’s the people and the relationship. The success of coaching, which is a very common mode of developing leaders and managers, hinges on a safe and secure relationship between the learner and the coach.
For most professionals, this is hard to get right since it involves opening up either in front of a stranger or with someone who’s their senior and potentially impacts their promotions and growth within the company (at times, outside, too, due to their networks.) As a result, even access to coaching is not the end-all because unless the HR teams and every individual involved in the process make a conscious effort to make vulnerability safe, there are bound to be limitations. There are a few practical challenges, too, such as the coach not keeping up with the learner between sessions, lack of reinforcement, and missing constant support. Challenges, after all, do not pop up on a schedule.
In such a scenario, empathy and a premise that promises safety become the top priorities for any L&D team. AI coaches can help you achieve this. For example, Merlin is designed with the values of user-centricity and empathy in coaching at its core. It further ties into your company’s policies, mission, and values and brings them up during the coaching conversations with your employees. And, of course, it remembers the past conversations, so there’s no worry of catching up or hesitating before bringing up something awkward. AI could be your solution to the perpetual coaching problems that keep showing up.
#6 Add AI to Reinforce Learning After Training
Today’s fast-paced world demands sticky learning. We need to keep up with changes and connect the dots rather than memorize endless lists of items. The way to thrive in this scenario is constant reinforcement of learning. Teams still treating learning and development as a one-stop exercise are setting themselves up for failure—unless, of course, they adopt AI for learning and development and use it to reinforce ideas consistently.
The most straightforward way of doing this is feeding the material to AI and prompting it to test our knowledge. But is that all? Surely not. For instance, the managers taking up any Risely masterclasses get months of complimentary access to Risely, offering interesting ways to continue learning without breaking their schedules.
For one, they get access to daily nudges and learning activities that tie into the skills they need to build. As a result, the practical focus on skills goes on for a longer time. If some tips don’t work out or the manager simply wants to talk about something they have tried, they can always come back to Merkin, Risely’s AI coach, who offers 24/7 support. There’s the chance to reassess your leadership skills as the learning journey progresses and closely monitor progress.
Consider all this against a leadership development program that offers three days of learning and nothing beyond it. What sounds like a better deal? AI can help you unlock these benefits for your employees, which would have otherwise burnt a hole in your pockets.
#7 Conduct Skills Gap Analysis in Real-time with AI
Identifying skill gaps is important for organizations to keep up with today’s fast-changing business world. Checking employee skills manually can take a lot of time and often be wrong. But AI offers a better and faster way to look at skill gaps using data.
AI systems can look at employee performance data, their training records, and industry trends to find out where skills need to get better. For instance, if many people in a marketing team have a hard time with data analysis, the AI can point this out as a skill gap that needs fixing.
This kind of real-time analysis helps learning and development (L&D) teams to find skill issues early. They can create focused training programs that fit their organization’s needs and help employees build the skills they need to succeed in their jobs.
To Sum Up
AI has a lot to offer for learning and development teams. You can use AI in learning and development in many ways. We have curated seven of those fun yet useful methods of applying AI to L&D here:
Use AI to Personalize Learning Content
Add an AI Coach to Offer 24/7 Support
Use Gamification to Pump Up Engagement
Forecast Learning Outcomes with Predictive Analytics
Build Empathy with AI-based Personalization
Add AI to Reinforce Learning After Training
Conduct Skills Gap Analysis in Real-time with AI
Try these out and share your thoughts with us!
This changes how we learn and helps those who are learning. Using AI not only makes things faster but also helps solve common problems in L&D. It opens the door for ongoing improvements and new ideas. When you use AI tools and technologies, you can improve training programs to meet the changing needs of today’s workforce.
But remember, AI is there to help you out, not replace you. There’s the human element that only you bring to the table! We explored this further with Dr. Steve Hunt, who has been a lifelong learner of AI and author of three books including Talent Tectonics, catch the discussion below:
Deeksha, with a solid educational background in human resources, bridges the gap between your goals and you with valuable insights and strategies within leadership development. Her unique perspectives, powered by voracious reading, lead to thoughtful pieces that tie conventional know-how and innovative approaches together to enable success for management professionals.
Planning L&D initiatives just got easier!
Grab your free copy of Risely’s L&D strategy framework today and bring your ideas to life.
A training needs assessment, or TNA, helps organizations find skills gaps and create specific training programs. When training initiatives match organizational goals, it encourages a culture of learning, increases employee engagement, and helps you reach important goals.
This blog post is a guide to understand everything that you need to know about learning and development needs assessments and carry them out successfully for your organization.
A Learning and Development (L&D) needs assessment is a process that helps you find out what training your employees need. It looks deeper than just spotting skills gaps, as it adopts a more holistic and long-term approach to developing the talent of your organization.
In very simple terms,
Skills Gap Analysis = Checking what tools are missing from a toolbox.
L&D Needs Assessment = Planning how to build a world-class workshop.
Building a learning and development needs assessment gives a clear view of the knowledge, skills, and abilities your team needs to do their best and help the company succeed. This helps you use resources wisely and makes sure training programs get real results. When you understand your workers’ current abilities and what performance levels they want to reach, you can design specific training initiatives that close the gaps. This way, employees get the support they need to thrive in their jobs.
A learning and development needs assessment is built to foster a learning ecosystem that moves your team toward strategic goals. To achieve this, the following components are considered along with quantitative measurement of employee abilities:
Employee aspirations
Career path planning
Organizational culture
Future strategic objectives
Why does a needs assessment matter?
When companies view training as an important tool instead of a quick fix, they can address new skill gaps early. This approach helps employees perform better and fosters innovation. It makes sure workers gain the skills needed for personal and company success. It also helps you stay competitive. By matching training efforts with business goals, you can make sure that their L&D investments lead to real benefits. This involves clearly stating the goals of the training and designing the training programs around those goals.
Further reading: What Does A Learning And Development Team (L&D) Do?
Conducting a Learning and Development Needs Analysis
A successful L&D needs assessment is based on important parts that work together. It should start by finding out who the training is for. This means looking at job roles, departments, career paths, and personal goals.
#1 Identifying Target Skills and Knowledge Gaps
Once we know who the target audience is, the next step is to find the specific skills they lack. This means looking at the skills needed for each job and comparing them to what the employees currently have.
A good training program has to cover both hard skills and soft skills. Soft skills, like communication, teamwork, and problem-solving, are just as important in today’s team-oriented workplace. By finding and fixing gaps in both hard and soft skills, you build a workforce that is ready to handle tough problems.
To spot skills gaps, it’s best to use different methods. Getting feedback from employees, managers, and experts is useful to understand what skills are needed. Using data analysis, performance reviews, and input from everyone involved gives you a clear picture of where skills gaps hold back performance and productivity. You can also use a template like the free skills gap template from Risely to make the process easier.
#2 Analyzing Organizational Goals vs. Employee Competencies
Bridging the gap between what a company wants to achieve and what its employees can do is key to a good Learning and Development (L&D) plan. First, take the big organizational goals and break them down into clear and measurable targets. These targets can then be shared with different departments and roles.
Next, doing a thorough job analysis is important. This means looking at the main tasks, duties, and skills needed for each job. When individual skills match the company goals, you can create a clear plan for employee growth that helps the company succeed.
Performance reviews are also important in this process. They give useful feedback on how each employee is doing and point out where they might need to grow their skills. By using this performance data in the L&D needs assessment, you have to design training that focuses on fixing specific performance gaps.
#3 Methods for Conducting L&D Needs Assessments
There isn’t a single best way to do L&D needs assessments. The most successful assessments use different methods that fit the specific needs and situation of the organization. It’s important to pick methods that match the organizational culture, budget, and goals. Each method has its own pros and cons. Choosing the best methods or a mix of them helps create a thorough needs assessment.
