Jerry Zandstra: Miriam, thank you for taking the time to speak with me today. As a recognized transformer CLO, you’ve been instrumental in helping to shape the organizations you’ve worked at. I’d love to dive into your suggestions and recommendations based on what you’ve seen over the years.
Miriam Taylor: Sure, I’m happy to share, Jerry. Many of these recommendations are based on what I’ve seen done really well across the L&D world, and sometimes, they’re cautionary tales where things didn’t go so well, and we’ve learned from that. To organize my thoughts a little better though, I’d say that there are three key areas where I think a learning leader needs to assess for potential changes that can be truly transformational. These key areas are learning goals, learning methods, and the learning department, or what I just call the “team.”
Transforming Learning Goals
Jerry Zandstra: Ok, so let’s begin with the transformation of learning goals. We’ve worked together for a very long time, and I know that you’ve always focused on a learner’s knowledge, skills, and attitudes—a person-centric view of learning. However, traditionally our industry has often been guilty of only focusing on skills. What do you recommend to help shift the focus from traditional skills-based training to a broader emphasis on mindsets and capabilities?
Miriam Taylor: While I understand the focus on skills in certain industries, it’s pretty short sighted. The rapid pace of change in today’s business environment demands adaptability and agility. A narrow focus on job-specific skills isn’t sufficient for long-term success. What happens when a problem needs to be solved? Or what is the impact on innovation if we don’t encourage deeper level thinking? Instead, it’s important to prioritize a growth mindset, critical thinking, problem-solving, and innovative thinking. These capabilities enable employees to navigate ambiguity, change, and continuously learn.
Jerry Zandstra: Can you elaborate on how you’ve implemented this shift in practice?
Miriam Taylor: I think to begin, you have to hire or add members to your team that always think this way. That means either their educational or professional background has shaped their worldview, so that they never think in terms of just skills. This becomes a huge part of the culture of the team.
Beyond that though, I think the most important thing to do is to ask questions, although this seems simplistic. Embed this thinking in all of your needs analysis with any group you’re providing training for. We developed that vocabulary of knowledge, skills, and attitudes and used it all the time. It was the first question of our needs analysis for any new project. “What do you want your learners to know, believe, or do?” And then we didn’t accept a skills-only based answer. For example, here are some follow-up questions you can ask:
- What pre-knowledge do they need to perform this task?
- What might they need to “unlearn?”
- Is there knowledge that needs to be scaffolded? This is especially true with complex technical skills.
- Are there organizational issues that could hinder the task from being completed correctly? For example, lack of time, lack of motivation, lack of leadership support.
Jerry Zandstra: So once you have completed your needs analysis, and you have a good understanding of the main focus, whether it’s knowledge, skills, or attitudes, what comes next?
Miriam Taylor: As I mentioned above, we work hard to uncover main objectives in all those areas. Typically one does rise to the top, but we’re better informed because we have created objectives to support all three. From there we work to develop the learning strategies and delivery methods. Here are a few examples:
If the focus of the training is really knowledge acquisition and retention then we will employ a typical approach such as delivery of chunked content in an eLearning, job aid, or other digital format where the knowledge can be assessed and corrected over time.
If the focus is on skill acquisition or upskilling, then we might focus on some foundational knowledge but quickly move to practical application. These types of strategies are hands-on. We incorporate virtual practice or IRL practice, coaching, and finally evaluation over time that ensures the skills are still being practiced successfully. There may also be scenario practice or role play.
Attitude acquisition or change is always the hardest and occurs over the longest time span. Incorporating stories with an emotional appeal, scenario-based learning, social learning, coaching, and other strategies ensure that beliefs change and are supported in that change by the community around them.
Transforming Learning Methods
Jerry Zandstra: Moving on to learning methods, even within the past five years, we’ve seen a massive transformation in the technology that is available to a learning professional. We’ve also seen an increased understanding of the principles of learning science.
Miriam Taylor: Absolutely! When I entered the world of L&D, it was largely to help organizations learn how to develop online learning. This meant either a university class built into an LMS or an eLearning module with some simple animation and audio—essentially a narrated PowerPoint. While most basic learning principles haven’t changed, our world certainly has. We have increased access to a huge variety of tools to deliver learning experiences and a far better understanding of how the human mind works, although we’re certainly not there yet.
What we have available now allows us to design using a multifaceted blended learning approach that combines digital instruction with hands-on experiences, peer-to-peer learning or social learning, and coaching. We can also integrate microlearning modules, game elements, and even a variety of types of simulations. These elements make the learning process more engaging, interactive, and directly relevant to the tasks and challenges learners face in their roles. They’re also far more “sticky,” meaning learners retain the skills, knowledge, or attitudes needed.
Jerry Zandstra: In my mind, that makes designing learning experiences exciting and a very creative exercise. But it also becomes more complex. What challenges have you encountered in implementing these new learning methods, and how have you overcome them?
Miriam Taylor: One challenge is ensuring that employees have the necessary digital skills to engage with online learning. We addressed this by providing targeted training and support. It’s not an issue like it used to be, but with so many ways to deliver content comes the requirement that we’re quite clear with the learner how to navigate the experiences.
One great solution we’ve found to this challenge is to foster a culture of peer learning and knowledge sharing within the organization. Establishing online communities of practice, implementing formal mentoring programs, and recognizing and rewarding employees who actively share their knowledge and expertise with their colleagues is a powerful way to do this. It doesn’t all have to be formal either. We’ve used wikis or shared docs where employees have added their own instructions, explainer videos, job aids, or other recommendations, and the entire organization benefits. In my opinion, peer learning is a powerful way to accelerate learning and development, and we’re committed to creating an environment where it can thrive.
Transforming Learning Departments
Jerry Zandstra: Finally, what recommendations do you have for a learning leader to help transform a learning department to meet these rapid changes?
Miriam Taylor: I’d say the most important thing is to build strong partnerships within their organization. Understand their strategic challenges and what they need from the learning function. Once you have that alignment, you can start to build the capabilities you need within your team.
For the team, the key is that they all understand the entire ecosystem of learning experience design. When the whole team understands all the options we’ve talked about and has the solid foundation of learning science to apply that to the right delivery method, it changes everything. And encouraging adaptation and experimentation is also huge. Encourage your team to experiment with AI, to learn how to curate content, and to think outside the box for design.
And finally, foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement within your own department. Be a role model for your team and show them that you’re committed to learning and growing.
Jerry Zandstra: Thank you for sharing your valuable insights, Miriam. Your leadership and vision are truly shaping the future of workplace learning.
Miriam Taylor: Thank you, Jerry. It’s been a pleasure discussing these important topics with you.
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