Whether we want to admit it or not, we’ve all experienced days where we’ve sat at our desk for what seems like hours just trying to get SOMETHING done. On those days it may feel like no matter how hard we try, the brain fog just will not shift. And distractions seem to be jumping out at us from every angle.  

This can be especially difficult when we’re trying to learn something or are required to take in and retain a lot of information. Most people will have heard the term ‘in the zone’ often in relation to an athlete trying to concentrate in a game. But what they may not know is that there’s a similar term that can apply to all of us in the workplace: ‘learning in the flow.'  

In a recent presentation, Global Industry Analyst Josh Bersin, who coined the term, discusses ‘learning in the flow’ in relation to the learning journey that comes with any job.  

“In the early part of the job, there’s a steep learning curve and then you reach a point in the job where there’s a plateau and you go through a declining learning curve where you’ve ‘got this under control’ and you need something to keep you alive and growing… so you can keep going up the curve… we want to fill in the curve with micro and macro learning offerings that are timed to fit needs depending on where you are in the curve.”  

The significant increase in the amount of discussion around the topic of learning in the workplace is undeniable. More and more workplaces are beginning to see the value of continual education for their workers. However, Bersin emphasises that, unlike in the past, “we don’t have time to get away from our office or get away from our job for weeks on end and go to courses”. 

As he goes on to say, “we also need to reinforce the fact that everybody is always reinventing themselves… humans are, by nature, learning animals.” This is just one of the reasons why learning in the flow rather than just keeping things as they’ve been in the past is so important. 

Almost more important than the education itself is that the workers participating in that learning are engaged in it and can maintain focus. Naturally, when workers are engaged in what they do, they’re likely to care more about what they do and become aligned workers. Aligned workers are those that have a clear understanding of their company’s goals, their personal goals and how the two relate to each other. A study conducted by business communication platform Slack, found that 90% of aligned workers know what they need to do to be successful. They’re therefore far more likely to be able to maintain productivity. 

While aligned workers are no doubt beneficial to a company, the Slack study found that aligned workers are more likely than unaligned workers to have over 10 meetings per day. This can often mean a lot of switching between different apps as you navigate the day, such as jumping between your emails, messages, video calls, and livestreams. 

Businesses may initially struggle to see such a strong link between the use of multiple programs and productivity. Surely, switching between apps doesn’t take that much time out of the day, right? Wrong. According to the Slack study, 64% of aligned workers spend more than 30 minutes a day switching between applications. That's a considerable amount of time when you think about it! 

This context switching (changing between apps) disrupts the flow. If we didn’t have to switch so often between apps, we’d in theory have up to 30 minutes extra per day to get things done, whether that be general work tasks or additional learning. 

In a world where so many of our industries are ruled by deadlines, this is particularly important. This is exactly the issue that Slack and other communication platforms attempt to tackle. By providing users with the ability to install and access dozens of apps all in the one, Slack removes one of the barriers that disrupts the flow - and therefore paves the way for continuous and meaningful learning in the workplace.   

Furthermore, it’s no secret that humans thrive on connection. The last 18 months, as we’ve all had to deal with the implications of a global pandemic, have forced us to look at connection and communication in the workplace in whole new ways. Workplaces have been forced to ask questions like: ‘what will work meetings look like now that people work from home?’ and ‘how can we be sure to maintain the morale that we have in office and extend it to those that work remotely?’  

Applications like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Workplace from Meta (formerly Facebook) attempt to remedy this and provide a platform that seeks to become an all-in-one solution to these questions. Whether it’s through online chat, watching livestreams or video calls, workplaces beginning to actively push for these types of platforms have opened the door to more flexibility both in learning and in the workplace in general. 

There really are infinite possibilities for the workplace when workers can learn together, then follow up that learning with discussion, all in the one place, even if they work remotely. 

At Go1, we have been keeping a close eye on this trend and believe learning should be a natural part of employees’ days. That’s why we developed our Microsoft and Workplace integrations, to decrease the switching between apps and assist with learning in the flow of work. 

Our latest solution that will also help support learning in the flow is Go1 Connect. Go1 Connect enables L&D providers to distribute content directly to the environments their customers use, whilst still allowing them to have full control. If you’re ready to learn more about Go1 Connect or have any questions, check out this page. We can’t wait to hear what you think!

Whether your workplace’s journey towards learning in the flow and minimising productivity barriers is just beginning, or you’re already well on your way, there is one major point that Bersin wants us to take home: “the more time you can learn, the better. There is no limit or saturation point to learning.” 

For more insights, subscribe to the Go1 newsletter to stay on top of all the latest L&D trends. Or, you can book a demo today to find out how Go1 can help with your team’s learning needs.