Some common methods of conducting a needs assessment for L& D that you can look into are:
Surveys and Questionnaires: Surveys and questionnaires are useful tools for gathering data from many people. They help you understand the training needs of employees by collecting information from a wide range of views.
Interviews; Surveys give a broad picture, but individual interviews and focus groups dig deeper. They provide detailed insights into specific training needs. These methods allow for open-ended questions, letting participants share their experiences, views, and suggestions.
Focus Groups: Focus groups work well when you are looking into complex topics or getting different viewpoints from a small, chosen group of employees. Skilled facilitators guide the talks, making sure everyone can join in.
Observation: Watching employees at work gives helpful real-time information about how they perform and use their skills. This way to assess is great for looking at hands-on skills. It also helps spot any gaps between what people know and what they can do.
Performance reviews:Performance reviews and data from performance management systems are great for finding learning and development (L&D) needs. By looking at performance trends, strengths and weaknesses, and employee feedback, you can see where focused training could have a real effect.
#4 Integrating L&D Needs Assessment into L&D Strategies
The insights gained from a complete needs assessment are very helpful. But, in order to lead to results, they should be part of the organization’s L&D strategy. This means using the data to guide how training programs are designed, created, and delivered. Also, combining these insights makes training a regular part of the employee experience. This helps create a culture of ongoing learning and growth.
There are multiple points where you need to think of integrations across L&D processes:
Aligning L&D Assessment Results with Business Goals
This helps show how valuable training programs are. It focuses on going beyond just offering training. It measures how the training helps meet important goals. This process starts by clearly stating the goals we want to achieve. For instance, if improving customer satisfaction is a major goal, then L&D programs should work on boosting customer service skills. They should also give employees the tools and knowledge needed to create great customer experiences.
Customizing Learning Pathways Based on Assessment Results
Today, training programs are not the same for everyone. Employees want learning that is special to their needs and goals. L&D needs assessments give us the information we need to make personalized learning paths for all employees. By using the data from these assessments, companies can change training content, delivery methods, and speed to match how each employee learns best. For example, some people do well with online learning they can do on their own, while others like training with a teacher or hands-on workshops. Of course, new advancements like AI can lend a helping hand in this process.
#5 Gathering Stakeholder Support
People matter! Unsurprisingly, their support is vital in ensuring that your needs assessment leads to tangible results. People may resist this process for different reasons. These could include not understanding why it matters, being afraid of extra work, or worrying about what the results might mean.
You need to have a strong change management plan that takes care of stakeholder worries ahead of time. Begin by clearly explaining the goals of the needs assessment. Highlight how it will positively affect employee performance and help the organization succeed. Involve stakeholders in creating and carrying out the plan. This can help them feel more invested and lessen their resistance.
#6 Don’t Forget to Measure Impact & Improve!
Measuring how well an L&D needs assessment works is very important. It shows its value and helps you get support for training initiatives. Just doing the assessment and creating training programs is not enough. You must keep track of their progress and see what they gain from their L&D investments.
To do this, they need to set clear success metrics, collect data on training results, and analyze how well the training has filled the skills gaps identified at first. Regular checks make sure that L&D programs stay effective and meet the changing needs of the organization.
We talk more about ROI in our detailed blog that you can explore here: Using ROI of Training to Lead Successful L&D Interventions
An L&D needs assessment should not just happen once. Look at it as part of a loop that keeps improving. You should collect feedback at different times—before, during, and after training—to find ways to make things better.
Check the training feedback to see where the content was not effective, the delivery could be better, or the program time was too short. Use this feedback to adjust future training initiatives based on data. This way, you can always aim to improve the quality and results of L&D programs.
Following this ongoing process helps keep the training programs relevant, interesting, and in line with the changing needs of the organization.
Wrapping up
In conclusion, doing a Learning and Development Needs Assessment is very important. It helps align organizational goals with what employees can do. By finding out specific skills and knowledge gaps, companies can create learning paths that support their plans and help their business succeed. Using tools like surveys, interviews, and AI analytics makes the assessment easier. This leads to better performance and returns on investment.
It is also important to tackle challenges like resistance from stakeholders and issues with data accuracy. This is key for effective assessments. Regular evaluation and feedback help improve L&D strategies over time. By embracing needs assessments, you can build a culture of learning and growth in your organization.
Deeksha, with a solid educational background in human resources, bridges the gap between your goals and you with valuable insights and strategies within leadership development. Her unique perspectives, powered by voracious reading, lead to thoughtful pieces that tie conventional know-how and innovative approaches together to enable success for management professionals.
Bring your training to life with accurate training needs analysis.
Download Risely’s free training needs template today to kickstart effective and precise L&D systems with your team.
7 Top Learning And Development Newsletters For 2025
Newsletters are among the most popular mediums for catching up with the world today. After all, what’s not to like – you get nuggets of wisdom regularly. Newsletters allow us to keep up with the world much more than the conventional media, such as articles and essays, in the sense they bring insights to us without prompting. For L&D professionals stuck with busy days but need to grow constantly, newsletters are a match made in heaven.
But there are so many of them out there! And each one looks better than the earlier one; what should you pick? And why? In this blog post, we have listed some of the best learning and development newsletters for you. They cover many ideas in the L&D system and will help you navigate work better.
Staying updated is easy with helpful newsletters sent right to your inbox. This list shows the top 7 L&D newsletters for you. They cover many topics, from new learning strategies to useful solutions for HR professionals. Whether you want to improve your company’s learning programs or boost your team’s skills, these newsletters give you the knowledge and inspiration you need in the changing world of L&D.
But before that…
What makes a learning and development newsletter good? We have selected these based on a few ideas:
They offer original and unique insights that are useful for L&D professionals.
These L&D newsletters are mostly free or at least have a freemium version, so they are accessible.
Most of these learning and development newsletters focus on a particular niche area, thus allowing for in-depth understanding.
They offer more resources beyond just the contents of the newsletter itself. These L&D newsletters frequently carry more learning resources, free templates, and opportunities to support your L&D work.
So without further ado, let’s begin exploring the top learning and development newsletters:
#1 The Top
by Ashish ManchandaWhat is it about? Developing yourself and other leaders in your organization effectively.
Where can you find it? LinkedIn Pulse, every Friday. Join 1000+ professionals on this growth journey with The Top Newsletter.
What’s the cost? It’s free!
The Top newsletter combines insights on leadership development and L&D. For your career, it offers twin benefits. It enhances the efficacy of your leadership development practices and shares ideas you can apply on your journey, such as dealing with burnout and managing other managers.
The best part is that it comes from the point of relatability for managers. As a result, the experience and expertise lead to relevant and applicable ideas for improving people management practices and remaining in touch with the latest developments like AI.
#2 Disrupt
by HowNowWhat is it about? The big challenges of L&D and how to solve them.
Where can you find it? You can sign up from their website for editions releasing every alternate Tuesday.
What’s the cost? It’s free.
Disrupt with HowNow is exactly what it soundslike—bringing disruption into the boredom of L&D conversations. Packed with applicable insights on L&D functions, it caters to a 1000+ audience of L&D professionals. The best part of this newsletter for L&D is its conversational style, which keeps value accessible and easy to obtain for everyone.
#3 The Learning Brief
by the L&D Shakers CommunityWhat is it about? The Learning Brief newsletter talks about pertinent matters and community happenings.
Where can you find it? The Learning Brief is available on Substack.
What’s the cost? It’s free.
