Informal Learning: All You Need To Know

In this blog, we’ll look at why informal learning matters for the growth of your team and provide actionable insights on how you, as a leader, can encourage and cultivate it within your organization.

Informal Learning: All You Need To Know

Lifelong learning is now more important than ever, in this changing world. While formal learning offers a controlled approach, most of the skills your employees apply daily come from informal learning. It is only natural; whether it occurs through day-to-day experiences, conversations among peers, or from personal exploration, etc. In this blog, we’ll look at why informal learning matters for the growth of your team and provide actionable insights on how you, as a leader, can encourage and cultivate it within your organization.

Table of Contents

Informal Learning: All You Need To Know

What is Informal Learning?

Informal learning is any type of learning that happens outside a set plan or curriculum. This type of learning is spontaneous and directed by personal interest or the need to learn something new.

Informal learning occurs naturally through day-to-day interaction, direct experiences, or individual exploration. Whether it be the manner in which employees share ideas, watch other team members, or address a problem as it comes up, informal learning has a seat at the table helping teams learn and grow.

Key Examples of Informal Learning at Work

Peer-to-Peer Learning: Employees often turn to their coworkers for advice, guidance, and knowledge-sharing through conversations or collaborative projects.
On-the-Job Learning: Employees learn through hands-on experiences in on-the-job training as they encounter and solve real-time challenges.
Self-Directed Learning: Team members frequently seek out resources—whether videos, articles, or webinars—to deepen their understanding of specific topics.

Advantages of Informal Learning

It offers your organization several benefits that align with your L&D objectives.

Relevance and Immediate Application: Informal learning is learned in the natural flow of doing things, so it’s directly applicable, making it practical and impactful.
Flexibility: Informal learning is more flexible than formal programs because it does not tie up in schedules or rigid structures. Employees enjoy the flexibility to learn in ways that are in suit for them best.
Encourages Initiative: Informal learning fosters a culture of curiosity and problem-solving skills, which makes your team agile and ready for change.

The Importance of Informal Learning in the Modern Workplace

Formal learning is a traditional more structured approach with set goals, and schedules, and often leads to certifications, while informal learning is unstructured, driven by personal curiosity, and happens naturally through daily experiences. However, the distinction between formal and informal learning is fading with time. In the modern workplace, informal learning has been enhanced with social platforms, online communities, and collaborative tools. Approaches to employee development are increasingly employee-driven. Informal Learning is a way for leaders to establish a culture of continuous learning, allowing your organization to be innovative and adaptable, enabling employees to take charge of their growth.

What Are the Benefits of Informal Learning?

Informal learning unlocks many benefits for your employees and organization, that can provide an engaging and personalized learning experience that allows different individuals to adapt to their own style of learning. Your organization should encourage a culture of continuous learning and innovation through self-directed discovery and sharing of knowledge. Listed below are some of the crucial advantages for organizations to adopt:

1. Greater Autonomy

Informal learning allows your team to make choices in what and how they learn. They set their own goals and pace how they learn instead of following a rigid plan. Autonomy in the workplace makes people dig deeper into the topics they care about, thus increasing comprehension and creative contributions. In environments where employees are in control, individuals are more engaged and eager to share new ideas.

2. More Effective Learning

Learning through informal, hands-on experiences is more effective than traditional training. Your team is more likely to actively solve problems and apply what they are learning immediately. Whether they find a quick solution online or ask a colleague for advice, the method sticks better because it leads to stronger retention and faster skill-building.

3. Flexible and Multidimensional

Through articles, forums, webinars, and practical exercises, your team can experiment with various learning approaches through informal learning. Because of this flexibility, they may learn in the ways that work best for them, which results in a more comprehensive and personalized learning experience. Online and in-person communities of practice facilitate idea sharing among your team members, which promotes teamwork and group learning.

4. Cost-Effective for Your Business

Compared to formal training programs, informal learning is less expensive. Rather than investing a lot of money in classes, supplies, and instructors, your team can use already-existing resources like peer-to-peer learning or online libraries. You may cut expenses and improve employee development by promoting this type of internal learning.

5. Self-Directed Learning

Your team will be more engaged and continue to grow if you give them the freedom to explore subjects that interest them. They may learn at their own speed, go over material again, or go further into topics they are interested in. People are more likely to enthusiastically apply new knowledge and abilities when they are in control of their learning process.

6. Low-Stress, High-Impact Environment

In contrast to formal settings, where the stress of deadlines and evaluations can inhibit creativity, informal learning flourishes in a more laid-back, stress-free environment. Consider the effects of organizing a relaxed lunch-and-learn for your team or attending a workshop together; these informal settings make learning fun and maintain everyone’s interest.

7. Building a Broader Knowledge Base

Informal learning allows your team to investigate subjects that are outside of their normal purview. This aids in the development of a diverse skill set, which is essential in the ever-evolving workplace of today. Encouragement of continuous learning among team members promotes creativity, flexibility, and problem-solving in general. Prioritizing informal learning not only makes your team better equipped, but it also fosters a vibrant culture where ongoing development is expected. It’s a simple, affordable method to maintain employee motivation, engagement, and readiness for any upcoming problems.

How to Implement Informal Learning in the Workplace?

Including informal learning in the workplace does not require a complete overhaul of your training program. All you need are a few easy tactics to stir up employees’ enthusiasm for these learning opportunities. This can foster a culture in which exchanging knowledge is routine. The following easy tips will assist you incorporate informal learning into your company:

1. Quizzes and Games

Boost Engagement: Use small quizzes and games on important topics to help your team remember better and stay interested.
Gamification: Add game features like leaderboards and nudges to create friendly competition and make learning more enjoyable.
Interactive Learning: Provide interactive quizzes and simulations for instant feedback and to strengthen the knowledge and skills your team learnt in formal training.

To make learning enjoyable and interesting for your team incorporate gamification and interactive learning.

2. Videos and Podcasts

Multimedia Learning: Use engaging video resources, such as TED Talks, industry webinars, and explainer videos, to aid your team members in their learning.
Accessible Content: Set up a place where internal training videos and presentations are stored. This will make it easy for employees to find information whenever they need it.
Language Learning: Use podcasts and audio materials, like RiseUp Radio– a podcast for managers and leaders to unlock their true potential, for quick learning that can be done on the go. This is great for auditory learners and people short on time.

Learning becomes simpler and more enjoyable when multimedia, such as podcasts and videos, are used. Employees with varying learning styles benefit from this.

3. Mentoring Programs

Share Knowledge: Set up formal or casual mentoring programs. Connect experienced workers with those who want help and to learn more.
Role Models: Motivate senior professionals to become mentors. They can provide helpful advice, talk about their work context, and create a friendly space for learning.
Reverse Mentoring: Start reverse mentoring programs. This lets younger employees teach their skills in areas like technology, social media, or new trends.

Mentoring programs facilitate knowledge exchange, interpersonal connections, and practical advice. They foster an environment in the company that is conducive to growth and development for your team.

4. Seminars and Conferences

Industry Insights: Encourage your team to go to seminars, webinars, and conferences that are relevant to the industry. This will help them stay updated on new trends and best practices.
Networking Opportunities: Offer chances for the team to meet peers, experts, and possible mentors. This helps with professional development and sharing knowledge.
Knowledge Sharing: Ask the team members who come back from conferences or seminars to share important takeaways and ideas with the other members.

Supporting employees’ attendance at industry events demonstrates an organization’s dedication to their development. This fosters a culture of lifelong learning and facilitates the exchange of useful information among coworkers.

5. Encourage a Knowledge-Share Culture

Collaboration Platforms: Set up online spaces like chat rooms or forums. This lets employees connect easily, ask questions, and share their skills.
Social Learning: Promote the use of social learning platforms. Your team will get to follow experts, join discussions, and find useful articles and resources.
Communities of Practice: Encourage communities of practice in the company. This brings together people with similar interests to work together, learn from one another, and share the best ways to do things.

By creating a friendly and open learning environment, you let employees learn from each other. This leads to growth and a stronger, more knowledgeable workforce.

6. Collate Valuable Resources

Centralized Repository: Set up a single online space where your team can find articles, e-books, research papers, templates, and other useful learning materials easily.
Curated Content: Ask experts in the company to gather content and make internal wikis or knowledge bases. This will help to keep information accurate, current, and easy to get.
Information Repository: Arrange resources by topic, department, or skill level. This will make it easier for employees to look for and find what they need quickly.

Giving employees access to a well-structured set of resources allows them to learn independently and rapidly discover answers to their problems.

7. Offer Social Learning Opportunities

Peer Interaction: Promote interactions among peers through departmental collaboration, group projects, and enjoyable activities that promote knowledge sharing and mutual learning.
Collaborative Learning: Use collaborative learning tools, like shared documents, project management software, or virtual whiteboards. These tools allow your team members to work together and share their knowledge in real-time.
Social Forums: Create online groups or internal social forums. Employees can learn from each other’s experiences by connecting with people who share their interests or challenges.

By adding social learning to the workplace, organizations use the shared knowledge of their employees. This fosters a dynamic learning atmosphere where everyone benefits from one another’s experiences and learns from them.

8. Allocate Time for Learning

Dedicated Learning Time: Create a culture where people keep learning. Set aside specific time for employees to take part in informal learning, like reading articles, watching webinars, or joining online talks.
Time Management: Offer training on building time management skills and setting priorities. This helps employees fit learning into their busy lives.
Lifelong Learning: Encourage a lifelong learning attitude by recognizing and rewarding employees who look for ways to grow and develop. This can happen in the workplace or outside of it.

When you make learning important and provide time for it, your team shows their care for employee growth. This builds a culture where learning is valued and praised.

Challenges and Solutions in Informal Learning

Informal learning has its own set of challenges even though it has numerous benefits. Lack of structure is a common issue that makes your team unclear about where to begin or how to monitor their progress. Employees lose motivation or have trouble locating the appropriate resources if they are not given clear instructions. You tackle this by offering Leadership Learning Journeys, recommending worthwhile resources, and establishing explicit guidelines for informal learning. Employee engagement and motivation to participate will also be maintained with regular check-ins and support. Measuring the influence of informal learning presents another difficulty. It is more difficult to determine how informal learning affects performance than formal programs with predetermined evaluations. You can gain a better understanding of the efficacy of your learning tactics by routinely gathering feedback via surveys, one-on-one meetings, or performance-tracking systems. This enables you to customize your materials and guarantee that informal learning fits perfectly with your organizational goals, giving your team a more fulfilling and effective experience.