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Most people will have heard the term ‘in the zone’ but what they may not know is that there’s a similar term that can apply to all of us in the workplace: ‘learning in the flow’.

How 'learning in the flow' can break down productivity barriers

Most people will have heard the term ‘in the zone’ but what they may not know is that there’s a similar term that can apply to all of us in the workplace: ‘learning in the flow.’

In this informative and thought-provoking webinar, Lauren Waldman, founder of Learning Pirate, is joined by Helen Marshall of Thrive, and Go1 Head of Content Partnerships, David Hastings to discuss humanising the workplace in a post-pandemic world. 

The session came off the back of a ground-breaking piece of research between Learning Pirate, Go1, and Learning and Performance Institute (LPI), which delved deep into the state of the current workplace.  

The research showed a workforce experiencing emotional strain like never before, and the impact that strain was having on leadership who want to do their best by their teams. All three panellists in this webinar share their experiences from the past two years and what they’ve learned along the way to help humanise the workplace.  

Showing vulnerability in the workplace

A key lesson shared between the attendees and the hosts was the challenge of bringing a new mental and emotional mindset into a professional environment. Not only is it a struggle to articulate personal emotions but it’s doubly hard to then vocalise those emotions to your teammates, whether junior or senior. 

Setting the tone at a leadership level, therefore, was a key call-out; when leadership place themselves in a vulnerable position visible to the business, they set the tone for those conversations to happen throughout the workforce. Enabling teams to be more open with their emotional wellbeing and thereby checking in on themselves and those around them to a degree that very few organisations have previously done.  

There is, however, an important caveat to that emotional openness that David Hastings called out in particular; the need for empathy. Whilst there is much about the current workplace that exists as a shared experience, to expect every person to approach it with the same emotional cognition and unique set of circumstances is potentially damaging. 

Leaders must recognise that individuals process experiences differently and so organisational level conversations should acknowledge the individuality of the teams it will impact.  

How to deal with digital fatigue

Building on this, Lauren Waldman explained to the webinar the principles of metacognition. And how emotional processing works four times faster than our executive function. This means we will always feel something long before we think or understand it, which puts great pressure on individuals, especially in leadership positions, to articulate the human response to professional experiences. 

It’s this disparity that can sometimes lead to small experiences being felt as micro-rejections, which can build up when not checked. 

Humanising the workplace starts with YOU

The closing advice of the panellists struck a tone of optimism that organisations throughout the world have been presented with a generational opportunity to rethink the role of the workplace in the emotional stability of its teams. 

The trick, as Lauren put it, is to ensure we continue to find time to upskill ourselves and our emotional awareness, especially knowing that the workforce of today is the leadership of tomorrow. And whilst it might feel like a trend to be considering the workplace in this way, it’s actually an evolution of humanity.  

Keen to hear more insights from the panellists? Watch the full Humanising the Workplace webinar. 

You may also like to read Lauren Waldman's article on how joining forces with our brains can help us to be more emotionally intelligent and empathetic in the workplace. 

Humanising the workplace in a post-pandemic world

It’s become an expected part of schooling for children to be taught how to develop life skills like work ethic, resilience and leadership. To be most effective, such skills should be nurtured throughout a child’s education. But what happens to those skills when the children who learnt them become adults and no longer have access to resources to maintain those skills? 

A recent report, conducted by McKinsey and Company, explored the skills that citizens will require in the future world of work. Among a number of other discoveries, it found that while skills and attitudes relating to self-leadership may be particularly important to employment outcomes, they’re not often covered by adult learning programs.  

So why is it that self-leadership is often not included in these programs? 

Much like a computer, adults’ self-leadership skills require maintenance and updates. By ensuring that such skills are included in adult learning programs, we can help those adults to become the best versions of themselves; both in a personal and professional sense. 

The report also found that the skills in the self-leadership category are strongly associated with job satisfaction - something that is becoming increasingly essential for employee retention in the wake of ‘The Great Resignation.’ 

Self-leadership can be divided into three primary categories:  

Let’s take a look at each of these self-leadership categories, how they can help today’s workers, and why they’re so important. 

Self-awareness and self-management are important first steps towards developing the skills workers need to become self-leaders.  

One of the biggest components that affects the ability to grow in self-awareness and self-management is our ability to understand our own emotions and triggers. 

When we are able to understand how we tick, it makes it easier for us to understand what motivates us as individuals. That way, when we’re working under pressure or are facing unexpected changes, we can move forward and continue to be engaged in the workplace.  

When we know what motivates us, we can understand our own strengths and when we understand our strengths, it’s a natural progression for our self-confidence to grow as well. 

