How to Improve Healthcare Leadership Development?

How to Develop Leadership Skills in Healthcare?

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.

Table of Contents

How to Develop Leadership Skills in Healthcare?

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.

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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 Sharma

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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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.

Table of Contents

How Nonprofit Leadership Development is Shaping Up in 2025?

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.

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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 Sharma

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7 Easy Ways to Use AI in Learning and 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.

Table of Contents

7 Easy Ways to Use AI in Learning and Development
- 7 Impactful Ways to Add AI into your L&D Flow
- To Sum Up

7 Impactful Ways to Add AI into your L&D Flow

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.

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#5 Build Empathy with AI-based Personalization

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 Sharma

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Top 7 Learning and Development Trends 2025

It is no surprise that the world of learning and development is changing. A lot of innovation is happening in the space, particularly with the advent of AI, which everyone expects to be the game changer. There’s also the need for a post-pandemic revival that never happened in its true sense, an economic scenario that shies away from promising certainty and calls for reimagining learning and development in workplaces from its present faces. In this blog post, we are talking about the top 7 learning and development trends that will take center stage in 2025.

Table of Contents

Top 7 Learning and Development Trends 2025

#1 L&D for managers gets a new face

What comes to your mind when you think of training the people, managers, and leaders on your team? For most of us, the answer used to be a nice-looking workshop by a well-known instructor and an online course to add a cherry on top because that would build reinforcement. But let’s be real. Most of this fails to account for the context of the manager we are training and delivers little value to them personally. Unsurprisingly, they are disgruntled about having to take out precious hours from work or personal life to endure the ordeal. Sure, networking is a benefit of these programs. But what about the learning itself? The learning and development trends 2025 promise a break from these old-school ideas. As we started by noticing the many changes in the learning and development landscape, the impacts started to show. Lean teams want to create an impact that organically reaches more people and creates happy experiences. The mechanic mode of learning is out, while empathetic learning, ironically powered by machines, is in. For learning and development initiatives focused on people management roles, this means a revamp right from the beginning. For instance, while going through Risely users to curate the State of Leadership Development Report, we understood that most of their challenges do not fit neat boxes. Instead, they look like this statement: “My team feels overworked.” It could mean the manager is not setting the right expectations with their team, the team is not sufficiently skilled for jobs, or the team needs to hire someone very soon. The context is married to the challenge in a way that we are just beginning to understand and solve with the help of innovative solutions in L&D. In fact, diagnosing the right challenge is a task in itself! At best, most managers can tell you the symptoms, provided they have the space and security to do so. Risely’s AI coach Merlin is one step in this direction because it starts with a tabula rasa – a blank slate where the user’s challenges and contexts are defined with them, with no assumptions or biases hurting the process. Similarly, microlearning continues to pique interest and reach job areas needing a personalized learning and development approach.

#2 L&D teams will move ahead with cautious optimism

What has defined L&D in 2024? Sadly, it has been a categorically bad thing. It was the year when L&D and HR teams lost people, budgets were harder to acquire, and there was uncertainty across the board. So, how do we move into 2025? “Cautious optimism” is the way to go. I asked this question in a recent conversation with Kelli Dragovich, and it was part of her answer.

“I just feel like the soil is loosening up a bit, even though this growth isn’t out there yet. It’s underground and I feel good about that, and look when when things are moving forward and you’re building and you’re not tearing down ,it becomes fun. I do think there will be more elements of optimism and fun this year. which is great because that keep us going.“

It means that although the past few years have been shaky, we are in for something new. As I mentioned earlier in the first point, empathetic learning powered by new tools is in big time. Organizations are looking for ways to solve for visible challenges like retention and keeping the best talent ammunition with them, so it’s a no brainer that HR and L&D teams move ahead with the idea of innovation with the human touch at the center.

#3 Skills for L&D professionals are changing

What does it take to be an L&D professional in 2025? The answer is not limited to learning design and knowing how to run a lecture anymore. As more tech comes in, there is demand for L&D professionals who can leverage it to do less with more. In essence, Kelli’s insight suggests that organizations are looking for solutions that touch more people but within their limited means. Even earlier this year, the LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report had pitched a more active role for complex skills like analytical ability, working with data effectively, and a set of “human skills” that make you more endearing to the people around you. After all, you must sell L&D programs to multiple people, get approvals, and garner engagement. And, of course, there’s AI. Is it going to steal your job? Likely no. I spoke with Dr. Steven Hunt, the author of Talent Tectonics, over a podcast, and he remarked that two pivotal changes are modifying the skills matrix for L&D professionals. The first is digitization—AI and many other avatars are showing promise. As with every technical advancement, some jobs get lost, and new ones are created. The second is demographics, since many people are aging out of the workforce, and there’s demand for more. So, there’s space to learn, innovate, and be more humane in L&D.

#4 Keeping the employees upskilled and happy takes centre stage

When it comes to being a nice HR or L&D professional, what do you think about? One vital area is ensuring that the employees can realize their potential. It includes supporting employees on their professional journeys, keeping up with their interests and ideas for upskilling, and building employee loyalty toward the organization. A lot of traditional ideas in this space are really constricting. They put boundaries on how work is done, organized, and even approached. But fret not! The good thing about ideas is that new ones are always there. The Inside Gig is one concept that calls you to move away from the conventional job descriptions. With an inside gig, employees pick and choose projects that match their needs. It also supports your resource needs, because teams sometimes have shortages and excesses. It can be a game changer for managers because it calls for a shift from the mindset of “my employee” to a more open, care-intensive view toward people where managers coach, support, and sustain others. However, the best unlock comes for the employees who get to put all their skills to use, learn new ones, and explore areas that restrictive jobs would otherwise prevent them from. Dr. Edie Goldberg has documented plenty of of successful examples, including big names like HERE Technologies and TATA Communications. For L&D teams, it is a call to make more active connections with the HR function because you are the ones in charge of keeping up the organization’s skills inventory, upskilling and reskilling workers, and ensuring that people have effective learning experiences.

#5 AI will change how we approach learning strategies

Reinventing the wheel of training people better at work to keep up with their interests is one thing; speeding up the game is another. What about the core processes of learning and development itself? Turns out, there are some changes on the horizon for those, too. The learning and development trends 2025 point to one clear thing—we want more AI to be used effectively. The question is: where can L&D teams leverage AI? The basic idea is that AI will help us better create content faster. But is that all? Earlier this year, I was speaking with Inna Horvath, and she gave an amazing reality check:

“When it comes to content, it’s not enough to just type in ‘I need a course on talent management; and you would have 10 pages of text, maybe a quiz if with multiple choices if you are lucky. But that’s not enough. We all know that, that’s not enough… What I think is important is to learn technology in an ecological way.”

In essence, there are more vital applications for AI, which are not just about doing quick fixes in many vital areas of L&D operations like data analysis, localization with translators, and even hyper-personalization. For instance, Steve mentioned a great concept in our conversation. While potential is equally distributed across society, potential is not. What technology can do is it will enable us to not only spot the skills that we need but also point out the under-looked potential in people. It allows us to think much more deeply!

#6 AI will change L&D beyond just content creation

However, developing learning content is one step among the many in the learning and development of professionals. The future of L&D looks at AI disruptions in many more areas like that. As Paul Matthews, the founder of People Alchemy, remarked in a podcast earlier:

“We’re right at the beginning of stumbling around in the dark.”

A few years down the line, incredible AI solutions will be available for the learning and development space. Paul clarified that while the present day is all about prompting AI to generate results, the very near future will take a different shape. There are AI solutions that essentially sit between me and you as facilitators in a very human way. There’s a lot more AI in L&D under the wraps, particularly with improved training to create personalized, specific solutions for certain use cases. In fact, Risely’s AI coach, Merlin, is one such solution for people managers. What it does is fill the gap that traditional coaching leaves in the hearts of many managers and leaders due to its high investment needs and low accessibility.

#7 L&D goes out of boring classrooms

If the AI age is here, do we remain stuck to our screens? Isn’t it a travesty to move from classrooms to classrooms on screens? Well, it’s a good thing that we are not doing that. More innovative and interesting ideas come to life with more research in the learning and development space. The focus is on learning experiences derived from designing user and customer experiences in product development and sales, respectively. A good learning experience considers what the learner wants and ties it to what the organization needs, which essentially saves us from imposing goals and processes on anyone. Some practitioners are doing incredible work in making learning experiences worth it for employees. One such example is the equine-facilitated learning program that Janis Cooper and her team run at the Best Friends of Animal Society. They use horses for leadership training programs with people managers. Why horses? Well, they are very receptive and empathetic animals who would love to build a connection with you. And they don’t know that you are a senior in the company and you cannot really cut their salary. Jokes aside, this interesting program works with people managers to help them build trust with their teams by understanding how to make someone feel safe and secure in the environment. This offers a huge break from the daily hustle of work and the boredom that has now come to be associated with “upskilling” for professionals. We look forward to more such L&D programs breaking the notions of boredom soon.

To Sum Up

TL;DR on the learning and development trends of 2025:

Manager training gets a much needed revamp.
L&D teams begin the year with cautious optimism.
New skills for L&D professionals, focusing on the human aspect, become in demand.
Employee aspirations get more spotlight in L&D plans.
AI changes how learning strategies are viewed.
AI also changes for L&D teams function.
L&D heads out of classrooms for immersive experiences.

Let’s check in at the end of the year? Meanwhile, in case you want to check out the detailed conversations that led to these trends, they are a part of our podcast listed here:

Ashish

Ashish is an entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in strategy, coaching and product. In the present avatar, he is building Risely, an AI-enabled leadership development platform in between breaks from treks and baking.

Planning your learning and development strategy?

As a coach, you strive to empower your clients to reach their full potential. Sometimes, however, knowing where to start or how to help them achieve their goals can be challenging. This is where the GROW coaching model comes in. The acronym stands for Goal, Reality, Options, and Will. It is a powerful tool that provides a structured approach to coaching and helps individuals move from where they are now to where they want to be. This blog post will dive deep into the GROW coaching model. We will cover its four stages and explain why it is so effective. We will also provide examples of successful applications of the GROW coaching model in various contexts and give concrete steps to implement it in your practice. By the end of this post, you will have all the information you need to leverage this powerful coaching tool and help your clients achieve their goals like never before!

Table of Contents

5 Steps to Get Started with GROW Coaching Model
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What is the GROW coaching model?

