For a business delivering blended learning on Governance, Risk and Compliance to serve many of the world’s leading financial institutions, it is perhaps a timely coincidence that this month and next see two notable ten-year anniversaries.
Firstly, it is ten years ago this month, back in October 2007, that the FTSE 100 hit a new high at just over 6,700 points. What followed next has been well documented—global financial indices hit all-time lows, the public lost trust in banks and the financial services industry was taken to the brink of collapse by repeated breaches and scandals.
It's fair to say that this month ten years ago saw the start of an entirely new regulatory era and environment for the financial services sector.
Secondly, the other sector that has undeniably undergone an unprecedented era of change over the last ten years is that of technology. Although it may seem hard to believe at times, given how reliant we have become on smartphones, it is actually only ten years ago next month that we saw the launch of the first iPhone in Europe.
Related reading: '4 Ways to Build Mobile Compliance Training That Successfully Meets Your Learners’ Needs'
Embracing Learning Trends
Since its inception in 2005, LEO GRC (then known as Eukleia) has been at the forefront of supporting our clients through both these changes in regulation and technology. Over the last decade, we have been tasked with changing employee conduct, creating and delivering remediation programs and training on wave after wave of new regulations to, quite literally, millions of employees.
We have also worked with our clients to use changes in technology to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of learning among their staff. Those ten years have certainly seen some trends come and go, along with some fundamental changes in the way we all think about delivering training.
To name just a few: a migration from Flash to HTML production, the shift away from linear to gamified eLearning, and the latest trends in scrolling courses coming in and out, and then back into fashion. Let’s also not forget the successful integration of accessibility requirements into elearning and the widespread use of film as part of the learning experience.
We have never shied away from the latest learning trends and technologies. Some of our course milestones include:
2014 – first HTML generic course: Anti-Bribery and Corruption
2015 – introduction of gamified learning approach: Gamified Market Conduct
2016 – development of award-winning accessibility training, designed as bespoke learning for TD Bank’s Cyber Security learners
2017 – latest trend of scrolling courses used in our new generic course, Preventing and Detecting Tax Evasion
Looking Forward
But enough reflecting on the past; what about the future? While we still certainly expect new regulatory frameworks to be required, created, and implemented, our anticipation of the rate of change within technology is probably greater.
We are now starting to see a real belief that even compliance training will adopt the “anytime, anyplace, anywhere” approach offered by mobile learning (and for those still in reflection mode, yes, that was the Martini advert in the 1970s!).
Moving forward, we will be training people—a group of learners typically known as Millennials and Generation Z—who:
- Grew up with Google (not the Encyclopaedia Britannica)
- Think reading a book on a phone is completely normal
- Prefer a peer-posted YouTube video rather than the instruction manual that was included in the box
This is a generation that is very hungry for information (as long as it’s available as and when they need it), is passionate about making change to society and that will be responsible for governance and managing risk in our ever-more-complex world.
As we work with our clients (and sometimes their constraints in using technology), we look forward to sharing our experiences and ideas about how to change behaviors through learning over the next decade.