A lot of the time when we think about the word ‘entrepreneurship’, we think about it in a business sense: how can I make the most money? What can I do to accelerate my business? However, an entrepreneurial mindset can also be applied to workers as individuals.  

In a work industry that is turning more digital by the day, entrepreneurial qualities like driving change and breaking orthodoxies are becoming highly favoured among employers. Especially now, businesses are continuously looking for ways to distinguish themselves from their competitors and be seen as ‘first adopters’ of new technology that’s tipped to become popular. By ensuring their workers are educated on the entrepreneurial mindset, businesses are paving the way for more innovation within them.  

Another quality that is common amongst entrepreneurs is excitement and energy. There are countless examples of videos of seminars conducted by entrepreneurs that show them almost bouncing off the walls, absolutely chomping at the bit to tell audiences why their idea/product/service is going to change lives. People often leave those sorts of events feeling motivated, excited and ready to take on the next challenge. That’s because entrepreneurial energy and enthusiasm is contagious. Along a similar vein, when people are passionate about what they’re doing, they tend to work harder. 

Imagine what would happen if we could bring more of that energy to our own workplaces? Think of the things we could achieve and the innovation we’d be able to bring forth in our respective industries! 

Unquestionably, the last 18 months have thrown a spanner in the works for workers in just about every industry. It’s meant that they’ve had to face a level of uncertainty that, for many, was difficult to cope with. However, skills relating to ‘goals achievement’ can help make the uncertainty a little less difficult. 

For instance, when we, as workers, develop our ability to take ownership and be decisive, it allows us to maintain a level of control and certainty in a time when control and certainty may feel hard to come by.  

Grit and persistence are other skills that workers have had to further establish since the start of the pandemic. While the growth of these skills was somewhat forced upon the workforce, the importance of them became clear almost immediately. Workers had to quickly expand on these skills or risk being left behind.  

Therefore, the continuous development of these skills has the potential to prepare workers to face uncertainty in the workplace, whether that be as a result of another pandemic (fingers crossed that doesn’t happen!) or something different.   

 In taking steps to actively include self-leadership as part of their culture of learning, workplaces are equipping their employees with essential skills that not only benefit them in their current role but throughout the rest of their career journey. 

To help you and your workplace reach their goals for self-leadership, we have composed a free playlist of courses within the Go1 platform called Emerging Leader - Managing Yourself.

The playlist includes learning content from Emerald Works, Pearls of Wisdom, iAM Learning and other Go1 partners. If you are already a Go1 customer, you can recreate this playlist in your own LMS or Go1 Platform. If you are not yet a customer, click on the link above to access the playlist. If you're interested in the Go1 Content Hub for your organisation's wellbeing and L&D goals, please get in touch with us today.   

While skills and attitudes relating to self-leadership may be particularly important to employment outcomes, they’re not often covered by adult learning programs. So why is it that self-leadership is often not included in these programs? 

The importance of self-leadership in adult learning

Tiger king. Homemade sourdough. Zoom trivia nights. And...the great resignation? For all the twists and turns of COVID-19, at face value, the great resignation has been one of the most unexpected. However, dig a little deeper into the nuances of this trend, and it begins to make sense. 

By now, you’ve probably heard many explanations for the great resignation, ranging from ‘lazy millennials’ stereotypes to claims that people were happy to live on COVID unemployment benefits, such as JobSeeker. In many cases, these explanations are more like excuses. In reality, the truth is far more nuanced, with many experts believing that the great resignation hinges on how organisations treated their employees during the pandemic. 

For example, according to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2021 Report, 57% of workers experienced daily stress, while the global rate of workplace engagement is just 20%. With numbers like these, it should come as little surprise that employees have resigned en masse. 

With this in mind, we thought it was the perfect time to analyse L&D’s role in addressing the great resignation. To do so, we’ll answer three vital questions: what is the great resignation, why is it happening now, and how can L&D teams help address this? 

The great resignation is exactly what it sounds like: in many countries and industries, employees are resigning in record volumes. In America, 4.3 million people, or 2.9% of the national workforce, quit their jobs in August 2021. In Britain, the number of open jobs surpassed 1 million for the first time that same month. Now, 94% of US retailers say they are having difficulty filling positions. 

What’s more, research by Microsoft shows that 41% of the workforce are considering leaving their jobs this year. Similarly, a study by Personio found that 38% of surveyed employees planned to quit their jobs within the next six months to one year. 

