Amid rapid technological growth and increasing automation, many professions, including learning and development (L&D), are starting to face substantial challenges to stay relevant. Across the board, professionals are stepping up their game to move into higher value-adding roles with adjacent responsibilities. L&D professionals are no exception.
A new report indicates that individuals need to start taking charge of their career choices and growth. Those who remain static risk marginalization. Consequently, L&D professionals need evolve to become strategic partners to add value to their position as digital innovation takes over many of their lower level responsibilities.
Here are five ways L&D professionals can take their careers to the next level:
5 Ways L&D Professionals Can Be Strategic Partners
Recognize the shift from providing to curating training content
- Develop strategies that leverage a wide-range of training solutions.
- Identify what you can give employees in more flexible mediums, such as mobile and eLearning.
- Provide support and guidance for learners to get the most out of developmental programs.
Understand how learning functions in developing talent and achieving strategic goals
- Shift from being order takers to active strategic partners by offering solutions and input.
- Focus on strategic talent development that adds value to consumers.
Elevate Learning Design and Focus on Personalization
- Understand that traditional learning designs for generic audiences are becoming obsolete.
- Determine how your learning strategies can shift to support more individualized learning paths.
- Focus on how to support rather than control the 70% (knowledge from job-related experience) and 20% (knowledge from interaction with others) of the 70-20-10 learner journey model.
Revamp strategy to reflect shifts in learning consumption
- Develop a technological learning strategy.
- Figure out how to maximize returns on existing learning management systems.
- Use data from learning environments to create personalized learning paths.
- Consider how to use and create technology strategies that support social learning and focus on the learner experiences.
Support development into individuals’ next role rather than only their current one
- Consider how the “borrowing” resourcing model plays into your training program.
- Understand that the learning experience’s quality is critical for attracting top talent when looking to “borrow” resources.
