Education is a topic that we all feel qualified to comment on. After untold years of formal education, mixed in with learning at our workplaces, we are all quasi-experts on education.


So, as the year begins, it’s worth considering what the future holds for education. Because the future of education is changing. And this future is very different to what has come before.

The traditional model is familiar. A local expert, be it a teacher, a professor or — heaven forbid — hired motivational speaker acts as the font of knowledge. We listen. We learn.

This industrial age ideal of education works well at equipping us on the basics that we all need to know. Whether it be maths 101 or the history of ancient Greece, our existing model of education works well.

But the future of education is much more specialised and much more personalised. In the same way that local musicians have given way to international pop stars, many aspects of education are also becoming the domain of international experts.

This is just one of the changes to the education landscape for 2017 and beyond.

Here are my predictions for the future of education.

First, we will increasingly access education on a 24/7 basis, created by the leading experts. Salman Khan, founder of Khan Academy, created a YouTube channel in 2006 for primary and secondary education. He is now one of the pop stars of education. There are many more covering every topic imaginable.

Learning can now be self-paced, sourced directly from the best practitioner in the field. We can pause. We can replay. We can change presenters to whoever we feel explains it best.

Secondly, we will increasingly learn from each other. It sounds paradoxical: if we’re learning from experts, how are we also learning from our peers?

The reason we can learn so much from our peers is their appreciation of what we know and what we might be missing. Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky outlined his theory of the zone of proximal development almost a century ago. In a nutshell: our colleagues and friends help us learn and achieve more than we can alone.

It sounds simple, but technology now means we can learn from our peers at a distance. And our peers will increasingly be artificial intelligences.

Third, we will see exams replaced with big data. I too raise my eyebrows whenever someone invokes “big data”. But truly, the future of education involves much better heuristics for our level of knowledge than a multiple choice test.

Our day-to-day work is a much better indication of our level of ability than any test could ever be. Instead of taking a test on accounting, our financial literacy is better assessed by how we interact with real scenarios.

So, what do these three predictions add up to?

Firstly, let’s address the elephant in the room. I don’t believe teachers will be replaced. Instead they will be augmented.

We will have access to the global experts in whichever field we are looking to master.

Our peers are also important sources of learning. And, as we are increasingly connected, so too are the opportunities to ask questions and to learn increased. In some cases these peers will be computer programs. How many times have you Googled some fact that you weren’t quite sure about?

Finally, our capabilities will be measured in more nuanced ways. Instead of exams we have simulated scenarios. And instead of academic institutions determining what is an A+, I predict industry will set the bar instead.

The future of education is very different in many ways to what we have all experienced. But in other aspects, it is very similar — just much faster and more personalised.

In some respects, the future of education is very traditional too. Oxford University, the oldest English-speaking university in the world, has prioritised individual tutelage for the last 900 years.

The future of education — both at work and at school — involves experts. It involves personal tutelage. And it involves much more rigorous and practical assessment.

In many respects the future is here. And 2017 will see much more progress on these fronts.

This article was originally published in The Australian 

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Three predictions for the future of education

One of the most significant business trends to keep an eye on in 2017 is employee engagement. As we've seen in Deloitte’s comprehensive Human Capital Report, employee satisfaction is more important than ever when it comes to the stability of an organization. In fact, according to their findings, 48% of survey respondents found that this was a very important issue. According to the authors of the report, employee engagement is now a CEO level concern with 9 out of 10 executives rating engagement as an important or very important priority.

Engagement is an aspect of workplace culture that should be monitored regularly – almost like a heartbeat. The more engaged that your teams are, the more likely you will be to retain your talent and maintain your competitive edge. On the other hand, if you adhere to policies that prevent your employees from being engaged then you will see a higher rate of turnover and serious productivity issues.

The Human Capital Report identifies three main factors that are driving companies to allocate more resources on engagement:

Increasing competition for Millennial talent

A continued need to attract workers with tech and highly specialized skill sets

An increased degree of transparency in the workforce

There’s another factor that’s driving our dependence on engagement and that is an ever-increasing degree of diversity in today's workforce. HR departments are now in charge of managing workers that come from as many as five generations, as well as global teams that are made up of a wide variety of individuals from very distinct backgrounds.