The term ‘the great resignation’ was coined by Texas A&M University Professor Anthony Klotz in late 2020. According to Klotz, “​​when there’s uncertainty, people tend to stay put, so there are pent-up resignations that didn’t happen over the past year.” As such, he predicted that workers would resign in large numbers following the pandemic “as burnout and working remotely trigger a shift in people’s identities.” So far, these predictions have borne out. 

In a recent article, Forbes defined the great resignation as “a sort of workers’ revolution and uprising against bad bosses and tone-deaf companies that refuse to pay well and take advantage of their staff. Millions of workers voted with their feet and walked out of their jobs—many without having another position already lined up. They no longer want to feel like victims. The quitters are making a powerful, positive and self-affirming statement saying that they won’t take the abusive behaviour any longer.”

So far, the great resignation hasn’t really reached Australia. While it’s true that 1.1 million Australians left their jobs between February 2020 and February 2021, these figures are relatively standard, signalling a healthy labour market. If anything, Australia has so far experienced the opposite trend. In the 12 months preceding February 2021, the proportion of Australian workers switching jobs fell to an all-time low of 7.6%, down from a peak of 19.5% in 1988-89. 

While some experts predict that the great resignation will soon reach Australia, it’s worth noting that to this point, the trend has been felt most keenly in the US and UK.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has played a significant part in the great resignation, it has not been the sole cause. Rather, it has helped accelerate the great resignation and bring many pre-existing tensions to the surface. 

If you asked the average person, most of them could probably guess the leading causes of the great resignation. Fatigue, burnout, bad bosses, mental health struggles, and inflexible working arrangements, to name a few. All-too-common factors that most of us have probably experienced in a job at some point. As such, it makes sense that many people have been looking for greener pastures. 

For instance, 54% of people feel overworked (rising to 60% of Gen Z and 64% of new starters), while a massive 95% of human resource leaders admit that employee burnout is sabotaging workforce retention efforts. Moreover, 62% of employees feel overwhelmed by work responsibilities, and 32% say they are emotionally drained. Plus, 69% of people say they feel fatigued at work. If that isn’t bad enough, these statistics are only the tip of the iceberg, reflecting a broader trend where employees feel unsupported, unappreciated, and, most importantly, unhappy at work. 

According to senior lecturer Jay Zagorsky in an interview with the BBC, “I do believe there are thousands of individuals who are just fed up. They are overworked, they feel underappreciated. Because many workers are in high-wage industries and are working incredibly long hours, there is a significant number of people who are just quitting.” 

Or, as Inc puts it, “workers aren't just looking for higher pay, more time off, or more days at home (though those things would surely help in the short term). They're actually questioning the whole meaning of the daily grind. Why do we put so much of ourselves into our careers? And are we getting a fair deal from our employers in return for all this stress and heartache? 

Holding on to employees then isn't just about scheduling. It's about showing them their work has meaning and that the company actually cares about them as human beings.” 

To quantify these feelings, Limeade ran the numbers and identified the top causes of the great resignation. According to their research, 40% of employees left their jobs due to burnout during the great resignation. Other common reasons include their company going through organisational changes (34%), a lack of flexibility (20%), contributions not being valued (20%), insufficient benefits (19%), and well-being not being supported by their company (16%). 

Those that did take the plunge and seek a new job didn’t regret it, as, on average, respondents reported a 22% boost in feeling cared for by their new employer compared with their previous employer. Likewise, they noticed a 22% boost in how comfortable they feel disclosing a mental health condition to their new employer compared with their previous one.

These findings should send a clear message to employers about what areas they need to focus on to either reverse this trend or lose top employees for good. 

How can L&D teams help address this trend? 

Work Institute recently found that 77% of that turnover is preventable, and the great resignation is no exception. As ever, L&D teams have a substantial role to play. By addressing employees concerns, boosting flexibility, and offering employees more of what they want (hint: targeted learning opportunities), L&D teams can play a central role in reversing the great resignation and boosting employee satisfaction. 

For starters, Limeade has crafted a veritable to-do list for businesses during the great resignation, identifying the following common reasons that job-changers were attracted to a new position:

Ability to work remotely according to personal preference (40%)

By offering these benefits, companies can create healthier work environments that employees will be reluctant to leave.

No surprise, flexible working arrangements come out on top. 76% of employees want flexibility for where they work, and 93% want flexibility over when they work. What’s more, 41% of employees say they would look for another job if they were forced to return to the office full time. For further insights on how your organisation can offer more flexibility, check out our recent article on how to deal with returning to the office. 

So, where exactly do L&D teams come in? We’ve mentioned it time and time again, but L&D has a massive impact on boosting employee retention. 94% of employees say they would stay longer at a company if it invested in their professional development, plus, ​employee retention rates increase by 30-50% on average for companies with strong learning cultures. Basically, if you want to retain employees during the great resignation, building a strong learning culture should be your number one priority. 