The GROW coaching model rose to fame in the 1980s, when Sir John Whitmore and Graham Alexander presented it in their book Coaching for Performance. It soon became a widely used methodology for personal development and goal-setting. The GROW coaching model guides coaching conversations through the four stages of Goal, Reality, Options, and Will, helping your clients gain clarity and take actionable steps toward their desired outcomes. The GROW coaching model is effective for several reasons, but the most important is it’s people centric approach. Unlike other systems that rely heavily on what the learner wants to achive, GROW coaching pushes us to look inside and stay in tune with reality. While the system has four structured steps, it is quite flexible too, as the coaches keep going back and forth when needed. Plus, it ties in effectively with the idea of setting SMART goals.

What are the four stages of the GROW coaching model?

The GROW model consists of four key stages, which are typically represented by the acronym GROW. Let’s understand each of them in detail and follow through with an example. Suppose you are a new manager, and you want to lead effective meetings. Upon taking a communication skills assessment, you have noticed that your public speaking skills need a boost. What should you do next?

Goal: In this initial stage, the coach/manager and coachee (the person being coached) work together to set smart goals as a team and establish clear and specific goals. These goals should be SMART, which stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. The coach helps the coachee define their goals and ensures that they are realistic and attainable. For e.g., we can start with “I want to improve my public speaking skills in the next quarter.”
Reality: Once the goals are established, the next step is to explore the coachee’s current reality. This involves taking an honest and objective look at the present situation. The coach asks questions to help the coachee understand where they are right now, what resources they have available, what obstacles they may face, and what progress they have made toward their goals.
Options (or Opportunities): In this stage, the coach and coachee brainstorm and explore various options and strategies for achieving the established goals. The focus is on generating a wide range of possibilities without judgment. The coach encourages the coachee to think creatively and consider different approaches to overcoming obstacles and reaching their objectives.
Will (or Way Forward): The final stage of the GROW model involves creating a concrete action plan. The coachee decides which options or strategies they will pursue to achieve their goals and sets specific actions, deadlines, and responsibilities. This stage emphasizes commitment and accountability, like in our example, we commit to a weekly practice of 5 minutes. The coach may also help the coachee set up a system for monitoring progress and making necessary adjustments.

Let’s check out a few more examples of the grow coaching model in action.

By the way, you can ask Merlin, Risely’s AI coach, to do this with you in case your coach is not available at the moment. Try it out now with whatever is bugging you, it’s a free first chat!

Example 1: Career development with GROW coaching

Goal: The coachee wants to advance in their career and take on a leadership role within their organization.
Reality: The coachee currently holds a mid-level position and lacks experience in leadership roles. They have good technical skills but need to develop leadership competencies.
Options: During this stage, the coach and coachee brainstorm potential options. These might include seeking mentorship from a senior leader, enrolling in leadership development courses, volunteering for leadership projects, or identifying specific leadership skills to improve.
Will (Way Forward): The coachee decides to seek mentorship from a senior leader, enroll in a leadership development program, and set a goal to lead a cross-functional team within the following year. They establish a timeline, identify milestones, and commit to regular check-ins with the coach to track progress.

Moving away from the professional space, let’s think of other areas where you can apply this framework. How about health and wellness?

Example 2: Using GROW coaching for health goals

Goal: The aim to improve their overall health and well-being by losing weight and adopting a healthier lifestyle.
Reality: The coachee is currently overweight, sedentary, and struggling with unhealthy eating habits. They also have a busy work schedule.
Options: In this stage, the coach and coachee explore various options. Options may include consulting a nutritionist, starting a workout routine, meal planning, reducing stress through mindfulness practices, or setting aside dedicated time for self-care.
Will (Way Forward): The coachee starts by consulting a nutritionist for a personalized meal plan. They commit to exercising for 30 minutes three times a week, practicing mindfulness for stress reduction, and scheduling regular check-ins with the coach to monitor their progress. The coachee sets specific weight loss and fitness goals with timeframes.

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What are the steps in implementing the GROW coaching model?

Implementing the GROW coaching model requires you to begin by recognizing a couple of things:

First, you are the manager acting as the coach for your team. At this point, you are committed to your company’s vision and simultaneously to the betterment of your team members in areas that matter to their professional growth.
The coach’s role is to facilitate rather than direct. In the reality stage, the coach plays the devil’s advocate to ensure the goal is rooted in truth.

With that in mind, let’s begin!

#1 Establish the Coaching Relationship

Start by building a rapport and trust with the team member you are a coaching. Create a safe and comfortable environment where they feel free to express themselves. It could include starting with some ice-breaker questions to know your team better, building a common ground over personal interests, etc. before heading to the main topic at hand. You will also have to clearly define the roles and expectations of both the coach and the coachee. Ensure the coachee understands the purpose and benefits of coaching.

#2 Set the Stage for the Coaching Session

Begin the coaching session by clarifying its purpose and agenda, as we noted in the first step. Next, discuss what the coachee hopes to achieve during the session. If necessary, remind the coachee of the confidentiality of the coaching relationship to encourage open and honest communication.

#3 Follow the GROW Model

Guide the coaching conversation through the four stages of the GROW model:

Goal: Help the coachee articulate specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals.
Reality: Encourage the coachee to explore their current situation, including challenges, resources, and progress toward their goals.
Options: Facilitate a brainstorming session to generate possible strategies and approaches.
Will (Way Forward): Assist the coachee in creating a concrete action plan, including specific actions, timelines, and accountability measures.

Use Risely’s free GROW coaching model worksheet to make it easier!

People management resources by Risely – your buddy on this journey of growth.

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#4 Ask the right questions

Throughout the coaching session, you should practice active listening to understand the coachee’s perspective and emotions. Use powerful questioning techniques to stimulate reflection and critical thinking. A few examples of GROW coaching model questions for every stage are: Goal Stage Questions:

What do you want to achieve?
How will you know when you’ve reached your goal?
What does success look like to you?

Reality Stage Questions:

What is happening right now?
What have you already tried?
What are the current challenges you’re facing?

Options Stage Questions:

What possible approaches could you take?
If you had unlimited resources, what would you do?
What alternatives have you not considered yet?

Will (Way Forward) Stage Questions:

Which option feels most compelling to you?
What specific actions will you take?
When exactly will you start?

Open-ended, probing, and clarifying questions will help the coachee gain insights and make decisions. To sum up, your purpose here is to facilitate self-discovery, and not impose ideas and options. Check out: 20 Active listening questions to help you become a better listener

# 5 Close the Coaching Session

Towards the end of the session, summarize the key points discussed during the session. Ensure clarity and alignment on the goals and action plan. Secondly, you must encourage the coachee to commit to their action plan and discuss any potential obstacles or challenges they may encounter. You can also join in as their accountability partner. Also, don’t forget to schedule follow-up sessions to monitor progress, provide support, and adjust the plan. Remember that successful implementation of the GROW coaching model requires practice and adaptability. As coaches, you should be flexible and responsive to the coachee’s needs and the specific context of each coaching session. Maintaining confidentiality, respect, and a non-judgmental attitude is crucial for creating a supportive coaching environment.

Your role as the facilitator of GROW coaching

As the team leader, coaching your people is integral to your role. The good part of the GROW coaching model is that it does not position you as the expert on the challenge that your team member is facing. Instead, you are the facilitator who ensure that the team member is able to find their way and stick to it. In order to get this right, there are a few best practices of GROW coaching that you should keep in mind.

Always listen actively and follow up with clarifying questions
Allow silence for reflection
Avoid leading questions that suggest a specific answer
Encourage the coachee to dig deep and be honest
Maintain a non-judgmental and supportive tone

Overall, your approach should be empathetic and supportive, rather than guiding. It is quite a shift from the conventional path of leadership, where the leader is supposed to show the way because they know all the ins-and-outs. With the GROW coaching model, we are showing ourselves some grace, and lending the same to our team as we proceed forward – together. GROW coaching has many applications in learning and development. It’s not just something managers should try with their team but also an effective way for managers to succeed. So, don’t shy away from taking it up with your coach either!

Conclusion

The GROW coaching model provides a structured framework to guide coaching conversations and facilitate personal growth and development. By following the four stages of setting goals, assessing reality, identifying options, and establishing a will, coaches can help individuals clarify their objectives, explore their current situation, brainstorm potential solutions, and commit to action. The success of the GROW model lies in its ability to empower individuals to take ownership of their growth journey and make meaningful progress toward their goals. Whether you are a coach looking to enhance your practice or an individual seeking personal development, incorporating the GROW coaching model can be a valuable tool for achieving positive change. The first step towards implementing the GROW coaching model is establishing trust, setting SMART goals, and exploring reality with your coachee.

Aastha Bensla

Aastha, a passionate industrial psychologist, writer, and counselor, brings her unique expertise to Risely. With specialized knowledge in industrial psychology, Aastha offers a fresh perspective on personal and professional development. Her broad experience as an industrial psychologist enables her to accurately understand and solve problems for managers and leaders with an empathetic approach.

Grab your free copy of the GROW coaching model worksheet!

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Learning and Development Needs Assessment 101

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.

Table of Contents

Learning and Development Needs Assessment 101

What is a Needs Assessment?

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?

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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 Sharma

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.

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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.

Table of Contents

7 Top Learning And Development Newsletters For 2025

Top Learning and Development Newsletters

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 Manchanda What 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 HowNow What 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 Community What 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 newsletters What 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 Industry What 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 Hinchliffe What 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 Courseplay What 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.

Explore more resources for L&D professionals:

Wrapping Up

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 Sharma

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.

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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.

Table of Contents

Top 7 Learning And Development Podcasts You Must See

Top Learning and Development Podcasts For You!

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:

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.

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Wrapping Up

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 Sharma

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Download Risely’s free learning and development strategy framework to uplift your team’s skills and capabilities.

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Best 360 Assessment Tools for Learning and Development

This blog outlines top assessment tools for learning, emphasizing practices that enhance communication, accelerate skill development, and align individual progress with company goals.

Best 360° Assessment Tools for Learning and Development

Your teams thrive on consistent, constructive feedback essential for adaptation and growth. Traditional evaluation methods often fall short, delivering limited insights into individual contributions and development needs. Assessment tools for learning capture diverse perspectives, enabling the identification of skill gaps, strengthening of capabilities, and fostering of accountability. These tools not only measure performance but also create invaluable learning experiences that support both your team and organizational growth. This blog outlines top assessment tools for learning, emphasizing practices that enhance communication, accelerate skill development, and align individual progress with company goals.

Table of Contents

Best 360° Assessment Tools for Learning and Development

What Key Features Should You Look for in an Assessment Tool?