Conclusion

In conclusion, informal learning is a flexible and helpful way that helps people in many parts of their lives. It gives them the freedom to learn on their own. By using informal learning methods, people can boost their knowledge, skills, and overall growth. Organizations can also gain by using these strategies. This can build a culture where people keep learning and sharing what they know. To make the most of informal learning, it is important to overcome challenges and use feedback to get better. Embrace informal learning to enjoy its many benefits for personal and work growth. If you want to learn more about informal learning, think about using these strategies in your workplace. This will create a more fun and effective learning experience.

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.

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Creating a Culture of Growth Through Transformational Training

In this blog, you’ll find practical insights and tools to help you get started on a transformational training journey and make a lasting impact on your team.

Creating a Culture of Growth Through Transformational Training

Starting a transformational training journey is a meaningful step toward reaching one’s full potential. Unlike regular training methods, this approach focuses on creating real, lasting change. It focuses on changing the way you think and grow. In this blog, you’ll find practical insights and tools to help you get started on a transformational training journey and make a lasting impact on your team.

Table of Contents

Creating a Culture of Growth Through Transformational Training

What is Transformational Training?

Transformational training is a powerful approach designed to create lasting change in how you think, act, and perceive your lives. Its goal is to inspire meaningful shifts that influence professional success and personal growth.

The concept, introduced by Peter Drucker in 1999, emphasizes the importance of enhancing the productivity of knowledge workers and is one of the most significant contributions managers can make in the 21st century. Yet, many organizations continue to struggle with this challenge. According to Gartner research, 70% of employees still lack the proficiency needed to excel in their roles. What sets transformational training apart is its focus on aligning actions with personal values, beliefs, and aspirations. It goes beyond surface-level learning, helping your team identify and overcome limiting attitudes. Transformational training paves the way for profound personal and professional growth by encouraging fresh perspectives and uncovering hidden strengths.

The Difference Between Traditional and Transformational Training Methods

Understanding the difference between traditional training and transformational training is important for picking the right method for your team’s goals. Both types aim to boost knowledge and skills, but they do it in different ways. Traditional training usually uses a standard model. It provides information to a group through lectures, talks, or set materials. It focuses on learning specific skills or information within a set time. On the other hand, transformational training uses different methods. It highlights learning through experience, constructive feedback, and exploring values and beliefs. With transformational coaching techniques, you find your team’s strengths, address limiting beliefs, and create plans for meaningful change.

Preparing for Transformation Personal Training

Preparing your team is important before you begin a transformational training program. Take time to reflect on the goals, understand your team’s unique needs, and take out dedicated hours to ensure the best outcomes. Starting with clarity and focus will help you fully commit to the process and maximize your team’s growth.

Identifying Goals and Objectives

Identifying and setting clear goals and objectives for training is crucial. Knowing what you aim to achieve ensures your team’s transformational journey is purposeful and impactful. Start by asking your team these essential questions:

Which areas of your life do you want to transform?
What limiting beliefs are you ready to let go of?
What skills or knowledge will help you grow?
How do you define success for yourself?

Clear and specific goals act as a roadmap for your team’s training, helping them stay focused and measuring their progress. By aligning objectives with your broader aspirations, you build a strong foundation for a meaningful and motivating journey.

Gathering Resources and Tools

Equipping your team with the right resources is crucial for success. This could include books, workshops, courses, or online programs that are tailored to their goals. Explore coaching approaches that align with their learning preferences and growth areas. Additionally, consider practical tools to enhance your team’s experience—such as a journal for self-reflection or a quiet, distraction-free space for focused work. Choose resources and tools that resonate with their individual needs, and don’t hesitate to experiment. Flexibility in your approach ensures they are fully supported on their path to transformation.

Step-by-Step Guide to Implementing Transformational Training

Now that you see how important preparation is, let’s create a simple guide. This guide will help you put transformational training into practice in your organization. Following these easy steps, will make the process go smoothly:

Step 1: Assessing Your Team’s Current Skills and Knowledge

A good training program starts with a careful review of the participant’s current skills. This step includes checking what you already know and finding any skill gaps. An easy way to do this is by doing a skills gap analysis. Knowing your team’s strengths and weaknesses lets you shape the training to meet their goals and needs. After you find areas that need work, adjust the training content accordingly. Always remember that a focused approach works better than a one-size-fits-all method. You set up a training program that closes skill gaps and lets your team reach their full potential by understanding their current skills and knowledge.

Step 2: Designing a Transformational Training Program

Once you have a good understanding of your team’s strengths and weaknesses, you start creating a training program that fits their unique needs. This includes making fun and engaging modules that encourage them to take part and grow personally. Add hands-on learning activities, group talks, role-playing activities, and real-life case studies. Learning this way helps everyone get involved and lets them use their knowledge in real situations. The secret to a successful program is its ability to inspire and motivate. It should also give your team the tools they need. You help create a transformational learning experience by building a lively and engaging curriculum.

Step 3: Implementing the Training Program

After you plan your training program, it’s time to start using it. Start by creating a friendly and supportive space. This should help your team feel safe to share their ideas and experiences. Encourage open talks, active listening, and respectful conversations to build trust and teamwork. Your skills and support are a requirement in this process. They will make your training program more effective and fit it with the best practices in the field. Remember that putting the program into place is an ongoing process. Be sure to check on how the program is doing, ask for feedback from your team, and change things as needed to get the best results. You can expect extraordinary results by paying attention to your team’s needs and creating a positive culture that supports growth.

Step 4: Monitoring Progress and Gathering Feedback

Monitoring your training program’s progress is as important as implementing it. You should gather regular feedback from your team to ensure it works well. Using different methods, like tests before and after training, quizzes, group talks, and personal check-ins will help you see how well the team members understand the ideas and use what they learn. Encourage your team to share honest feedback during and after the training. Make a safe space for them to express their thoughts, worries, and ideas for improvement. In case your team prefers anonymous feedback, use tools like Candor – anonymous feedback tool for employees, to collect their thoughts and opinions. This feedback will help you adjust the program to meet their needs better.

Step 5: Adjusting the Program Based on Feedback

Flexibility is a core component of transformational training. Don’t hesitate to change the program based on the feedback you get from your team. When you take into account their ideas and address their concerns, it shows that you care about their opinions and are committed to making the training experience better for everyone. Remember that good coaching relies on being adaptable. Listening to your team members and making the right changes, makes the training program relevant, engaging, and suitable for their changing needs.

Measuring the Impact of Transformational Training

Evaluating the effectiveness of transformational training is crucial for understanding its impact on your team as well as the organization. Measuring results allows you to:

Identify what’s working and areas for improvement.
Share success stories to inspire others to begin their transformational journeys.
Ensure a strong return on investment (ROI) while building a culture of learning and growth.

Tools and Techniques for Evaluating Training Effectiveness

There are several tools and methods to assess the success of your training program, providing actionable insights into knowledge, skills, and behavior changes.

Pre- and Post-Training Assessments: Compare your team’s knowledge and skills before and after the training to measure learning outcomes.
Feedback Surveys and Interviews: Collect feedback on the content, delivery, and overall experience to gauge satisfaction and identify areas for refinement.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Track metrics aligned with training goals to measure scalable improvements in performance and productivity.

Using these methods consistently not only demonstrates program effectiveness but also highlights opportunities for continuous improvement.

Conclusion

Transformational training has the power to drive meaningful change for your team and the organization alike. By measuring its impact through assessments, feedback, and KPIs, you ensure that the training delivers value and fosters a culture of continuous growth. With clear insights and actionable improvements, you maximize the benefits of your program and inspire lasting transformation.

Avantika Anand

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How to Apply Design Thinking in Training Effectively?

In this blog, we’ll explore how design thinking in training transforms programs, helping you and your team achieve impactful outcomes. We’ll also dive into its five major stages, bringing them to life with real-world case studies.

How to Apply Design Thinking in Training Effectively?

Training programs aim to provide interesting and long-lasting experiences. Historically employed in product design, design thinking is transforming training by putting learners first. It focuses on understanding their needs, behaviors, and preferences to ensure training is successful and remembered. In this blog, we’ll explore how design thinking in training transforms programs, helping you and your team achieve impactful outcomes. We’ll also dive into its five major stages, bringing them to life with real-world case studies.

Table of Contents

How to Apply Design Thinking in Training Effectively?

What is Design Thinking in Training?

Design thinking is a problem-solving paradigm that began in design and product development and eventually spread to disciplines such as education and training. Its human-centered approach emphasizes the learner’s experience, shifting the focus away from knowledge and onto how learners engage with it, the obstacles they face, and their motivations.

To apply design thinking, think of the training program as a product and the learners, i.e., your team, as users. Rather than focusing just on information delivery, design thinking pushes you to customize every aspect of the training and development experience for your team. This encompasses the organization and delivery of the content, as well as how team members interact with it. Design thinking in training encourages creativity and flexibility by allowing you to experiment with different formats, technologies, and tactics to improve engagement, retention, and skill application.

Why is Design Thinking Important?

Design thinking is an important part of training initiatives because it,

Enhances Engagement and Effectiveness: Design thinking focuses on your team’s needs and preferences, increasing employee engagement and making training more effective.
Boosts Learner Engagement and Retention: Tailors training to specific learning styles, improving motivation and information retention.
Promotes Collaboration: Encourages collaboration between you and your team to create meaningful and impactful learning experiences.
Increases ROI: Improves employee engagement, productivity, and adaptability, delivering tangible organizational benefits.

The Core Principles of Design Thinking in Training

Design thinking is a game-changer when creating training programs. It brings creativity, collaboration, and a deep understanding of the learner to the forefront. This approach ensures your training isn’t just effective, but engaging and relevant. By focusing on the learner’s experience, you create a more personalized, dynamic learning journey. Let’s explore the core principles of design thinking in training, starting with the human-centered approach.

Human-Centered Approach

Design thinking in training starts with the learner at the center. Why is this so crucial for your training? It’s because effective training programs engage your team and make them feel seen and heard. Empathy, a core component of design thinking, plays a huge role here. Your training becomes more meaningful when you understand your team’s challenges, motivations, and goals. According to the Harvard Business Review, empathy is critical in design thinking. It’s about going beyond basic demographic data and getting to the heart of what learners need: their ambitions, frustrations, and aspirations. When you design training with empathy, it becomes more than just a knowledge dump. It becomes a transformational experience. After all, your training will only produce the desired outcomes if it resonates personally with the your team.

Iterative Development

One of the most powerful aspects of design thinking in training is its iterative process. In simple words, your training plan is always evolving. It’s not about improving as you go. You ensure your training remains relevant and impactful by responding to feedback and real-world testing. The design thinking process includes several recurring stages, like ideation, prototyping, and testing. The goal here is continuous refinement. During ideation sessions, you and your team explore fresh ideas, challenge assumptions, and consider different solutions. Creativity thrives in this environment, and your training evolves into something more engaging and effective. Remember, it’s okay for your training to start imperfectly. What matters is being open to feedback and improving along the way.