The Learning Brief newsletter mixes the fun and engaging side of the L&D Shakers community with useful ideas for learning and development professionals. It has dual roles: one as the chronicler of community events, such as new podcasts and thoughts shared by members, and second as a resource book for practitioners globally.
#4 TD Leader
by ATD newslettersWhat is it about? Talent Development practice, ideas, and trends for you.
Where can you find it? You can sign up on the ATD website.
What’s the cost? This newsletter is available for free.
The TD Leader is one of ATD’s flagship newsletters, focusing on talent development. It is published monthly and packed with diverse content focused on the latest research, trends, and ideas in the industry. This learning and development newsletter also features knowledge from the ATD catalogue to boost your career in the field. ATD has many more niche specific newsletters that you can check out on their website that feature research-oriented work in the training and development space.
#5 Training Weekly
by Training IndustryWhat is it about? Resources and ideas for corporate learning and development.
Where can you find it? Sign up on the Training Industry website.
What’s the cost? It’s free!
The weekly newsletter from Training Industry curates research, trends, and the latest developments in corporate training and development. This learning and development newsletter is specifically designed with learning leaders in mind. It also comes with invitations to webinars and podcasts with learning leaders and industry experts, who can help you understand changes and shape up strategies for success.
#6 LD MENA
by John HinchliffeWhat is it about? L&D practices in the MENA region.
Where can you find it? Catch all the editions on Substack.
What’s the cost? It’s free.
The L&D in MENA is a learning and development newsletter dedicated to uncovering the latest happenings, trends, and news relevant to L&D leaders focused on the MENA region. Run by a practitioner with over a decade of experience in the L&D industry, it curates essential ideas and important events & conversations that will help you make a mark.
Since this newsletter is focused on a particular region, it can explore relevant questions in depth and help devise solutions. The newsletter also features curated events (even a yacht trip) to balance work and play.
#7 The Learning Loop
by CourseplayWhat is it about? Facilitating 360-degree employee growth.
Where can you find it? LinkedIn Pulse, every week. Start here.
What’s the cost? It’s available for free.
The Learning Loop newsletter ensures 360 employee growth by applying the best practices for impactful learning and development. It equips you with new ideas and interesting topics in the industry, with a short and sweet edition every week. As the name implies, the learning loop attempts to go into areas that facilitate the continuous development of employees, like mobile-based learning. If you are the one for trying out new things, this one is for you.
In conclusion, it is important to stay updated with the latest trends and insights in Learning and Development. This is key for professionals who want to grow and innovate. The top 7 newsletters listed above offer useful information, strategies, and a community to help you improve your L&D practices in the year to come.
By subscribing to these newsletters, you can learn new strategies, discover modern workplace trends, find important news, and get practical solutions. Keeping up with industry changes through these newsletters will certainly boost your knowledge and help your L&D efforts succeed in today’s world of learning and development.
Deeksha, with a solid educational background in human resources, bridges the gap between your goals and you with valuable insights and strategies within leadership development. Her unique perspectives, powered by voracious reading, lead to thoughtful pieces that tie conventional know-how and innovative approaches together to enable success for management professionals.
Give your team the gift of freshness with a revamped L&D strategy.
Download Risely’s L&D strategy framework to boost organizational performance with targeted L&D actions.
Top 7 Learning And Development Podcasts You Must See
500 million. That’s the number of people watching podcasts every single day across the world.
The medium is hot for the depth and variety it can offer. Podcasts are a savior and the right commute buddy for an increasingly busy world. The same goes for learning and development podcasts, a niche that has quietly built up into a great repository of valuable content.
In this blog post, we will explore some of the top learning and development podcasts that you should keep an eye on.
Staying updated on the newest trends and ideas in L&D is very important for your success. Learning and development podcasts are a simple and easy way to do this. They have interesting talks, expert interviews, and inspiring content. These podcasts offer a lot of useful knowledge for L&D workers at all stages of their careers.
If you are an experienced L&D expert or just starting out, adding these podcasts to your learning routine will boost your knowledge and keep you motivated. Listen to these L&D podcasts to discover the latest strategies, best practices, and innovative approaches to talent development and growth in organizations.
Many podcasts invite people to talk about their episodes on social media and online forums. This helps listeners connect with each other. It also gives you chances to network and learn together as L&D professionals.
So, let’s dive straight in:
#1 RiseUp Radio
by Risely, with Ashish Manchanda
Why should you watch this?
The RiseUp Radio podcast brings experts and practitioners to talk about leadership development and effective L&D. It brings actionable advice from people who have been through the challenges you are facing today.
Must watch episode:
Developing leaders, featuring Kelli Dragovich, This episode combines a personal journey with valuable lessons and advice to shape up for L&D journey.
The RiseUp Radio podcast offers learning and development insights in two exciting formats. First, we have topical episodes that focus on specific areas within HR and L&D, such as building empathy at work. The second format takes deep dives into leaders’ professional journeys, like this episode with Harjeet Khanduja, the SVP of HR at Reliance Jio. This brings in experience and expertise for your consideration.
You can watch all the episodes on YouTube.
#2 L&D Plus
by 360Learning, with David James
Why should you watch this?
The L&D Plus podcast discusses topics beyond “learning” and “development.” Your impact is in areas like growth, employee enablement, and operations. This podcast explains the what, why, and how behind it.
Must watch episode:
L&D Plus Talent, which breaks down how the two teams can build an impactful collaboration.
The L&D Plus podcast is a great tool for any professional not ready to remain limited to a strict job description. It prompts you to think beyond the word “learning and development.” Instead, you consider connections across marketing, sales, operations, and many other areas. David James brings in practitioners to tell their stories of building these connections.
You can check out all the Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Apple Podcasts episodes.
#3 The Overnight Trainer
by Sarah Cannistra
Why should you watch this?
This weekly podcast is made with love to support you in the journey of achieving all your professional goals in L&D.
Must watch episode:
Upskilling for the L&D of the future, which breaks down what future ready skillsets for L&D professionals look like.
The Overnight Trainer podcast takes you on the upskilling journey amid busy schedules. It offers interesting takes on problems that you would resonate with, such as searching for the next role in your career or keeping up against rapidly changing skill demands in the market.
You can discover The Overnight Trainer podcast on Spotify.
#4 The Learning Xchange
by Matthew Brown
Why should you watch this?
Matthew Brown’s Learning Xchange podcast addressed issues beyond the conventional ones, such as building a diverse network and tackling trauma in workplaces.
Must watch episode:
The Importance of Evaluating Systems Implemented for Learning. This episode urges L&D to not just do things, but also review them as time passes for maximum impact.
This podcast focused on learning in the digital world and provided a lot of practical value due to the host’s experience as a Chief People and Culture Officer. As a result, it proved to be a valuable resource for L&D professionals carving a space of their own in a rapidly evolving field.
The Learning Xchange podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music.
#5 All Hands
by Lattice, with Katelin Holloway
Why should you watch this?
People success is business success – that’s the core mantra echoing through all episodes of the All Hands podcast, where experts join in to break down their playbooks for people success.
Must watch episode:
Building strong CEO-CPO relationships with Melanie Naranjo, that breaks down how to connect across the table and lead your team to success.
The All Hands podcast has completed four seasons, with amazing guests sharing insights on how they have built successful people functions. The topics are diverse, ranging from thoughts on adopting an intersectional lens to using AI the right way with your organization.
The All Hands podcast is available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
#5 Learning at Large
by Kirstie Greany
Why should you watch this?
The Learning at Large podcast is the perfect resource for L&D professionals building online learning practices. It features stories from some of the most successful organizations.
Must watch episode:
Delivering Decentralized Learning, where Geraldine Murphy shares how to deliver learning to 90,000+ people.
