As the L&D function is currently being redesigned and redeveloped — especially as there may soon be a Chief Experience Officer, as referenced in a previous blogpost — learning leaders are looking for more ways to engage their internal customers.
Moving from nice-to-have to need-to-have, learning leaders can push for even further engagement from employees by showing them how L&D can help them succeed not only professionally but also personally.
That skillsets are being outstripped faster than individuals can acquire them can mean only good news for the L&D department. Learning leaders are now in the enviable position of helping individuals stay on top of their game.
But whereas employees used to dread dealing with the training department, they may now find a trusted ally in a former enemy. Nowadays, employees do not need training departments to tell them what they need to know — these days, it’s the other way around.
Just as enterprise software vendors have learned to circumvent the IT department by pitching marketing, finance, accounting, HR and other departments directly, the online learning industry to some extent does the same.
Sites like Lynda.com (owned by professional social network LinkedIn) and Treehouse, as well as online universities and MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), decided strategically to become consumer brands first. These portals by and large recruit individuals, suggesting that they take it upon themselves to learn new skills so as to make themselves more marketable professionally.
Of course, these sites have begun to sell to the enterprise — the Lynda.com booth took up prominent space on the tradeshow floor at a recent corporate learning conference — but they helped create a new mindset in employees that they might improve professionally by taking online courses.
This is all good news for the beleaguered training manager. Employees have become convinced that they need training in order to do their jobs better and succeed professionally.
In this way, the L&D department can be an important lynchpin, building relationships and garnering trust in every department across the organization.
Cognota® understands the need for continuous training. Its learning platform Cognota allows companies to capture the expertise of employees and create courses based on this knowledge. The platform can be delivered anytime and anywhere, and allows learning leaders to create methods to measure skill acquisition and implementation, delivering bottom line results.