Just as we are seeing a workforce that’s increasingly diverse in gender, ethnicity, culture, and sexual orientation, we are also seeing more and more employees working at home and on a contract basis. Unfortunately, despite this high degree of diversity the researchers at Deloitte have found that only 11% of companies are considered “highly inclusive” work environment and 47% are guilty of possessing cultural barriers that prevent them from using part-time talent.

Perhaps the most telling statistic is that only 4% of the surveyed companies consider themselves as good at engaging the Millennial's on their teams.

Employees are now looking for flexibility, the opportunity to be creative, and to work that matters. In the past, a dependable paycheck and the opportunity for advancement might have been enough. However, modern generations are asking themselves some serious existential questions before they commit to a company.

All of this means that organizations are going to be relying on a new type of leadership. The best companies will be hiring and cultivating leaders who empower their teams and provide the support and communication to keep employees engaged.

Engagement is more important than ever for another reason: employees now have more options than ever. All it takes is a quick search on LinkedIn or any social media recruiting site and an employee will have access to a wide variety of job opportunities. This means that companies need to find new ways to make their work seem meaningful and significant to their people (if they want to keep them!)

There are now new tools that companies can use to evaluate employee engagement and obtain anonymous feedback. This means that all employees have the opportunity to give their opinion about management, executives, corporate culture, and more…all on an almost real-time basis.

This opportunity to evaluate the pulse of your company gives management the opportunity to optimize for what is working and eliminate that which is holding the company back.

This new continuous feedback methodology is completely disrupting the old model of evaluating engagement. The Human Capital Report gives several key examples where companies have put these strategies to use and how it’s resulted in serious benefits.

Unfortunately, not all companies have been so quick to embrace the new trends. In fact, the majority of the surveyed executives reported that their company does not measure employee engagement at all. This means that far too many organizations are experiencing a serious disconnect with their people.

According to the Human Capital Report, the following are a few ways to improve your engagement:

This means more than making your company a great place to work. It means giving your leadership the responsibility to cultivate a sense of meaning with the work.

Create a sense of passion, purpose, and mission

These things make up an important part of the “glue” that will hold your teams together. Workers who have a sense of meaning will work better together and stick around longer.

This is one of the most powerful ways to make sure that your employees stay engaged. When you connect compensation to your team’s level of engagement than you will see a higher degree of accountability and achievement.

While many organizations use exit interviews, not enough of them choose to use “stay” interviews. This strategy helps you find out exactly what it takes to keep your employees happy and loyal to your organization.

Make sure your engagement strategy is “always on”

If your engagement strategy is currently set to an annual model, then shifting to a continuous listening approach will help you make improvement in the metrics that matter, much faster.

Engagement is quickly becoming a concern for everyone within the leadership team – not just human resources.

The best companies will be looking forward and actively working towards improving their engagement levels.

The Go1 Marketplace gives you access to thousands of free and paid eLearning resources you can use to train up your staff. To learn more, click here.

The engagement trends that you need to know

We recently talked about the importance of soft skills in today’s workforce, with skills such as communication, compassion and problem solving becoming increasingly valued by employers. When making new hires, many organizations are looking for employees with a good combination of ‘hard’ technical skills and ‘soft’ interpersonal skills – so improving your soft skills is one of the best ways you can set yourself apart from the competition and boost your career.

Even though many companies recognize the importance of soft skills in the workplace, employers generally don’t provide training in these areas. While most technical skills can be measured and tested, skills such as empathy, resilience and emotional intelligence are often thought to be inherent within an individual’s personality. But the truth is, these qualities can be developed! Over time, you can learn to be more effective in areas like communication or team work.

So how can you get started on improving your soft skills? One of the best ways to learn new skills, or improve existing ones, is through eLearning. To help you out, we’ve put together 5 of the best online courses you can enrol in to improve your soft skills.

Good communication skills are top of the list when it comes to soft skills you need to have in 2017. Knowing how to effectively communicate – whether it’s face-to-face or via email – will help you achieve far more successful working relationships with colleagues, managers and clients.

Having good communication skills also includes being a good listener, as this helps you to better understand the needs of your employer or client. Listening is also a very important skill for effective leadership, helping to improve creative and collaboration processes in your team and contribute to a more positive work culture.

Communicating Effectively is a 30-minute eLearning course that will provide you with the necessary knowledge, skills and confidence to be an effective communicator. You’ll also learn about effective listening and questioning techniques you can use in the workplace and how to communicate better in your emails.