Collaborative Problem-Solving

Collaboration is key to successful design thinking in training. Great training doesn’t come from one person’s ideas alone. Instead, it’s the result of collaborative creation, where diverse perspectives and expertise come together. Trainers, instructional designers, subject matter experts, and learners contribute to the process. This collaborative approach generates more creative and practical solutions. When everyone brings their unique insights, it challenges thinking, sparks new ideas, and creates better results. Plus, it encourages a sense of ownership. When everyone involved has a stake in the program’s success, motivation and engagement soar. You work together to create something meaningful, and not just ticking off a task.

The 5 Stages of Design Thinking Applied to Training

Design thinking in training follows a systematic yet flexible approach, typically broken down into five stages: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test. Each stage plays a crucial role in ensuring that the training program meets your team’s needs and aligns with organizational goals. Let’s walk through each stage and how it applies to designing a training course.

Stage 1: Empathize with Learners

The first step in design thinking is empathy. To create effective training, you need to understand your team deeply—what their challenges, preferences, and motivations are. This involves engaging with them directly through surveys, interviews, or observation. The goal is to ensure that your training addresses real problems. By understanding your team better, you design training that connects with them and meets their specific needs. This stage is foundational because it creates a program that resonates and delivers value to your team.

Stage 2: Define the Training Needs

Once you’ve gathered insights from your team, it’s time to define the training needs. This involves identifying skills gaps that your training should address. You take the information from the empathy phase and turn it into clear, actionable objectives. Setting SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) ensures your training program is focused and effective. The key here is to be precise and intentional with your goals. The more specific you are in defining what your team needs, the better equipped you’ll be in designing a targeted, impactful training course.

Stage 3: Ideate Innovative Training Solutions

Now comes the fun part: ideation! This stage involves brainstorming creative and innovative solutions. You collaborate with subject matter experts as well as your team members to generate ideas. The aim is to look at the problem from various angles and explore all possibilities, even unconventional ones. This is where you push the boundaries and experiment with new teaching methods, formats, and technologies. After generating a list of ideas, you refine them, choosing the ones that best meet your training objectives and team needs.

Stage 4: Prototype Training Modules

Prototyping brings your ideas to life. In this stage, you create a basic version of your training module—this could be a concept map, a role-playing scenario, or a draft of an e-learning course. Prototypes are meant to be rough and experimental, so they don’t need to be perfect. The aim is to get feedback early on, so you make improvements before fully committing to the final product. This stage allows you to test your ideas in a low-risk way, saving you time and resources. It’s includes experimenting, learning, and adjusting to find the most effective solution for your training.

Stage 5: Test and Iterate Training Solutions

Testing is an ongoing process. Once your prototype is in front of your team, you gather their feedback and observe how they interact with the training. This lets you identify areas for improvement and refine the content accordingly. Design thinking in training encourages an iterative approach, meaning you’re constantly tweaking and evolving the program based on feedback. You ensure that it remains relevant and effective by continuously testing, improving, and refining your training. This feedback loop allows you to create a training program that adapts over time, staying fresh and impactful.

Real-world Applications of Design Thinking in Training

Design thinking has transformed training programs in many organizations by fostering more efficient, engaging, and learner-centered experiences. Let’s examine two real-world cases where design thinking has been used to improve employee engagement and expedite the onboarding procedure.

Case Study 1: Cisco’s HR Transformation

With an emphasis on enhancing employee engagement and onboarding, Cisco, a world leader in technology, used design thinking to revolutionize its HR procedures. In order to better understand the requirements of its employees, the organization started by developing empathy for them. As a result, a mobile application was created that gave new employees the tools and knowledge they needed to fit in with the team. Consequently, Cisco witnessed higher levels of employee engagement and satisfaction throughout the onboarding process.

Case Study 2: NuAxis Innovations’ Onboarding Improvement

The tech solutions company NuAxis Innovations redesigned its onboarding procedure using design thinking. The HR team was able to identify the unique requirements of new hires by carrying out extensive research to produce thorough personas and journey maps. They subsequently created a more customized and interesting onboarding process, which helped to increase productivity and retention. In the end, this strategy produced a more successful onboarding process, as recruits felt more connected to the company and supported right away. The effectiveness of design thinking in training is amply demonstrated by these case studies. You develop more meaningful and engaging training programs that enhance employee happiness, retention, and overall performance by concentrating on the needs and experiences of the workforce.

Common Challenges in Applying Design Thinking to Training

Design thinking in training transforms your programs, making them more engaging and personalized. However, it comes with its challenges. Overcoming these obstacles, whether it’s resistance to change or balancing creativity with constraints, is essential to fully harness the power of design thinking.

Resistance to Change: Adopting design thinking can be tough, especially if your team is used to traditional methods. To make the transition easier, communicate the benefits clearly and involve key people early. HR assists by offering training and addressing concerns to minimize resistance and build support for the new approach.
Balancing Creativity with Practical Constraints: While design thinking thrives on creativity, real-world limitations like deadlines and budgets hinder innovation. The key is balancing new ideas with practical realities. Encourage creativity, but ensure it aligns with your business objectives to make the training program both innovative and feasible.
Measuring Success: Measuring success with design thinking is tricky since it focuses on qualitative outcomes like learner engagement and skills application. Use surveys, interviews, and key metrics like employee engagement and retention to assess the impact of your training.

Conclusion

Design thinking in training offers numerous benefits by focusing on the learner’s needs and continuously improving through feedback. By embracing this approach, you create more engaging, productive, and tailored learning experiences. Although there will be obstacles—such as resistance to change and the need to balance creativity with practical constraints—tackling them head-on will result in more effective, human-centered training programs that deliver real results. Embracing design thinking revolutionizes how you design and deliver training, ensuring it meets both the needs of your team and the goals of your organization.

Avantika Anand

Ready to Take Your Training Programs to the Next Level?

Transform your training programs with personalized, AI-driven solutions. Start your journey with Risely today!

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How to Craft a Winning Knowledge Transfer Plan?

In this blog, you will explore actionable strategies for building an effective knowledge transfer plan and learn how to measure and enhance its impact on your organization.

How to Craft a Winning Knowledge Transfer Plan?

The ability to transfer knowledge effectively makes or breaks an organization’s success. Whether it’s onboarding new employees or preserving valuable expertise, a strong knowledge transfer plan ensures your team stays productive, innovative, and ready to tackle challenges. In this blog, you will explore actionable strategies for building an effective knowledge transfer plan and learn how to measure and enhance its impact on your organization.

Table of Contents

How to Craft a Winning Knowledge Transfer Plan?

What is Knowledge Transfer?

Knowledge transfer refers to the process of sharing knowledge, skills, and expertise within an organization. It’s a process that ensures you and your team have access to valuable information when you need it. You achieve this through methods like mentoring, formal training sessions, or simply documenting important processes. It’s more than just facts and figures, knowledge transfer also includes tapping into tacit knowledge. This type of knowledge comes from experience and is often shared through hands-on demonstrations or personal stories.

The Strategic Importance of Knowledge Transfer

Imagine how much smoother your work would be if everyone had access to the knowledge they need. Effective knowledge transfer allows you to leverage your team’s collective expertise and stay ahead of the competition. It also ensures that critical knowledge is shared for everyone’s benefit. If someone on your team leaves, you don’t want their departure to disrupt your projects. That’s where a solid knowledge transfer strategy and a reliable knowledge management system save the day. You spark innovation, make better decisions, and adapt quickly to changes in your industry by creating a culture of knowledge sharing.

Tacit vs. Explicit Knowledge: Bridging the Gap

To make the most of knowledge transfer, you need to understand the two types of knowledge: explicit and tacit.

Explicit knowledge is easy to document and includes the manuals, processes, and guides that you already have.
Tacit knowledge, on the other hand, is trickier. It’s the expertise you gain through experience, like instincts, problem-solving skills, or the subtle nuances of a task.

Sharing tacit knowledge requires a hands-on approach. You can use methods like mentoring, job shadowing, or workshops to help your team pass along their hard-earned skills. Combining formal documentation with informal knowledge-sharing methods will help you bridge the gap between explicit and tacit knowledge.

What are the Key Elements of a Knowledge Transfer Plan?

A good knowledge transfer plan requires a solid base to work well. You need to think carefully about the important parts that support how it is built and implemented. These parts work together to form a complete plan that meets the specific knowledge transfer needs of your organization.

1. Identifying and Defining Core Objectives

Before starting the knowledge transfer process, it’s important to set clear goals. These goals should match the bigger goals of the organization. This could mean making employee onboarding better, improving team collaboration, or keeping important institutional knowledge safe. By making SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound), you create a helpful guide for the whole process. For instance, a team member leading a new product launch sets a clear goal to share important product knowledge with the sales and marketing teams by a certain date.

2. Designating Roles and Responsibilities

A good knowledge transfer plan defines who does what for everyone included. Find subject matter experts who know a lot and will help with knowledge sharing. Make sure to tell each member of your team what is expected of them. Expectation setting is important for everyone to know their role. For instance, when an employee leaves, they should write down their processes and at the same time, a mentor helps new hires understand and use this knowledge.

3. Setting Clear Timelines and Milestones

A good knowledge transfer plan needs a clear timeline with specific goals. This ensures that the process moves smoothly and stays focused. Look at the complexity and depth of the information while setting timelines and milestones. For instance, make deadlines for finishing training modules, writing down processes, or reaching certain skill levels.

4. Defining Success Metrics

It’s important to set clear KPIs that match your original goals to check how well your plan is working. These metrics help you see progress, find ways to improve, and show the real benefits of knowledge transfer plans to the stakeholders. For instance, you can measure how long it takes for new hires to be fully productive or see if there are fewer mistakes in certain tasks after the conduction of the knowledge transfer program by observing these metrics.

Developing a Tailored Knowledge Transfer Strategy

Creating a good knowledge transfer strategy is important. It lays the groundwork for information sharing that meets the requirements of your organization. You ensure that the knowledge transfer is effective and meets your goals by following the plan. It all comes down to adopting a smart approach to maximize the effectiveness of your knowledge transfer initiatives.

Aligning Knowledge Transfer with Organizational Goals

For knowledge transfer to be effective, it must match the main goals of the organization. Start by figuring out the important knowledge needed to reach these goals. This could include improving customer satisfaction, making operations smoother, or encouraging innovation. Next, create a structured knowledge transfer plan. This plan should focus on delivering the essential knowledge to the right people or teams. Make sure your plan works well with current knowledge management systems. This will help everyone access the information easily and keep it for the long term.

