On January 19th, a “CARAvan” descended upon the first 2012 dinner meeting hosted by the Chicago Chapter of ASTD (CCASTD). My colleagues—Susan Beyers, Barbara Coughlin, Tina Jandris—and I were curious to hear CCASTD President, Sue Weller, address how learning professionals can better prepare for 2012 and beyond. Sue spoke on the topic, “State of the Industry…State of YOU!”
Sue’s sources for her address included the ASTD State of the Industry Report, reports from Bersin Associates and Training Magazine.
The good news? Employers are spending more on learning programs, and the top 3 content areas appear to focus on more advanced, strategic competencies:
- Management and Supervisory Skills
- Professional or Industry-specific Learning
- Mandatory Process or Compliance-related Expertise
These skill-sets are driven by the business need to invest in employee performance.
Sue’s presentation style engaged the audience. She held our interest as she summarized five trends in learning for 2012 and beyond.
- Increase in the use of social learning and the emergence of the “Social Cyborg” and the implications of talent management. These are the people who have integrated social networks and information technology into their lives, (think constant Facebook posts) and how they think, learn and solve problems.
- Increase in mobile engagement; a broader adoption than just mobile learning. Smartphone applications are creating a more robust environment to access information in general.
- Increased “gamification.” Ideas include reward tools to engage the learner like giving out points or virtual badges of completion. Completion status, or progress, is compared to others, and rewarded. For example, if you complete a certain activity—contribute to a knowledge exchange—you receive a badge, or lead a discussion and receive a more impressive badge.
- Stronger consideration of change management within learning. Learning leads to understanding, and understanding leads to a commitment to change. Leaders are recognizing that in order to transform an organization they need to consistently communicate their vision and enable the behavior change to occur.
- Rise in virtual training. With the economy slow to recover, there is a need to continue to save costs and improve learning effectiveness. Virtual training is an economic method to bring together people in geographically dispersed.
There is a movement toward individualization, where the learner takes more responsibility on what she/he needs to learn and when vs. participating in an event-based structured program designed for a much broader audience.
What does this all mean to Learning Professionals? The days of being a purist are gone. We need to be even more multi-disciplinary, beyond solid instructional design skills. We may also need to develop change management and talent management expertise, for example.
Sue suggests a three-point action plan to brush up on your personal skills and remain competitive for the future:
- Don’t underestimate the challenges in achieving a goal. Instead of just stating the goal, be sure to anticipate the challenges in achieving the goal. Mentally prepare and plan to overcome obstacles to success.
- Don’t overestimate the rewards. Recognize upfront that your progress maybe incremental, and while meeting your goal may be slower than you hope, the important thing is that you don’t give up. Keep trying and celebrate the milestones along the way.
- Don’t try to do it alone. Join your colleagues at future CCASTD dinners where you’ll continue to develop your skills and knowledge. Maybe you can find a colleague to help hold you personally accountable to achieve your goal.
The evening was a practical investment in my own professional development, learning more about emerging Industry trends and enjoying the venue with a supportive group of learning professionals.
We’d like to know what you seeing emerging in your workforce environment. Please feel free to comment on this article and share your own insights.