The Learning at Large podcast discusses questions that matter to your growth, such as meaningfully implementing AI in L&D practices, preparing and fighting for budgets, and rethinking old practices for innovative L&D strategies. These insights come from people who have been there, experts who understand where you are and how to move forward.
The Learning at Large podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.
#6 Coaching Real Leaders
by HBR, with Muriel Wilkins
Why should you watch this?
Led by an executive coach backed by years of experience, the Coaching Real Leaders podcast helps leaders and C-suite executives tackle professional challenges.
Must watch episode:
How do I avoid a career plateau in mid life, which talks of an all-too-common challenge many professionals face.
The insights from the Coaching Real Leaders podcast are useful for the people in your organization and, at times, would resonate with your challenges, too. As an L&D professional reaching new heights, you would find many questions relevant and helpful to your journey.
This podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.
#7 HR Happy Hour
by Steve Boese and Trish McFarlaney
Why should you watch this?
As the longest-running HR podcast in America, HR Happy Hour has proven to be a valuable resource for professionals, as it takes up issues that impact your everyday work.
Must watch episode:
The ROI of kindness at work, which calls you to be a little more deliberate about being nice – because it matters a lot.
Beyond this show, the HR Happy Hour network carries many more useful conversations for HR and L&D professionals, including content on leadership development, HR technology, and management. HR Happy Hour is also an old player in the field, running since 2009 and constantly evolving with the industry.
This podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.
The information from these podcasts can greatly help your L&D career. When you keep up with trends, best practices, and new technologies, you make yourself more valuable to your organization.
The advice and examples shared by industry experts build your credibility. This helps you add real value to your company’s L&D strategy. By engaging with these podcasts, you show that you care about professional development and continuous learning. This can help you stand out in the L&D field.
Deeksha, with a solid educational background in human resources, bridges the gap between your goals and you with valuable insights and strategies within leadership development. Her unique perspectives, powered by voracious reading, lead to thoughtful pieces that tie conventional know-how and innovative approaches together to enable success for management professionals.
Move toward enhanced L&D performance with a revamped strategy.
Download Risely’s free learning and development strategy framework to uplift your team’s skills and capabilities.
Learning analytics are critical to answering several questions for L&D teams. You need them to support the overall learning and development strategy, define the business case, and prove your impact. But there’s a lot of noise when measuring L&D initiatives. As a result, we must ask what the right sources of learning analytics are for us. In this blog, we will try to uncover learning analytics sources that make your L&D practice data-driven.
Learning analytics is a field that connects learning and data science. It involves measuring, gathering, analyzing, and sharing data from your employees. This data includes information about learners, like their backgrounds, job challenges, engagement, and learning styles.
Apart from simply telling you who’s performing well and who is not, learning analytics also measures the health of your L&D function. Primarily, the various sources of learning analytics answer questions like:
Are we moving the needle? – Thinking in terms of positively impacting the business and the people.
Where are people getting stuck? – Problem solving for your team.
Which skills need urgent attention? – Determine priorities.
Is our learning approach working? – Support consistent improvements.
Are we spending wisely? – Ensure cost-effectiveness of L&D.
What do people actually use? – Understand and meet the needs of your people.
Where’s our biggest impact? – Gather your strategic impact.
The growth of learning analytics is closely tied to the improvements in data mining methods. Now, workplaces are leading the way in using learning analytics to strengthen learner retention, personalize learning paths, and boost overall employee success through their L&D strategies. More teams are adopting integrative approaches to make data-driven decisions when it comes to learning and development of their people. This marks a big change from old ways of making decisions based on gut feelings. Instead, it shifts towards a model that relies on solid evidence.
What Sources of Learning Analytics Should You Track?
Now that we have looked at learning analytics, let’s check where this useful data comes from. Learner data comes in different forms. Each form gives special insights into the learning process. By using various data sets, you get a clear view of learner engagement and how well they are doing overall.
Engagement Data
These sources of learning analytics will primarily report the engagement level with learning content. It helps you track how your learners navigate the systems, mostly collected through LMS and similar platforms. It includes metrics like:
Course completion rates
Time spent per module
Assessment scores
Drop-off points
Login frequency
Resource downloads/views
These sources of learning analytics are mainly found in learning platforms. A few examples are LMS reports (Cornerstone, Moodle, TalentLMS), LinkedIn Learning analytics, and Udemy Business dashboards. If you have a custom solution for L&D in your team, your dashboards will help you find this information.
Skills and Competency Data
The second set of learning analytics sources is data about skills and competencies that your people are working on. These are measured through assessments and evaluations, which can come from multiple sources, including platforms’ in-built assessment systems, feedback from managers, and job performance, etc. to name a few. Others include:
Pre/post assessment results
Certification rates
Skill gap analysis
Performance reviews
Manager feedback
Self-assessments
Program Efficiency
The third area, tracking the efficiency of learning and development programs, helps you evaluate and improve L&D practices. Based on these, you can make improvements, such as enhancing the content quality or cutting down on administrative tasks by automating functions. It includes tracking of learning analytics metrics such as:
Cost per learner
Time to competency
Resource utilization
Admin time spent
Support tickets
Technical issues
Business Impact
The last sources of learning analytics we are highlighting include conversations about the business impact of learning and development. The metrics in this section track impact across many vital business areas. Importantly, we also consider the impact on customer interactions, going beyond the scope of L&D teams and learners. This section is vital because it relates directly to the budgets and resources you can avail yourself of for your L&D plans.
Performance metrics before/after
Error rates
Customer satisfaction
Employee retention
Promotion rates
Project success rates
HRIS data (Workday, SAP, Oracle) helps understand these sources of learning analytics. Performance review systems, succession planning tools, and skills frameworks are useful for employee-facing metrics.
Descriptive analytics and diagnostic analytics are basic methods in analytics for learning and development. They help us understand what has happened and why. Descriptive analytics looks at past data. It summarizes this data to find trends and patterns. For example, it can show which courses have the most learners or which learning resources people use the most. This helps us see past behavior and make better choices for the future.
In contrast, diagnostic analytics digs deeper into the data. It looks for reasons behind trends or patterns. For instance, if descriptive analytics shows that students are less engaged in an online discussion forum, diagnostic analytics can help find out why. Is it because the topics are uninteresting? Are there technical problems with the platform? Or is the forum not matching how students like to learn?
Predictive analytics goes beyond learning analytics by using past data to predict future results. In L&D, this helps find employees who may struggle or those who could do very well. By looking at trends in previous learner data like test scores, engagement, how they engage with learning platforms, we can spot important signs of employee success.
For instance, if a predictive model shows that learners who often score low on early quizzes tend to have more trouble in their work, trainers can use this to help those employees earlier. Research keeps looking into how predictive analytics can help with challenges such as keeping employees engaged, creating personalized learning paths, and making effective programs for employees or skills at risk of falling out.
Prescriptive analytics builds on what we learn from descriptive, diagnostic, and predictive analytics. It recommends actions to help improve the learning process. It does more than just point out problems or predict what might happen; it offers specific steps educators and schools can take to boost results.
For example, if predictive analytics show that some learners might struggle, prescriptive analytics might suggest solutions like personalized tutoring or pairing employees with peer mentors. It could even recommend the best time and way to provide these interventions based on each employee’s unique learning style.
Some concerns in using learning analytics data
The use of learning analytics is getting more common, but it comes with challenges and important ethical questions. L&D professionals must deal with these issues in a responsible way. You need to think about data privacy, security, and fairness. It is essential to avoid any biases that may arise.