Categorizing Knowledge Types and Tailoring Methods

It’s important to understand your knowledge types to choose the best methods for sharing them. Explicit knowledge includes things like rules or procedures. You share this type through documents and online courses. Tacit knowledge, which an individual gains from experience, is better shared through mentoring, job shadowing, or hands-on workshops. When you understand the different ways knowledge is learned and shared, you learn how to use knowledge transfer tools and methods to be more effective.

Creating a Knowledge Transfer Framework

To streamline the process, consider developing a knowledge transfer framework or a knowledge transfer plan template. This template provides a standardized structure for capturing essential information, outlining objectives, identifying stakeholders, and defining success metrics. Below is a simple example of a knowledge transfer template:

Practical Steps to Create Your Knowledge Transfer Plan

With the foundation and key ideas in place, it’s time to focus on the actionable steps to develop your knowledge transfer plan. Follow these steps to establish a solid framework for an effective and reliable knowledge transfer process:

1. Assessing Skills Gaps and Prioritizing Transfer Needs

The first step in making your plan is to look closely at what your team needs. You need to identify and analyze skills gaps where knowledge must be shared to keep things running smoothly. Use a skills gap analysis template for this purpose. For instance, if a senior engineer with important skills is about to retire, ensure their critical knowledge is shared. Use surveys, talk to people, and watch how things are done to find these gaps. This will help you plan better training sessions.

2. Selecting the Right Knowledge Transfer Techniques

Once you know the knowledge that needs to be shared, choose the best knowledge transfer techniques. Think about the kind of knowledge, how your team prefers to learn, and what resources you have. For instance, formal training experiences such as workshops could work well for teaching technical skills. On the other hand, mentoring will be better for sharing knowledge based on experience. Try different methods like online platforms, peer learning sessions, and fun learning games. These will help you make an effective knowledge transfer plan that keeps your team engaged.

3. Executing the Knowledge Transfer Checklist

Before you start your plan, make a detailed knowledge transfer checklist. This checklist should cover all the important items including tasks, such as getting approval from stakeholders, creating training materials, and establishing communication channels. Make sure that everyone has access to the right information and resources for the knowledge transfer process. Regularly check and update this checklist to keep everything running smoothly and effectively.

Engaging Knowledge Transfer Activities for Success

Add interactive activities to create a culture of continuous learning and improve your knowledge transfer plan. These activities will encourage your team to participate actively and increase the retention of knowledge.

Mentoring and Coaching: Building Personal Connections

Mentoring and coaching are great ways to share knowledge through personal connections. You match seasoned employees with newer ones in your team to guide them, share insights, and tell best practices in a friendly setting. The one-on-one meetings allow for specific advice and feedback helping your team grow faster.

Job Shadowing and On-the-Job Training

Job shadowing gives your team the chance to learn by observing experienced colleagues. It allows them to see how tasks are performed and pick up practical skills firsthand. When combined with structured on-the-job training, job shadowing bridges the gap between theoretical learning and real-world application. This approach is effective for roles that require technical skills or hands-on expertise, providing your team with a safe environment to practice and apply their knowledge.

Documentation and Knowledge Repositories for Long-Term Retention

Interactive methods are essential, but establishing a system for documentation is equally important for retaining valuable knowledge over time. Establish a centralized knowledge base or use shared drives to store critical documents, presentations, and training materials. Organize this information using categories and keywords to make it easily searchable and accessible to everyone on your team. Regularly review and update these knowledge repositories to ensure the information remains accurate and relevant.

Measuring and Enhancing Knowledge Transfer Effectiveness

Once your knowledge transfer plan is in action, assessing its effectiveness and identifying ways to improve it is essential. This ongoing process ensures that your efforts align with organizational goals and deliver tangible benefits. You should measure and enhance your knowledge transfer process using the following steps:

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Knowledge Transfer

Tracking the right KPIs lets you evaluate the success of your plan. Focus on:

Speed of Onboarding: Measure how quickly new team members acquire critical knowledge and adapt to their roles.
Knowledge Sharing Frequency: Track how often team members actively share knowledge, whether informally or through structured channels.
Utilization of Tools: Assess how effectively they use tools like knowledge transfer templates or repositories to share and access information.
Skill Retention and Application: Monitor how well your team retains valuable knowledge and applies new skills to their work.
Engagement with Knowledge Platforms: Check how actively they interact with your knowledge management system or learning tools.

Collecting Feedback for Continuous Improvement

Regular feedback ensures your knowledge transfer process stays effective and relevant. Some methods to gather and use it are:

Surveys: Distribute surveys to capture insights from both knowledge sharers and recipients about the clarity, usefulness, and accessibility of shared information.
Feedback Sessions: Host weekly feedback meetings where your team members discuss what’s working and what needs adjustment.
Open Channels for Input: Create an always-available platform for your team to share their ideas or concerns about the knowledge transfer process. In case your team is not comfortable providing direct feedback, use anonymous feedback tools, such as Candor by Risely, for privacy.

Ask targeted questions like:

Was the information shared clear and easy to understand?
Did the method of sharing (e.g., job shadowing, documentation) suit your learning preferences?
What improvements would you suggest for future knowledge-sharing efforts?

You will create a culture of learning and improvement by continuously measuring results and acting on feedback that keeps your knowledge transfer efforts dynamic and impactful.

Conclusion

Knowledge transfer is very important for success in your organization. It connects hidden knowledge with clear knowledge. To create a good plan, you need to set clear goals, roles, and timelines. Fun activities like mentoring and writing things down retain knowledge for a long time. A strong knowledge transfer plan helps teams do well and adjust when needed.

Avantika Anand

Ready to Elevate Your Knowledge Transfer Strategy?

Discover how Risely empowers your team with tools for seamless knowledge sharing and leadership development.

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Building The Right Learning Architecture To Support Employee Growth

In this blog, we’ll walk you through how designing the right learning architecture transforms your workforce and gives your organization the edge it needs to flourish in today’s ever-changing business world.

Building The Right Learning Architecture To Support Employee Growth

Your employees are the backbone of your organisation’s success, and investing in their growth is the smartest move you make. But where does it all start? With a strong learning architecture—a strategic framework that doesn’t just train your workforce but empowers them to thrive. When you build a well-structured learning system, you give your team the tools they need to grow, stay productive, and contribute to your organisation’s long-term success. It’s about more than just skills; it’s about creating a culture of continuous improvement and adaptability. In this blog, we’ll walk you through how designing the right learning architecture transforms your workforce and gives your organization the edge it needs to flourish in today’s ever-changing business world.

Table of Contents

Building The Right Learning Architecture To Support Employee Growth

What is Learning Architecture?

Learning architecture is the strategic framework that shapes how learning initiatives are designed, delivered, and evaluated within your organization. It encompasses everything from clear learning paths, available resources, and training programs to the integration of the latest technologies.

This architecture ensures that every learning experience is closely aligned with your business goals, facilitating skill development, increasing employee engagement, and boosting overall performance. A well-structured learning architecture fosters a coherent atmosphere in which your team grows, develops their talents, and contributes to your organization’s success. By providing targeted learning experiences, your team will be equipped with the skills necessary to flourish in their professions and develop their careers. However, learning architecture encompasses more than just skill development. It also increases engagement and retention, both of which lead to improved employee performance. When you create a clear, meaningful learning framework, you help to nurture a workforce that is adaptive, ready to face new challenges, and prepared to support long-term growth.

What are the Key Components of a Winning Learning Architecture?

An effective learning architecture is an interconnected system that promotes both company growth and personnel development. To be effective, your learning architecture must have a well-aligned and personalized learning plan, a variety of learning techniques, a strong technology infrastructure, and a clear mechanism for analyzing the impact of educational activities. Personalized learning paths are a critical element of this system. Your team members have diverse learning preferences, so offering tailored experiences is essential. Personalized learning helps boost engagement, enhance retention, and drive motivation. Customizing learning to meet individual needs ensures that your employees remain connected to their growth and development within the company.

Defining Learning Strategy Aligned with Business Goals

Creating a clear learning strategy begins with a deep understanding of your organization’s long-term vision and the identification of skills gaps that need to be addressed. By setting SMART goals—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound—you ensure that your learning initiatives are results-driven and directly contribute to business success. This targeted approach guarantees that every training program plays a vital role in improving performance and increasing productivity.

Identifying Learning Modalities: Blended, eLearning, and On-the-Job Training

A comprehensive learning architecture integrates multiple learning modalities to meet the diverse needs of your team. Key learning methods include:

eLearning: Technology-driven, flexible training that your employees access at their own pace. It’s ideal for self-directed learning, providing efficiency and accessibility for your team.
On-the-Job Training: Hands-on learning experiences that enable employees to immediately apply new skills in the workplace, bridging the gap between theory and practice.
Blended Learning: A combination of online modules and in-person workshops that promotes flexibility, encourages interaction, and enhances collaboration across various learning preferences.

The key to success lies in selecting the right mix of these modalities, tailored to meet both individual learning preferences and organizational objectives. By integrating these methods, you significantly boost engagement, improve retention, and drive measurable business results.

What are the Steps to Build a Robust Learning Architecture?

Building a robust learning architecture needs careful strategic planning, smooth execution, and continuous review. It should be consistent with your organization’s aims while remaining adaptable enough to changing needs. Below is how you create a framework that supports growth and success for your organization:

1. Assess Your Current Learning Ecosystem

To build a robust learning architecture, begin by assessing your existing learning programs, resources, and platforms. This evaluation helps determine how well they align with your organization’s goals and address any skill gaps. It’s important to identify areas that need improvement, such as outdated content, new tools, or better delivery methods. This foundational step ensures that your learning architecture is relevant, responsive, and capable of supporting your team’s evolving needs.

2. Leverage Technology to Enhance Learning

Once you’ve evaluated your current system, the next step is to incorporate the right technology to improve the learning experience. Tools like Learning Management Systems (LMS), video conferencing platforms, and gamified elements make learning more accessible and engaging for employees. These technologies allow you to track progress, provide personalized learning experiences, and keep employees motivated throughout their development. The right tech not only enhances accessibility but also amplifies the reach and impact of your learning initiatives.

3. Design Personalized Learning Paths

Personalization is key to a successful learning architecture. By creating tailored learning paths that cater to the individual preferences and career goals of your team, you enhance engagement and retention. This approach ensures that learning is relevant and aligned with both your team’s personal growth and your organization’s objectives. When employees feel their development is personalized, they remain more invested in their learning, which drives both their individual success and organizational growth.

