After receiving extensive feedback from our Early Access participants and following the full release of the new content player 1-Player, we are excited to announce a number of enhancements.

🚀 New improvements to our Content Player

The below improvements to our new 1-Player display have been released to all portals over the last several weeks:

Visibility of due dates for courses, modules and learning items so that learners are always aware of any deadlines

Module descriptions, removing the need to return to My Progress or exit the 1-Player

An expandable side navigation which allows users to easier read long descriptions

General enhancements such as unifying button text, better fitting text on to buttons and providing clearer icons for some features to reduce confusion

Improved link embedding, with many links now embeddable, instead of being taken to a separate tab

Enrol directly via 1-Player, allowing external LMS users and users sharing 1-Player links to be able to enrol through 1-Player without having to go back to Explore or the content’s Overview, simplifying the process to access learning content, better meeting external LMS needs, and making sharing easier

Parameter-based configuration options for external LMSs, allowing external LMS customers to customise 1-Player's behaviour to meet their needs and LMS user interface (e.g. hiding the X close button, title, overview and close behaviours)

Look forward to seeing the following improvements in the near future:

Clearer communication to learners when they have submitted all items in a course and are waiting on their assessor to mark an assessable item. This messaging will show when submitting or finishing the last unfinished item in a course

The mobile course overview will display the item description by default

Locked learning items will display a modal on-hover

🚀 Early access: Start learning faster through our improved user flow

We have been working to simplify the journey for learners to access course content. Until now, learners could only access our improved 1-Player via the My Progress page of a course. 

Streamlining the path to accessing learning content

Now that the 1-Player contains all of the useful information previously only found on a course's My Progress page, when a learner enrols in a course they will now jump straight from the course’s Overview page to the 1-Player. Learners will also be directed straight to the 1-Player from all other areas of the platform if they are already enrolled in the course.

Note: The My Progress page will stay available during EAP to ensure no functionality is taken away from learners without warning, and to gather valuable feedback on whether the new flow is meaningful and valuable for all learners.

To register your interest, sign up here and if you have any questions, please email us at product@go1.com.

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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1-Player updates, including a new feature to trial! - Go1

Our new content player just keeps getting better and better.

1-Player enhancements for the new year - including a new feature to trial!

Human beings have been making New Year’s resolutions for some 4,000 years. The ancient Babylonians held celebrations in honor of the new year and made promises to the gods to return any objects they had borrowed. 

The start of a new year and a new decade is an opportune time to reaffirm broken promises to ourselves and create new goals for the year ahead. Most of us are coming back refreshed from a break, with a renewed energy to make changes.

Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project and other books on personal development, explains that we need to set up goals to suit our nature. For example, if you find you work best in the morning, your resolution might be to complete more challenging projects at the start of the day.

In a recent Go1 article, we talked about reflection as a way to move forward professionally. Looking inwards can also serve as an excellent basis for goal setting, as you spend time carefully identifying the areas in which you need to improve. 

Realistic goals are all about setting yourself up for success. Once you gain momentum and start to see tangible progress, you can continue with a new cycle of goal setting.  

Research and thinking behind goal setting 

To get started, let’s look at some of the research behind setting successful goals. Interestingly, evidence shows that looking to your underlying values, rather than trying to hit superficial targets, is more likely to lead to success.     

Kelly McGonigal, psychologist at Stanford University, explains that understanding what is meaningful to you is the key to setting achievable goals. “Give yourself permission and time to think about what it is you want to experience in your life or what’s getting in the way,” says McGonigal. She suggests to think about what you want, and then ask yourself why you want it three times in a row. 

New York Times best-selling author and life enthusiast, Mark Manson, warns that we need to be realistic in our expectations when we set goals. As an example, he explains that, “people want to be rich without the risk, without the sacrifice, without the delayed gratification necessary to accumulate wealth.” We need to be prepared to make sacrifices to push towards a target. For example, if you want to improve your communication skills at work, you need to devote time and energy to it. You will also need to be prepared to take risks and make mistakes to learn. 