Selecting the right assessment tools for learning demands a focus on fostering genuine learning and skill development rather than mere data collection. Prioritize these essential features to maximize your assessment strategy:

Advanced Customization Capabilities: Tailor assessments to your team’s specific goals. This customization generates actionable insights crucial for hiring and summative assessments, ensuring feedback aligns with organizational objectives.
Actionable Reporting and Analytics: Choose tools with robust analytics that enable quick identification of trends and skill gaps analysis. Comprehensive reporting facilitates tracking development outcomes over time, allowing adjustments to training programs while demonstrating value to stakeholders.
Integration with Existing HR Systems: Seek tools that seamlessly connect with your HRIS, LMS, and other platforms. Such integration ensures feedback aligns with performance reviews and goal-setting, offering a holistic view of employee growth while eliminating data silos.
User-Friendly Interface and Accessibility: An intuitive design encourages participation from employees with varying tech proficiency. Tools compatible across multiple devices foster consistent engagement, with accessibility features ensuring all team members contribute effectively.
Support for Diverse Learning Needs: Opt for tools accommodating various learning preferences to enhance feedback quality. Flexible formats like video responses or interactive assessments foster an inclusive environment, enriching the overall experience.

By concentrating on these key features, you will be able to select a comprehensive assessment tool that aligns with your team’s and organization’s objectives, nurturing a culture of continuous learning.

Top Assessment Tools for Learning and Development

With a range of available assessment tools for learning, you have options to suit your organizational goals and support data-driven decision-making. Below are some of the leading assessment tools for learning tailored to the needs of your team:

1. Risely

Risely is an AI copilot for leadership development that offers personalized learning journeys that cater to each team member’s unique needs and challenges while seamlessly integrating into daily workflows. The platform stands out by aligning development plans with your company values and focusing on team dynamics, ensuring that growth is both relevant and impactful.

Key features:

AI Coaching with Merlin: AI Coach Merlin provides personalized, AI-driven guidance that adapts to your team’s actions and needs.
Tailored Learning Journeys: Daily learning nudges are designed to support individual growth while seamlessly integrating into their workflow.
Comprehensive Self-Assessments: Evaluate 30 key skills with detailed analysis reports.
Team Feedback & Admin Dashboards: Gain insights into leadership strengths and opportunities for improvement through team feedback.
Focus on Team Dynamics: Aligns leadership development with organizational values and team needs.

Risely empowers L&D professionals like you, to cultivate a continuous learning culture, enhance cross-functional collaboration, and reduce stress and turnover, enabling managers to lead teams effectively toward high-quality results.

2. Qualtrics

Qualtrics is a training evaluation tool that leverages surveys to gauge the efficiency of training. It uses specialized AI that uncovers insights from mountains of data and prioritizes actions that drive results.

Key features:

Customizable Surveys and Workflows: Designed for flexibility, this tool adapts to various organizational roles, streamlining development programs across the organization without overburdening HR resources.
Comprehensive Reporting and Dashboard: Robust reporting capabilities provide you with a clear view of performance trends, knowledge gaps, and progress, connecting development outcomes with business metrics to demonstrate ROI.
Personalized Development and Confidentiality: Empower employees to manage their growth with personalized reports linked to learning resources, ensuring actionable insights are instantly accessible in a safe, confidential environment.

Qualtrics enables you to target skill gaps effectively, linking individual development efforts to broader organizational goals and fostering scalable change.

3. SurveyMonkey Enterprise

SurveyMonkey Enterprise stands out as a robust, scalable solution for gathering team feedback with precision.

Key highlights:

User-Friendly Interface: An accessible experience encourages engagement across experience levels. Pre-built templates and AI assistance help craft insightful surveys, enhancing response quality and uncovering actionable insights rapidly.
Comprehensive Multi-Survey Dashboards: Aggregate data from multiple surveys in one dashboard, simplifying the monitoring of key metrics and trends over time, allowing teams to identify and act on performance patterns.
Scalable Feedback Programs: Centralized administration streamlines user management and survey distribution, ensuring your team members have the insights they need via various channels, including offline and SMS.

SurveyMonkey Enterprise’s intuitive analytics and flexibility make it an excellent choice for prioritizing efficient feedback collection while adapting to evolving organizational needs.

4. Lattice

Lattice offers a comprehensive platform for L&D teams dedicated to long-term performance growth.

Key features:

Continuous Feedback Options: Real-time insights enable you to track progress continuously, making it easier to pivot strategies as needs evolve.
Enhanced Productivity for Managers: Tools like auto-suggested agendas and structured performance reviews empower managers to lead effectively and boost team productivity.
Streamlined HR Operations: Integrations reduce administrative time by 78%, allowing HR to concentrate on strategic growth and employee engagement.

Lattice aligns performance management, engagement, and HR operations, making it invaluable for organizations committed to high-impact, data-informed growth.

5. Culture Amp

Culture Amp focuses on building a supportive, values-driven culture through data-informed feedback and development tools.

Key features:

Open Dialogue and Collaboration Support: Structured feedback mechanisms promote open communication and team cohesion, reinforcing a robust feedback culture.
People Analytics: Provides actionable insights that turn data into intelligence, assisting you in identifying trends and areas for improvement while connecting engagement, development, and retention metrics.
Employee Development: Personalized development tools enable your employees to set and track growth goals, fostering a scalable, measurable approach to development that aids in talent retention.

Recognized by top companies, Culture Amp integrates engagement, development, and performance tools to help organizations cultivate a thriving culture.

6. Cornerstone OnDemand

Cornerstone OnDemand focuses on enhancing workforce agility and closing readiness gaps through tailored learning.

Key highlights:

Customizable Learning Paths: You create learning paths that support role-specific skill enhancement, aligning with overall performance goals.
Cross-Device Accessibility: Let your team learn anytime, anywhere, with mobile compatibility increasing engagement and enabling consistent development.
Workforce Agility Tools: Cornerstone Galaxy enhances agility, helping employees adapt to rapid changes and offering insights into readiness gaps for proactive planning.

Cornerstone’s unified platform enhances L&D effectiveness while preparing organizations for a rapidly evolving workforce landscape.

7. BambooHR

BambooHR streamlines employee engagement and essential HR processes with an all-in-one platform.

Key features:

Comprehensive HR Management: Covering the entire lifecycle of your employees, from hiring to payroll, reduces HR costs and saves time, allowing focus on strategic goals.
Extensive Customization for L&D Needs: Customizable assessments help tailor development plans to team skill sets and growth areas.
Actionable Progress Analytics: Real-time insights aid in tracking growth and adjusting learning strategies, fostering a data-informed culture.

With a user-friendly design and robust analytics, BambooHR simplifies HR processes while enhancing employee engagement and development.

8. Reflektive

Reflektive is designed to enhance employee development through continuous conversations and analytics.

Key features:

Performance and Engagement Solutions: Ongoing feedback and public recognition promote team excellence and motivation.
Targeted Progress Tracking and Real-Time Analytics: Custom assessments enable proactive interventions based on insights, while dashboards gauge sentiment and drive improvements.
People Analytics and Retention Tools: Integrates with existing HRIS for comprehensive performance insights, revealing trends critical for talent retention.

Reflektive’s intuitive design fosters a culture of continuous feedback, maximizing your team’s satisfaction and performance.

9. Trakstar

Trakstar connects every stage of the employee lifecycle, focusing on continuous skill development.

Key highlights:

Targeted Skill Development and Customization: Detailed assessments align training with departmental needs, ensuring effective, personalized skill-building.
Seamless Multi-Device Accessibility: Supports inclusivity and high participation across devices.
Data-Driven Reporting and Insights: In-depth analytics lead to informed decision-making, resulting in reduced disengagement and turnover.

Trakstar streamlines processes while achieving measurable improvements in engagement, retention, and development of your team.

10. Peakon (by Workday)

Peakon is an employee voice platform that combines robust analytics with comprehensive feedback options.

Key features:

Comprehensive Performance Evaluation: Employs diverse assessment techniques for a holistic view of capabilities and growth areas.
Real-Time Insights for Engagement: Provides immediate feedback to understand engagement, identify turnover root causes, and forecast risks.
Tailored Growth Plans: Supports customized development plans that align your team member’s growth with organizational goals.

Peakon’s employee-centric approach leverages extensive datasets for deeper insights and fosters a culture of continuous learning. Select an assessment tool that aligns with your team’s goals, fosters an environment of continuous learning, driving engagement and professional development. By implementing well-suited tools, you create a supportive atmosphere that contributes to organizational success.

Benefits of Implementing Assessment Tools for Learning in Your Organization

As L&D leaders, you transform feedback into a strategic asset through assessment tools for learning. These tools propel team development, yield impactful learning outcomes, and cultivate a data-driven culture of growth.

Enhanced Engagement Through Constructive Feedback

A robust feedback system lays the groundwork for trust and collaboration. By implementing multi-perspective feedback from peers, managers, and cross-functional partners, employees gain essential insights into their strengths and areas for improvement. This approach leads to:

Building Trust and Motivation: Employees feel recognized and motivated to grow, reinforcing their dedication to the organization.
Fostering Cohesive Team Dynamics: Feedback aligned with growth goals enhances communication and teamwork.

By encouraging transparent and constructive feedback, you empower your teams to embrace development proactively, resulting in a workforce that is more engaged and aligned with organizational objectives.

Data-Driven Development for Targeted Learning Interventions

Assessment tools provide powerful insights that enable informed decisions about learning and development. You will be able to:

Identify Skill Gaps: Utilize analytics to pinpoint specific competencies that are lacking, allowing for strategic training prioritization.
Customize Learning Interventions: Design targeted learning paths that address your team’s distinct requirements.
Measure Training Effectiveness: Establish feedback cycles to evaluate training initiatives and continuously refine programs.

This data-driven strategy empowers you to back your development initiatives with solid insights, ensuring that your learning objectives are well-aligned with broader organizational goals.

Embedding a Culture of Continuous Improvement

A comprehensive 360 assessment tool fosters a culture of continuous learning and growth. Regular feedback promotes:

Self-Directed Learning: Employees take charge of their professional development.
Integration of Learning into Daily Practices: Continuous feedback reinforces development as a priority.
Agility and Adaptability: Employees iterate on their work, aligning with team goals.

When feedback becomes an integral part of your organizational culture, you cultivate a commitment to growth and excellence that enhances both individual and organizational performance. The implementation of assessment tools for learning not only drives development but also positions your organization as a leader in fostering a culture of continuous improvement.

Conclusion

Implementing assessment tools for learning transcends mere feedback gathering; it creates a culture of continuous learning, intentional growth, and empowerment for every team member. Selecting tools offering customization, in-depth analytics, HR integration, and a user-friendly experience positions your organization for long-term success. Thoughtful implementation, clear communication, and actionable follow-up transform assessments into a powerful driver of meaningful development. Leverage these insights to highlight your team’s strengths, pinpoint areas for growth, and foster an environment where learning is integrated into daily operations. Start today with tools that unlock higher engagement, valuable insights, and new levels of success across your team.