4. Integrate Continuous Feedback and Evaluation

Building a strong learning architecture requires ongoing constructive feedback and evaluation. Regularly collecting feedback from employees helps you understand their challenges and any areas of improvement in the learning experience. Using performance metrics, you assess the effectiveness of your initiatives and make adjustments where necessary. Continuous feedback creates a dynamic learning environment, enabling your organization to quickly adapt to the changing needs of your team and ensure that learning stays relevant.

5. Foster a Culture of Lifelong Learning

Lastly, build a culture of lifelong learning within your organization. Leaders play a crucial role in promoting this mindset by encouraging continuous development opportunities. Encourage knowledge sharing, collaboration, and mentorship to ensure that learning is ingrained in your team’s daily activities. By supporting a culture that values learning, you ensure that your organization stays adaptable and ready to face future challenges. A lifelong learning culture not only benefits employees but also helps your organization stay competitive and future-ready. By following these steps, you build a learning architecture that empowers employees and supports long-term success, ensuring your organization is prepared to thrive in an ever-evolving landscape.

The Benefits of an Integrated Learning System

An integrated learning system simplifies the learning experience for your team and your organization. By centralizing all learning resources on a single platform, they easily access the materials they need, reducing confusion and saving valuable time. Real-time insights into learner progress, engagement, and the impact of learning initiatives allow you to make data-driven decisions, enhancing the effectiveness of your programs. With everything in one place, you streamline content delivery and tracking, making the entire learning process more efficient. This accessibility empowers your employees to take control of their learning journeys, enabling them to upskill at their own pace and stay engaged. As a result, your organization will see an increase in productivity and smoother integration of new skills into the workplace, leading to improved performance.

Boosting Engagement and Knowledge Retention

Creating an environment where your employees are motivated to engage actively and retain what they’ve learned is critical. When employees engage meaningfully with the content, they are more likely to apply their knowledge and continue developing their skills. Consider incorporating interactive elements such as quizzes, polls, and real-world scenarios to increase engagement. Interactive learning experiences have been shown to significantly boost retention by bridging the gap between theory and practical application. According to research by Vorecol, these experiences lead to improved long-term retention and greater employee engagement in corporate training. This approach not only makes learning more enjoyable but also ensures that employees are better prepared to apply their new skills effectively. For instance, Laing O’Rourke, a leading construction firm, transformed its staff training by adopting “bite-sized” courses, inspired by social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok. This innovative method led to a dramatic increase in employee engagement. Previously, 80 employees were trained each month, but now over 700 employees are actively engaging with training materials every month. An engaging learning experience makes learning delightful, which promotes long-term retention. Your team is more likely to return to the topic and use what they’ve learned in the workplace, resulting in long-term behavior changes and enhanced performance.

Measuring the ROI of Learning Initiatives on Organizational Performance

Measuring the return on investment (ROI) of your learning programs is essential to understanding their impact on your organization. Key metrics include:

Course completion rates: Assess employee engagement and commitment.
Knowledge retention: Measure how much employees remember and apply after training.
Behavioural shifts: Observe changes in employee behaviour and performance on the job.

By tracking these metrics, you identify areas for improvement and refine your strategies for greater impact. However, true ROI goes beyond the numbers. It links learning outcomes to tangible business results. Whether your goal is to boost productivity, enhance specific skills, or increase sales, measuring these elements helps you understand the true value of your investment in employee development.

Overcoming Common Challenges in Learning Architecture Implementation

Implementing a learning architecture is revolutionary, but it is not without problems. Common difficulties include resistance to change, technological challenges, and budgetary limits. Overcoming these challenges requires a mix of strong leadership, a clear strategy, and a learning-centered culture. As an L&D leader, you play a critical role in driving transformation within your organization. By embracing continuous learning yourself, you set the example for your entire team, building a culture where growth and development are prioritized. When your team sees you valuing their growth, they are more likely to adopt the same mindset, leading to a ripple effect across the organization. You ensure a smoother transition by identifying potential challenges early and addressing them proactively keeping your organization on course to achieve its goals.

Navigating Technological Challenges in Learning Systems

Technological challenges often play a major role in the successful implementation of a learning architecture. One of the biggest hurdles is selecting the right Learning Management System (LMS). A poor choice in LMS leads to inefficiencies and low user adoption. You must select a system that fits your organization’s unique needs, aligns with your learning objectives, and fits within your budget. Data security is another vital consideration when integrating new technology. Ensuring the protection of sensitive employee data through strong cybersecurity measures and compliance with privacy regulations is non-negotiable. With remote work becoming more common, ensuring your LMS is accessible from different locations and devices is essential. Collaborating closely with your IT teams to ensure that connectivity and infrastructure requirements are met will assist in creating a seamless experience for your team.

Cultivating a Continuous Learning Culture in the Workplace

A successful learning architecture is closely tied to fostering a culture of continuous learning. To build this culture, organizations must encourage employees to view learning as an ongoing process, not just a one-time event. Supporting a growth mindset, backed by effective leadership, is key to embedding this philosophy throughout the workforce. You should actively promote the value of learning by investing in development opportunities and creating an environment where knowledge-sharing and collaboration are encouraged. This not only helps employees grow but also strengthens the adaptability and resilience of your organization. A culture of continuous learning ensures that your team stays engaged and is prepared to meet both current and future challenges. With this mindset in place, your organization will stay ahead of the curve, fostering a workforce that is ready to innovate and thrive in an ever-evolving business landscape.

Conclusion

Building a robust learning architecture is essential for your employees’ growth and your organization’s success. By aligning your learning strategies with business goals, embracing cutting-edge technologies, and fostering a culture of continuous development, your organization will not only keep pace with change—it will lead it. Investing in the right learning architecture ensures that your workforce remains prepared for the future, driving both individual and organizational success in an increasingly digital world.

Avantika Anand

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Discover Risely’s AI-powered coaching and personalized learning paths, designed to drive real impact.

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Competency assessments are old school, more so for managers

While running an organization, we are always searching for the best or the most competent, as they say. But here’s the thing: Are we defining competencies properly? That’s a big question for people management roles, which need a mix of people and functional skills that are harder to track than the usual ideas. Our conventional methods of competency assessments, like test scores and performance reviews done by managers, need an overhaul. This change is moving toward a broader approach that considers the many different sides of leadership competencies and the ability to adjust when faced with change. In this blogpost, we will explore competency assessments for managers in detail.

Table of Contents

Competency assessments are old school, more so for managers

What are competency assessments?

Competency assessments are a crucial tool used by organizations to evaluate an individual’s skills, experience, and competencies against job requirements and duties. They play a pivotal role in various stages of recruitment, ensuring that the right talent is matched with the right roles. Skills denote one’s ability to perform specific tasks, while competencies encompass attributes essential for a particular role’s success. Understanding core, functional, and behavioral competencies allows organizations to build a well-rounded workforce capable of achieving business goals effectively.

What are the three types of competencies at work?

The three types of competencies at work are core competencies, functional competencies, and behavioral competencies.

Core competencies are essential skills required by all employees regardless of their role.
Functional competencies are job-specific skills needed to perform tasks effectively.
Behavioral competencies relate to personality traits and workplace behavior critical for success in a particular role.

For example, a manager’s core competencies will include strategic thinking and effective communication. There functional competencies expand work areas like budget management and financial planning, performance evaluation and helpful feedback delivery, and project management methodologies. Lastly, a manager’s behavioral competencies include emotional intelligence and empathy.

What are the different types of competency assessments?

Different types of competency assessments include:

Self-assessment involves individuals evaluating their own skills and competencies.
Peer assessment involves colleagues providing feedback on one’s abilities.
Supervisor assessment entails managers assessing an individual’s performance.
360-degree assessment gathers feedback from multiple sources to provide a comprehensive view of an individual’s strengths and areas for development.

Where are competency assessments used?

Competency assessments are commonly used in various aspects of human resource management, such as recruitment and selection, performance appraisals, career development, training and development, succession planning, and organizational restructuring. They help organizations identify and develop talent, match individuals to suitable roles, and enhance overall workforce effectiveness. Competency assessments also play a crucial role in identifying skill gaps and designing targeted training programs to address them, ultimately contributing to the organization’s success and growth. For example, a competency assessment for all the new managers in your organization can reveal different areas of improvement and inform decision in the L&D strategy.

What do competency assessments miss?

Competency assessments have been around for ages. So, why are we calling for a change? There are good reasons. Many of them. Let’s look further into why competency assessments need a revamp really quickly.

#1 Competency assessments are static measurements

Traditional competency models used to be very modern. But now they have trouble keeping up with how quickly jobs change. These models mainly looked at technical skills and management skills based on clear work roles. With technology moving fast and job roles shifting, the skills needed for success are always changing. In fact, with the advent of tech like AI that promises to replace at least a few aspects of jobs as we see them today, the skills your people need to develop will rapidly change. As per McKinsey’s research, jobs will require technological, social, and emotional skills by 2023 as compared to physical, manual and basic cognitive capabilities. This points to a need for improving competency assessments as well, since the older metrics will no longer remain valuable.

#2 Dynamic job requirements are not accurately captured

This change means we need to shift from strict, one-size-fits-all assessments to more flexible and personal methods. These methods should meet the specific needs of individuals and organizations. Career development today is a journey, not a final goal. Because of this, competency assessments should look at a person’s potential to grow, adjust, and take on new challenges. They should not just assess current skills.

#3 Binary answers don’t show us the scope of progress

Instead, well-rounded competency assessments must showcase the scope of progress and potential gaps to fill. For instance, a manager unable to communicate assertively should not just be tracked on that skill. They need a comprehensive system that also explains the gap, the particular areas where it is impacting, and how to improve there.

Why should leadership development programs move on from competency assessments?

Modern leadership development programs are changing. They are moving away from a one-size-fits-all method. Instead, they focus on customizing development plans. This helps accommodate diverse leadership styles and different learning preferences. Organizations understand that there is no single “right” way to lead. They use a more personalized approach to create effective leaders at all levels. This process considers each person’s strengths, weaknesses, proficiency level in certain skills, and how they prefer to learn. By understanding what each leader needs and wants, organizations can help them grow. This way, leaders can lead effectively in their own unique style. Where do competency assessments come into this equation? For most leadership development programs, the story begins with an assessment. It helps the L&D and HR professionals like you define what is to be taught in the next four or six weeks of training. But the trouble strikes when the assessment is not comprehensive enough. As we noted above, there are three types of competencies. If we take the case of a marketing leader, it looks broadly like this:

Core Competencies	Functional Competencies	Behavioral Competencies
Strategic thinking and market analysis Data-driven decision making Cross-functional collaboration Digital literacy and technological adaptability	Marketing strategy development and execution Marketing analytics and metrics interpretation Budget management and ROI analysis Content strategy and development	Creative leadership and innovation fostering Consumer-centric mindset Adaptability to market changes and trends Team inspiration and motivation Stakeholder relationship management

An assessment should ideally cover all these fronts. However, if you look at the popular solutions available to test competencies of marketing managers, you’ll be in for a surprise. Most of the competency assessments and frameworks are not made to offer well-rounded pictures. Instead, you will find fractured results that scarcely cover the entire profile. The damage is greater regarding leadership development programs because leadership calls for a mix of functional and people skills. You cannot skimp on either side without expecting disaster. As a result, the heavily functional competency assessments and programs for managers must be supplemented with accurate assessments of people skills which does not bind itself to hard definitions but rather points to areas of improvement for diverse leaders and managers.