For a closer analysis of how L&D can boost employee retention — particularly during the great resignation — see our recent article on 5 tips for long term employee retention. 

Additionally, studies show that 80% of employees think learning and development opportunities would help them feel more engaged at work. Unfortunately, as things stand, many organisations are falling short. 50% of employees say they are dissatisfied with the learning and development opportunities at their organisation. No wonder employees are leaving in their droves — this lack of growth opportunities is adding more fuel to the great resignation fire. 

Finally, in a recent survey, ​​69% of L&D professionals said supporting the mental health and well-being of employees is a new part of their role. This is yet another area where L&D teams are vital, as mental health has broadly taken a hit during the pandemic, with burnout being one of the key contributors to the great resignation. To reiterate, 57% of employees experience daily stress. 

Going forward, L&D teams will play a crucial role in supporting employees’ well-being at work. To demonstrate this, McKinsey finds that most employees would feel less stressed if they were offered things such as additional time off (62%), flexible work schedules (60%), and hybrid work arrangements (57%).

The message is clear: from retention to engagement to mental health support, L&D has an indispensable role to play in addressing the great resignation and reengaging employees. There’s no need to resign yourself to the great resignation. Instead, just focus on L&D. 

Does your L&D team need some extra support during the great resignation? Go1 can help. Start your free trial today to access dedicated courses such as our Employee Retention Bundle, Developing a Learning Culture, and many more. 

For more insights, be sure to subscribe to the Go1 newsletter to stay on top of all the latest L&D trends. Or, you can book a demo today to find out how Go1 can help with your team’s learning needs.

The great resignation hinges on how organisations treated their employees during the pandemic. We'll dig deeper, analysing L&D's role in addressing the great resignation.

L&D's role in addressing the great resignation

The great resignation hinges on how organisations treated their employees during the pandemic. We'll dig deeper, analysing L&D's role in addressing the great resignation. 

Written by Lauren Waldman, founder of Learning Pirate, and a revolutionary in the discipline of organisational learning and development. With nearly 20 years of experience as a learning professional, complemented by qualifications in neuroscience, Lauren is driving the evolution of the way individuals and organisations learn, approach learning, and join forces with their brains!

A seemingly simple question, but one that can hold great weight when it comes to connecting with ourselves and with others.  

Take a moment now before you continue reading this and ask yourself that question “How am I?”  

“How am I really?” Maybe the answer is the first one that originally came up, but maybe it’s not and that’s ok too. As a matter of fact, that could be better.

Having moments of present self-awareness (like the one you just experienced) are not always easy to do. Things move so fast and can happen before we realise what’s going on at times. It’s a great reason for learning to cultivate the skills of being more self aware - and we have science on our side to help us understand why. 

Naming our feelings and emotional responses has been proven to calm us down and reduce stress. In science it’s known as “affect labelling,” and the process of labelling or naming what we’re feeling allows us to dampen it, and in the case of negative feelings, reduce its saliency. 

Also, taking the time to be present in our self-awareness (like we do when we bother to stop and ask ourselves “how am I?”) allows us to learn to better monitor and regulate ourselves. This can be a huge help in both emotional regulation and response inhibition, which are two of our executive function skills. 

Improving these skills can mean the difference between someone asking you how you are and you instantly falling apart (or exploding!) as all your internal drama pours out unexpectedly, versus you recognising that you’re feeling a little off and doing something about it before you get to that moment.  

During the recent Humanising the Workplace event with myself, Go1, LPI and Thrive, someone in the audience asked this question:

“Can we increase our empathy and emotional intelligence by understanding our brains better?”

The answer is resoundingly, YES! And the benefits of having that understanding, and building those skills, extend well past what we do in the workplace. After all, we’re humans both in and out of our working environments, right?  

So, let’s explore the brain for a moment and begin to build that understanding both of our own behaviours and of others.

Nestled deep in the middle of your brain on both sides, you have two tiny almond shaped pieces called the Amygdala, lovingly nicknamed Amy. Amy is the brain’s alarm system and her primary role is to act as the emotional processing centre in your brain, and sound the alarm when she perceives danger. 

Her distress signal is picked up by the command centre, which then communicates with the rest of the body through the nervous system preparing you for the fight, flight or freeze response. As well as being our danger spotting guard dog, Amy is also involved in the formation, storage, and consolidation of memory.  

Then we have the prefrontal cortex, let’s name it Corey, which governs our executive function. This area of the brain is responsible for things like decision making, problem solving, focusing attention, reasoning, and judgement. In addition to all of that, Corey also has a pretty important role to play when it comes to interacting with Amy - and that’s to regulate her when she gets fired up. 