Avantika Anand

Avantika holds an undergrad degree in Political Science and Psychology, bringing a unique blend of analytical and psychological insight to her writing. With extensive experience in content creation and research, she crafts engaging and well-informed content that resonates with readers and drives meaningful conversations.

Free resource for you: Risely’s skill gap analysis template

Start walking toward success with Risely holding your hand.

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This blog post will discuss the case study of horse leadership training. We will also reveal how HR and L&D heads like you could benefit by incorporating this seemingly unconventional yet highly effective training into your leadership pipeline.

Horse Leadership Training: A New Approach to Leadership Development

Leadership development and training is suffering heavy stress under today’s business environments. HR and L&D professionals like you are constantly pursuing new, efficient, and innovative ways of emotionally intelligent and authentic leadership. Here is one such very effective transformative approach gaining popularity under the name of Horse Leadership Training. It is a hands-on, experiential method, based on the natural wisdom of horses, that helps leaders sharpen their communication, emotional intelligence, and teamwork skills in an absolutely unique way. In this blog, we will dive deep into Horse Leadership Training with insights from Janis Cooper, the director of Leadership and Staff training at Best Friends Animal Society.

Table of Contents

Horse Leadership Training: A New Approach to Leadership Development

Understanding Horse Leadership Training

In the 14th episode of Risely’s podcast- RiseUp Radio, Janis explains how to craft effective learning experiences through Horse Leadership Training or what she calls, Equine Facilitated Learning (EFL). EFL has become increasingly popular for training as it engages all of a person’s senses. It is a profound and memorable method that supports immediate change.

Horse Leadership Training, or Equine-Assisted Learning (EAL), offers a new and experiential approach to learning leadership, the type that never happens in the classroom. Because horses are very sensitive and social animals, they can read human body language and emotions a great deal of which people ignore. The idea behind this method, as Janis mentions, is the way people or teams complete the task provided to them with the horse reflects how they’re actually doing things in the workplace. As an HR or L&D leader, you know how important it is that your team members really experience leadership and not just learn about it. EAL makes this happen by allowing participants to work directly with horses, where they immediately see how their behavior influences others. Through some carefully designed trust-building exercises, your team will learn how to communicate with the horses without using any words. This very unique experience makes you a very clear communicator nonverbally, helps you calibrate your emotional responses appropriately, and understand how your actions affect others. It is a journey that builds trust and self-awareness while providing an increase in respect and, along with these, strengthening core leadership skills.

What is The Science Behind Equine Leadership Development?

Dogs are known for their loyalty and friendliness and monkeys are the closest living relatives to humans. So, why horses? The success of equine-assisted experiential learning on leadership development isn’t built on experience alone but is supported by sound science in both animal behavior and human psychology. As an HR or L&D leader, you understand the importance of blending practical learning with evidence-based insights. Horses are social animals that naturally herd together for survival. This characteristic makes them highly sensitive to minute changes in their surroundings, and to the feelings of their acquaintances, making them an excellent partner for leadership training. An Equine-Assisted Learning (EAL) session provides participants with immediate, unfiltered truthful feedback from the horses. The way a horse responds to them reflects their own emotions, intentions, and leadership style—like looking in a mirror. The raw feedback provided reveals blind spots, biases, or behaviors that most likely are holding them back from being totally effective leaders. Observing how horses interact within their herd provides powerful lessons on teamwork, conflict resolution, and the importance of setting clear boundaries and expectations. These can easily be applied to the workplace to help your team improve their communication, collaboration, and overall performance.

The Core Principles of Horse Leadership Training

At the center of Horse Leadership Training are a few key principles that help develop important leadership skills:

Authenticity & Congruence: Horses can easily notice when a person’s words and actions do not match. This helps people show their true selves and align their thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Clear Communication & Boundaries: Horses are prey animals. They need clear communication and set boundaries to feel safe. During EAL sessions, participants learn how to communicate their goals clearly and set healthy boundaries to build trust and respect.

Emotional Intelligence & Regulation: Horses excel at reading human emotions. This means participants need to have emotional intelligence and know how to regulate their feelings. They learn to develop self-awareness, empathy, and manage their emotions well, especially in tough times.

What Makes Horse Leadership Training Effective for HR/L&D Professionals?

For HR and L&D professionals like you, Horse Leadership Training is a powerful way to create real, lasting change in your organization’s leaders. Unlike traditional methods that often focus on theories and simulations, this training puts your team in real, hands-on situations where they must lead, communicate, and adapt—right in the moment. Working with horses requires leaders to step out of their comfort zones and sharpen their emotional intelligence, decision-making, and communication skills. What makes this especially valuable for you is how deeply it engages participants. They aren’t just sitting through another lecture—they’re immersed in an experience they’ll remember long after the training ends. The immediate feedback from horses shows leaders exactly how their behavior impacts others, which helps them understand and adjust in real time.

Janis shared a story of someone seeking help with leadership skills. This person was paired with a horse named Andrew, with the task of leading him from point A to B without touching or bribing him—she had to rely solely on influence. Initially, Andrew followed her, but midway, he stopped. When asked why, she admitted that she’d begun doubting herself at that moment. She realized that the same thing happens at her workplace; people don’t follow her because she lacks confidence.

This kind of direct, memorable learning experience leads to real behavioral change that sticks, making your leadership development efforts much more impactful when your team faces tough situations back in the workplace.

Implementing Equine Leadership Development in Your Organization

Incorporation of Horse Leadership Training in your company’s human resources and learning and development strategy can be a game-changer, and it’s more flexible than you might think. You begin by taking your employees to a one-day workshop and introducing them to the core principles of horse leadership training. That way, they are able to experience this unique interpersonal link between leadership and working with horses, which will come in very handy for them in their respective roles.

Participants working with horses during an Equine-assisted learning program. Image by Forbes

For an even more comprehensive experience, you may integrate horse leadership training into your existing leadership programs. Single multiple-day retreats or even continuing coaching sessions offer the best chance for traditional leadership training and the application of equine activities through a very potent combination that appeals to most learning styles. Such programs deepen the learning experience through a more engaging and impactful method for the team. It doesn’t matter what you choose, but it would be advisable to ensure that the sessions are conducted by a certified expert or professional who has a strong background in leadership development and working with horses, the idea is that your team receives a well-rounded, professionally guided experience truly delivering results.

Horse Leadership Training: A Strategic Development Tool

Organizations like yours are increasingly recognizing the strategic value of incorporating equine leadership programs into their talent development initiatives. These L&D strategies offer much more than individual growth—they create stronger teams, improve communication, and foster a more positive, productive work environment. Here’s a concise comparison of traditional leadership development approaches and equine-assisted learning:

Working with horses encourages authenticity and emotional intelligence in a manner that traditional methods often miss. Exercises for building trust carry through to equine partners but come directly into how those members then interact with their colleagues. Doing so helps foster a culture in which your team feels supported and connected—that’s an essential ingredient for long-term success in any organization.

Conclusion

Horse Leadership Training offers a refreshing approach to leadership development, utilizing horse-related principles to enhance your team’s skills. As an HR or L&D professional, you can leverage the Equine Leadership Program to foster genuine change and elevate teamwork within your organization. Safety during training sessions is crucial, so implementing solid measures will ensure a positive experience for everyone involved. By embracing this innovative method, you’ll cultivate strong leaders and a culture of collaboration and growth—transforming your organization for the better!

Avantika Anand

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Empower Your Workforce: 13 Training and Development Programs For Employees

In this blog, we explore thirteen training and development programs for employees and the key benefits of investing in your employees’ growth, including boosting productivity, enhancing job satisfaction, and reducing turnover.

Empower Your Workforce: 13 Training and Development Programs For Employees

Skilled and adaptable employees are the key to succeeding in this highly competitive business world. As an L&D leader, you can understand the value placed on investment through holistic training and development programs for employees that drive growth professionally and enable your employees to do their jobs well by acquiring the necessary skills and knowledge while making your organization stay ahead in a fast-changing industry. Your efforts are crucial in building an ideal workforce that can meet the critical challenges of tomorrow.

Table of Contents

Empower Your Workforce: 13 Training and Development Programs For Employees

Training and Development Programs For Employees

Training and development programs for employees aim to boost their skills, knowledge, and capabilities. You are well aware of how crucial aligning these programs with personal and organizational goals is to assess and eliminate skill gaps and develop a learning culture. Choosing the right training and development program is essential in building your L&D strategy. You need to figure out which program aligns with your organization’s needs and culture. Effective programs focus on more than just technical skills. They focus on building soft skills like communication, teamwork, and leadership.

Offering your team growth opportunities through the right training and development plan improves their productivity, satisfaction, and capacity to adjust to changes and new technology.

1. Orientation and Onboarding Programs

Orientation is the crucial first step in training and development programs for employees as it welcomes new hires, and gives them an understanding of your company’s culture, policies, and processes. A well-structured orientation will leave them confident and informed from day one, setting the right tone as they meet other members of the team and learn about your company’s mission and values. Onboarding upgrades this process, providing new employees with the tools, training, and support they need to fit into their roles well. From job-specific training to working hands-on with key applications, onboarding programs are important in facilitating new employees’ transition into meaningful, productive members of the team. New hires who feel supported are more engaged, perform at a higher level, and are more likely to stay committed to the company long-term.

2. Compliance and Ethical Training

Compliance and ethical training make an organization aware of the standards that would be used during their working hours, which are regarded as both lawfully and industrially standard-based. As an L&D leader, you understand that such training and development programs for employees equip them with awareness about different laws, regulations, and company policies pertinent to them, be it anti-harassment, data security, workplace safety, or ethical conduct. This will create a compliance and ethics culture that complements the elimination of risks coming from potential lawsuits or penalties. It will create a safe and respectful workplace. Employees will be able to participate in the organization if they understand ethical standards and are empowered to speak up, thereby encouraging transparency and a sense of accountability that will reflect favorably on the company’s reputation with clients, partners, and the community.

3. Technical Skills Development

With the progressing technology scenario, one must keep oneself updated with emerging technical skills. As an L&D leader, you must identify and bridge the gap in the skill set with the appropriate training from learning new software packages, coding languages, data analysis, or any other industry-specific tool, among others. This competitive advantage can only be sustained by introduction of learning culture that encourages the employee to acquire certifications and to attend industry events and online courses for sharpening technical skills. Technical skills development is considered an investment in your people, which then develops the ability to innovate from your company side and to maintain a competitive advantage in the market. A technically skilled workforce is a building block of enhanced efficiency and future growth.

4. Leadership and Management Training

Leadership and management training focuses on developing leaders who lead teams and advance organizational effectiveness. This can be achieved by the development of communication skills, delegation, decision-making, and conflict management skills to make for a more solid pipeline of leadership. A good leadership development process, in most cases, consists of workshops, coaching, mentoring, and online courses that facilitate one choice after another wherein leaders could apply their knowledge to real-life situations. Aligning leadership development to your organizational objectives will help in increasing the level of engagement in the workforce, improving morale, and therefore resulting in longer-term successes through empowered future leaders.