Once you have set your goals, James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, explains that we need oars and rudders to meander in the right direction. Setting the goal is like the rudder. You point it in one direction and move more or less directly towards it. If you turn the rudder too much, you end up going in circles. The oars are your processes or systems for achieving that goal. He explains further using the following example: “If you’re a writer, your goal is to write a book. Your system is the writing schedule that you follow each week.”

Using these ideas and evidence-based suggestions, here is our guide to getting started with goal setting this year:

1. Identify your strengths and weaknesses

You may already have a good understanding of what your strengths are, or need to do a little more work to uncover them. When you reflect, think of three ways you have made the most of your talents in the past year. What conditions were present to enable you to do this? Did you behave any differently? Is there any way you could make more of your strengths in the coming year?  

It isn’t easy to accept what our weaknesses are or to know where our blind spots lie. It can make us defensive and irritable to think that we are imperfect, but we all are, and there is comfort in that. Understanding our weaknesses is key to making real progress, both in our personal and professional lives. 

Once you have identified areas you might like to improve in, think about one thing you would like to get better at within this framework. Consider why you want to get better. This way, you can connect with the process, and you’ll feel more motivated to keep going. 

3. Be authentic, consider your personality

There are certain traits in our personalities that remain fixed throughout life. If you are introverted and work best in quiet environments, set yourself a goal that is conducive to this. A goal that involves a lot of communication with others could be overwhelming, and you could quickly lose momentum. However, it is advisable to keep a balance. Sometimes, we need to step out of our comfort zone to grow. 

What sacrifices will you have to make to reach this goal? Are you willing to make them? If not, you might need to look elsewhere to set a realistic target.  

As James Clear explains, you need to think about what your oars are. What daily, weekly or monthly systems do you need to put in place to achieve the goal you have set? Identify a system that works for you, and then find the discipline to stick with it. 

Go1 is your employee's gateway to professional development growth. With courses that cover numerous business functions, we help your staff grow into their role by unlocking their potential. Content is at all levels of difficulty and is suitable for any employee, in any department, in any region

Encourage your learners to own their personal development training, by giving them the flexibility to search and select courses that reflect their professional interests. This helps your employees take the learning outside of the workplace, so they can access it whenever and wherever they want.

An introspective approach to goal setting for 2021

As the holiday season is upon us, we find ourselves reflecting on the past year and those who have helped to shape our business. It’s been quite a year for the Go1 team! 

We thought we’d look back at some of the highlights of the past year.

Early this year we officially opened the doors to our new HQ in Logan, Australia. We are incredibly happy to be a part of such a diverse and growing community! 

Our co-founder Vu Tran thanks the Council for the opportunity to help boost Logan’s entrepreneurial credentials. “We’re thrilled to be able to give back to the community and boost the number of successful start-ups and scale-ups with support and mentoring capabilities."

Investment Attraction Incentive Fund lures four businesses to Logan

We've had some amazing articles come out in the press over the course of this year that you might find interesting, so we’ve put together this round up of links for you to read over. We encourage you to catch them now if you missed them earlier, or re-read them to see if there’s more you can learn!

Microsoft's M12 global VC arm backs Australian start-up Go1

The 25 best start-ups to work for in Australia, according to LinkedIn

Go1.com launches scholarship program for brokers

UK targets Aussie tech firms for post-Brexit economy

Top 30 best-funded Australian startups 2019

News Xtend partners exclusively with world’s largest workplace training marketplace Go1

Docebo Makes E-Learning Content Access Easy with All-New Docebo Content

Go1.com increases reach and speed using Salesforce

At Go1 we believe in bringing the learning community together so that we can all share our knowledge and help everyone to improve the way that they learn and train their team.

Our meetups are for learning and development professionals who want to discuss best practices, strategies, and innovation in learning design, delivery and instructional technology. This year we appeared in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne for our Learning & Technology Meetups. We discussed why HR & L&D managers should learn leadership skills in order to influence, impact and engage staff learning. 

