Skills Gaps and Learning Management Systems – The Future at a Glance

The Davos 2020 World Economic Forums Jobs Report states that by 2025, 85 million jobs may be displaced by a shift in the division of labour between humans and machines.

For those workers set to remain in their roles, the share of core skills that will change in the next five years is 40%, and 50% of all employees will need reskilling.

Surprising stats? Well, 80% of CEOs now believe that the need for new skills is the biggest business challenge, and opportunities for development have become the second most important factor in workplace happiness for employees.

Traditionally, companies have recruited externally to fill these skills gaps, engaging in lengthy and expensive recruitment processes and choosing from a limited pool because there just aren’t enough people out there with the right skills.

Now, they are starting to think differently about delivering learning, investing in developing existing employees to fill knowledge gaps and create competitive advantage.

As a result, companies are having to reimagine traditional learning management systems and engage with a new concept, Learning in the Flow of Work.

What is Learning in the Flow of Work?

Have you ever wanted a job so much that you’ve over-emphasised the breadth of your experience? And then found yourself Googling sentences starting with “how to…” in your first week, hoping to learn on the job before anyone notices you’re not quite up to speed? Well, if so, you have, to some extent, experienced the concept of Learning in the Flow of Work.

Until now, employees have had to go to the learning, attending dedicated training days, ushered into meeting rooms to stare at power points, or engaging with cumbersome digital learning systems that involve taking time out of work.

The learning has often been catch-all, has involved taking time out of busy workdays and, if not applicable in the next 24 hours, is most likely forgotten before it has ever been used.

Learning in the flow of work brings the learning to the employee, aligning itself with the needs of the individual and the task at hand. Useful learning that can be applied straight away.

This means creating responsive e-learning ecosystems that target the specific needs of individual employees so that they can apply the learning in real-time (just like when you Googled how to do your job in your first week).

The Workplace Has Changed and So Have We

The concepts of workplace and the working day are changing as workforces become increasingly mobile and flexible in their working hours.

Social and search have had a huge impact on the way that we interact with and absorb information. People access information and learning wherever and whenever they want. And, whether baking a cake or fixing a bike, they apply it straight away. So why isn’t it the same at work?

Currently, the majority e-learning programmes aren’t working. Employee onboarding times are too long and on-the-job training isn’t as “on the job” as it could be.

It’s So Obvious It’s Hard to Believe It’s a New Idea …

But then the best ideas almost always seem obvious once someone says them out loud:

1. Investing in learning is more cost effective than recruiting externally.
2. Developing your workforce makes them feel valued and helps you gain competitive advantage over time.
3. We lead busy lives and need to access information on the go.
4. We learn better in interactive, bite-sized chunks (micro-learning) and we can apply the knowledge straight away.

This is still fairly new thinking, but it has gained traction and is being pioneered by leading businesses across the globe including Procter & Gamble, Sainsbury’s and Banco Santander.

What does this mean for Learning Management Systems?

Well, here are some things to think about …

• Mobile learning platforms allow you to offer continuous learning to disparate workforces on-the-go.d
• Learning experiences that match consumer-grade experiences offer fast access to relevant information, interactive content, and are available anytime and anywhere.
• Harnessing the power of social and search helps inform the design of intuitive e-learning ecosystems. A responsive LMS will offer a level of autonomy to the user. It will use search, offer feedback and connect users.
• Personalisation of content is key to engagement. A personalised experience delivers a targeted learning experience. It uses Personalised Performance Learning and automation engines to generate learning modules directly applicable to the individual and task at hand.
• E-learning learning resources need to be succinct, interactive and fun, using tools such as infographics, video and gamification.

What we already know about mobile learning

Everyone has a mobile phone and we have it on us pretty much all of the time. As the world and business practices evolve, flexibility is increasingly important to the majority of employers and workers.

Add to this the impact of globalisation, workforces spread across multiple locations, online shopping and unforeseen events such as pandemics, and the case for flexible, anytime, anywhere training makes itself.

We know that mobile based training is more accessible, more engaging and more fun. But it’s so much more. It means you can onboard, upskill, communicate with and engage employees at a rate never before possible.

Mobile learning harnesses the power of social networks and technologies, facilitating communication and collaboration.

So, as well as facilitating fast onboarding and continuous learning, mobile learning is a great tool for engaging employees and, it seems, for improving business outcomes. But why is it so effective?

Learning + Recognition = Engaged Employees & High Retention Rates

Empowering managers to quickly and easily create training courses themselves, and employees to learn according to their own schedules, makes them feel valued and trusted.

Recognition is also an essential component in engaging and retaining employees. According to a recent survey of 1,154 people by leading employee recognition company, Achievers, lack of employee recognition is the third most common reason employees leave their jobs.

A Harvard Business Review study of more than 550 executives from 12 best-practice company leaders, reveals that 72% of respondents rank recognition for high performers as having a significant impact on employee engagement.

The powerful combination of learning and recognition results in employees that feel valued and respected, who buy-in to company mission and want to remain in their jobs.

Whether recognition is based on a social or monetary/points driven system and comes from management or peers, it matters.

Recognition for learning achievements is not just applause, it’s about creating culture; it’s feedback and incentivisation – rewarding an employee for reaching a milestone and setting a standard for others to emulate and improve on. To be effective, it needs to happen consistently and often.

Good behaviours get rewarded and, therefore, repeated, and the results are measurable.

Learning + Recognition = Increased Productivity & Business Success

So, a flexible learning platform is a necessary tool for a successful business, but a recognition platform is just as important. Having only one side of the coin buys you less than half as much.

According to McKinsey, culture is vital to organizational success, with higher-performing cultures creating 3 times the return to shareholders.

The Harvard Business Review study tells us that 71% of respondents rank employee engagement as very important to achieving organizational success.

Recognised employees are more engaged and more productive. Happy employees lead to happier customers, which leads to better business success.

At Motimate, we know this is true because we’ve seen it first-hand in our work with several companies, including Norwegian supermarket chain REMA 1000, whose mobile learning programme has led to tangible results that have resulted in it gaining greater market share. You can explore the case study here if you like.

Find Out How Mobile Learning & Recognition Can Benefit Your Business

Motimate is partnering with Achievers. We’ll be working together to deliver the simplest, most easy-to-use and fun integrated mobile learning and employee recognition system available.

To find out more about how learning and recognition can benefit your business, view our on-demand webinar How to Supercharge Remote Learning through Recognition. Click here to access the webinar.