How to replace competency assessments for managers?

Gone are the days when just having a fixed set of skills would ensure lasting success. Today’s workplace needs leaders. These leaders should be skilled in their areas but must also have emotional intelligence, adaptability, and teamwork skills. They must be able to handle tough problems and motivate their teams. This means we need to change how we look at and grow leadership potential. Since we understand competency assessments for managers are not fail-proof. What else can we do to improve the scenario?

Embrace continuous assessments rather than one-shot options

First up, instead of taking assessments at set intervals. Spread them out across the calendar year. ❌Traditional Approach (Not Recommended):
All assessments done quarterly – March, June, September, December March: Evaluate all 12 team members
June: Evaluate all 12 team members
September: Evaluate all 12 team members
December: Evaluate all 12 team members ✔️Spread-Out Approach (Recommended): Using a team member “Sarah” as an example for a year-long schedule, we get:

When?	What?
January 15th	Core Performance Review
March 28th	Campaign Effectiveness Check
June 10th	Skills Development Review
August 22nd	Project Impact Assessment
November 5th	Leadership Capability Review
December 12th	Year-End Strategic Planning

That will help you make the exercise more comprehensive and robust with detailed insights. It also saves your actions from falling into the trap of recency bias. But that’s not all! Spreading out evaluations across a longer timeline also ensures that your supervisors have the time needed to invest in proper assessments. For instance, you should:

Schedule campaign reviews after major campaign completions
Time skill assessments before training budget planning
Place strategic reviews before annual planning season

This approach creates a more natural flow aligned with actual work patterns rather than arbitrary quarterly deadlines. That’s how you save competency assessments from becoming yet another box to tick.

Use multiple modes of competency assessments

Not all competencies are made to be measured on the same scale. As we saw above, there are many modes of competency assessments. Using any of them alone is likely to give you a partial view of the situation. Carrying the above example forward, for our marketing manager Sarah, we can explore:

Performance against KPIs
Skill development progress
Project-specific outcomes
Leadership growth
Team management effectiveness
Strategic contribution

Our conventional competency assessments start to falter as we move away from core and functional areas to more behavioral ones. What’s the way out, then? L&D pros should use holistic competency assessments such as leadership skills assessments by Risely, which offer dual levels:

First, the manager does a self-assessment on the particular leadership skill.
Second, their team shares feedback anonymously.

The detailed report in the skill center then features insights from both these areas. Plus, it breaks down the collected data at the level of sub-skills. As a result, a manager can understand where exactly they need to work, as opposed to generic assessments and scores on particular skills.

Don’t stop at competency assessments for managers!

Assessments are not the end of the story. They are the beginning. Rather than just checking off a list of functional competencies, in the next step, you should adopt a more flexible and thoughtful method. This learning and development strategy should reflect the changing nature of work, the value of soft skills, and the need for ongoing personal and professional growth – all culminating into personalized learning plans for leaders. AI will be your best buddy on this journey. Modern-day AI-powered solutions for leadership development like Risely are helping L&D teams scale up access to leadership coaching and reach more people than ever. Our solutions strike at the right spot – increasing support for much-needed but often scarce services that are critical to the growth of your managers and leaders. While old-school systems like competency assessments are calling it a day, it’s high time you join the AI-powered learning bandwagon.

Wrapping up

Competency assessments for today’s leaders need a broad approach. This means we should look beyond just the usual methods. We can improve leadership by adding emotional intelligence and flexible leadership skills. It’s also important to focus on how teams work together and to use real-life projects. This way, managers can build the many skills they need in a fast-changing work world. Using new ways to evaluate performance, like constant feedback and peer reviews, helps with regular improvement. Combining numbers with personal insights gives a complete picture of how well managers lead. As we progress toward using predictive analytics and custom development plans, the future of leadership programs will include different leadership styles. It will also use technology to help leaders grow continuously and succeed.

Deeksha 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.

Setting the right goals defines the accuracy of your path to success!

In this blog, we’ll explore what is group coaching, how it elevates your team’s performance and transforms organizational culture to create a foundation for success and resilience.

What is Group Coaching? Elevating Team Dynamics to New Heights

Traditional training methods often fail to address today’s complex team dynamics and organizational challenges. Group coaching, however, leverages the strength of collective growth within an organizational setting, fostering both your and your team’s development while aligning everyone with organizational goals. This approach not only accelerates progress but also inspires meaningful, lasting change. In this blog, we’ll explore what is group coaching, and how it elevates your team’s performance and transforms organizational culture to create a foundation for success and resilience.

Table of Contents

What is Group Coaching? Elevating Team Dynamics to New Heights

What is Group Coaching?

Group coaching is a structured process for fostering personal growth and team success, highlighting the benefits of leadership coaching in a group setting. Led by an experienced coach, group sessions focus on goal-oriented discussions and real-world challenges involving a group of individuals who share common goals. Participants collaborate, problem-solve, and brainstorm together to reach actionable solutions. This approach leverages the power of shared experiences, creating a rich environment where your team members learn from each other’s successes and setbacks. They gain new insights, reinforce accountability, and build a resilient problem-solving culture.

The Impact of Group Coaching

Group coaching transforms team dynamics and boosts organizational performance by building a collaborative learning environment:

Accelerated Learning: Your team learns new concepts faster by sharing their experiences and strategies. For instance, one member might share a successful approach to boost team morale that others adopt, speeding up learning across the group.
Enhanced Accountability: Group coaching fosters a culture where team members support and hold each other accountable for their goals. For instance, a group of managers might set collective objectives to improve team engagement and regularly check in to track progress.
Improved Team Dynamics: This method helps resolve interpersonal challenges and enhance communication, leading to better collaboration. For instance, a team with conflicting work styles might explore new techniques to work more effectively together, aligning efforts and building cohesion.

Group coaching sessions, facilitated by certified coaches, encourage open dialogue and peer support, catering to different learning styles. Team members engage in regular live group meetings that offer opportunities for reflection, strategy refinement, and celebrating shared successes. Additional resources, like online learning and development tools or an online course membership model, keep participants engaged and support their ongoing development.

Group Coaching vs. Individual Coaching

Understanding the differences between group and individual coaching assists you choose the best approach based on your team’s goals and needs.

Group Coaching

Group coaching is designed to enhance team dynamics by fostering collaboration, trust, and collective performance among diverse people. For instance, a cross-functional team comprising marketing, sales, and product development may share a common objective, such as launching an innovative product. However, working in isolation across departments create silos and hinder progress. Group coaching encourages team members to openly share ideas, align priorities, and solve problems together. This process breaks down barriers, builds trust, and strengthens the team’s ability to work cohesively, ultimately improving overall performance and achieving common goals.

Individual Coaching

Individual coaching focuses on personal growth and leadership development. It is often used to help individuals refine specific skills, such as strategic thinking or decision-making, and navigate career transitions. For instance, a newly promoted manager may face challenges in leading a team through a significant change. Individual coaching provides tailored guidance, helping the manager develop the skills needed to succeed in their role, such as managing large-scale initiatives, improving communication, and making confident decisions. This one-on-one approach ensures that leadership capabilities are aligned with personal goals and the organization’s needs.

Blended Approach

In some cases, a combination of both coaching styles is most effective. Group coaching establishes alignment and collaboration at the beginning of a project or team restructuring. As the project progresses and leadership responsibilities increase, individual coaching is introduced to address more specific developmental needs, such as emotional intelligence or conflict management. This approach ensures that both team cohesion and individual leadership growth are prioritized, offering a holistic solution that enhances both collaboration and leadership effectiveness. By understanding the strengths of each coaching method and how they complement one another, you strategically integrate both to maximize team performance and individual development, ensuring that both the team and the organization achieve long-term success.

How to Design an Effective Group Coaching Program?

Designing a successful group coaching program involves structuring it carefully around the following key elements:

Clear and Measurable Goals: Set objectives tailored to your team’s needs.
Optimal Program Structure: Choose the right group size, session frequency, and duration to keep your team engaged.
Comprehensive Curriculum Development: Include interactive exercises, group discussions, and hands-on learning to enhance the coaching experience.
Diverse Learning Styles: Use visual aids, role-playing, and reflective exercises to accommodate different learning preferences.
Engagement Strategies: Incorporate storytelling and real-world scenarios to make the program relatable and ensure active participation.

How Do You Customize Group Coaching for Your Organization’s Objectives?

Customizing group coaching for your team begins with a clear understanding of your L&D strategy. You need to define the leadership skills and behaviors that will drive success and align directly with your goals. What are the challenges your organization is facing? How does coaching bridge the skill gaps and propel your team toward these objectives? Tailoring the coaching to these needs ensures it remains focused and impactful, targeting areas such as strategic thinking, decision-making, and collaboration across teams. Once the goals are set, it’s crucial to understand your team’s specific needs. Here’s how you customize coaching for your team:

Assess the strengths and weaknesses within your team.
Identify common pain points or skills gaps.
Design activities that allow your team to learn from one another’s experiences, accelerating growth.

Incorporating your organization’s values, culture, and mission into the coaching program is vital. By aligning coaching content with these core elements, you ensure that the lessons learned during sessions support not only the immediate goals but also long-term objectives. For instance, if innovation is a core value, focus on creative problem-solving skills and agility in leadership to reinforce these principles. This alignment assists leaders in internalizing the values that shape their organization’s culture and strengthens their ability to lead by instance. Finally, to measure success and continuously refine the coaching process, it’s important to establish clear, measurable outcomes. By tracking specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), you assess whether the coaching program is delivering results. These are some key metrics to measure:

Leadership effectiveness and decision-making.
Enhanced team communication and collaboration.
Improved employee retention and engagement.

Tracking these outcomes will assist you evaluate progress and make any necessary adjustments to ensure that the coaching stays relevant and aligned with your organization’s evolving needs.