We also explored learning and development on a budget - how to build learning momentum in your organisation and develop your people on a tight budget. 

This year we held our very first Client Forums across Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. Attendees had the opportunity to hear directly from the Go1 team about product innovations and what's in store for the future. It was amazing to see so many people from a range of different industries come together to share their strengths and challenges in the L&D space!

GO1 Client Forum May 2019

We'll be hosting even more meetups and client forums in the new year and invite you to get involved in the conversation. You’ll be sure to walk away with some fresh solutions that you can start applying in your workplace straight away! Keep an eye out in the new year for more information.

Helping organisations improve their learning culture

Throughout the year, we’ve partnered with many businesses to help them improve the way they deliver and manage their employee training.

We teamed up with Amicus to redefine and re-energise their employee training program, with the aim of improving the way learning and development was being delivered across the organisation.

We also helped Bohme address their training needs and continue to drive success in the company.

We provided Bentleys with the perfect solution for the company’s learning needs, allowing them the freedom to promote a culture of knowledge sharing within the firm.

Working with Surrey County Council, we were able to tackle the challenging task of providing every staff member with regular opportunities for learning and development. 

We look forward to sharing more case studies with you in the new year, so you can see first-hand how Go1 is helping companies to deliver improved learning to their teams.

At Go1, we partner with the world’s top training providers, to bring you up-to-date specialist training for your industry. This year was no exception! 

Packt - the very latest AI, machine learning, data science and web development online courses.

Charles Bloe Training - online and face-to-face training courses, suitable for healthcare professionals including nurses, paramedics, doctors, clinicians and pharmacists.

UNSW Edge - innovative range of legal and CPD training resources. 

This year, we’re proud to say that Go1 Premium has grown to include more than 62,000 courses! 

Thank you for reading and sharing our highlights from the year – it's been a big one and we're looking forward to an even bigger 2020.

We'd like to take this opportunity to thank all our customers, partners, readers and followers for your ongoing support throughout the year. We hope that 2019 has been just as memorable for you, your colleagues and your loved ones. 

Here at GOo1, we work to partner with high-quality content providers across various topics so that we can cover all our customers’ training needs. That is why we’re excited to introduce some of our new content partners who are helping us provide training across a wide range of areas. Click on the links below to learn more about them: 

Delivering award winning compliance and induction programs. 

A provider of very high quality Health and Safety and HR Compliance courses.

Sentinel 9 have partnered with Go1 to offer 25 modules from their industry-leading Master of Applied Business course. 

Left Bank deliver comprehensive introductory courses to Digital Marketing, including Email Marketing and Social Media.  

On-demand resources covering Career, Wellness, Leadership, Diversity & Inclusion and Change Management. 

A performance improvement company developing people in Leadership, Sales, Customer Service and Team Performance, with internationally award-winning courses. 

Excellent, practical professional development resources for individual trainers and educators. 

The Australasian Society for HIV, Viral Hepatitis and Sexual Health Medicine (ASHM) has been a provider of high quality, evidence-based education to health professionals. 

Providing award-winning Aged Care compliance and induction module. 

Safe sleep and settling strategies designed specifically for the Early Years Education & Care sector and delivered by health professionals. 

Delivering online early childhood professional development courses, designed with early childhood educators and parents in mind. 

At Go1, we aim to bring you the best specialist training content for your industry. And the legal industry is no exception. 

Today, we want to introduce you to UNSW Edge - Australia’s first CPD provider located within a law faculty, delivering engaging and innovative legal education.

Launching in September 2019, UNSW Edge provides practical, contemporary and focused life-long education to legal professionals and other professionals who require legal knowledge and know-how.

Through our partnership with UNSW Edge, Go1 Premium customers will now have access to an innovative range of legal and CPD training resources. 

