How can L&D better support employees and the business to meet the moment?

Perhaps nothing has changed more than change itself, or at least the pace at which change can occur. Organizations have been required to make rapid decisions and adjustments, creating new expectations for abrupt and quick change. What might have been unsettling at first is now something employees and their organizations have become accustomed to.

But, while employees may have become comfortable with the new pace of change, they will still need support in order to adjust successfully. And, just like everything else, this support will need to keep pace. How?

Organizations may not have the time or resources to introduce brand new large-scale learning solutions, but micro and nanolearning assets can be utilized to contextualize and re-energize existing learning programs. Infographics, short videos and, podcasts, to give a few examples, can all be used to further excite and embed the learning within current programs. These agile and scalable assets should be hyper-specific to the employees’ given situation in order to provide the highest level of support.

Similarly, these contextualized learning bites can support employees when there is no current suitable ‘traditional’ learning program. Assets such as animations, quizzes, and digital flipcards, for example, can be used both to help employees adjust to immediate changes and to excite them for further learning. These digital breadcrumbs stimulate a higher interest in learning, driving engagement, and delivering learning in the flow of work.

Meeting employees in the moment through micro and nanolearning isn’t just about formal learning solutions; it can cover informal learning too. These types of assets can be used for knowledge sharing and key business communications, helping to engage employees and embed new information. A short video from the CEO, for example, could set the context around business changes, which allows the CEO to be much more personal in telling the story, bringing employees in on the journey.

Staying with that example for a moment, it is likely that during the course of the last 12 months, the goals of the business have changed. In order for the organization to achieve its new objectives, each employee will need to play their part. Crucially for this to happen, they must understand how business goals align with their individual contributions. Micro and nanolearning assets can reinforce new ways of thinking and help employees to adapt.

This creates an agile, scalable, reusable, and consistent solution which meets employees in the moment. It can be deployed swiftly, consuming minimal time and resources. Importantly, it allows for a blended experience, enabling L&D to choose the right type of asset based on the learning objective, something we know to be critical to engaging and embedded learning.

L&D has already risen to the challenges set by the likes of Netflix and Google in order to provide on-demand and browsable learning assets. Now we must go one step further and deliver content within the context of the learning needs, with easily digestible bites, wherever people are and when they need it.

Never in modern history has learning and development been so crucial to the immediate success of organizations and their employees. Is your L&D able to meet employees in the moment?

Hemsley Fraser are supporting organizations through the delivery of hyper-relevant, contextualized nano and microlearning assets. Find out how we can help you.