Here’s the thing; Amy is way quicker off the mark than Corey - four times faster in fact. So if you had to guess, which do you think responds faster to that question we asked earlier, “how are you?”

Answer: Amy, of course. Which means we’re more likely to let our unconscious responses guide our answers, particularly in times of stress or upset.

But how does having this understanding help us? For one, if we know that taking a moment to ask the follow up question (how am I really?) will allow our conscious (Corey) route to engage, we’re more likely to get a clearer sense of what’s going on for us. And this can help us cultivate the skills to be more emotionally intelligent and empathetic to our colleagues, friends, and family.  

When we’re in conversation with one another and we know how to recognise the moments when Amy may be starting to get a bit reactive (in whatever capacity that may be at the time) we can practice techniques that are proven to calm her down before responding in a way that we may regret or feel bad about later. 

In the workplace this could look like conversations about your personal boundaries or where you’re at in terms of feeling safe. For many of us, emerging from the last 19 months of pandemic life has created a burst of new and unexpected emotion. Understanding how and why we react, along with cultivating the skills of self-monitoring and regulating, can even help us in knowing whether or not it’s even a good time to be having those conversations with someone else. Or whether we have the capacity to listen to another share theirs without being emotionally reactive in a way that could upset yourself or the other person.

If we’re going to be looking for ways to humanise the workplace, having an understanding of how humans and our amazing brains operate seems like a good place to start. 

We can’t control our brains per se, but as I like to say, we can join forces with them and build a better working relationship with Amy, Corey and the gang!

So bearing all that in mind, I have to ask... how are you, really?

Keen to hear more insights from Lauren about neuroscience and learning? Watch the full Humanising the Workplace webinar.   

Lauren also appeared recently on the Go1 podcast, diving into how neuroscience can be translated into practical application within L&D, to positively change the way we experience and feel learning. 

Learning designer and neuroscientist Lauren Waldman explains how joining forces with our brains can help us to be more emotionally intelligent and empathetic to our colleagues, friends, and family.  

How to increase empathy and emotional intelligence - Go1

Learning Scientist Lauren Waldman explains how joining forces with our brains can help us to be more emotionally intelligent and empathetic to our colleagues, friends, and family.  

Can we increase our empathy and emotional intelligence by understanding our brains better?

💡 How suitable is traditional education in building employer capabilities for the future of work? 

In episode 17 of the Learning with Go1 podcast David Blake, former CEO & Cofounder, now Executive Chairman of Degreed joined us to discuss whether universities need to do more to support the lifelong career of their students. 

🎧 Make sure you listen to hear David’s thoughts on: 

The lack of inclusion built into most learning and development programs 

Bridging the skills gap through lifelong learning 

Here are some of our highlights from the conversation.  

As the flow of work changes, learning will change with it. One thing that David has seen over the years is that learner behavior is constantly changing as technology continues to adapt and change the working environment.  

The question is: how can L&D keep up with this pace of change, and what are the risks if they don’t? David begins to dive into this further below.  

The need for lifelong learning

Right now, the skills gap is getting bigger, not smaller. David believes this is only going to get worse and L&D won’t stand a chance unless universities make a change. In the video below, David speaks more about why universities should adopt a lifelong model of learning to make a change for the better. 

Universities need to change

For so many years universities have been the biggest engine of education and upskilling for the workforce around the world. It is becoming increasingly clear however that people are likely to learn more from their companies than they do from universities, and the people who are enabled to do so will be successful. 

David explains that he is starting to see a narrative develop when it comes to regulating how corporate skills training is administered. 

L&D for equity and inclusion

We would like to thank David again for joining us on the Learning with Go1 podcast to share his insights into the evolving world of education both traditionally and in corporate L&D. If you haven’t already, you can listen to the full episode here.   

We look forward to continuing the rest of the series, with L&D professionals already scheduled to join us from Cyprus, Egypt, Oman, Finland, the Netherlands, Australia, the USA, and many more. Stay tuned!  

Want to hear more? Browse the full Learning with Go1 podcast library on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Spotify to help expand your knowledge of all things L&D and hear how other organizations are navigating this ever-evolving landscape. 

In episode 17 of the Learning with Go1 podcast David Blake, former CEO & Cofounder, now Executive Chairman of Degreed, joined us to discuss whether universities need to do more to support the lifelong career of their students. 

The skills gap is increasing faster than we are educating people 

In an era of YouTube tutorials, smartphones, and world-class digital learning courses — where information is only ever a click away — self-directed learning was an inevitable evolution. With employees asking for more and more control in many facets of life, from remote working to mental health support and beyond, it was only a matter of time before self-directed training took off. 