Introducing UNSW Edge - providing practical, contemporary and focused legal education

Learn more about the Go1 x UNSW Edge partnership

UNSW Edge knows that legal practitioners, executives and consultants need to keep evolving to stay ahead. Being equipped with skills for the future will enable practitioners to continue to provide quality services to their clients and broader community.

UNSW Edge have a wide range of online training courses in Go1 Premium, available to Australian customers. 

UNSW, Go1.com team up for legal fraternity engagement via Lawyers Weekly

UNSW Edge - Practical and focused legal education - Go1

Giving feedback on a piece of work or observing a colleague's performance seems like a simple enough task. Skilled employees review the quality of an employee’s contributions against a set of principles they have formulated through experience or a framework that their organization uses. 

While the process isn’t complicated, effectively delivering feedback involves an understanding of human psychology. Naturally, we find it challenging to know that we’ve fallen short in some way. We also have an inherent negativity bias, which means we ‘feel the sting of a rebuke more powerfully than we feel the joy of praise.” Indeed, sometimes what needs to be said can be difficult to hear.

With this in mind, it is important for senior employees to be mindful of their body language, tone, and words they use when giving feedback. Delivery can mean the difference between a colleague walking out feeling ready to take their learning forward or having their confidence knocked.

Science also reveals ways in which organizations can make hearing feedback a less emotionally-charged experience. Structured responses will ensure employees understand how to apply what they hear to their work. Leaders can also strive to make the feedback experience a positive and reciprocal process. Let’s look at this research in more detail. 

Practitioners in the medical profession are consistently in a cycle of observation, reflection, and improvement. This research from the field looks at the use of effective feedback to facilitate adult learning. The findings include useful insights that are applicable across many industries. 

Below, we outline ten suggestions the author gives for improving the way your organization delivers feedback to employees. While a formal mentor/mentee relationship might not always be in place, we will use these words to clarify the position of each person in the discussion: 

While leaders need to deliver feedback in a formal context at regular intervals (usually through performance reviews), there are many opportunities to give employees guidance throughout the working day.  

If you spot somebody on your team struggling with a new concept, take five minutes to guide them through the learning process. This one-to-one time will make all the difference, and make the employee feel valued at the same time. 

2. For maximum impact, the source of feedback must be considered credible and trustworthy by the recipient

It is crucial that those receiving feedback feel that their mentor is both knowledgable and experienced in the subject. If this isn't the case, you run the risk of employees feeling patronized and unmotivated to improve. Ensure that those delivering feedback are respected and of a high enough caliber to do so.  

3. Provide clear information about performance standards and the performance of the employee to elucidate any differences

For feedback to be useful, learners need to have a clear understanding of the parameters within which they are trying to improve. For example, if an employee is focusing on developing a new technical skill, how to make progress should be clear to them from the outset. This step-by-step guide can form the basis of feedback comments.  

If employees are using online learning tools to progress, the learning objectives set out in lessons can be used as a foundation for comments. A high-quality course will outline how participants can make progress. Your organization or industry might also have prescribed standards that employees are expected to meet. 

4. Share the positive information before the negative 

This idea might seem like an unnecessary detail, but it is only human to focus on the negative information we hear about ourselves. As soon as an employee hears negative feedback, they will focus on this and probably struggle to concentrate on the other information you share with them. 

A great approach is a "positive feedback sandwich," where you begin and end a feedback session with positive points. This tactic helps the attention to be focused equally on the positive and those areas which need more attention. But be aware of making this too obvious, as it can seem rehearsed and insincere if you don’t adapt it to the person you are sitting with. 

5. Feedback should be specific, objective, consistent, and timely

Ensuring that feedback is specific and objective comes back to providing employees with a clear pathway to success. If learners understand where they have come from and what they need to do to progress, the feedback you deliver will be consistent and clear. 

A clear framework will also enable those delivering feedback to remain objective. Of course, this isn't entirely possible because forming opinions is natural for human beings. However, structuring discussion will help mentors to minimize any bias in their judgments. 