Emotional intelligence, also known as EQ, is considered the strongest predictor of work performance. In fact, 90% of top performers have high levels of EQ, making around $29,000 more annually than other workers.

By brushing up on your emotional intelligence, you’ll be improving your ability to monitor your own and others’ feelings and emotions, and to use this information to guide your thinking and actions. These skills will also help you become a better leader, as many traits that are necessary for strong leadership can be linked to high levels of interpersonal skills and EQ.

Check out this short 30-minute online course on Emotional Intelligence, to learn how to recognise and manage emotions – both your own feelings and those of other people. With better levels of self-awareness and self-management, you can improve your own emotional intelligence for greater success in the workplace, as well as at home.

Employers greatly value workers who demonstrate a high capacity for problem solving. Showing that you have the ability to address and resolve issues on your own will really set you apart from your co-workers and attract the attention of managers.

When staff use critical thinking, reasoning and decision making to solve problems, they’re saving the business valuable time and money. Skilled problem solvers also work to bring out the best in everything around them, creating positive change in themselves and their environment. This is a very good quality to bring to any modern workplace.

Through Effective Problem Solving and Decision Making, you’ll learn how to develop the critical thinking skills needed in today’s workforce to approach individual and organizational problems. With this online course you’ll also gain confidence in assessing problems accurately, evaluating alternative solutions and anticipating likely risks.

With many employees working in collaborative roles, it’s important to know how to work effectively as part of a team. While good communication is certainly one aspect of this, teamwork is also about respecting the needs and contributions of other workers in your team and focusing on the best result for the group.

Positive working relationships are essential for any successful collaboration, with soft skills playing a vital part in delivering team outcomes. It doesn’t matter how creative or innovative your ideas are – without the ability to work well with others they might never get off the ground.

Team Working Excellence will teach you about the four key skills needed to maximise your team working performance. Find out what makes some people better team players than others and how you can start building better working relationships.

Finally, let’s look at the importance of building resilience in the workplace. Why is this quality so valued by employers? Being resilient helps workers to adapt to changes in the workplace, respond well to challenges and bounce back after an adversity. This makes it a very sought-after skill in employees, showing you to be adaptable, flexible and reliable under pressure.

Even if you're not a naturally resilient person, you can learn to develop a more resilient mind-set. One of the best ways to improve your resilience is to learn how to effectively manage stress, which can make a huge impact on all aspects of your life, including work. Employees who know how to manage their own stress levels are far more resilient and at much lower risk of burning out at work.

If you’re interested in learning more about managing stressors at work, enroll in this online  Stress Reduction and Wellness course. With this, you’ll learn to identify stress, establishing what situations, thoughts or feelings stress you out. You can then find ways to reduce this stress using mindfulness meditation techniques. You’ll also become more aware of your thinking patterns, allowing you to increase your resilience to work stressors, achieving greater calm in the workplace, as well as your personal life.

Get Started on Improving Your Soft Skills Today

Regardless of your job description or the industry you work in, taking the time to develop your soft skills also shows initiative and drive. As well as improving your skill set, you’ll be showing an ability to learn new skills and a willingness to advance your career – qualities that are also highly valued by many employers and organizations.

The top 5 soft skills you need and how to get them

The modern workplace can be a very stressful environment. Whether it’s the pressure of constant deadlines, increased workloads or tense working relationships, many employees are faced with significant daily demands from their job. However, some workers seem better equipped to respond to these demands, taking these challenges in their stride and overcoming work obstacles with ease. How do they do it? For these people, it's all about building resilience.

While resilience is a very admirable trait in anyone, it’s particularly valued by many employers in today’s workforce. Dr Monique Crane, Lecturer in Organisational Psychology at Macquarie University is a specialist in workplace resilience. She believes that being resilient is about having “the right fit of coping styles, thinking styles and behaviours for the context” and “being adaptive to [the] circumstance.” In this way, employees who are resilient can be seen to be happier at work, more productive and more successful in their career.

Let’s look closer at how building resilience can help reduce stress levels in the workplace and bring benefits to your staff and organization.

The Benefits of Resilience for Organizations

Building a resilient mind-set is important for workers, as the way we view stress and adversity strongly affects how we succeed in our careers. By working to develop your resilience, you’ll improve your ability to respond flexibly to challenges that arise, bouncing back from adversity with renewed strength.