5. Communication and Interpersonal Skills Enhancement

As an L&D leader, you understand that in today’s workforce, strong communication, emotional intelligence, and conflict resolution capabilities foster better teams and fewer conflicts in the workplace. You should train your employees to be more vigilant, use non-verbal communicative expressions, empathize with others, and express themselves assertively. Training in conflict resolution is also essential since employees constructively address their disputes and create a harmonious working environment. Soft skill training has the added advantage of better teamwork, increased output, enhanced customer care, and reduced workplace conflicts that usually damage the organization.

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6. Customer Service Excellence Training

Enhanced customer service is the success of an organization. As an L&D leader, you provide customer service training to your teams for the effective delivery of response support, quick resolution of issues, and building good relationships with customers. Product knowledge, good communication, conflict resolution, and creating real connections with a customer are some of them. Promote a customer-centric culture with your employees to empower them for that extra push. Such an approach not only improves the satisfaction level of the customers but also increases loyalty. Offering customer service excellence is the training and development program for employees that sets your organization apart; you build brand loyalty and ensure that customers keep coming back.

7. Sales and Marketing Mastery

Sales and marketing are essential to generate revenue and make your business prosper. Trainable sales skills help your employees in lead identification, lead qualification, objection handling, negotiation, and closing a deal. In addition, it assists them to be updated with the latest trends and developments of the industry, strategies of the opponent, and present-day techniques on sales. Skills in marketing include research, targeting the audience, and developing a strategy for digital marketing campaigns. It makes marketing professionals equipped with skills for the design of an effective campaign. Continuous investment in sales and marketing training will help your company increase revenue, expand its customer reach, and gain an edge over its competitors.

8. Project Management Fundamentals

Project management skills are important for leaders and those involved in project planning and execution. As an L&D leader, offering project management training ensures that your team will know the basics of starting, planning, executing, monitoring, and successfully completing projects. Good teamwork, open and clear communication, and problem-solving are essential for effective project management. Such training could highlight the need for transparent communication, regular updates, and a collaborative resolution of problems to be on top of things and achieve the objectives. Investing in project management learning and development is essential for your organization can improve outcomes, optimize the use of resources, and bring to fruition objectives more efficiently.

9. Innovation and Creativity Workshops

Innovation and creativity are at the core of the modern business model, and the rapid pace at which innovation is happening today means being ahead of competition is crucially important. As an L&D leader, offering workshops on innovation encourages your employees to think outside the box, generate fresh ideas, and solve problems creatively. The magic happens by tapping into the innovative potential of your team by encouraging a culture that values and rewards creativity. Providing time, tools, and support to employees to explore new ideas and collaborate on innovative projects motivates growth and success.

10. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives

Creating a workplace that values diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is important for success. DEI training emphasizes people’s understanding and respect for individual differences. This program’s focus includes the reduction of unconscious bias, promotion of cultural sensitivity, and inclusive leadership. In sum, this all helps build a fair and inclusive work environment. You should develop a culture in your organization where everyone feels welcomed, respected, and appreciated. You can do this by using inclusive hiring practices, forming employee resource groups, and leading DEI initiatives. This way, all employees can feel like they belong, no matter their background, beliefs, or identities.

11. Health and Wellness Programs

Employee well-being correlates to productivity, engagement and overall job satisfaction. The strongest predictor of employee wellness as a productivity enhancer is demonstrating an organization’s investment in the health of its employees. These might include a location-based gym, yoga classes, healthy meal options, and even ergonomic assessments for personal body well-being. Additionally, mental health support, such as counselling or mindfulness workshops, also plays an important role in fostering emotional well-being. Health and wellness create a workplace employees want to be valued in, making for happier, healthier, and more productive teams.

12. Digital Literacy and IT Skills

The term digital literacy refers to the ability to effectively use the internet, computers, and other digital technologies in daily life. It is quintessentially important today in almost every job function to bridge the digital skill gap in the workplace. You must ensure that your employees have a sound basis in all basic computer skills, internet use, data security, and online communication tools required to thrive in a technology-based work setting. Beyond the basics, you should also build specialized training in areas of advanced technical expertise for some job roles including data analysis, cybersecurity, cloud computing, or software development areas that are rapidly emerging in lines of business today. Education of your employees in digital literacy and IT skills benefits their productivity and enables your organization to adopt new technologies more easily, helping to drive greater efficiency.

13. Financial Literacy and Budgeting

Financial literacy is the best possible way an employee can make informed decisions that aim to reach financial goals. As an L&D leader, you should provide financial literacy and resources to your workforce so they can better manage finances and reduce stress related to finance. Some recommended topics related to this include budgeting, saving, investing, debt management, and planning for retirement using workshops or online courses. By equipping your employees with financial knowledge, you not only enhance their well-being but also foster a more focused, less stressed, and potentially more loyal workforce, impacting retention and overall productivity.

Why Training and Development Programs Matter Beyond Basic Benefits?

Training and development programs for employees are essential for any organization that wants to stay innovative, flexible, and competitive. Fundamentally, these programs have indisputable advantages: they enhance employee performance and productivity, boost job satisfaction and morale, reduce turnover, and encourage continuous improvement. Employees who are encouraged to grow are naturally more involved and dedicated, which further strengthens your organization.

Although the benefits are evident, L&D leaders face the difficulty of transforming these initiatives into focused, highly effective solutions that stick to budgetary limitations. This calls for a culture of continuous learning, technology use, a mix of in-house and outsourced training, and smart prioritization. Here are some tips on how to go beyond the basics and turn training into a real factor in the success of your company:

Prioritizing Training Needs When Budgets Are Tight

Determining which training and development programs for employees will yield the greatest return on investment is essential when the budget is limited. Begin by performing a skills gap analysis, which compares your team’s present competencies with the organization’s goals. By setting priorities in this way, you ensure that every training dollar is used on initiatives that are directly related to the main goals of the organization, thus increasing its impact.

In-House vs. Outsourced Training

One frequently asked question is whether training should be managed internally or outsourced. When it comes to company-specific values or internal procedures, in-house training is beneficial. However, for technical skills, soft skills, or leadership development, outsourcing to specialized providers offers greater expertise and perspective. How about blended solutions? You manage basic training in-house while collaborating with outside specialists to deliver specialized, high-skilled programs. This balance can be achieved by using a hyper-personalized platform like Risely- your AI Copilot for Leadership Development, which provides tools to support both external and internal training. Regardless of the training source, Risely helps you stay consistent by offering scalable resources and monitoring engagement.

Securing Buy-In from the C-Suite

One of the biggest hurdles in implementing effective training and development programs for employees is securing buy-in from the C-suite. Building a strong business case is essential. Use metrics from pilot programs or case studies to highlight how training directly contributes to the organization’s strategic objectives. You are more likely to gain their support by framing training as an investment rather than an expense.

Leveraging Technology to Streamline and Personalize Training

For learning and development professionals who want to accomplish more with less, technology is a game-changer. You can tailor learning courses according to each employee’s progress and preferred method of learning, with tools like Risely’s Leadership Learning Journeys, and AI coach, Merlin. Real-time tracking, feedback, and insights are also made possible by technology, letting you determine which training and development programs are effective and which require modification.

What are the challenges in executing a successful training program?

Even though investments in training yield many benefits, a lot of companies struggle with factors such as inadequate budget and time. The solution to this is securing buy-in from the C-suite by building a strong business case through pilot programs and case studies. Designing engaging training and development programs for employees that meet the diverse learning needs of employees is another great challenge. Keeping the content relevant and accessible boosts retention and impact. Improving future programs through feedback and assessments ensures that the specific goals are targeted more effectively.

CHALLENGE	WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE
Budget	Securing adequate financial resources to cover the costs of training programs, materials, and potential external trainers.
Time	Dedicating sufficient time for employees to participate in training programs without overburdening them or disrupting their regular work schedules.
Engagement	Designing training content that is engaging, relevant, and caters to diverse learning styles to maximize knowledge retention and application.
Relevance	Ensuring that training content aligns with current job roles, business objectives, and industry trends to ensure its practicality and impact.
Evaluation	Establishing clear metrics for measuring the effectiveness of training programs and tracking their impact on employee performance, productivity, and organizational goals.
Technology	Choosing appropriate training delivery methods and leveraging technology effectively to enhance the learning experience, whether through online platforms, virtual simulations, or mobile learning options.
Buy-in	Obtaining buy-in from both management and employees regarding the importance and value of training and development initiatives.
Follow-up	Providing ongoing support and opportunities for employees to apply their newly acquired knowledge and skills to ensure long-term retention and transfer of learning to the workplace.

Conclusion

Investing in training and development programs for employees is very important for helping your team. These programs cover technical skills and leadership training. They improve employee performance and boost morale. They also help keep employees from leaving their jobs. By creating a culture of continuous improvement with various workshops, you help build a talented team. It is important to solve challenges in program execution for these initiatives to succeed. Providing regular updates and custom approaches can meet changing needs well. Small businesses can gain a lot from such programs too. They help grow and build a strong and flexible team. Focus on employee growth, and your organization will thrive.

Avantika Anand

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What Are Good Sources Of Learning Analytics?

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.

Table of Contents

What Are Good Sources Of Learning Analytics?

Let’s Recap: Learning Analytics

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.

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How to Use Learning Analytics?

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.

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6. Gagne’s Nine Events

6 Learning and Development Models For Employee Growth

As the HR or L&D leader, you know that learning and development models are not only frameworks anymore but the key to unlocking employee potential and tying it to business objectives. With all the learning and development methodologies, from social learning to experiential practice, you now have your network of learning and development techniques that can help diverse learning in your team. With mobile learning and virtual reality evolving as part of digital, training is now not a chore but an engaging way to upskill. Mastering these learning and development models gives you the capacity to build a continuous learning culture, so your employees are constantly developing, ahead of the curve, and prepared and able to keep up with the rapidly changing work world today.

Table of Contents

6 Learning and Development Models For Employee Growth

Exploring Key Learning and Development Models for Employee Growth

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to learning and development. Several approaches have been developed over time, each intended to meet unique business requirements, employee preferences, and learning environments. Selecting a model that aligns with organizational ideals and employee aspirations is crucial because the right model depends heavily on a company’s unique goals, culture, and team dynamics. Let’s explore a few important models:

1. The 70:20:10 Framework for Learning and Development

The 70:20:10 framework was created by Morgan McCall, Michael M. Lombardo, and Robert A. Eichinger. This framework shifts how we think about learning and development, focusing on what really helps employees grow. It breaks down learning into 70% hands-on experience, 20% learning from others, and 10% formal training. Most of the learning happens on the job—through real tasks, problem-solving, and facing challenges head-on (the 70%). Then, there’s learning that happens socially—through conversations, feedback, and collaboration with colleagues (the 20%). And finally, formal training, like workshops and courses, fills in the gaps (the 10%).