6. Provide a supportive environment for feedback and encourage an open dialogue 	

Creating a supportive environment for feedback is a crucial part of the process. At its best, feedback becomes a discussion between mentor and mentee, and a collaborative learning curve for both participants.  

However, this balance can be difficult to achieve when the mentor is in a position of experience and power within the organization. It requires a level of humility from the mentor and self-confidence in the mentee. 

8. Develop a plan for follow‐up and ongoing reinforcement 

Feedback will only be useful when mentors deliver it as part of a more comprehensive, ongoing process. The aim is for the mentor and mentee to set goals together at the end of a feedback session. After this, it is essential to support the mentee in reaching those goals and to hold them to account.

9. In addition to oral and written feedback, use other tools, such as computers, audio recordings, and videos

Formal discussions are not the only method for delivering feedback. It may be appropriate, and in some cases, more helpful to guide your mentee using video footage. In the case of an observation of practice, video can be particularly useful as the mentee can see exactly the action you are referring to in your comments. This clarity helps the mentee to know what the expectations are. 

10. Enhance the skills of senior employees through professional development programs and self-study modules

As part of a pathway to success, direct employees to any workplace learning material appropriate to their needs. With online learning modules, mentees can make progress independently, and at their own pace. They may also wish to conduct their own more extensive research on a topic. 

Go1 is your employee's gateway to professional development growth. With courses that cover numerous business functions, we help your staff grow into their role by unlocking their potential. Content is at all levels of difficulty and is suitable for any employee, in any department, in any region.

How to maximize opportunities for feedback using research

As the year draws to a close, and we embark upon a new decade, staying focused at work can be a real challenge. Most of us are too excited about having time off to concentrate. And those who don't have the luxury of resting over the Christmas break? They have the task of staying motivated while everyone else is enjoying themselves.

Regardless of how much work you have to do over the next month, December can be a great opportunity to look inwards. Self-reflection at this time of year can also form an excellent foundation for goal setting in the new year. 

Reflection is also fundamental to personal growth, and an important part of the experiential learning cycle. After living through an experience, the next step is to reflect on what happened and any new knowledge gained in the process. 

Monash University defines reflection as a metacognitive process, which involves thinking about thinking. For example, we might reflect on a task, process, or practice, focusing on our thinking, behavior, and actions.  

Their guidance adds that "reflecting on a practice may involve consideration of what happened, why, how you felt, or how it impacted you, and how you may respond or adapt in the future." Fundamentally, reflection involves describing the event, interpreting it, and reviewing how the outcome may help you to make changes. 

Our cognitive biases can also limit our ability to think critically, but awareness of them can enhance the reflective process. For example, confirmation bias involves favoring information that conforms to your existing beliefs and discounting evidence that does not. If you have a fixed opinion of yourself, you will look for information to support this claim rather than remaining open to the possibility of change and development.

While everybody’s reflective process is personal, there are strategies you can use as a guide to get started. We outline some of these below, although there are many different ways to tackle it.

Everyone has personality traits that help them to shine, and others that are less than perfect! A useful place to begin with reflection is to know your personality better and to use this understanding as a foundation for growth. While there is always room to improve, there are certain parts of our characters that remain more or less fixed throughout life. 

Understand where your strengths and weaknesses lie 

To make the most of your personality type, and any fixed traits you may be stuck with, it is helpful to get to know yourself better. Where does the potential in your personality lie? If you aren't sure, one of these tests can give you a summary. This self-knowledge test from The School of Life also uses an intriguing approach. 

Think about whether you have played to your strengths

Think about when you have mitigated your weaknesses

It isn't easy to accept what our weaknesses are or to know where our blind spots lie. It can make us defensive and irritable to think that we are imperfect, but we all are and there is comfort in that. Understanding our weaknesses is key to making real progress, both in our personal and professional lives. 

For example, if you are terrible at time management, what did you do to ensure this flaw didn't get the better of you? Maybe you timed yourself doing activities, or set alarms to remind yourself when you needed to move on to the next task.  