These workers will be considerably more adaptive and flexible to work stressors, without losing functionality on the job or being at risk of burning out. This is incredibly important for an individual’s mental and physical wellbeing, allowing them to deal comfortably with daily work demands and be better prepared for challenges as they arise.

Can Work Stressors Help Build Resilience?

Workplace stressors that hinder resilience – such as bureaucracy, red tape, frustrations with work culture, or job ambiguity; and

Challenge stressors that promote resilience – for example, learning new things, applying your skills in a new way, gaining a promotion.

In contrast, the second list of stressors are within the control of an individual, presenting them with goal-based challenges that help build resilience. Although starting a new job or dealing with an increased workload can certainly be tough, these experiences have the potential to create opportunities for positive growth. As employees successfully overcome these kinds of challenge stressors, they increase their resilience – and importantly, begin to see themselves as more resilient.

How Managers Can Help Build More Resilient Employees

Fortunately, resilience is a skill that can be learned, rather than a particular character trait found only in certain people. And the more you practice being resilient in everyday life, the more you’ll increase your skills in this area over time - like building up muscle!

While employers and managers can work to remove stressors from the workplace, there will always be certain challenges for employees to overcome. Therefore, it’s important for individuals to develop resilience before they need it. This will help staff adapt to changes in their job roles and organization.

You can help staff become more resilient by consciously framing your requests in the context of a challenge, focusing on the positive experience and end result for the individual. As we saw with the difference between various types of stressors, overcoming challenge stressors is one of the best ways for a person to increase their resilience. Managers may also like to enroll in this helpful online course, Developing Resilience, to increase their understanding in this area and help them build strong, flexible and well-balanced employees.

Being resilient can also mean knowing how to seek support when you need it – whether it’s talking to a friend, colleague, manager or a professional counsellor. So if you’re struggling at work and feel overcome with demands and stressors, putting your hand up can often be the strongest thing to do.

Being in an on-demand service-based industry presents a number of unique challenges, especially when it comes to training your team. If you are still clinging to old models of classroom-based training then you are missing out on key opportunities for growth within your organization. The truth is that the nature of training and instructing employees has changed over the past decade or so, and some companies are simply slow to adapt to it.

If you want to stay ahead of the curve then you’ll want to factor in these new technologies and strategies for training your team.

The matter how you slice it, competition helps your employees strive for bigger things. If you are looking to train up your talent then you’ll want to find ways to emphasize comparison and healthy competition within your groups.

Those who are motivated to achieve more will strive to be frontrunners. It isn’t just the “Type A Personality” who responds to this sort of tactic, either. We all compare ourselves to our peers in social environments and when it comes to a competitive workforce this instinct is even more pronounced.

The “old model” made training a mandatory affair that was typically inefficient and hard to access. Employees had to set aside whatever they were doing to complete the training, often in a remote location or in a classroom environment. They were forced to go at the same pace as the rest of the class and it was easy to become distracted or unmotivated.

However, we are in a new age of learning and eLearning gives you the opportunity to engage your employees in new and exciting ways. You can present your content in an easy to digest format by providing smaller chunks of information, for example. You can also create multimedia presentations and interactive videos and allow your team members to complete the training when they can fit it in.

Mobile learning gives your staff access to your best training material from anywhere in the world. Now, rather than stuffing everyone in a classroom for an extended period of time, your team members can complete the training from home, on the road, or anywhere else that is convenient for them.

The key is to embrace this technology and strategically create or adopt a platform that works for your culture.

Give your employees the ability to properly assess and measure their performance. 

It’s easy to be mistaken about how effective or efficient we are at any given task without being given the proper method to measure the efficacy of our actions. The on-demand training mentality means embracing systems that can give your people the feedback they need to improve their performance. It also means having the ability to identify and measure the most important areas that drive results within your organization.

It’s no secret that the new generations entering the workforce are more responsive to feedback than those who have come before them. The Millennials, for example, grew up with a higher degree of communication from their peers and leaders in school. So if you provide them with a means to measure their success and they identify that they have room for improvement, then they will naturally access the on-demand training you provide them.

On-demand learning is not simply providing a buffet of information and crossing your fingers in hopes that your team members will access it when they need it.  You also need to provide a framework for them to adopt—a model for success.

Luckily, you can easily “bake” something like this into your eLearning systems if you start from the desired goal and work backward as you design your curriculum. What do the most successful people in that position do? How have they adopted a model of success and how can you translate that model to one that is easily adapted to?