Picture one of your team members taking on a new project. They’re learning most of what they need by doing the work itself, figuring out solutions as they go (70%). Along the way, they check in with a mentor or colleague for guidance or insights that help them improve (20%). And when they need to deepen a specific skill, they attend a short course or workshop to round it out (10%). Using a template for 70:20:10 development is a good start to this method. By embracing this learning and development model, you ensure that learning happens daily, in the right work flow.

2. ADDIE Learning and Development Model – Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation

The ADDIE learning and development model makes planning training programs feel straightforward and manageable, taking you through five steps: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. The concept was created in 1975 by the Center for Educational Technology at Florida State University for the U.S. Army. Shortly after its inception, the ADDIE training model was adapted by the U.S. Armed Forces. It’s a great way to ensure your training hits the mark.

Analysis: This is where you identify what learners need to know and what gaps exist. It’s about digging deep into your team’s current skills and the challenges they face.
Design: Based on that analysis, you map out the structure of the program—what content to include, how it will be delivered, and what activities will engage your learners.
Development: Here, all the training materials, modules, and resources are created. This is where your content comes to life, shaped by your earlier design.
Implementation: This is the exciting part where the actual training takes place—whether through in-person workshops, e-learning, or other formats. It’s where your employees get hands-on with the training.
Evaluation: Finally, after the training is delivered, you measure how effective it was. Did it achieve the learning objectives? Were the learners engaged? What can be improved for next time?

For instance, let’s say your company introduces a new software system. During Analysis, you’d figure out who needs to learn what and how deep their understanding needs to be. In Design, you’d plan an interactive workshop plus some hands-on practice. Then, in Development, you create the content—tutorials, exercises, and tips. Once you roll out the training (Implementation), you gather feedback in the Evaluation phase to see how well it worked and make improvements where needed.

3. The 5As Framework: Assess, Analyze, Attract, Adapt, Apply

The 5As framework helps you design development programs that really stick, guiding you through five key steps: Assess, Analyze, Attract, Adapt, and Apply. It’s about making sure you’re not just checking boxes but delivering training that genuinely makes an impact.

Assess: This is where you take stock of the current situation. What skills are lacking? What challenges are your team members facing? It’s about identifying gaps so you can target the right areas for development.
Analyze: After the assessment, you dive deeper into the data. What do the results tell you? This step helps you understand the root causes and where your efforts should be focused to create meaningful learning outcomes.
Attract: Engaging employees in their learning journey is crucial, so you need to ensure the program resonates with them—whether through real-life examples, interactive content, or clear connections to their daily roles.
Adapt: Every organization is unique, and so are its learning needs. In this step, you adjust your plan to fit changing needs or specific challenges. Flexibility is key here—whether you need to tweak the content, delivery methods, or pacing to make sure it aligns with your learners’ circumstances.
Apply: Finally, it’s time to put everything into action. You roll out the program, ensuring that the learning translates into real-world applications. At this stage, it’s not just about delivering the training, but ensuring that employees can apply what they’ve learned in their roles effectively.

For instance, if your goal is to boost leadership skills among managers, you start by Assessing their current challenges—maybe they’re having a hard time with giving feedback. During Analyze, you realize this is affecting team morale. You then Attract them to the program by making it practical, relatable, and showing how it can improve their day-to-day work. As things evolve, you Adapt by adding new content on managing remote teams. And when you Apply the program, you ensure it’s making a real difference by checking in with managers as they start using their new skills.

4. Bloom’s Taxonomy Applied to Corporate Training

Bloom’s Taxonomy, by Benjamin Bloom, is like a roadmap for creating meaningful corporate training experiences. It guides you through six levels of learning—Remembering, Understanding, Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating, and Creating—to help your team not only learn new skills but use them effectively in their roles.

Remembering: This is about recalling basic facts and concepts. In corporate training, it could mean teaching employees the fundamental principles of a new software tool.
Understanding: At this level, learners comprehend what they’ve learned. For instance, once your team knows the basics of the software, they should be able to explain how its features work in their daily tasks.
Applying: Here, employees use their knowledge in real-world scenarios. They begin to use the new software tool to solve day-to-day challenges at work.
Analyzing: This step encourages employees to break down information and identify relationships or patterns. For example, they might analyze how using the tool improves efficiency across different departments.
Evaluating: At this stage, learners can assess and make judgments. Your team could evaluate the effectiveness of the new software by comparing it with previous systems and determining if it meets their needs.
Creating: The highest level, where employees combine their knowledge and skills to create something new—like developing workflows or systems that maximize the software’s potential in your business.

Imagine you’re rolling out a training program for a new project management software. In the Remembering phase, employees memorize key functions. At the Understanding level, they explain how to use these functions in their specific roles. In the Applying stage, they actively manage their tasks using the software. Then comes Analyzing, where they assess how the software impacts team collaboration. In Evaluating, they might compare different features and determine which are most effective for your business needs. Finally, in Creating, they design custom workflows to improve project efficiency across the board.

5. Kirkpatrick’s Four-Level Training Evaluation Model

Kirkpatrick’s Four-Level Training Evaluation Model is a simple yet powerful learning and development method to help you see the real impact of your training programs. It’s broken down into four levels: Reaction, Learning, Behavior, and Results—and each one helps you understand how effective your training really is.

Reaction: This is all about how participants feel about the training. Were they engaged? Did they find it useful? For instance, after a leadership development workshop, you might gather feedback from managers on what they thought of the content and delivery.
Learning: Next, it’s essential to measure what participants have learned. Are they walking away with new knowledge or skills? For example, you could give employees a quick assessment after the session to see if they’ve grasped key concepts like conflict resolution or team management.
Behavior: This stage looks at whether employees are actually applying what they’ve learned back in the workplace. Are managers using the new leadership techniques? Have they made changes in how they communicate with their teams? Behavior change is a critical sign of training effectiveness.
Results: Finally, you evaluate the impact on business outcomes. Did the training lead to measurable improvements in productivity, employee engagement, or revenue growth? For example, if the leadership training helped reduce employee turnover, that’s a clear sign of success.

Let’s say your organization has started a training program for customer service skills. At the Reaction level, you gather feedback and find that employees enjoyed the training and felt it was relevant. For Learning, you assess participants and see that they’ve gained knowledge on handling difficult customers. Moving to Behavior, you observe that employees are now using these techniques in real customer interactions, leading to fewer escalations. At the Results level, you measure a 10% increase in customer satisfaction scores—a clear indication that the training has positively impacted the business. Here’s a template to start working with the Kirkpatrick model (it’s free!): Kirkpatrick Training Evaluation Template

6. Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction for Effective Learning Programs

Robert Mills Gagné‘s Nine Events of Instruction are like a roadmap for creating engaging and effective training programs. Each step helps you guide your team from learning new information to applying it confidently in their jobs.

Gain Attention: Get your team’s attention right from the start. Whether it’s with an interesting fact or a surprising question, make them curious about what’s coming next.
Inform Learners of Objectives: Make it clear what they’ll learn and why it matters to them. Maybe you’re helping your managers improve their communication skills—let them know they’ll leave the session with practical tools to handle difficult conversations more effectively.
Stimulate Recall of Prior Learning: Connect today’s training to what they already know. Ask them to share how they’ve managed tough conversations before or recap lessons from previous sessions.
Present the Content: Now, it’s time to teach. Keep it engaging by mixing up how you present the material—use videos, examples, or even stories to make the learning stick.
Provide Learning Guidance: Offer helpful tips and tricks along the way. Show them how to approach a tough conversation with a simple, step-by-step guide they can use in real life.
Elicit Performance: Let them practice what they’ve learned. Role-plays are great for this—your team can try out their new communication skills in a safe space, getting feedback without the pressure of real-world consequences.
Provide Feedback: Give them constructive feedback. Point out what they did well and what they could improve. This helps build confidence and clarity.
Assess Performance: See how well they’ve learned the material. You could do this with a quick quiz or by asking them to handle a real conversation and report back on the results.
Enhance Retention and Transfer: Make sure the learning sticks by offering follow-up resources or setting up short refresher sessions. Encourage them to keep practicing, so these new skills become second nature.

In a leadership communication training, you could Gain Attention with a statistic on how leadership impacts engagement. Then, Inform Learners of Objectives by highlighting key takeaways like handling tough conversations. Help them Recall Prior Learning by reflecting on past communication training. Present Content through relatable scenarios and offer Learning Guidance with a clear communication framework. Have them Elicit Performance through role-plays, and then Provide Feedback on their approach. Assess Performance with a short exercise, and ensure retention by sharing follow-up materials for ongoing practice.

A Table Comparing All the Learning and Development Models

Learning and Development Model	Key Elements	Application	Strengths
70:20:10 Framework	70% experiential, 20% social, 10% formal learning	Continuous learning through work, collaboration, and formal training	Emphasizes on-the-job learning, real-world application, and peer interaction
ADDIE Model	Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation	Systematic approach to training design and implementation	Structured process ensuring thorough planning, content creation, and assessment
5As Framework	Assess, Analyze, Attract, Adapt, Apply	Customizable for developing learning programs that fit evolving needs	Focuses on continuous improvement, flexible adaptation of learning solutions
Bloom’s Taxonomy	Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, Create	Structured learning approach progressing from basic to complex skills	Encourages critical thinking and problem-solving, supporting all learning levels
Kirkpatrick’s Four-Level Model	Reaction, Learning, Behavior, Results	Evaluating the effectiveness of training programs	Provides data-driven insights into training impact and effectiveness
Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction	Attention, Objectives, Prior Knowledge, Content, Guidance, Performance, Feedback, Assessment, Retention	Sequential approach to delivering learning experiences	Ensures engagement, skill practice, and feedback to reinforce learning

This table compares the learning and development models based on their key components, strengths, and applications, helping you choose the most suitable framework for your employee development programs.

How Can You Choose the Right Learning and Development Model?