Recently, we identified self-directed learning as one of the top L&D trends of 2021. And with good reason. The benefits of self-led learning are far-reaching, with 77% of employees saying it is more effective than their company’s training. This should not be seen as a knock on the state of learning, but rather as a glowing endorsement of self-directed training. 

On an intuitive level, this makes plenty of sense. After all, who knows better how you prefer to learn, what you need to learn, and where your skill gaps lie: you, or a generic assigned learning program? Learners no longer want to sit back and be told what to learn, they want the freedom to access tools that facilitate learning. Ideally, at their own pace and on their own schedule. 

With this in mind, we thought self-directed learning merited closer attention. We’ll start by asking ‘what is self-directed learning?’, before moving on to examples and benefits of self-directed training.

Self-directed learning is many things. It’s flexible. It’s decentralised. And it puts the learner first. But most of all, self-directed learning is here to stay. 

On a basic level, self-directed learning is exactly what it sounds like. Sometimes known as self-led learning or self-determined learning, this style of learning gives people control over what they learn, how they learn, and what learning schedule best suits them. Self-led learning takes the onus off a central L&D strategy and puts it into learners’ hands, allowing them to set goals and access training in ways that best complement their unique learning needs.

Most sources attribute Malcolm Knowles, sometimes known as the “father of self-directed learning”, as one of the key pioneers of this concept back in 1975. Knowles believed that adult learners are “mature, responsible individuals who want to take charge of their own learning.” Thus, he defined self-directed learning as a process “in which individuals take the initiative, with or without the help of others, in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating learning goals, identifying human and material resources for learning, choosing and implementing appropriate learning strategies, and evaluating those learning outcomes.”

In a 2008 research paper, Loyens, Magda, and Riker define self-directed training as “knowing what you need to learn, how to learn it, and being able to judge if you’ve learnt it. It assumes that learners have a role in selecting those learning tasks that fit their learning needs.”

Therefore, self-determined learning places a significant amount of trust and responsibility on learners to identify and fulfil their learning needs. However, 360Learning emphasises the distinction between self-directed and unstructured or unsupervised learning. As they put it, “just because self-directed learning makes learners more responsible for those things doesn’t mean it makes them solely responsible.”

L&D teams must still play an active role in facilitating and supporting self-directed learning. For example, L&D teams must ensure learning content is accurate, accessible, and up to date, learning goals are measurable, achievable, relevant, and aligned with broader organisational goals, and learners can access whatever support they require to achieve optimal outcomes. 

Self-led learning may give learners more control, but it should not mean they feel unsupported. 

As more organisations recognise the benefits of self-directed learning, examples of this type of learning abound. And the results are impressive. 

Many of us can probably conjure examples of self-determined learning in daily life. You might want to learn a new language and download an app to guide you on this journey. You might be interested in history and seek out a podcast to learn more. You might see a particularly captivating documentary and start Googling for more information once the final credits roll. These are all examples of informal self-determined learning in day-to-day life. 

In a business context, self-led learning has also been a hit. According to research by Cornerstone, American food and energy drink company Cliff Bar saw a 198% increase in self-directed online training hours when the company began offering more timely and relevant content. To achieve this, the company launched ‘Epiphany Labs’, a company-wide learning hub that allows learners to access live sessions, lunch and learns, on-demand courses, compliance training, and more, all on their own terms. 

Similarly, BNP Paribas saw a 235% increase in self-requested training from 2019 to 2020. With increases like these, it’s clear that self-directed training is on the rise, which brings us to the benefits of this style of learning.

As we’ve alluded to, the primary benefit of self-directed learning is giving learners more control over their development. Ideally, this should lead to more engaged, productive, and skilled learners. 

Already, teams are seeing the benefits of this approach, with self-determined learning growing in popularity across all generations. According to LinkedIn’s 2021 Workplace Learning report, 43% of Gen Z, 42% of Millennials, and 33% of Gen X and Baby Boomers want fully self-directed and independent learning. This report also identified that 74% of learners want the freedom to take training courses during their spare time, at their own pace. Remember, it’s never a bad time to give learners more of what they want.

Accordingly, 96% of L&D professionals say their top priority is increasing self-directed training opportunities. These figures make sense, as 77% of employees believe self-directed learning is more effective than their employer’s training. 

In many ways, a shift-towards formal self-led learning is a natural progression from how employees already learn. eLearning Industry finds that employees spend far more time learning from their own sources than employer-provided training. On average, workers spend 14 hours per month learning on their own, compared to just two to three hours on employer-provided training. Likewise, 23% of workers say they completed a course of any kind in the last two years, whereas more than 70% learned something for their job from an article, video, or book in the past 24 hours. 