If you can answer these questions then you will be able to create a framework that allows your people to thrive.

The on-demand training mentality is the complete opposite of what we have embraced in the past. It’s a continuous optimization of the things that work and a process of discarding the things that don’t. It means being quick on your feet and able to roll with the punches—two characteristics that are absolutely necessary for our global economy.

Human Resources departments have a huge opportunity to create a learning environment that is tremendously more effective than any we have ever seen before. And it simply could not have come at a better time. Part of the friction and resistance we are experiencing right now in the global workforce is directly related to a lack of flexibility and a reluctance to embrace change.

If you want to maintain your competitive edge then one of the first places to start looking for opportunities will be your training strategy. The on-demand mentality gives everyone access to the training they need when they need it—something that has never really existed before.

Some critics may preemptively assume that the on-demand training model is more expensive than the traditional model—and this could not be further from the truth. In the vast majority of cases, it’s actually much more cost-effective to implement an on-demand learning system than it is to try to retrofit something that’s outdated and only marginally effective to begin with.

To learn more about on-demand training options for your organization, have a look at the Go1 Marketplace have a look at the Go1 Marketplace!

Creating the on-demand training mentality for your team

Have you ever returned to work from a training session, excited about putting your newfound knowledge and skills into action, only to fall back into old work habits within a week? You’re not alone.

For many workers, knowledge gained through traditional training methods can often prove hard to retain. In fact, only 20 percent of trainees will actually change the way they work as a result of training. This means that most learners, even those with the best intentions, are failing to apply what they’ve learnt in training to the workplace – and this is largely due to a lack of knowledge retention.

Knowledge retention is a vital component of successful learning and development. For employees, successful training tools are essential for professional development, with staff who receive ongoing, engaging training also likely to be happier and more satisfied in their jobs. Effective training methods are also critical for employers, as an essential part of maintaining and improving service standards and profits. With learning and development taking up a significant part of the budget for most organizations, it’s important for employers to see a positive return on their investment.

So how can you help staff to retain knowledge after training? Are some learning methods more effective for knowledge retention than others? Let’s look at some important training methods and ideas you can use to help improve knowledge retention in your learners.

Let’s be honest. Digesting information, learning new skills and acquiring fresh knowledge can be hard work. It’s even harder when your boss sends you to training sessions that aren’t relevant to your position or are just downright boring. After all, it’s difficult to recall information if you weren’t really listening in the first place!

To prevent boredom – the number one enemy of knowledge retention – trainers should endeavour to make their sessions as engaging as possible for learners. To increase the engagement level with your audience (and overall success of your training) you need to provoke a mental shift within your learners – each individual needs to want to change, before they can feel motivated to put these plans and thoughts into action for long-term change.

“Only when people believe that the personal benefits of making the change outweigh the pain of doing so will they commit to altering their behavior,” says Sebastian Bailey, author of Mind Gym: Achieve More by Thinking Differently.

Bailey also recommends keeping training sessions short to “increase the likelihood that learning will stick,” with bite-sized chunks of learning resulting in a 17 percent greater transfer of knowledge, and participants learning and remembering more from these sessions. Similarly, Dianne Dukette and David Cornish suggest keeping things short, with their research finding that the maximum attention span for learning is 20 minutes.

Set your goals – and know how to stick to them!

In addition to being short and sweet, the most successful training sessions also contain an element of goal setting. While this may be common knowledge for trainers, there’s a very important tip for making your goal setting exercises considerably more effective.

Psychologist Peter Gollwitzer found that when he asked his students to think specifically about when, where, and how they were going to update their resumes, 80 percent of the students did so, compared with 20 percent of those who simply wrote down their commitment but didn’t follow through.

That’s why it’s very important to get individuals to think about exactly how they'll implement changes when they get back to their desk or work site, rather than just focusing on a vague outcome. This form of action delivers far better results for knowledge retention amongst learners.

The benefits of eLearning for knowledge retention

One of the most effective training methods for improved knowledge retention is online learning. As we’ve said, modern training sessions need to be short, engaging and goal-oriented – and you’ll find eLearning offers employees all of those elements.

With online training, gone are the days of sitting in an all-day conference room, trying to hear what the presenter is saying and not think about how long you’ve got until lunch. These days, eLearning offers employees convenient, engaging training tools that can be used how and when they prefer.