How to Strengthen Leadership Through Group Coaching?

Group coaching is a powerful tool for developing leadership by fostering collaboration, accountability, and personal growth. It allows your team to gain insights not only from a coach but also from their peers. It elevates your team’s leadership development by:

Fostering a Collaborative Leadership Culture

Group coaching creates an environment where your team members exchange ideas, challenge assumptions, and gain new perspectives. This enhances critical thinking skills, decision-making, and creativity, strengthening their ability to inspire and guide teams.

Providing a Safe Space for Reflection and Growth

Leadership often comes with high pressure, leaving little time for self-reflection. Group coaching offers a structured, safe space for your team to assess their styles and challenges, fostering personal and professional development and nurturing authentic leadership.

Developing Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

Group coaching helps your team enhance their emotional intelligence—key to effective leadership. Through peer interactions, they improve their ability to manage emotions, resolve conflicts, and build trust, leading to stronger team dynamics and performance.

Creating Opportunities for Peer-to-Peer Learning

One of the greatest strengths of group coaching is peer learning. Your team members share real-world challenges and their solutions, fostering accountability and encouraging risk-taking. This collective learning boosts problem-solving and enhances manager effectiveness.

Strengthening Accountability

Group coaching builds a culture of accountability, where your team sets clear goals and holds each other responsible for progress. This drives continuous improvement and pushes leaders to grow beyond their comfort zones, advancing both their skills and organizational objectives.

Aligning Leadership Development with Organizational Goals

For group coaching to be effective, it must align with your organization’s objectives. Tailoring coaching to enhance skills like strategic thinking, communication, or teamwork ensures your team’s growth directly contributes to the organization’s success. Incorporating group coaching into your leadership strategy promotes collective growth, making your team more resilient and capable of driving long-term success.

How Does Technology Enhance the Group Coaching Experience?

Technology significantly enhances group coaching by offering tools that streamline your team’s collaboration, communication skills, and learning. Virtual platforms like Zoom, along with a dedicated coaching platform for business, make it easy for teams to connect and engage, no matter where they’re located. Risely- an AI Copilot for Leadership Development, is available on platforms like Slack and provides its feature Merlin- the AI Leadership Coach, directly to your team on the platform. Your team gets access to coaching whenever and wherever they want because of such technological advancements. Learning management systems (LMS) also provide a valuable extension to group coaching. A lot of coaches utilize these platforms as they offer additional resources, track individual and team progress, and allow for on-demand learning so that your team gets to revisit content as needed. Elements like Risely’s daily Nudges share actionable tips to your team members to maintain daily progress. Additionally, an online type of program complements programs like these to create a dynamic learning environment, keeping your team engaged long after coaching sessions wrap up. Together, these technologies create a cohesive, flexible coaching experience that encourages lifelong learning and development.

Conclusion

Investing in group coaching builds a resilient workforce, promotes collaboration, and aligns teams with a shared vision. This collective growth empowers organizations to face challenges head-on, explore the potential of group coaching to drive consistent performance and secure sustainable success. Group coaching is not just a tool for improvement; it’s a strategic path toward a more adaptable and future-ready coaching business.

Avantika Anand

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The L&D Manager’s Guide to E-learning Content Development

It’s high time e-learning content development got a much-needed revamp. After all, no one enjoys cookie-cutter text and visuals sprinkled with a bit of dialogue and a couple of quizzes. The need is obvious; the trouble lies in shaping this content development process to accurately reflect the present realities. In this blog, we will explore ways to supercharge your team’s e-learning content development. It will give you the knowledge and tools you need to make interesting e-learning courses that keep learners at work truly engaged.

Table of Contents

The L&D Manager’s Guide to E-learning Content Development

What is e-learning content development?

E-learning began with distance education programs in the early 1900s. When computers came along, digital learning began to grow faster. This led to the creation of computer-based training (CBT) programs. Over time, e-learning changed from simple text-based lessons to exciting, interactive experiences filled with multimedia. The rise of the internet and mobile devices made digital learning even easier and more available to everyone. Now, e-learning includes many types of formats, such as online courses, virtual classrooms, webinars, and mobile learning. In the latest updates, e-learning is taking an AI-powered avatar which focuses on personalization and scaling learning and development strategies.

E-learning content development refers to the process of building the learning content, the design experience and it’s delivery mechanisms. It aims to create great learning experiences, provide value to teams and support them in reaching business outcomes with effective learning and development.

What are the common formats of e-learning content?

There are many options in the market for e-learning content development! Each format of delivering e-learning offers unique opportunities to engage learners and deliver information effectively. Choosing the right format depends on the learning objectives and audience preferences.

Online courses provide structured learning modules accessible anytime, anywhere.
Virtual classrooms simulate a traditional classroom experience through live interactions and discussions.
Webinars offer real-time presentations and allow for participant engagement.
Mobile learning caters to on-the-go learners, providing flexibility and convenience.
AI-powered learning is great to scale up personalized learning.

E-learning Content Format	When should you use them?	Where not to use them?
Text-based content like articles, white papers, and e-books	Suitable for in-depth explanations and theoretical learning	Not great for practical, application-oriented learning
Video lessons, either pre-recorded or live, or audio formats like podcasts	Demonstration and tutorials to support hands-on learning	When learning content needs regular updates
Interactive Modules such as clickable, scenario-based learning experiences	Suitable for simulations of real-world situations and role-play training	Hard to scale for multiple uses and applications
Webinars and Live Online Sessions	Connecting with experts for collaborative learning and immediate feedback	Not suitable for scenarios without common challenges
Microlearning content through nudges, emails	Suitable for learning on-the-go with personalization	Ideal for just-in-time learning but not sufficient alone for in-depth training
Blended Learning Packages	Mix of self-paced and instructor-led content is great for flexible and independent learning	Not suitable for situations where self-directed learning is difficult

Why should you invest in e-learning content development?

Investing in e-learning content development is the need of the hour for great L&D initiatives.

First, it’s vital because learning has gone truly online. For instance, leadership development is no longer contained in classroom and halls. Instead, it’s happening more and more at a personalized level every day with AI-powered tools like Risely.
Second, handling e-learning content development gives you the charge to bake your values and systems inside. It is an effective way to align e-learning content with your team’s true needs and objectives rather than relying on one-size-fits-all content created otherwise.
Third, investing in building a content repository of your own is an effective way to showcase a positive employer brand. There are a few great examples like AirBnB’s Data University which is known for quality content, effective learning experiences for people, and major business impact arising out of the skill development ecosystem.

What does good e-learning content look like?

Good e-learning content development process focuses on five key aspects. When you apply these principles while building a digital learning experience for your team, you can create e-learning courses that get learners interested, improve knowledge retention, and promote real changes in behavior. Let’s explore each of them in detail below:

#1 The written content

The written content is the base and backbone of your e-learning content development process. For formats like e-books and blogs, it forms the mainstay. The scripts and outlines are vital for video and audio material. Overall in the e-learning content development process, you should ensure that:

The written content is in easy to understand language. It also reflects the brand voice and tone of your company.
If needed, it should be accurately translated into multiple languages to increase accessibility.
You should supplement theoretical content with examples, case studies, and application-oriented modules to increase engagement and knowledge transfer at work.
It should be regularly updated to reflect the current state of affairs. This is particularly important for mandatory trainings like legal compliance which impact business operations.

#2 The visual design

The visual design in e-learning content development needs to align with similar principles. While ensuring that it is reflecting toward the right learning objectives, keep simplicity in mind. Also focus on using your brand’s color palette and other visual elements. These build a sense of continuation and consistence throughout. You can look into tools like the W3 Consortium’s Content Accessibility Guidelines to ensure that e-learning content hosted on web is in line with standards. It includes details on key steps such as including alt texts for images. providing text captions, and using contrasting colors in design.

#3 The organization and roadmap

Next up, in the process of developing e-learning content, the organization and structure play an important role. Proper organization with distinct learning modules ensures that learners can easily navigate through the material, understand the hierarchy of information, and access relevant resources efficiently. A well-structured content layout helps in maintaining learner engagement, promoting knowledge retention, and ultimately achieving the desired learning outcomes. By organizing e-learning content effectively, you streamline the learning process and enhance the overall experience for your audience.

#4 The communication around content

When delivering e-learning for your team, communicate what is happening and why. Your participants already have busy schedules and multiple responsibilities to handle. Your job is to share training needs and explain how it will work and impact their lives tangibly. Key points should focus on how employees can use this training to their advantage, how to interact with the material, and where to apply what they learned. Otherwise, you will have a hard time securing their buy-in. It also ties into the next part, connecting learning content with goals.

#5 Alignment with learning goals

One important part of instructional design is making sure all content helps achieve the learning objectives. Before you create any content, define what learners should be able to do after the training. These learning objectives need to be clear, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based, which we call SMART. When you connect the content to these goals, it creates a better learning experience. Each piece of content should help learners understand and master the subject better.

How can you improve your e-learning content development process?

The e-learning content development process typically moves through four stages:

Initial Planning and Goal Setting: The first step in the development process is careful planning and setting goals. In this stage, make sure to clearly explain the purpose of the elearning content. It is important to identify the target audience and define the learning outcomes you want. You should also think about the budget, timeline, and the resources you have. Creating a clear design vision is very important in this phase. The design vision includes how the elearning content will look and feel. This involves branding, user interface (UI), and user experience (UX) factors.
Design and Storyboarding: Once you finish the first planning phase, the next step is to design and storyboard the e-learning content. This step includes outlining the content structure. You will also create a visual guide of how the course will flow. A detailed plan for each module and lesson is important too. Storyboarding makes sure the content is in a logical order. It helps create a smooth digital learning experience. Think of it like making a blueprint for your elearning course. It lays out the key parts and flow.
Content Creation and Assembly: With a clear storyboard as a guide, the next step is content creation and assembly. In this stage, you will develop the learning materials. This includes text, images, videos, audio narration, and activities. Use your creativity to present the information in an interesting and effective way. Good visuals, clear audio, and interactive elements can really improve the learning experience. Tools like the iSpring Suite can be very helpful at this stage. They provide features for making interactive quizzes, simulations, and multimedia presentations.
Testing and Quality Assurance: Rigorous testing and quality assurance are paramount before launching your elearning. This phase involves thoroughly reviewing and evaluating the content for accuracy, completeness, functionality, and user experience. Conduct testing on different devices like smartphones, tablets, laptops, and browsers to ensure compatibility.

But there’s more you can do to take things to the next level!