Whatever you did, congratulate yourself on the times you were able to minimize the effects of your weaknesses and reflect on the times when this didn't go so well. How could you improve this next year? 

At this time of year, it can be helpful to remind yourself of why you are doing your work. If your job isn't right for you, it will be apparent that your goal next year is to find a new one! Perhaps you like your job but would benefit from more of a challenge? 

You might also want to think about your higher purpose. What is it that you are doing in your role? How are you contributing to your organization, community, or society as a whole? What is most important to you? If you have a clear purpose in your mind and feel connected to it, your best work and motivation will follow. 

Staying focused at the end of the year through self-reflection

In modern times, lifelong learning has become essential to both professional and personal development. As technology advances, we need to be adaptable and able to acquire new knowledge and skills quickly. 

In this environment, engaging people in learning is crucial, but equally important is encouraging members of a community to share knowledge. In the workplace, knowledge sharing is essential for organizations to remain up-to-date and ready to tackle the challenges of the future. 

While people are often inclined to collaborate and share expertise, organization leaders need to create an environment conducive to teams working together to promote the flow of knowledge. 

Here, we look at how organizations can go about developing a workplace culture to facilitate collaboration and the benefits of doing so.  

Why knowledge sharing is essential to learning culture

In a recent Go1 article, we reviewed research conducted by Towards Maturity, an organization assessing the effective implementation of learning innovation. They found that in an unparalleled era of change for organizations, there is an excellent opportunity for L&D to deliver strategic value.  

Their “Transformation Curve” roadmap describes how organizations can develop their learning culture. As an organization develops an L&D strategy, it can expect to go through four stages: Optimizing Training, Taking Control, Letting Go, and Sharing Responsibility. 

They also identify six dimensions that impact an organization’s capacity to transform, one of which is informal and social learning. Here, they explain why sharing knowledge is so fundamental to creating a positive learning culture:  

“Informal and social learning [is] encouraging the interchange of ideas and mutual support to support personal and business goals, collaborative problem solving, and innovation.”

According to the 70:20:10 model, social and informal learning also accounts for 20 percent of knowledge acquisition. 

While knowledge sharing is crucial to developing the learning culture in an organization, it is first essential to lay the foundations for this to happen. 

The goal is for communication around learning to become an organic, everyday interaction between staff members. As the “Transformation Curve” sets out, to facilitate these interactions, certain elements need to be in place first.

Next, we’re going to look at these elements, and how organizations can create favorable circumstances for an organic interchange of ideas.

According to the “Transformation Curve”, organizations need to focus on developing their learning culture in two ways before knowledge sharing becomes the norm: 

1. Governance and decision making: aligning of learning strategy to business goals and objectives, with the smart use of evidence to support decision making.

Creating an environment suitable for learning and collaboration begins with those in leadership. For knowledge sharing to become the norm, management teams are required to think strategically about professional development and give it a high priority. 

Employees in leadership positions can also model positive learning behaviors, like showing their openness to learning new information and asking questions.

2. Formal learning: building an efficient, active portfolio of formal learning resources to address skills gaps and support learners’ career development.

When those at the top of the organization have firmly placed learning as a priority, the next step is to provide employees with a range of engaging learning content. 

Whether learning takes place through access to online platforms, face-to-face classes, or in a blended environment, learners’ engagement should remain a focus. 

It is also crucial that learners have access to content to address gaps in their collective knowledge. Where possible, activities should be personalized to their needs.

In the future, we will likely embed learning opportunities to flow seamlessly into the working day, and there are already examples of this happening.

After a focus on the two initial stages of learning and development strategy, organizations may find that knowledge sharing becomes an organic process. To be rigorous, those responsible for L&D can speak with employees and collect data to assess whether they are interacting with each other in this way. 

Organizations can also generate discussion amongst staff members in several ways:

Build time for learning-based discussion into formal meetings.

Ask staff members to share anything interesting they have come across with others.