First, workplaces are responsible for protecting learner data. You must keep this information private and safe. You should also use what they learn from learning analytics to create fair and inclusive learning spaces for every employee. Being open about data use is key. Employees should know what data is collected, how it is used, and why. Safe data storage is also very important.
Predictive analytics can be very useful for helping employees do better. However, it also brings up some ethical concerns that we need to think about. One major worry is bias. If the historical data used to create predictive models shows biases that already exist in the learning and development strategy, these models might repeat or even worsen those biases. For example, if a model often flags learners from certain socioeconomic backgrounds as “at risk,” it could generate unfair or wrong predictions. This would only add to the existing inequalities.
Wrapping Up
The area of learning analytics has many success stories. Companies are now using analytics tools and learning analytics systems to check how well training works. They help improve how content is shared and make the learning experience better for workers.
By looking at how employees engage with training materials, testing what they remember, and collecting feedback on the training, companies can find ways to improve. They can adjust content to fit specific job needs or skill gaps.
Learning analytics dashboards give valuable insights into how employees learn. This helps training and development teams create more engaging and effective programs that support business goals. As companies rely more on data, the use of learning analytics to improve worker training and growth will keep increasing.
Deeksha, with a solid educational background in human resources, bridges the gap between your goals and you with valuable insights and strategies within leadership development. Her unique perspectives, powered by voracious reading, lead to thoughtful pieces that tie conventional know-how and innovative approaches together to enable success for management professionals.
Ready to elevate your team’s learning and development journey?
Grab your free copy of Risely’s learning and development strategy framework and get started.
To Do or Not To Do: Learning and Development Outsourcing
Learning and development teams have a lot to do. However, your bandwidth is often limited. As teams rapidly expand, evolving training needs arise due to technological advancements, and people want to see an impact before they move the budgets ahead; it’s a lot for an L&D team to handle.
Given the wide range of learning and development needs, L&D strategies need to make space for external providers. Is it the right choice for your team? To answer that, let’s try to understand learning and development outsourcing in detail below.
Learning and development outsourcing means hiring an outside company to manage employee training. Instead of just using your own staff, you can use the skills and resources of special L&D providers.
This teamwork lets you access more knowledge, the latest technologies, and new training ideas that you may not have on your own. By outsourcing some L&D jobs or even complete training programs, you improve training efforts and reach your strategic goals more efficiently without overwhelming the function. It becomes important when we note that about 87% companies surveyed by McKinsey were either experiencing a capability gap or expecting it pretty soon.
So, the question is, how do we outsource L&D?
L&D outsourcing can take many forms, such as:
Fully outsourced L&D ops: As the name suggests, the entire training and development program is managed by an external provider. This service is most commonly used by companies that lack the internal resources and bandwidth to conduct required training. It includes collaboration with your leadership to develop effective strategies and then complete the execution of the action plans with analytics, reporting, and feedback.
Project-based outsourcing for L&D: As the name suggests, this includes hiring relevant specialists, consultants, and/or vendors to meet your company’s learning and development needs in a specific area. The applications of outsourcing work like this commonly include instructional design agencies, content development houses, video production companies, eLearning development specialists, and assessment design experts.
Individual contractors: You can also use L&D outsourcing to complement your organization’s internal learning development initiatives. For instance, you can hire an instructional designer to turn the know-how of subject matter experts into easily understandable learning content. Similarly, individual contractors and freelancers are available for many functional areas of L&D, such as technical writing, LMS administration, and learning experience design.
Moreover, certain tasks in L&D are good for outsourcing. This is often because these tasks need special skills or extra resources, like:
Content Development: Creating training materials that are helpful and engaging takes a lot of time. It also needs special skills in designing instruction. By outsourcing content development to experts, you get high-quality, tailored training materials for their specific training needs.
Compliance Training: It is tough to keep up with changing rules and compliance standards. This task takes a lot of time and resources. Outsourcing compliance training makes sure your workforce receives the correct and current training in a fun and effective way.
Technology Implementation and Support: Setting up and managing systems for learning, like Learning Management Systems (LMS), needs technical skills. When you outsource these tasks to experts, you enjoy smooth integration and ongoing help. This also allows your IT team to focus on other important business systems.
Why should you consider outsourcing L&D?
One big reason why more companies are choosing to outsource L&D is the many benefits it provides.
In the survey cited above, McKinsey also notes that half the people noticing skill gaps put “reskilling” as the most important combat move for their teams. But, that means an intense run for already burdened L&D teams! Thus, when you hire experts for certain training tasks, your internal teams are free to focus more on important business tasks. It keeps your operations smoother and improves overall work efficiency. Plus, reskilling ensures cost savings as compared to hiring.
Outsourcing also allows you to work with top L&D professionals and new technologies without the hassle of hiring people, investing in infrastructure, or dealing with training costs for your internal staff. Whether it’s leadership development, technical skills training, or compliance programs, you can find specialized help to create effective learning experiences. It’s a great way to develop talent in new areas which are not already present in your team. This, in turn, boosts employee satisfaction and helps you curb turnover.
Things to consider before L&D outsourcing
But, there are costs to manage when your are thinking of learning and development outsourcing. First up, you have to pay the vendors and contractors you will engage. You will also need to ensure that they have an open communication channel with your team, potentially bringing up costs for managing the vendor relationship, communication, and tracking performance.
Think on both the fronts: the benefits you get and the costs you pay before deciding.
Primarily, consider these questions when you are thinking of outsourcing L&D ops:
What is the cost structure, and how are fixed versus variable costs managed?
What quality control processes are in place to ensure consistency?
Who holds IP ownership, and what are the terms around it?
How will this integrate with our internal teams and existing workflows?
Can this solution scale to meet growing demands or needs?
Are there any specific geographic or cultural requirements we should consider?
Before outsourcing, you should carefully look at your Learning and Development functions. You need to clearly tell apart which activities are core and which are non-core.
Core L&D functions are those that are closely linked to the main business processes. These tasks strongly impact the your company’s goals. Usually, it’s best to keep these core functions in-house. This helps maintain the company’s culture, values, and long-term vision.
Non-core L&D functions, on the other hand, often require special skills or knowledge that may not be available within the company. These could include tasks like content development, platform administration, or parts of compliance training.
By outsourcing non-core functions, you can free up their internal resources. This allows you to focus more on important initiatives while getting help from outside experts. A few scenarios where you can outsource L&D are:
#1 You have to scale L&D ops rapidly
Sudden demands are not new. They happen often when a company rapidly expands operations or the competitive environment changes quickly. As a result, you need to roll out training yesterday and implement it today already. When growth outpaces the internal L&D capacity, you need support. Outsourced L&D operations are a great saver in such situations because you can reach more areas quickly with them. It’s a good way to get through a major product launch that requires everyone to brush up on their knowledge or a new offshore team that uses a different language than yours.
#2 Your team needs specialized training
Another scenario where learning and development outsourcing can help you is when the needed expertise is not core to your business. In such cases, you would hardly have enough internal experts to create and guide training programs for highly technical or regulated areas. These L&D programs are often shaped like one-off programs outside the core business focus, have certifications requiring accredited providers, or involve complex simulations or specialized learning technology. For most L&D teams, building such capacity is a big ask; thus, outsourcing is the way to go.
#3 You need to mitigate infrastructure cost
Not all training can happen quietly in rooms with just a whiteboard. When training involves high infrastructure costs that outweigh outsourcing, you should go this route. For instance, your company ideally needs leadership coaches for people managers. But you do not have enough senior leaders who can double up as coaches. Executive coaching is expensive. What’s the way out? An AI coach like Merlin for people managers fills in. Similarly, high infrastructure cost could mean investing in high-end video production needs or VR/AR content development. Large-scale content localization projects are another area you can outsource instead of building in-house capacity.