#1 Bring in the experts

Subject matter experts play a crucial role in e-learning content development by providing accurate and relevant information. Their expertise adds credibility to the course content and ensures that learners receive high-quality information. Collaborating with SMEs (both internal and external) helps in creating content that is up-to-date and aligns with industry standards. It is essential to involve SMEs from the beginning of the development process to ensure that learning objectives are met effectively. Open communication and feedback exchange between instructional designers and SMEs are key for successful e-learning content development.

#2 Use (not misuse) AI

When deciding the best way to move forward, think about your technical skills and budget. Also, consider what your target audience needs and what features you want. Focus on user experience, making things easy to use, and ensuring you can create content that works well with your learning management system. AI tools are in vogue and they are great for personalizing e-learning content for your teams. For instance, the iSpring Suite provides strong tools to change PowerPoint presentations into engaging elearning modules. This makes it a great choice for people who know Microsoft Office tools. A few more recommendations for e-learning tools from us include:

Tool	Where to use it?
Risely	Personalized AI-driven leadership development for people managers
Murf AI	Convert text to speech easily
Midjourney	Create custom illustrations to enhance the visual aspect of your course
DeepL	Translate course content effectively across multiple languages
Notion	Organize the course content during and after the design process

#3 Ask feedback, and implement it

Implementing feedback loops and using an iterative design process are important for making high-quality eLearning experiences. Regularly collect feedback from subject matter experts, instructional designers, and learners during the development process. This approach helps you find areas that need improvement. It also helps you enhance the content and make sure the final product fits the needs of your audience. Including feedback from learners and content experts can really boost the training’s effectiveness and relevance.

#4 Make it accessible for everyone

Accessibility should be very important in the e-learning content development process. You need to ensure that your courses can be used by learners with disabilities. Follow accessibility standards, like the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Look at things such as color contrast, font size, and use alternative text for images. It’s also important to have keyboard navigation. Providing captions and transcripts for audio and video is a must for learners who have hearing difficulties. By focusing on accessibility, you help create a more inclusive learning space for everyone.

#5 Keep the updates and improvements running

E-learning content is a living document, so constant updates and reviews need to be part of the process. This is particularly true for consistently updated learning areas, such as tech handbooks featuring new software use cases or legal compliance guides that consider specific laws and norms. Hence, ensure that you schedule reviews and renew the content accordingly. Further reading: 3 Reasons Why Your Digital Learning Strategy Fails

To Sum Up

In conclusion, to master the eLearning content development process, you need to understand how it is changing. It is important to add interactive elements to keep learners engaged. Make sure your content matches your learning objectives. Follow best practices for making your content accessible and inclusive. This will help create powerful eLearning experiences. Use feedback to improve your designs over time. It is also key to pick the right tools and platforms for smooth content creation. Stay current with trends and use new multimedia strategies to make the learning journey better!

Deeksha Sharma

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Grab Risely’s free template to create learner personas for your team.

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Learning at Work in the Age of AI

How is Learning at Work Shaping in the Age of AI?

The traditional way of learning at work is changing fast because of AI. This change allows companies to improve how they teach and develop their staff. By using AI, you can make learning experiences more effective, personal, and engaging for your employees. But exactly how? In this blog, we will look into several ways to integrate AI into your L&D processes and initiatives so that 2025 turns into an AI-mazing year of learning at work.

Table of Contents

How is Learning at Work Shaping in the Age of AI?

Where’s AI in learning at work today?

But before we begin, let’s set some context. AI in learning and development at work is not simply about adding an LLM to your workflow. There are more comprehensive solutions that can unlock massive value for your team. Since several organizations are turning into early adopters, there’s a lot of enthusiasm and expectations about what AI brings. As the change leader in this scenario, it becomes imperative for you to understand what AI can and cannot do and communicate these ideas effectively to the stakeholders around you, like the C-suite and the employees involved in learning programs. AI is changing how we help employees grow. It provides helpful data, automates tasks, and offers tailored learning experiences. This technology helps HR and L&D leaders and employees make better choices for their career paths. It connects personal goals with what the organization needs. But that’s not the end of the story. AI’s effect on employee development goes beyond just learning new skills. It’s also about building a culture of ongoing growth. It gives employees the tools they need to reach their full potential, which they might not have been able to access earlier. As a result, this leads to more job satisfaction, higher productivity, and a more engaged and motivated workforce.

Is AI going to replace people at work? What can L&D do about this anxiety?

A big worry about AI is that it might eliminate jobs. But we can reduce this worry by actively helping employees learn new skills. As Steve Hunt mentioned in a recent podcast episode with Risely, every technology that eliminates some jobs creates many more. We are undergoing a fundamental shift in the purpose and meaning of work for society at large.

AI shouldn’t be seen as a danger, but as a way to gain new skills and improve the skills you already have. Primarily, L&D teams should focus on:

Finding skill gaps and offering specific learning opportunities
Fostering a culture of learning at work and professional development
Motivating employees to take on new technologies and grow their skills

By investing in employee development and making clear paths for career growth, organizations help their workers adapt to changes in the job market. This way, they can use AI to improve their careers and reach their career goals. That’s about the employees, what about the learning and development teams – how should you use AI?

5 Ways to add AI to learning at work in 2025

Learning at work has changed a lot. We no longer stick to one-time training events. Instead, we are moving toward a continuous learning approach. When you embrace continuous learning, you can:

Encourage innovation and speed by creating a culture of constant improvement
Build a workforce ready for the future that can handle rapid tech changes
Improve employee engagement and keep them by investing in their growth

This change is needed so employees can keep their skills and knowledge up-to-date. They have to adapt to new technologies and changing business needs. Switching to continuous learning brings both challenges and opportunities for L&D teams. It asks for a cultural change that supports lifelong learning and encourages employees to take charge of their growth. AI technologies are important in this change. They offer personalized, easy-to-access, and interesting learning experiences for employees at a fraction of the cost. A few ways to effectively add AI to your L&D strategy are:

#1 Build personalized learning experiences

AI creates personalized learning paths for employees. It makes them feel more confident and addresses their different learning needs, which cookie-cutter programs offered so far may overlook. For example, Risely, the AI co-pilot for people managers, offers a dynamic learning journey that fits the unique context of every people manager. The challenges of leaders and managers are diverse and affected by many factors, an AI can match this array of needs by identifying which areas need more support and when. This tailored approach keeps employees engaged with content that fits their needs. It leads to better knowledge retention and skill development. The outcome is a more confident workforce that can help the organization succeed.

#2 Democratize access to learning in your organization

How many people can you meaningfully train in your entire organization? For most L&D teams, the number isn’t huge. Moreover, since many learning at work opportunities run in cohorts, employees must wait before getting help. It means letting the problems arising due to lack of skill development pester for a long, and at times, they grow into bigger troubles. For instance, if a manager is bad at delegating and has to pass six months before they can get training, their entire team will face overburdening work for that time. Meanwhile, more challenges like turnover due to tight deadlines and heavy workloads become prominent. Adding an AI coach like Merlin to this manager’s learning and development plan will help cut down on the problem. It will help the manager access support and help in a way that fits their unique needs, such as the challenges with a couple of specific team members. Similarly, an AI coach can reach hundreds of managers without the L&D team needing to scale up operations and having multiple leadership coaches on the roaster. It’s also a great way to reduce challenges arising from geographical and time zone differences among workplaces.

#3 AI-driven analytics for tracking learning progress

AI-powered analytics give L&D leaders useful insights about employee growth and how well learning programs work. By monitoring learning progress and engagement, AI can find out where employees are doing well or having difficulties.
This approach, based on data, helps HR leaders to tailor learning help, offer specific support, and see how learning actions affect the entire organization. AI-driven analytics makes sure that learning programs match business goals and help the company’s overall success.

#4 Enhance employee engagement through gamified learning experiences

Integrating fun and game-like features into learning experiences helps improve employee satisfaction. This method encourages a culture of workplace learning. AI-powered platforms use elements like challenges, rewards, and leader boards to motivate workers and make learning enjoyable. For example, Risely uses daily nudges as a microlearning pathway for leadership development. It shares a small actionable insight to support a small bit of progress toward each manager’s specific challenges. By using these game-like features, employees can remember what they learn better. It also creates a friendly competition and teamwork among them. By adopting AI for gamified learning, companies can make the learning process more fun and effective. This plays a critical role in increasing employee engagement and satisfaction.

#5 Improve skills gap analysis with AI’s predictive abilities

Another interesting use case that L&D professionals can explore with AI’s abilities is improving the skills gap analysis for their teams. The conventional skills gap analysis exercise takes time and resources. Ultimately. this exercise offers us a list of skills and competencies that the team needs to build in order to fit in. But what if, we could figure out what the team needs to succeed in the future? The predictive abilities of AI can forecast what skills would be in demand soon. That way, you are not just chasing after what has already happened. Instead, you can make the first move in the industry and build a competitive edge. For example, let ‘s assume you are leading L&D for a retail chain. With the help of AI for learning at work, you can:

Identify emerging skill trends in the retail industry
Predict potential skill obsolescence
Anticipate technological and market changes that will impact required skills

Your next would be planning a learning and development program using these insights. Further, as we discussed in the first point, you can personalize the learning track to meet the individual learning needs and align with the business goals simultaneously. Read more: 7 Easy Ways to Use AI in Learning and Development

Wrapping Up

AI is changing how we learn. Many new tools and platforms are now available. They help organizations improve their learning and development programs. These AI-driven solutions offer personal learning experiences, automate tasks, and provide insights based on data. There are many options, like platforms that adapt to each learner and mentorship programs that use AI. Organizations must assess their needs and pick the tools and platforms that match their learning goals and objectives in effective ways. In conclusion, using AI in workplace learning is not about taking over human skills but making them better. AI gives people personalized learning, helps them gain new skills, and supports their growth. By using AI, companies can build a culture where learning never stops. Employees get to play fun games and benefit from helpful AI insights. We can check how well AI learning programs work through set goals and feedback to keep improving. As we move into the AI age, it is important to use the right AI tools, fit them into what we already have, and keep an eye on future trends in AI and workplace learning. Welcome this change to make a more lively and employee-focused learning space.

Deeksha 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.

#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

Planning L&D initiatives just got easier!

Grab your free copy of Risely’s L&D strategy framework today and bring your ideas to life.

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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?

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

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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.

Explore more resources for L&D professionals:

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

Move toward enhanced L&D performance with a revamped strategy.

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

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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

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

Start walking toward success with Risely holding your hand.

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6 Learning and Development Models For Employee Growth

This blog lists the top six learning and development models-
1. 70:20:10 Framework
2. ADDIE Model
3. The 5As Framework
4. Bloom’s Taxonomy
5. Kirkpatrick’s Four Level Training Model
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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