Choosing the right learning and development model can be a game-changer for both your organization and your team. As an L&D head, you start by connecting with your team to understand their unique needs and aspirations and build your L&D strategy. Take the time to assess the specific skills gaps within your group, and don’t hesitate to have open conversations about their learning preferences—some might thrive on hands-on experiences, while others may prefer a more structured approach. Grab your free copy of Risely’s skills gap analysis framework now! Consider incorporating modern tools that resonate with your team, such as AI-driven personalized learning paths, microlearning modules for quick skill refreshers, or even virtual reality for immersive training experiences. These tools can make learning not just effective but also engaging. Remember to align your chosen learning and development model with your organization’s broader goals, ensuring that learning becomes a natural part of the daily workflow rather than an isolated activity. Most importantly, foster an environment of continuous feedback and improvement. By being adaptable and responsive to your team’s evolving needs, you create a high-performing culture where everyone feels supported in their professional growth, driving both individual and organizational success.

Conclusion

In conclusion, trying different learning and development models is very important. This helps organizations grow and innovate. By using both old and new learning and development methodologies, companies can meet various learning styles and the specific needs of their employees. Improving learning and development strategies with new tools and technology helps with skill growth. It also keeps employees engaged and helps them stay. Going forward, focusing on personal learning paths and getting ongoing feedback will be key for making L&D efforts more effective.

Avantika Anand

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5 Training Design Models You Need to Know in 2025

In this blog post, we dig deep into five different training design models, exploring how each one works with real-life examples and showing you how they can work for you in your organization toward increased learning and development.

5 Training Design Models You Need to Know in 2025

Effective training is no longer a luxury in this fast-paced business environment but a necessity for being successful. More and more companies have realized how well-formed training design models can transform the learning experience to be enjoyable and impactful. In this blog post, we dig deep into five different training design models, exploring how each one works with real-life examples and showing you how they can work for you in your organization toward increased learning and development.

Table of Contents

5 Training Design Models You Need to Know in 2025

What is Training Design?

The goal of designing training and develo p ment plan is to create a learning environment that directly addresses the specific needs and difficulties faced by your team. It involves outlining every component—content, delivery, and assessments—so that they are not only efficient but also interesting and relevant to your employees. Clear learning objectives, coherent content flows, and engaging elements which make learning stick are all part of training design. As an L&D leader, your strategic vision is realized through training design. This process converts high-level organizational goals into tangible, meaningful learning experiences that develop the competencies your team need. In addition to filling skill gaps, a well-designed program fosters an attitude of constant learning, enabling employees to advance in ways that complement their professional goals and the organization’s objectives.

Discover the 5 Essential Training Design Models

Training design models are like roadmaps that guide you in helping to craft an effective learner experience. They give direction for designing the training programs that engage the learners and ensure that they have acquired and applied the knowledge they learned. Using these models, you create clear, practical, and impactful training.

1. ADDIE Model: A Staple in Training Development

The ADDIE training design model makes planning training programs feel straightforward and manageable, taking you through five steps: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. It’s a great way to ensure your training hits the mark.

Analysis: This is where you identify what learners need to know and what gaps exist. It’s about digging deep into your team’s current skills and the challenges they face.
Design: Based on that analysis, you map out the structure of the program—what content to include, how it will be delivered, and what activities will engage your learners.
Development: Here, all the training materials, modules, and resources are created. This is where your content comes to life, shaped by your earlier design.
Implementation: This is the exciting part where the actual training takes place—whether through in-person workshops, e-learning, or other formats. It’s where your employees get hands-on with the training.
Evaluation: Finally, after the training is delivered, you measure how effective it was. Did it achieve the learning objectives? Were the learners engaged? What can be improved for next time?

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2. SAM (Successive Approximation Model): Agile Response to Design Needs

SAM, or the Successive Approximation Model, is a dynamic training design model idealized for its flexibility and responsiveness in today’s working scenario. It focuses on feedback loops and continuous improvement to ensure that the programs you develop are always relevant and effective. With SAM, you’re not just using a training design model—you’re building a flexible, responsive learning experience that adapts to your organization’s specific goals and ever-changing needs.

How does SAM make a difference?

Iterative Process: Unlike traditional models that follow a strict linear approach, SAM allows you to revisit and refine steps as training needs evolve, ensuring the final product is always aligned with current demands.
Collaborative Design: SAM thrives on teamwork, encouraging input from various stakeholders to create well-rounded and tailored training solutions.
Rapid Prototyping: Instead of waiting until the end to test, SAM encourages quick builds and frequent testing, so you can identify what works (and what doesn’t) early on.
Adaptability: As training needs change, so does the design—making SAM perfect for organizations facing fast-paced industry shifts or unexpected challenges.

Imagine a tech company launching a new software tool. After the first training session, employees struggle with key features. Using SAM, the L&D team gathers feedback, quickly revises the materials, and tests improvements in real time. This flexible approach ensures the training adapts to employees’ needs, speeding up software adoption and boosting productivity.

3. Bloom’s Taxonomy: Structuring Educational Goals

Bloom’s Taxonomy, developed by Benjamin Bloom, is a training design model essential for organizing learning objectives. It outlines six progressive levels of thinking that help learners deepen their understanding over time. These levels are:

Knowledge: Recalling facts and basic concepts.
Comprehension: Understanding and explaining ideas.
Application: Using information in new situations.
Analysis: Breaking down information and finding relationships.
Synthesis: Combining elements to create something new.
Evaluation: Making judgments and decisions based on criteria.

By structuring training content to cover each level, learners gradually build from simple knowledge to more complex, critical thinking skills. By following Bloom’s Taxonomy, you ensure that your team members not only grasp the basics but also develop the critical thinking and problem-solving skills needed for success. Say, you’re designing a leadership training program. At the Knowledge level, participants might learn about leadership theories. In the Comprehension phase, they explain these theories in their own words. When they reach Application, they start using leadership techniques in real-world scenarios. As they move to Analysis, they evaluate the outcomes of different leadership styles. In the Synthesis stage, they develop their own leadership framework. Finally, in the Evaluation phase, they assess the effectiveness of their leadership style and decide how to improve.

4. Kirkpatrick’s Four Levels of Training Evaluation

The need to determine effectiveness in training is essential because this determines whether your learning objectives are being translated into real-life actions. Kirkpatrick’s Model has emerged as one of the more popular training design models because it breaks down the evaluation of training into four levels. Analyzing these helps your organization determine how well a training program is working and gives you opportunities to make data-driven improvements to future sessions, thus maximizing their return on training investment.

Reaction: Measures learner satisfaction and engagement with the training. Did participants find the training relevant, enjoyable, and engaging?
Learning: Assesses how well learners have absorbed the intended knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Did they actually learn what was taught?
Behavior: Examines if learners are applying their new skills and knowledge in the workplace. Are they changing the way they work based on the training?
Results: Evaluates the training’s impact on broader organizational goals and KPIs. Is the training leading to measurable improvements in performance, productivity, or other key areas?

Consider a company implementing a customer service training program. At the Reaction level, employees report high satisfaction with the interactive format. At the Learning level, tests show they have successfully absorbed new techniques for handling difficult customers. After a few months, at the Behavior level, managers observe employees using these techniques on the job. Finally, at the Results level, the company sees a measurable improvement in customer satisfaction scores and a reduction in complaints, showing the program’s direct impact on key performance indicators.

5. Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction

Robert M. Gagné‘s Nine Events of Instruction is a systemic, learner-centered approach toward designing interactive and effective learning experiences. Based on how humans process information, these nine steps help guide learners through each phase of the learning journey toward better understanding and retention. By following this training design model, you create a well-rounded, interactive, and personalized learning experience that helps learners effectively absorb and apply new skills.

Gain Attention: Start with a question or story that grabs their interest.
Inform Learners of Objectives: Let them know what they’ll achieve by the end.
Stimulate Recall of Prior Learning: Connect the new material to what they already know.
Present the Content: Share the material in a way that resonates, whether through visuals or hands-on activities.
Provide Learning Guidance: Offer tips and examples to make it easier to understand.
Elicit Performance (Practice): Let them practice through exercises.
Provide Feedback: Give immediate, helpful feedback.
Assess Performance: Measure how well they understood and applied the content.
Enhance Retention and Transfer: Encourage them to use what they learned in real situations.

Imagine you’re designing a leadership development workshop. You begin by gaining attention with a powerful story about a leader who overcame significant challenges. Next, you inform learners of the objectives, say, they’ll be able to handle difficult conversations by the end of the session. You then stimulate recall by asking them to reflect on past experiences with tough conversations. After presenting the content with effective communication models, you guide by breaking down the steps. Learners then practice these techniques in role-play exercises, and you provide feedback on their performance. You assess their progress through a quick simulation and finally, enhance retention by offering follow-up materials they can use on the job.

How to Enhance Learning Outcomes with Effective Training Development Models?

Being an L&D leader, you know you need to provide training programs with real business outcomes. The value of training design models is to work as a roadmap that will help you align the content around specific learning objectives; in this manner, your programs would both be engaging and effective. With the use of the right model, following the needs of your organization, you could make learning experiences impact performance and business outcomes.

Leveraging Technology in Modern Training Design Models

Technology is revolutionizing training delivery, making it more economical, flexible, and customized. You are able to connect with your team members wherever they are thanks to technologies like Learning Management Systems (LMS), immersive VR/AR for lifelike simulations, and mobile platforms for short, bite-sized learning. This is particularly helpful in the modern remote and mobile workforce, where learning takes place anywhere, at any time. Why is technology so effective in L&D? Initially, it enables you to scale your training initiatives, reaching your team wherever they are. Because tech-enabled training design is so flexible, it is possible to instantly modify the content to meet the changing needs of your team. Additionally, it provides a consistent learning experience for everyone, whether your team is local or spread across the globe, while often bringing down costs by minimizing the need for in-person training resources. At the forefront of this tech-led shift, Risely- an AI-powered copilot for leadership development combines all these benefits in one holistic solution providing personalized and scalable coaching for your leaders.

Integrating Soft Skills into Training Programs

Beyond technical skills, one needs to develop soft skills in a way that the leaders you are developing within the organization are well-rounded, effective, and ready to face any situation. As an L&D leader, you understand that without good communication, teamwork, and problem-solving skills, effectiveness in any role cannot be guaranteed; hence, adding a soft skills training component to your programs through role-play training, case studies, and interactive discussion enables your employees to develop such skills in a relaxed atmosphere, prepare them to deliver in their roles, and contribute to the success of your organization as a whole. With effective training models, the usage of technology, and a keen interest in soft skills, you will develop training programs for your organization that not only match but well surpass your learning goals.

Future Trends in Training Design Models

As an L&D professional, you would realize that the ways of training are continuously changing with the pace of technology, evolving expectations from learners, and increasing requirements for more personalized learning. The future trends of microlearning, personalized learning paths, adaptive learning technologies, and bringing in AI will form new patterns for planning impactful L&D strategies. Success demands embracing these trends so that your strategies in workforce development will be future-proof.