When should you not outsource L&D?
On the flip side, some scenarios exist where learning and development outsourcing does not make sense, such as:
#1 Your core business knowledge is involved
When learning directly relates to competitive advantage, you must keep it in-house. Why? At this stage, you are likely delving into proprietary processes and methodologies. These could include company-specific employee development practices and strategic capability-building programs that are closely tied to your team’s context and challenges. As noted above, core L&D areas directly impact business outcomes and maintain the company’s culture, values, and long-term vision. Hence, they need to remain under your purview.
#2 Your sensitive information/IP is involved
Like culture and core values, your company’s sensitive information, such as IPs and internal processes, must remain confidential. In such instances, you must not outsource learning and development initiatives. It includes programs involving unannounced or unreleased products, strategy-related training, competitive intelligence, and market positioning.
#3 Your L&D plan needs continuous evaluation and updates
Training needs are often dynamic. Contacting vendors to update learning programs as your business priorities shift would create a significant burden. It is commonly observed with agile learning initiatives tied to product development and programs closely tied to employee feedback. A high degree of integration with internal processes and workflows can impede synergy with external L&D service providers. In such cases, you should stick with in-house learning and development plans.
To sum up
Making smart choices about which parts of L&D to outsource is important. It helps you use outside skills while keeping control over key learning projects. First, look at which L&D tasks take a lot of resources, need special skills, or can be done better by outside teams. You should think about some things like how complex the training materials are, whether you have the skills in-house, how urgent the training is, and the possible cost savings from outsourcing.
Successfully handling the challenges of L&D outsourcing needs a well-organized plan based on industry standards. It’s not just about handing off tasks. It’s about building partnerships that match your organization’s values, goals, and focus on promoting a culture of ongoing learning.
Deeksha, with a solid educational background in human resources, bridges the gap between your goals and you with valuable insights and strategies within leadership development. Her unique perspectives, powered by voracious reading, lead to thoughtful pieces that tie conventional know-how and innovative approaches together to enable success for management professionals.
Build your L&D plan with a free template!
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The biggest shopping events of the year are just around the corner, and we’ve got everything you need to score the best deals without the stress. Black Friday (November 29) and Cyber Monday (December 2) are no longer just single-day events – they’ve evolved into a full season of savings, with many sellers dropping prices weeks in advance.
Keeping that in mind, we have listed the best SaaS Black Friday deals and Cyber Monday offers for 2024 here across industries and applications. Stay tuned as we update this guide regularly with the latest deals, doorbusters, and exciting products to help you make the most of this year’s biggest sales events.
Risely is an AI co-pilot for developing your team’s people, managers, and leaders. Risely adopts a hyper-personalized approach to ensure your managers meet their unique challenges and contextual needs. It starts by assessing your people managers for around 30 core skills and proceeds to create a learning journey that matches their unique learning needs and preferences.
But the story does not end here; our AI coach, Merlin, also provides constant support whenever a people management challenge strikes. Your team can access coaching in their preferred workspaces, in 40+ languages, and with great voice mode.
What do you get with Risely?
Personalized leadership coaching for managers at scale with global access.
Access to personalized micro-learning activities and nudges to support manager development.
Integration with company policies in admin mode to get your culture agent.
Black Friday Offer: 50% off on your first invoice for all plans. Duration: 15th November – 31st December 2024 Discount Code: BFCM2024 (to be applied at check out)
Got some questions, we are here to answer at info@risely.me
#2 ControlHippo
ControlHippo is a comprehensive omnichannel shared inbox solution that streamlines customer communication management. It empowers businesses to manage interactions across multiple channels—such as email, social media, and chat—through one unified platform. Focused on seamless collaboration, ControlHippo boosts customer support and engagement, ensuring consistent, efficient service across every touchpoint.
Black Friday Offer: 20% off on all individual plans. Duration: 25th October – 6th December 2024 Discount Code: Reach out to contact@controlhippo.com for your coupon code.
CallHippo is a leading virtual call center solution built for businesses of all sizes. Equipped with tailored features to elevate customer experiences and empower sales teams, CallHippo integrates seamlessly with over 100 applications like Shopify, Zapier, Freshdesk, and HubSpot. By automating call center tasks, it optimizes efficiency and simplifies workflows for enhanced productivity.
Black Friday Offer: 20% Annual payment discount; 15% Quarterly discount. Duration: 1st November – 6th December 2024 Discount Code: Reach out to marketing@callhippo.com for your coupon code.
Xobin is a comprehensive skill assessment software designed to streamline the recruitment process for businesses of any size. Trusted by over 5,000 teams globally, it offers 2,500+ customizable tests and advanced features like Psychometric assessments, Automated video interviews, AI evaluate, Applicant tracking software (Tracks), Eye-Tracking Proctoring, Actionable report, and much more.
Whether you need to conduct role-specific assessments for tech and non-tech positions, hire in bulk for university recruitment drives, or evaluate employee skill gaps, Xobin has got you covered. With 2 million annual test takers, Xobin operates in 55+ countries to help companies hire 20x faster while saving 10x time and money.
Black Friday Offer: 60% off on the annual pricing plan—limited slots are available. Duration: 11th November – 26th Novemeber 2024
Fill out the deal request form, Xobin team will review your request and approve it. Once you receive the approval you can make the payment within 72 hours, the activation code will be sent to you by the Xobin team. The chosen plan will be added to your account within 24 hrs. You can use the Activation code before Nov 1, 2025.
Tagshop is a platform that empowers e-commerce businesses to leverage user-generated content (UGC) for increased sales and customer engagement. It allows brands to collect, curate, and showcase UGC from various social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, directly on their website or in email campaigns.
By transforming UGC into shoppable galleries, Tagshop enables seamless shopping experiences, boosts product discovery, and personalizes interactions with each customer. This ultimately leads to higher conversions, stronger brand reputation, and a loyal customer community.
Black Friday Offer: 20% Off on Any Plan. Duration: Till 31st Dec 2024 Discount Code: BFCM20
FounderPass is an exclusive membership for founders giving over $3m of perks and discounts on software, tools and business services. With 250+ companies including AWS, Google, Slack, Notion, Webflow, LinkedIn, Hubspot, TikTok and many others we help founders save thousands.
Black Friday Offer: 25% off on memberships. Duration: 19th November – 3rd December 2024 Discount Code: BF25
DronaHQ is a leading low-code platform for engineers to speed up custom application development and save 100s of hours. Build customer portals, admin panels, forms, dashboards, and lots more using powerful building blocks.
Black Friday Offer: Up to 40% off on annual plans. Duration: 5th November – 30th November 2024 Discount Code: Shared upon request
OneStream Live is a cloud-based live streaming solution that allows you to broadcast both pre-recorded and real-time content to over 45 social platforms and websites simultaneously. These include YouTube, Facebook, Twitch, LinkedIn, and more, ensuring maximum visibility.
Black Friday Offer: 30% off all monthly plans for 2 months; 10% off all yearly plans. Duration: 1st November – 5th December 2024 Discount Code: BFCM30 and BFCM10 respectively
Plerdy is an all-in-one website analysis tool designed for Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) & SEO. It allows businesses to track, analyze, and convert visitors into buyers with AI assistance. Features include UX analytics, e-commerce insights, AI-powered reports, heatmap capabilities, and A/B Testing.
Black Friday Offer: Get 50% OFF on annual plans. Duration: 14th November – 1st December 2024 Discount Code: plerdyBF2024
Retable is an online spreadsheet solution that helps you organize your workflows, projects, teams, and business operations. Known as the best alternative to Airtable, Retable offers real-time collaboration and rich features that are easy to use to manage your projects and workflows with a user-friendly spreadsheet-like UI.
