A road map to 2020 - how can learning technologies support fast-changing business practice?

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© Brightwave Limited

A roadmap to 2020-how can learning technologies

support fast-changingbusiness practice?

Chair - Donald H Taylor, Chairman, Learning and Skills Group & Learning Technologies

Charles Gould, Managing Director, Brightwave

Laura Overton, Managing Director, Towards Maturity

Kenny Henderson, Head of Talent Development Operations, Sky

Introducing our panellists

Introducing our panellists

26 January 2011 | © Brightwave Ltd.

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Question 1 – A perspective


How would you best describe your role? (For audience)

Preliminary Question

1. HR/L&D Manager/Director2. Designer/Developer3. IT 4. Organisational Development5. Provider6. Media/research7. Other


Your role: your vote

About your role



What role will learning technologiesplay over the next 10 years?

60 seconds from Charles


1. A critical role2. A supporting role3. A limited role4. No role to play


What role will learning technologiesplay over the next 10 years?

Question 1: Your vote

Question 1

Laura: “Technology is going to play an absolutely critical role for businesses, which are in turn transforming – selling in new ways and connecting with customers differently. Businesses are demanding more performance and more rapidly, and will look to technology to enable their people to do this.”

Key quote: Question 1



What technologies can help?

60 seconds from Laura


1. E-learning courseware2. Continous learning environment3. LMS4. Live online training5. Mobile device & apps6. Social media/collaboration tools7. Serious games


What technology will make the biggest impact over next decade?

Question 2 – Your vote


Charles:

"We're seeing just the start of mobiles in e-learning, but it's in a way that combines with other forms of technology. For example, for refresher information and top-up tests as part of campaigns that are released periodically.“

Donald: “Mobiles will absolutely determine what we do in the future. Technology will have really doneits job when it becomes invisible.

“I read stuff on my phone all the time, I do thingsthat are all learning, but are not currently covered by learning and development departments. It's just stuff that I want to find out.”

Key quotes: Question 2



What are our current priorities and do they need to change?

60 seconds from Laura


1. Support upturn strategy2. Top-down training3. Learning to support

performance4. Training needs analysis5. Lead business change6. Liaise with more stakeholders

outside L&D


What are our top 3 current priorities?




Kenny: "We should be making sure the way we use technology is linked to business goals and strategy. Too often you find HR professionals guilty of implementing change in an organisation because they want it to be so. We have to be much closer to understanding what a business wants and needs from us."

Laura: “There is a lot of debate about the role of L&D professionals in supporting performance in the workplace. “Should we concentrate only on the 10% of formal learning and leave the performance support to the business? Or should we actually take a hand in that... I believe we have an incredible role to play in facilitating performance in the workplace.“

Supplementary question from Donald

Donald: “Do we in L&D right now have the skills to support business change?”

Member of audience: “We do have the skills to support but often - in my experience - we don’t have the right access. Sometimes department heads come to us with a solution in mind rather than asking us our opinions as trainers and providers.”

Charles: The order I’d put it in would be first, understand my organisation’s business model, knowing what the business objectives are. Second, focus on training needs analysis – in other words – how do learning objectives meet business objectives, then third – supporting business performance.”

Question 3a – A perspective


What will be our top three priorities in the future?

Question 3a – A perspective

1. Support upturn strategy2. Top-down training3. Learning to support

performance4. Training needs analysis5. Lead business change6. Liaise with more stakeholders

outside L&D


Question 3a – Your vote


Key quotes: Question 3a

Kenny:“One of the things I’d like to see would be a change in outlook towards business strategy to ensure the long-term future of learning and development.”

Donald: “I’d like to see a lot more liaison with stakeholders outside of L&D. If we’re not talking to people and asking what they need, we’re going to remain in the ghetto.”



Apart from technology what else do we need to put in place?

60 seconds from Kenny


1. Skills of L&D dept.2. A positive learning culture3. Ability to measure success4. Board-level support5. A change of attitude




Apart from technology what else do we need to put in place?

Kenny: “I think the economic situation we face at the moment really challenges us all to make sure what we are doing adds value. We need to act in a commercial way, regardless of whether we’re in the public or private sector. And if we’re engaged in activity that doesn’t contribute to the bottom line we need to stop it.

“Secondly, in order to do that we need to change the way performance is set down. We need to measure the success and who actually adds value to the organisation.

“Finally, we need a change of attitude and to see learning technologies as an opportunity and not a threat to L&D.”



Laura: “Only four per cent of the audience are saying board level support is vital, but there’s one thing I’d say we’ve found consistently in the research we’ve conducted across 800-900 organisations.“When board level members are actually doing their own learning it correlates consistently more than anything else to results and the positive impact of learning technologies in the workplace.”

Charles:“It does take a lot of effort and no little courage to try to measure business impact. If you want to find out how to do that you should talk to Kenny, because they have done this so successfully at Sky.”



What influential trends from our personal lives can have the biggest impact in the workplace?

60 seconds from Charles


1. Video-sharing2. Google/power of search3. Personalisation4. Sustainable living5. Micro-blogging (Twitter)6. Smartphone/apps7. Augmented reality/games





Charles: “Smaller bits of information more often. The channels for that information are tightly woven into our lives, accessing all manner of things almost hourly in our waking day.

“This trend has come from our personal lives but has become more expected at work.

“I’d also expect more video and less reading – perhaps 140 characters is a limit to what we will be prepared to read in future.”


Kenny: “I guess the thing from everyday life that most influences us is the desire to access information anytime, anywhere. How many of us now will pick up an iPhone for news, weather, anything information at all?“I think this will be important, especially with the eighteen year-olds coming into the workplace there will be a demand for instant information. They won’t want to wait five minutes to find something out - they will want it when they need it.”

Laura: “What spans across the generations is the hunger for having my question answered. If I want to know a telephone number I want to know it right now. I don’t want to have to go downstairs to look for the telephone directory.” (n.b. Donald’s current Yellow Pages still sits in its cellophane wrapping!)

Final thoughts


What one thing should we being doing as we enter the next decade?

What are you going to do?

Final thoughts

Key quotes: Final thoughts

Laura: “The things we are talking about for the future are actually making a difference today. Organisations that are focussing in on aligning their learning solutions directly with business and stakeholders are reporting – for example - seven times improvement in productivity and a 50% improvement in time saving.”

Kenny: “L&D should see technology as an enabler not a threat. All trainers should be involved with technology on a day-to-day basis.”

Charles: “There will be a need for well-crafted, trusted sources of information that people will be able to digest quickly.”

Donald:“My conclusion can be phrased in seven words - go out and talk to the business.”

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A road map to 2020 - how can learning technologies support fast-changing business practice?