Through online courses and mobile-friendly apps, staff can access training at a time and place that suits them, while working through learning materials at their own pace. In fact, studies have shown that using apps for training can greatly improve knowledge retention, with students reaching a competent level nearly four times faster than by using traditional training methods. The freedom and flexibility of online learning encourages full focus, helping individuals to become more engaged with the materials and retain more of what they’re absorbing.

Hopefully this has provided you with some helpful ideas for your company’s learning and development, to ensure staff are receiving the most effective training methods for improved knowledge retention. If you’re interested in finding out more about online learning, visit the Go1 website and see how eLearning can work for your staff.

Improving knowledge retention in learners

What do you do when it's time to fill key management and leadership positions within your organization? Do you seek out leaders and poach them from other companies? Many do. However, there is a very persuasive argument to promote from within that you may want to consider.

Here are a few reasons why your company may see better results from up-skilling:

You see higher degrees of employee retention.

It's only natural that your employees will look to greener pastures if they feel like there is a lack of mobility within your organization. The other side of that coin is that you will see your people investing themselves more in the company if they feel like there is an opportunity to grow.

When they feel like they are being given the opportunity to take on senior management positions then your team members will feel like you are investing in them. This promotes a healthier corporate culture overall.

Hiring outside talent is much more expensive than promoting from within. In fact, one study suggests that the cost of recruiting and training for middle management position can cost up to nine months of that particular candidate salary. So imagine how much you will be paying when you are looking to bring on a new vice president or CEO! Startups and mid-sized firms in particular will find that the cash they save by promoting within is a huge bonus.

You improve productivity by improving morale.

When your employees have something to strive for then they will work harder – it's just that simple. By showing your employees that you are willing to promote based on measurable achievements than they will be more motivated and incentivized to hit their marks. This goes for sales staff, management, customer service agents and everyone else within the company.

If you only fill those positions from outside resources than you will be showing your employees that no matter how hard they work there’s a ceiling to what they can achieve within your company. Instead, you want your team members to feel like there is no limit to where they can go if they work hard enough—and the only way for them to feel that way is if you show them that it's true.

The new economy requires companies in all industries to be faster and more efficient than ever. When you hire from outside the company then you are bringing on someone who is not familiar with your culture or systems. There is almost certainly going to be a significant lag period where productivity slows down in that department until the new recruit can be on-boarded.

Now think about what happens when you promote from within. There is almost a seamless transition because the employee is already familiar with many of the tasks even if they've been observing them from a different seat. They will understand your culture and how you do things and this means that they will be much quicker when it comes to carrying out their most important tasks.

Your teams will embrace the new leadership faster.

This is similar to the previous point. When you promote from within than your team members will already be familiar with the new leader. They will understand their personality and how they view the tasks at hand. There will be a sense of cohesion and camaraderie that you simply can't get without time together.

You are looking for results and when there is friction between your team members then those results will be slower to come by. Promoting from within means that your company will have a stronger and more unified sense of identity.

There are obviously times when you will need to hire from outside. For example, when there are specific skill sets that you need that are not readily available within your organization then you will have to look outside to find them. This might be proficiency with new enterprise-level software, for example.

Also, when your organization thrives on new perspectives and change then it may provide a boost to your employee morale to bring on somebody with new ways of approaching the challenges ahead. Also, when there are huge strategy shifts or tumultuous business challenges and you may simply not have the resources to train up someone within the appropriate time then you may need to find outside for your talent.

Upskilling your team members requires a systematic approach with effective planning strategies to help you make the transition. Without an effective plan in place then there is far too much chaos involved in the process that can cause friction. However, if you take the time to develop a strategy for promoting your employees into key management and leadership positions, then you will see serious and lasting benefits that will directly impact your bottom line.

If you're interested in resources that will help you identify, train, and retain the talent within your organization then we encourage you to have a look at the Go1 Marketplace.

Here you'll find thousands of eLearning resources that can help your HR department become trailblazers in today’s economy.

Upskill your team and promote from within

As we move forward into 2017 there is one chief concern that stands out among human resources departments and business leaders: the status of leadership.

The modern workforce is changing at a rapid speed and it’s presenting new challenges for organizations of all types. The recent Human Capital Trends report by Deloitte outlines some of the specific concerns about leadership and how we might address them moving forward.

According to the findings of the report, 89% of companies see leadership as an important or very important issue. 28% of those who were polled responded that they are dealing with weak or very weak leadership pipelines. Clearly organizations are adhering to older models of leadership that need to evolve along with the nature of our global economy and more diverse working environment.