Clearly, the demand for self-determined learning is increasing. Now, the onus is on organisations to catch up. While 43% of Gen Z employees want completely self-led learning, only 20% of companies plan to offer this level of freedom. 

Many companies may be asking, ‘why should we switch to self-directed education, what’s in it for us?’. In addition to providing employees with what they want, the benefits are vast. According to Emerald Works, 50% of high-impact learning cultures provide opportunities for self-directed learning, compared to just 13% of ‘average’ organisations. 

Similarly, CIPD’s Towards Maturity report finds that ‘Top Deck’ organisations (defined as companies in the top decile of their Towards Maturity Index) reported a 43% increase in self-directed training opportunities. The message is clear: the more opportunities you provide for self-led learning, the more likely you are to stand out as a top-performing, high-impact team. 

There’s little doubt that self-directed learning is here to stay. Employees crave it, and many organisations are starting to reap the rewards, ranging from improved efficiency to greater job satisfaction, motivation, and retention. Self-directed learning may be one of the top learning trends of 2021, but pretty soon, it won’t just be a trend, it will be a necessity. 

Recently, we identified self-directed learning as one of the top L&D trends of 2021. Now, it's time to take a closer look at the benefits of self-directed learning.

The benefits of self-directed learning

… What if the content you shared with your people helped them to be smarter, better, faster?  

… What if people had access to expertise at their fingertips?  

… What if the business saw L&D for what it is - problem solvers, growing efficiencies, and helping people to get unstuck?  

In a recent webinar, Learning Architect Shannon Tipton explored these very questions, sharing expert insights into how L&D professionals can build their curation skills. Ready to move beyond simple aggregation to quality and impactful sharing? 

Check out some of the key takeaways below. 

Today’s modern learner is overwhelmed, distracted, and impatient. They want learning content that is relevant, focused and succinct, timely, mobile, and engaging. Unfortunately, 41% of their time is spent merely trying to find the right content … yep, 41%! 

So, what does that say about your curation efforts, and how can you be helpful? 

According to Shannon, putting your curation efforts together in an organized effort encourages collaboration and communication, a growth mindset, and most importantly, it encourages a level of learning curiosity that will extend itself outward to your organization.  

Why is curation an important skill?

How do you know good content when you see it? 

People within organizations want to be able to access information that will allow them to learn, grow and improve overall skills - making them smarter, better, faster than the day before. The issue for organizations is that there is an overabundance of information. The ability to filter out quality training content is an ever-growing issue. Shannon explains the important difference between aggregation and curation below. 

The "filtering" issue

The point of curating information is for people to be able to take action. This provides employees with the motivation and direction they need to complete the learning, and continue to improve their overall skills within the organization.

Have a call to action

The importance of knowing your audience - communication is key 

“What if the focus shifted from: look, here's something interesting to, look, here's something incredibly useful.” 

Knowing your audience and segmenting where you're sending your content to is a critical part of any curation strategy. As Shannon explains, when communicating with key stakeholders, the communication piece that goes out them needs to be compelling enough to hook them in and help them break away from any previous biases they have.  

The importance of knowing your audience 

The struggle of modern L&D is not getting people to train, it's about giving them effective learning solutions that cut through the noise. To be able to do so, understanding content curation for workplace training and the benefits it can bring to your organization is key. 

Keen to watch the full webinar? Catch up on the recording here. 

You may also be interested in the following articles: 

💡Why content curation is important for staff training

💡Why content curation is effective for workplace learning

Gain expert insights from Learning Strategist Shannon Tiptonon how to build your curation skills, moving beyond simple aggregation to quality and impactful sharing. 

Curating content with meaning and impact with Shannon Tipton

Gain expert insights from Learning Strategist Shannon Tipton on how to build your curation skills, moving beyond simple aggregation to quality and impactful sharing. 

Over the past decade, digital transformation has been a popular topic in business circles. So popular, in fact, that last year, global spending on digital transformation grew by 10.4%, reaching $1.3 trillion. That’s right, trillion. With a T. In other words, digital transformation is a massive global enterprise that will influence the future growth and prosperity of businesses worldwide, regardless of size, industry, or country.  

This enormous level of investment begs the question, what is digital transformation? If you don’t already know, now is the perfect time to familiarise yourself with digital transformation, as it is likely to increase exponentially in both scope and relevance in the coming years. 

We’ll take you step-by-step through digital transformation, asking ‘what is digital transformation?’ before analysing the key benefits of digital transformation.