Use Slack channels or other communication platforms for employees to share knowledge. 

Make the learning process explicit. Ask staff members to think of something new they have learned this week and to tell two other people who might be interested in what they found. Encourage them to speak with each other face-to-face.

Encourage team members to ask questions of each other whenever the need arises. They shouldn’t be ashamed when they don’t understand how to do something or if they need clarification. To make employees more comfortable with this type of thinking, teams can support each other to develop a growth mindset.

With Go1 Premium, you’ll have unlimited access to a growing library containing thousands of learning resources, from top training providers around the world - all in one easy subscription.

Shape your learning culture through knowledge sharing

Today marks International Day of People with Disability (IDPwD) - a United Nations-sanctioned day that is celebrated internationally on the 3rd of December. It seeks to increase awareness of gains to be derived from inclusion of people with disability in every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life. It also represents a significant opportunity for organisations to share their commitment, campaigns, leadership and stories of empowerment related to inclusion of people with disability in the workforce. 

In Australia alone, over 4 million people have registered disabilities - that's 1 in 5 people. So you are likely to have a work colleague with disability.

Fostering an equitable work environment starts with raising awareness, and so our objective is to highlight visible and invisible disability, barriers that individuals in the workplace face, focusing on capability and ultimately, shifting ‘how we discuss disability.’

To raise awareness and provide insights into how we can achieve a more equitable workplace, Go1 content partner, ViaUp, have teamed up with Help Employment and Training to create the Disability and Inclusion in the Workplace course. A course of which you will now find available in Go1 premium. 

For a sneak peek of the course, check out this short excerpt below:

Disability and inclusion in the workplace

If you're wondering how to get started in creating an inclusive working environment for all, we ask you to make time to complete this new Disability and Inclusion in the Workplace course to find out how. 

International Day of People with Disability (IDPwD) - fostering an equitable work environment for all

Go1's UK Customer Success Management team recently attended BridgeCon Europe 2019, held in London on the 20th of November. 

BridgeCon brought together 300+ HR professionals from across Europe to discuss employee development, design thinking, high-impact learning, and talent and leadership development. Here, Lexi Partell, Customer Success Manager, shares her highlights and insights from the event.

Hosted by Instructure and Bridge, the BridgeCon 2019 conference focused on engagement in L&D and employee development, with a wide range of speakers and panellists who are at the top of their fields. 

The opening note to the conference set the scene for the day with some impactful statistics centred around employee retainment and the relationship with training. 

Of those who responded to a recent Bridge survey, 50% didn’t believe that their company supported L&D unless they as learners, specifically provided the tools. A further 98% said that L&D would heavily impact their desire to continue working with a company. It opened up an interesting conversation around a company centric vs an employee centric learning model for the rest of the day.

A panel led by Kimo Kippen featuring Kate Matthews from Citi, Catherine Allen from Ella’s Kitchen, Wim Focquet from DPD Group and Marie Helson from Hello Fresh approached the topic “Creating Effective Employee Development Environments.” 

The panellists spoke about their focal points for 2020 being employee retention, how to collaborate successfully as a global business and growth in an uncertain market. Employee retention was a familiar theme that emerged in regards to change management and fostering a psychologically safe environment. 

With the average workforce now consisting of 5 generations, discussions also centred around how HR/L&D can enable their workforce to share knowledge and develop their staff, ensuring this speaks to all generations.

After hearing from two panels, it became apparent that whomever owned the learning space needed to walk the walk and own the mistakes that happen. Coincidentally, the learning experience extends to actually implementing the type of environment that fosters L&D.

As the HR and L&D landscape continues to change and the demands from the workforce become more concentrated around learning on the job, it is obvious that the pivot from traditional learning has happened. For those that are left behind, they will be in danger of potentially losing a good workforce. 

I think the main question that was left hanging for all of us was - whose responsibility is L&D? Is it the executive team, line managers, HR or L&D; or is it, in fact, the collaborative workforce itself? 