Here’s a statistic that really stands out from the report and highlights the urgency of the current leadership crisis we are facing:

Only 7% of companies feel like they are excellent at building Millennial leaders.

That is an abysmally low number when confidence is so important to the execution of effective leadership. The report goes on to tell us that in 2015 companies spent almost $31 billion on leadership programs. However, according to Barbara Kellerman of Harvard University, many of these programs are structured around story-based solutions that propagate myths, fads, and even superficial solutions that don't really address the underlying issues the companies are facing. Can you guess what this means?

It means that these leadership programs are not producing measurable, lasting, or even reliable results.

The report raises a very interesting and logical question:

If we can invest in IT solutions and see measurable results, then why can't our human resources departments deliver the same type of measurable results?

These are the kinds of questions that investors are asking and it's one reason why HR departments are seeing quite a bit of friction from the “powers” higher up on the food chain.

Another interesting finding from the report is that high-performing companies will outspend their competitors on their leadership by almost 4 times. But it isn't a simple matter of spending more, they are also spending their money much more intelligently.

Naturally, the companies that are blazing ahead in leadership during this somewhat murky time of change are investing in programs that have a solid foundation in research, priorities, and perhaps most importantly, outcome based assessments.

Organizational design is certainly one of the factors that is changing and challenging the nature of leadership today. Now we are seeing more and more organizations embrace a more diverse and “flatter” team environment that is becoming more complex by the day. This means that leadership must be embraced and exhibited by more members of the team. We are experiencing less and less top-down based leadership as our companies evolve.

We talk about “awakening leadership” because the nature of what it means to be a leader is changing today. Organizations and the people within them are demanding leaders that are less supervisors and more coaches who understand how to collaborate with and inspire their people.

Perhaps it's because the Millennials are entering the workforce en masse and that means they are bringing a culture of scepticism and expectations of accountability to the people they look up to. This demographic may not be the most experienced in a corporate environment, but they are one of the most educated groups to enter the workforce and that means they have at least four years of very specific expectations when it comes to leadership.

Utilize analytics and evidence to find talent that may have previously been overlooked.

Capitalize on online tools to locate potential talent earlier in their careers and across the global workforce.

Work with leaders who are at later stages in their careers to mentor and cultivate our next generation of leaders.

Develop a comprehensive leadership system that can identify talent within the organization, narrow your focus on training the employees with the highest level of potential, and provide key opportunities for younger leaders to enhance their skills and experiences so that they can advance quickly.

This is not simply the information age, but an evolution of the information age. The companies that will succeed as we move forward will understand how to identify, cultivate, and retain the highest degree of leadership talent—those individuals that understand how to adapt quickly and help others do the same.

If you’re looking for resources to help your teams improve their leadership talent, have a look at the Go1 Marketplace. We have thousands of both paid and free eLearning resources to help you.

In an effort to make their managers and leaders the best they can be for the business, today’s companies are investing record amounts in leadership development programs for their employees. This is understandable – after all, your company’s long-term success depends on creating strong, successful leaders for the future.

However, with such large proportions of funds going into this area, it’s important for organizations to develop ways of measuring leadership outcomes, to see if these investments are paying off. Unfortunately, leadership is a lot harder to assess than other more tangible aspects of an organization, such as sales figures or productivity reports. So how do we go about measuring leadership development?

Patti Phillips, president and CEO of the ROI Institute, believes that “investments made in developing leaders deserve the attention measurement and evaluation can bring.” Taking the time to set up a framework for measuring and evaluating your leadership development methods will give you a far better idea of just how effective these methods are. You’ll also be able to determine how well your money is being spent in this area, which is important for your company’s bottom line.

Let’s see how you can start measuring and evaluating the effectiveness of your company’s leadership development programs, to ensure positive leadership outcomes for your business and a return of investment on your spending.

The first step in improving your development strategy is to create a set of competencies – that is, a list of essential requirements that all potential, current and future leaders of your organization need to have.

Book time with your senior leaders or management team to think about exactly what your business needs in terms of leadership. It’s important to determine, as a group, the specific leadership skills and behaviors needed to successfully drive your business. Make sure you’re really clear about what these needs are – the more specific, the better. 