Black Friday Offer: 50% off for all plans for the first three months. Duration: 15th November – 1st December 2024 Discount Code: BF50
This deal is valid for the first 3 months for monthly payments. For annual payments, you pay at a 50% discount for the first year. A 50% discount is applied for each seat you add during purchase.
AdSpyder is a digital ad management and spy tool designed to help businesses and marketers discover, analyze, and optimize online ad campaigns. With access to a vast, continually growing database of ads across multiple platforms, AdSpyder offers insights into competitor strategies, ad trends, and performance improvements. Users can create compelling ad copies, manage campaigns, and conduct ad analytics, all supported by AI.
Black Friday Offer: 75% off on all plans. Duration: 11th November – 31st December 2024 Discount Code: NA
AiAssistWorks.- AI for Google Sheets—no formulas needed! Harness 50+ AI models, including GPT, Claude, and Gemini™, to streamline bulk tasks like rewriting, categorizing, data analysis, and formula creation. Simplify workflows and enhance productivity with ease.
Black Friday Offer: Get the Plus Plan for only $16/year (normally $48 – save 65%) or $40 for 3 years.. Duration: 7th November – 30th November 2024 Discount Code: BLACKFRIDAY
CodedThemes is a leading provider in the world of high-quality, professionally designed admin dashboard templates & UI kits. CodedThemes is known for its strong and modern digital products, which caters to developers, designers, and businesses looking to create visually appealing and functional web applications.
Black Friday Offer: 60% off. Duration: 25th November – 7th December 2024 Discount Code: BFCM2024
Engage with your website visitors and customers instantly at the peak of their interest. Offer them live video meetings and chats directly on your site
Black Friday Offer: 90% off (5 avail.), 75% off (10 avail), 50% off (30 avail), 30% off (100 avail). Duration: 15th October – 4th December 2024 Discount Code: 90OFFBF24, 75OFFBF24, 50OFFBF24, 30OFFBF24
Placeit by Envato is an all-in-one design tool offering over 50k customizable templates for logos, videos, and social media imagery, continuously updated with fresh designs from skilled professionals. With AI-generated assets and a customizable brand kit, users can create high-quality visuals in minutes, even without extensive design skills. The platform also features templates specifically for promoting events like Cyber Monday, making it easy to attract customers and boost sales. Ideal for small business owners, freelancers, and marketers.
Black Friday Offer: 33% off on annual subscriptions. For new users only. Duration: 27th November – 3rd December 2024 Discount Code: NA
5centsCDN is a global content delivery network offering fast, reliable, and affordable solutions for web acceleration, live streaming, and video on demand. Our advanced platform and flexible pricing empower you to optimize your content strategy and enhance your online presence.
Black Friday Offer: Get Up to $400 in Free Credits, or Buy 1 Month and Get 1 Month Free!. Duration: 25th November 2024 – 15th December, 2024 Discount Code: NA
Sign up, purchase a base plan, and contact the support team to receive credits equal to the base plan value for an additional free month.
Bullet.so is a no-code, Notion-based website builder that enables users to quickly create professional, customizable websites without coding skills. With over 20 free templates, built-in SEO, and membership features for monetizing content, Bullet.so helps creators, educators, and businesses turn Notion pages into branded websites.
Bullet.so supports a wide variety of site types, including personal portfolios, blogs, membership sites, educational resources, and business websites. It also offers membership management, analytics tracking, and integration options for streamlined site management.
Black Friday Offer: Get a lifetime deal for $499/site (Limited for first 20 users). Duration: 25th November 2024 – 5th December, 2024 Discount Code: NA
SyncSignature creates branded email signatures for your teams. SyncSignature helps design, update and automatically install email signatures for everyone across your business.
Black Friday Offer: 60% on all recurring plans. Duration: 15th November 2024 – 10th December, 2024 Discount Code: BF24CM60
Wisery, an ultimate digital business card and link in bio tool has been designed to present your brand, generate leads, and simplify networking. Wisery is ideal for professionals, entrepreneurs, and businesses of all sizes. Whether you’re a freelancer, small business owner, or part of a large corporation, network effectively and foster meaningful professional relationships.
Black Friday Offer: 25% off on any plan. Duration: 25th November 2024 – 2nd December, 2024 Discount Code: BFW2024
NoForm AI is an AI-powered chatbot designed to supercharge your website’s lead generation. It works 24/7, engaging visitors, capturing qualified leads, and converting them into customers, all while saving your sales team valuable time With NoForm AI, you can ensure no visitor is ever left waiting for a response, and your business can provide instant, personalized engagement every time.
Black Friday Offer: New customers get 50% OFF NoForm AI’s monthly plan for the first year. Duration: 25th November 2024 – 6th December, 2024 Discount Code: NA
Newoldstamp is the leading email signature management platform that empowers to effortlessly design and implement brand-consistent signatures across the entire organization. A well-crafted standardized email signature isn’t just about contact information. It’s a powerful tool to connect with your target audience, potentially creating numerous sales opportunities every day.
Black Friday Offer: 25% off on any annual plan (recurring discount for all next payments; for new users) Duration: 25th November 2024 – 2nd December, 2024 Discount Code: BF2024NOS
MySignature is an all-in-one tool designed to help small businesses, creators, and freelancers with professional branding, enhancing their online presence, and efficient email communication.
Black Friday Offer: 30% off for the first payment for all yearly plans with discount Duration: 25th November 2024 – 2nd December, 2024 Discount Code: BFW2024
Replug is the ultimate link management solution for agencies, affiliates, and content creators. With advanced features like link shortening, data-driven insights, link tracking, and optimized link performance, Replug boosts engagement, improves conversions, and enhances your marketing strategy.
Black Friday Offer: Up to 75% OFF on annual plans. Duration: 20th November 2024 – 2nd December, 2024 Discount Code: NA
Gumlet is a leading video hosting platform aimed at delivering fast, secure, and smooth streaming experiences. It offers enterprise-level video protection, customizable video players for branding, detailed analytics, and optimized global streaming.
Black Friday Offer: Lifetime video hosting and streaming plan starting at $69. Duration: 24th November 2024 – 4th December, 2024 Discount Code: NA
TubeOnAI is an all-in-one AI summarizer designed to simplify content consumption and creation. It can instantly give key insights from long YouTube videos, podcasts, articles, PDFs, Google Drive files, and more. Users can also repurpose content and create engaging blog posts, social media updates, newsletters, video scripts, etc. with a single click.
Black Friday Offer: 60% discount on premium plans. Duration: 14th November 2024 – 2nd December, 2024 Discount Code: NA
The tool goes beyond summaries by offering features like AI chat for deep explanations, HD audio summaries, and translations into 20+ languages. Users can manage their YouTube and podcast subscriptions in one place and receive notifications for new content.
Influencer Hero is a comprehensive influencer marketing platform that brings brands and influencers together to create authentic, value-driven partnerships. It simplifies the process of discovering, reaching out to, and collaborating with influencers, enabling brands to manage the entire influencer partnership lifecycle in one place.
Black Friday Offer: Get 40% off on all annual plans. Duration: 22nd November 2024 – 13th December, 2024 Discount Code: BFCM40
With powerful features like content monitoring, cross-platform tracking, real-time analytics, and automated reporting, Influencer Hero helps brands measure the impact of their campaigns effectively. By offering a central platform for tracking performance and managing influencer relationships, Influencer Hero aims to make influencer marketing more accessible, efficient, and impactful for brands looking to expand their reach and engagement.