The Rise of AI and Machine Learning in Training Design Models

AI and machine learning are changing the scenario of training and making it highly personalized. It analyzes the associated data of your team members, such as their preferences and performance, and adjusts accordingly. The platform suggests tailored content to its users, gives real-time feedback to them and adjusts the paths of learning to avoid your team being bored or stuck. Incorporating AI in the workplace and into your training programs can make learning more personalized and data-driven, boosting overall effectiveness.

Personalization and Adaptive Learning Pathways

No two learners are alike, and organizations have long abandoned one-size-fits-all training. Using adaptive learning platforms, such as Risely’s personalized Leadership Learning Journeys, adapt content and pace to every learner’s performance and style. This means your team will stay engaged, and what they learn will stick. With adaptive pathways, you meet your team’s individual learning needs, leading to more skilled and adaptable employees.

Conclusion

To succeed in the changing world of training, it is important to know and use the right training design models. The five essential training development models for 2025 give a range of tools to improve learning and meet your ever evolving needs effectively. It’s also important to include technology and the development of soft skills in today’s training programs. When picking a training design model, make sure it aligns with your business goals and consider the learners’ needs. Embracing trends like AI, machine learning, and personalized learning will influence the future of training and development. Stay ahead by using these models to create engaging and effective learning experiences.

Avantika Anand

Effective training design begins with the right plan. Is yours ready?

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7 Learning and Development Companies You Need to Know

This blog covers the 7 learning and development companies leading the way in transforming L&D for your team. These companies include: Risely, Innovito, Global Development Experts, NextGen, Alpha Apex Group, AllenComm and Unboxed.

7 Learning and Development Companies You Need to Know

Learning and development of employees is crucial for organizations to grow and adapt. As HR or L&D professionals, you know that talent management has come a long way from old-school HR practices. Top learning and development companies are now focused on creating dynamic, engaging learning experiences that bring out the best in employees. They provide the tools to overcome challenges, foster continuous growth, and elevate team performance. This blog covers the 7 learning and development companies leading the way in transforming L&D for your team.

Table of Contents

7 Learning and Development Companies You Need to Know

What are the Top 7 Learning and Development Companies?

Following is a list of the top learning and development companies, known for their creative ideas and commitment to changing how people learn at work and providing them the leadership development they need. They offer various services, like Risely’s Merlin – an AI Leadership Coach and custom learning platforms, to meet different needs. Each learning and development company listed has been chosen based on its reputation in the industry, positive client feedback, and focus on good learning results. Whether you run a small business or a big company, this guide will assist you in finding the right L&D partner to reach your business goals.

1. Risely- AI Copilot for Leadership Development

Risely is an AI copilot for leadership development, designed to meet the unique needs of every manager while fitting effortlessly into your daily workflow. By offering personalized learning journeys and aligning development plans with your company’s values and team dynamics, Risely ensures that leadership growth is not just relevant, but impactful. It is the learning and development company you need to build the people leadership skills your managers require.

The State of Leadership Development Report 2024 states that 42% of managers need to take frequent follow-ups while 38% of managers struggle with difficult conversations. Risely’s AI-driven approach, powered by Merlin- an AI Leadership Coach for managers, addresses issues like these and makes sure your team’s growth aligns with the goals that matter most to your organization.

With features like comprehensive self-assessments covering 30 key skills and real-time team feedback, you’ll have all the actionable insights needed to fine-tune leadership performance. Your team gets to learn every day in the flow of work through daily nudges and interactive masterclasses. Whether you’re leading a small team or an entire department, Risely provides flexible plans to suit your needs—starting at $59/month for individuals, $299/month for teams, and custom pricing for larger organizations. And with a 14-day free trial, you can explore the platform risk-free, with no long-term commitment required.

2. Innovative Learning Solutions – Innovito

Innovito is your go-to eLearning partner, offering a range of solutions from AI-powered learning management systems (LMS) to custom eLearning content and a library of ready-made courses. They specialize in creating engaging learning experiences that drive business success for organizations like yours. With a team of skilled instructional designers, project managers, and subject matter experts, Innovito collaborates closely with clients to tailor training programs that fit their unique needs. Their offerings include interactive e-learning modules, virtual instructor-led training, gamified learning, and blended learning solutions. By focusing on innovation and measurable results, Innovito ensures that every training initiative aligns with your business goals and delivers a strong return on investment. With a reputation for creativity and expertise in adult learning methodologies, Innovito is committed to inspiring learners and supporting your organization’s growth.

3. Global Development Experts

Global Development Experts Global Development Experts is here to help your organization develop the talent needed for a global workforce. With deep expertise in cultural understanding and language nuances, they create learning programs that fit the diverse needs of your team. Whether it’s leadership development or cross-cultural communication training, their services are designed to set you up for success in today’s global market. They provide the tools and strategies you need to overcome the challenges of managing a global workforce. By fostering a culture of inclusion and offering tailored learning experiences, Global Development Experts ensures you can tap into the full potential of your global talent. Their team of experienced consultants works closely with you to understand the unique demands of operating in a global business environment. Together, they craft custom solutions that deliver real results and boost your organization’s overall performance.

4. NextGen Learning & Development

NextGen Learning & Development is revolutionizing how your team learns on the job, offering over 3,000 courses and training programs that meet the needs of today’s workforce. They understand that you want flexibility, easy access, and content that’s truly useful, so they’ve designed learning experiences that are both engaging and effective for your employees. With a focus on microlearning, gamification, and customized learning paths, NextGen tailors skill development to fit your organization’s goals. Plus, they’re using the latest technologies—like virtual and augmented reality—to make learning more immersive and memorable. By staying on top of the latest trends, NextGen ensures your team can quickly build the skills they need to excel, helping your organization achieve better results faster.

5. Alpha Apex Group

Alpha Apex Group is your trusted partner in transforming how your organization approaches learning and development. With a strong focus on creating innovative and impactful L&D solutions, they specialize in instructional design, technology integration, and strategic planning to ensure your training programs not only engage employees but also align with your business goals. Whether you’re looking to enhance skill development or drive performance, Alpha Apex tailors solutions that meet your workforce’s evolving needs. Their expertise spans across a wide range of services, including leadership development, eLearning, and customized L&D strategies that scale with your company’s growth. By using cutting-edge tools and methodologies, Alpha Apex ensures that your training initiatives are not only sustainable but also deliver measurable results. From skills gap analysis to content development and competency-based training, they cover all aspects of learning to ensure success.

6. AllenComm

AllenComm stands out as a leader in corporate training and eLearning, with a sharp focus on creating innovative training solutions that resonate with today’s workforce. They understand that for training to be truly impactful, it needs to align with both the company’s brand and culture. With their experience spanning industries like financial services, healthcare, retail, and manufacturing, AllenComm has a proven track record of quickly scaling training programs to meet diverse business needs. Whether you’re looking to strengthen leadership skills, enhance compliance practices, or onboard new employees seamlessly, AllenComm provides tailored solutions designed to drive results. They go beyond standard training, crafting engaging digital learning experiences that leave a lasting impact on participants. What sets AllenComm apart is their ability to deliver customized, scalable training quickly and effectively. By blending innovative design with cutting-edge technology, they help organizations stay agile and ahead of the curve, ensuring that their employees are well-prepared to meet the challenges of an ever-evolving business landscape.

7. Unboxed Training and Technology

Unboxed Training & Technology brings a fresh perspective to workplace learning with its innovative focus on Skill Agility. Their cutting-edge platform, Spoke, ensures that learning is not only accessible but also personalized and engaging, tailored to the needs of today’s workforce. By designing custom training programs and offering creative solutions, Unboxed empowers employees to grow and thrive in a way that captivates and challenges them. Their training programs go beyond the basics, offering turn-key solutions that are fully aligned with your organization’s unique goals. From employee onboarding to leadership development, Unboxed creates interactive content that’s both relevant and engaging, fostering a culture of continuous learning. Their commitment to delivering high-impact, real-world applications keeps teams motivated and equipped with the skills needed to stay ahead. By aligning their coaching tools with their training solutions, Unboxed ensures that organizations not only boost employee development but also see measurable improvements in performance and engagement. To enhance your L&D process, read our blog on How To Build A Learning And Development Strategy?

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Comparing the Top Learning and Development Companies

The table below highlights the core focus, key services, and unique features of each learning and development company, making it easier to compare their offerings:

Company	Focus	Key Services	Unique Features
Risely	AI-driven leadership development	Personalized learning journeys, self-assessments, team feedback	Integrates seamlessly into daily workflows; AI copilot powered by Merlin
Innovito	eLearning and custom training	AI LMS, custom eLearning content, ready-made courses	Collaboration with clients to tailor training programs; focus on ROI
Global Development Experts	Talent development for global workforce	Leadership development, cross-cultural communication training	Deep expertise in cultural understanding; tailored learning experiences
NextGen Learning & Development	Modern workforce training	Over 3,000 courses, microlearning, gamification	Use of virtual and augmented reality for immersive learning experiences
Alpha Apex Group	Transforming L&D practices	Instructional design, eLearning, skills gap analysis	Innovative and impactful L&D solutions; scalable training initiatives
AllenComm	Corporate training and eLearning	Leadership training, compliance training, employee onboarding	Customized and scalable training solutions; aligns with company culture
Unboxed Training & Technology	Skill Agility and personalized learning	Custom training programs, learning technology platform (Spoke)	Innovative focus on skill agility; coaching tools for manager feedback

How can You Choose the Right L&D Partner for Your Business?

Choosing the right L&D partner requires careful thought. Start by aligning your organization’s learning goals with what potential partners can offer. Instead of focusing on broad services, look for a partner that specializes in your industry or the specific skills you need to develop. Check how they design their programs and whether they incorporate modern learning trends. Ensure their methods keep employees engaged and help them retain information. Don’t hesitate to ask for client testimonials or case studies to gauge their success.

Assessing Your Organizational Learning Needs

Begin by identifying the skills your team lacks and the areas that need improvement. Use tools like project and change management to develop more targeted learning strategies. Evaluate your current performance in leadership development and talent management to stay competitive. Look for L&D partners who prioritize modern skill development and use effective instructional design to meet evolving workforce needs.

Evaluating Expertise and Track Record

Go beyond the surface when assessing potential L&D partners. Look for a strong track record and proven success in your industry. Ask for client reviews, case studies, and results that showcase their impact. Make sure their team has the experience to meet your unique learning needs. Choose partners who are committed to innovation and stay ahead of trends in learning and development.

Conclusion

In conclusion, learning and development companies are important for building the skills and knowledge of workers. This can greatly affect how well an organization does. The top 7 companies listed provide special training programs and advanced online learning tools for different needs. When selecting a partner for L&D, it is key to check what your organization needs and look at the company’s skills and past results. By teaming up with the right learning and development provider, you can give your workforce the tools they need for growth and success.

Avantika Anand

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