Next, look at your current pool of employees and identify those with leadership potential. With your competencies set, it’ll be far easier to see how a candidate measures up. Consider training and development tools that could help these individuals improve and develop their leadership skills. You can then start addressing these needs and consider the relevant resources you need to cater to them.

As Phillips says, “by knowing who your potential leaders are and what they need to do to fit the competency mold you’ve created, you’ll know what must be done to develop their leadership acumen.”

Use Evaluation Methods to Measure Your ROI

As with most aspects of a business, you want to be sure that you’re balancing your costs and benefits. It’s important to be able to show a return on investment to key stakeholders, to show the value of your leadership development investments.

Kristen Harcourt, corporate consultant writing for the McQuaig Institute, recommends the following three points for building an effective leadership development program:

Identifying employees who have potential to meet these requirements

“Once you’ve established the competencies that your leaders need to have and your high potential employees, it’s time to use these two parts of the equations to help build evaluation methods for your leaders,” says Harcourt. 

Work performance results from both leaders and their direct reports can give a good indication of leadership outcomes. Use these in combination with one-on-one meetings with your upcoming leaders, to gain a sense of the training tools and methods that work best for each individual, as well as to see how they are tracking against your leadership competencies. Include assessments at various stages of each individual’s professional development program, to help keep future leaders on target. This practice will also help employees in knowing exactly what skills and training they need to develop to further advance their career.

Taking these steps to improve your leadership development strategy will give you a much clearer idea of what you’re looking for in potential leaders, as well as ways in which you can measure their success. While you may not ever get an exact tangible figure on your ROI in this area, you’ll gain important insight into your expectations for potential leaders and how you can assist them with their professional development. In doing this, you’ll be doing your best to support and empower strong future leaders for your organization and the world.

How to measure the success of leadership development programs

As we move into 2017, there’s a lot of talk about the skills gap that’s taking place across job markets worldwide. What is the skills gap, and how can it affect your organization and staff?

In Australia, statistics tell us that 800,000 people are currently unemployed – yet at the same time, there are an estimated 150,000 jobs that remain unfilled. And this is happening in many countries. As employment expert Nicholas Wyman neatly summarises, the skills gap is simply "people without jobs and jobs without people".

To expand on this, the skills gap is essentially a mismatch between the skills that employers want and need, and the skills that workers actually have. While it’s easy to expect new employees, particularly graduates, to be equipped with the most up-to-date and relevant skills when they walk through the door, in reality this may not be the case.

In addition to this, sometimes companies will roll two positions into one or simply expand the duties of one position to avoid making new hires, further contributing to the gap. So what can employers and managers do to help bridge the skills gap in their organizations?

Acknowledging the Skills Gap in Today’s Workforce

For today’s organizations, it’s important to acknowledge the skills gap and be prepared to take action on this issue.

Author and HR professional Jessica Miller-Merrell says that skills gaps can be seen as “the point at which the organization can no longer grow or remain competitive, because they don’t have the right skills to help drive business results and support the organization’s strategies and goals.” This is a very unstable situation for any company to be in, so it’s vital to have some strong strategies in place to help prevent this from occurring. 

Miller-Merrell recommends the use of skills testing and ongoing employee training to help avoid and overcome the challenges of skills gaps for your business.

It’s very important for employers and managers to recognize the need for constant skills testing and training, so teams and individuals can keep up with industry changes and needs.

Miller-Merrell advises skills testing as a very effective way for employers to “stay on top in our changing world … and see where their employees stand in reference to specific skill sets.”

Skills testing also serves the purpose of providing employers and managers with a benchmark of results across the organization. You can use these results to identify improvements or changes in employee performance after training. They will also be useful for recognizing top performers and making sure you’re getting a return on investment from your L&D spending.

Invest in Training and Development for Employees

Investing in learning and development is absolutely essential to make sure your employees have the skills they need for today’s workforce. As an employer, it’s your responsibility to ensure your staff have opportunities for professional development in their career.

You also want to make sure you’re creating a workplace that attracts and retains top talent. In today’s competitive work force, people pay close attention to the work culture offered by organizations and expect employers to be committed to investing in ongoing training and development.

Managers can create professional development programs for each member of their team, to help identify and address any skill gaps. This will help make sure each employee continues to learn, develop and grow within their role, organization and industry. In terms of the skills gap, managers and team leaders can work with their staff to improve, update and develop technical skills that are required for their roles and have become necessary for the organization.

Encourage Employees to Bridge Skills Gap with eLearning