Jotform, founded in 2006, is a San Francisco-based company specializing in online form building and data collection solutions. Serving over 20 million users worldwide, Jotform offers tools for creating customizable forms, surveys, and workflows to enhance business productivity among global teams.
Black Friday Offer: 50% off on all paid plans. Duration: 18th November 2024 – 2nd December, 2024 Discount Code: NA
Snov.io is a comprehensive solution designed to optimize your sales engagement and lead generation. From sourcing verified leads to launching personalized multichannel campaigns, complete with automated LinkedIn interactions, Snov.io helps you connect with prospects more intelligently. Whether you’re focused on increasing conversions or simplifying outreach, Snov.io equips you with the tools necessary to achieve your sales goals.
Black Friday Offer: 50% off on all annual plans. Duration: 25th November 2024 – 3rd December, 2024 Discount Code: BLACKFRIDAY24
Weblium is a website builder to turn your ideas and conceptions into a ready-to-use functional website. Weblium lets you launch a full website or online store in just one day with professional templates, business integrations, and an easy-to-use editor.
Black Friday Offer: Lottery based discounts ranging from 25% to 55% on annual plans. Duration: 25th November 2024 – 6th December, 2024 Discount Code: NA
Dorik is one of the most beginner-friendly AI website builders, featuring 100+ fully responsive templates, 250+ stunning UI blocks, and 20+ dynamic elements. With Dorik Collection, you can store content in the database and display it seamlessly across your website. Also, you can build and publish blogs with all the features you need to rank on Google, and the analytics feature will help you track your audience.
Black Friday Offer: Flat 50% discount on annual plans. Duration: 14th November 2024 – 3rd December, 2024 Discount Code: NA
MinutesLink is an advanced AI-powered note taker designed to make your virtual meetings more organized and productive by recording, transcribing, and generating human-accurate minutes for every call. It ensures you never miss a detail, even if you can’t attend. Ideal for remote team collaboration, MinutesLink helps colleagues stay aligned, organize meetings efficiently, and boost productivity. Best for: freelancers, remote workers, sales teams, HRs & recruiters, all size businesses.
Black Friday Offer: Get 50% off on ALL plans. Duration: 15th November 2024 – 15th December, 2024 Discount Code: MLBLACKFRIDAY24
QR TIGER let’s you easily create static and dynamic QR codes for a host of applications, including URLs, digital business cards, files, social media, app store downloads, and more. Customize the design of your QR with an intuitive platform, and track scan performance through a detailed dashboard. QR TIGER is recognized as most advanced QR code generator and is highly rated on top software review sites.
Black Friday Offer: $12 OFF on any annual plan. Duration: 29th November 2024 – 6th December, 2024 Discount Code: CYBERTIGERPUNK
Flowla simplifies complex sales and onboarding processes by consolidating all essential resources and action items into a single platform. Teams can customize workflows, set up automated follow-ups, and collaborate in real-time, making it easier to manage client journeys from beginning to end.
Black Friday Offer: 25% off for 3 months on monthly Pro & Team plans. Duration: 12th November 2024 – 6th December, 2024 Discount Code: FRIDAY25
DocuGenerate provides a flexible and scalable platform for generating high-quality PDF documents, whether it’s for creating contracts, agreements, invoices, proposals, letters or any other type of document. Developers can leverage our REST API to add document generation to their apps, while non-developers can effortlessly use our no-code integrations.
Black Friday Offer: 50% OFF for the First 3 Months. Duration: 10th November 2024 – 30th December, 2024 Discount Code: BLACKFRIDAY2024
Cloudways is a managed hosting platform that combines ease of use, budget-friendliness, and incredible website speeds to deliver magical hosting experiences for your customers. This Black Friday, you can avail an incredible 40% OFF for four months with 40 migrations to kick-start your digital journey using the coupon code BFCM2024.
Black Friday Offer: 40% OFF for four months. Duration: 7th November 2024 – 5th December, 2024 Discount Code: BFCM2024
Rapyd Cloud provides a powerful, scalable cloud platform designed for WordPress users, offering a seamless experience across hosting, security, performance optimization, and more. Whether you’re running a personal blog or a large eCommerce store, Rapyd Cloud ensures fast, secure, and reliable WordPress hosting.
Black Friday Offer: 8 Months free on 2 Years Plan. Duration: 12th November 2024 – 5th December, 2024 Discount Code: BFCM24
Gyde is an AI-powered browser extension that automatically records your actions on websites or apps and creates a step-by-step guide with screenshots and a video. You can share this screenshot and video guide with others to help them understand how to complete the same process. It’s an excellent tool for explaining complex processes quickly and easily.
Black Friday Offer: Free Forever plan and 50% off on yearly paid plans. Duration: 1st November 2024 – 31st December, 2024 Discount Code: Gyde50
Signaturely is a simple and effective digital signing platform that helps businesses and individuals send, sign, and manage documents online. It streamlines the signing process with legally binding signatures, making it easy to close deals and stay organized without the hassle of paperwork.
Black Friday Offer: Special rates on monthly (20 % off) and yearly (40 % off) subscriptions. Duration: 25th November 2024 – 3rd December, 2024 Discount Code: Reach out via live chat to claim.
ContentForce AI is an AI blog post generator that generates SEO-optimized blog posts designed to read like human-written articles. It offers features such as automated outline generation, research, and integration with WordPress, supporting newest AI models like GPT 4o and Claude 3.5 Sonnet.
Black Friday Offer: 30% off the first month on all pricing plans. Duration: 8th November 2024 – 6th December, 2024 Discount Code: BLACKFRIDAYAI
Telescope is a comprehensive suite of SEO tools to grow and scale your inbound marketing strategy that lets you research and track Google keywords, monitor backlinks, perform site audits, monitor competitors and much more.
Black Friday Offer: 20% off balance top-ups and 30% off your first 3 months on any subscription plan. Duration: 11th November 2024 – 8th December, 2024 Discount Code: BLACKFRIDAY2024
Zonka Feedback simplifies CX, allowing you to start meaningful two-way conversations with customers via powerful surveys. Design stunning surveys in minutes, gather data from all touchpoints, understand customers better with AI analytics & close the feedback loop — all within one powerful platform.
Black Friday Offer: Flat 30% Off. Duration: 20th November 2024 – 6th December, 2024 Discount Code: ZONKA30
Enhance your Mac experience with instant access to ChatGPT. Use custom shortcuts to quickly automate tasks, reduce manual input, and enjoy an uninterrupted workflow.
Black Friday Offer: 30% off all plans. Duration: 28th November 2024 – 6th December, 2024 Discount Code: LASTLTDCW51
Remember, while these sales events offer incredible savings opportunities, it’s important to stick to your budget and shop mindfully. Focus on the items you genuinely need or have been planning to purchase. The best deal is only a good deal if it’s something you’ll actually use. Keep checking back here for the latest updates and deals as we approach the big shopping days. Happy hunting, and may your shopping cart be filled with savings!
Deeksha, with a solid educational background in human resources, bridges the gap between your goals and you with valuable insights and strategies within leadership development. Her unique perspectives, powered by voracious reading, lead to thoughtful pieces that tie conventional know-how and innovative approaches together to enable success for management professionals.
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Black Friday 2024 falls on the 27th of November. SaaS Black Friday deals typically start in October or November and run until the end of December. You should check the company pages directly for the exact deal validity of different products.
How much discount is there on Black Friday?
Black Friday deals on SaaS offer great discounts, with products available at 50% to 75% lower prices than usual. It is a great chance to top up on the essentials for your team.
What is Cyber Monday?
Cyber Monday is the Monday after Thanksgiving weekend. It is a day focused on online sales and deals. Cyber Monday falls on December 2nd, 2024.
