What does it mean to be an end-to-end provider of learning technologies services in 2015?
The fact is, it’s a transformational game-changer.
Data from organizations like Mind Tools clearly shows that the ‘Top Deck’ of learning organizations (the highest performing 10% of those surveyed) are taking a more strategic approach to learning, and achieve better business results. But 50% of UK PLCs don’t have representation of learning at the board level, making it difficult to take advantage of a strategic approach.
That is why LEO Learning is committed to moving learning to the heart of business strategy. Every day, our teams are involved in work on this strategic level, helping organizations to bring their learning challenges and requirements to high enough level in the business so that long-lasting strategic benefit can be derived. So how can organizations like LEO Learning and Towards Maturity work together for real strategic results?
RECOMMENDED READING | 'Measuring the Business Impact of Learning: The Definitive Guide'
Personalization
We know that the real promise of ‘learning using technology’ lies in personalized learning. This is now reflected in the desire of the marketplace. A huge 90% of organisations surveyed in the 2014 Towards Maturity Benchmark Report recognised the need to increase their ability to adapt programs to the individual context, but only 22% are achieving this. 62% of the Top Deck organizations strongly agree they need personaliaztion tools and technology to achieve this, compared to just 10% of other organizations.
In reality, technology is key in the personalisation process, enabling much closer targeting of personal and business goals. Learning record stores (LRSs) and xAPI allow us to think about things like future-proofing our learning and obtaining learning analytics for better targeted learning. LEO Learning’s new partnership with The Open University will help us address the need for quality learning analytics, as well as drawing on their expertise in distance engagement and supplying learners with “what they need when they need it”. We are also working closely with fellow LTG company Preloaded, looking at diagnostic gaming techniques and using educational games for personalized learning opportunities as other European partners in an ambitious personalized learning project.
Diagnostics and responsive learning
Most of us know the benefits of using diagnostics for learning. They can save time and money spent on training, and they ensure people only see the content that they don’t know for a more personalized experience. But how do we build systems that respond to extensive assessment? This needs to be considered from the very start, as part of an organization’s business strategy, sales technique or management approach. It is only from this strategic level that businesses can leverage the power of responsive learning. For instance, we work with large global organizations to help them identify which of their markets have certain qualities or capabilities. This information then informs the entire learning strategy, including how we construct an appropriate blend based on the individual needs of each market.
Collecting analytics about the way our audience learns means we can apply our expert understanding of ‘just-in-case’ and ‘just-in-time’ learning to select approaches that work in each context. The next question is how we think about these ecosystems in a more sophisticated, more efficient, more cost-effective way. In a world which is both moving faster and becoming more complex, we cannot expect people to learn everything. But via performance support systems (often via the mobile phone or tablet in your pocket), we can divide curricula quite fundamentally. The strategy needs to cater for this – and that probably means some aspect of learning, knowledge management and communications coming together.
Using the data
Benchmark data from organizations like Towards Maturity reveals that the L&D community is not currently capable of addressing learning from this strategic level. Just 31% of respondents in the 2014 Benchmark are realizing the benefits they seek from their learning programs, and only 15% of organizations measure effectiveness of their learning against specific KPIs. As a founding Ambassador of Towards Maturity, LEO Learning is committed to using evidence-based methods to improve performance in global businesses. The data from Towards Maturity’s Benchmark reports and independent research paints an invaluable picture of the industry today.
Today, it is all about getting measurable results based on real data. It’s about finding analytics which feed into Learning Record Stores (LRS), and leveraging the power of the LRS to help us understand the entire learner journey, rather than just individual learning events. This will enable us to take a more intelligent approach to learning, overseeing the whole process and offering input at the precise point of need. This is why LEO Learning offers an end-to-end service – it is only in this way that we are able to plan, design, execute and measure an organization’s learning program from conception to delivery and beyond – and an unrivalled capability to deliver evidence-based results and compare them to marketplace best practice.
Thank you, Towards Maturity, for providing our industry with an invaluable data set and benchmark. This will only grow in value as we all get better at delivering strategic results.
We are hosting an event with Towards Maturity on 23rd April called ‘Increasing the value that L&D adds to business – how to open new conversations’. This half-day session is aimed at senior L&D leaders, and is designed to help you talk to your organization’s C-suite for more productive L&D conversations. Please register your interest below, or feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
Discover how LEO Learning can help transform your learning strategy and learning content through effective use of the latest learning technology.