L&D professionals have been designing programs to yield the desired impact and elevate learning outcomes for their organisations for quite some time now. But with the rise of new tools and technologies all set to make learning more exciting, engaging and seamless, leaders must revisit their drawing boards to not only innovate content ideas and formats but to also reinvent the larger corporate learning ecosystems. 

In an exclusive chat with us ahead of People Matters L&D Singapore, Newton Giraud, Head of Learning and Organisational Development, Omron, APAC, who will be a keynote speaker, shares the nuances of strategically leveraging LearnTech to reimagine delivery and infrastructure of L&D programs. With his expertise in diverse industries and different domains of learning including career development, instructional design, conflict resolution and more, the conversation is packed with insights on the evolving L&D landscape, strategically leveraging LearnTech and designing skilling programs for greater business impact. 

Excerpts from the interview:

Given the continuous disruption that the L&D landscape is currently undergoing, what are some of the bottlenecks in the corporate learning ecosystem that organisations must immediately address? 

While some organisations are trying new approaches to address the needs of a multi-generational, increasingly diverse and globally distributed workforce, most are still facing challenges to adapt due to several factors. Among others, I see the following as the most common ones:

• Outdated and ineffective training methods that are not aligned nor address employees’ learning styles or needs: People from my generation (baby boomers) may prefer a more structured and conservative approach to learning, while millennials, Generation Z or the upcoming Generation Alpha may have very different expectations. These new generations’ expectations do not necessarily mean using more or less learning technologies to meet their needs. In my view, it means that we need to understand better what their needs are before deciding on an approach that excites learners to be motivated and willing to engage in learning. Understanding is the key.
• Adaptation to learning opportunities in rapidly changing fields: Learning and development teams are in a constant race to adapt their learning offerings to an increasingly changing work environment. A few years ago, many companies had an urgent need to train data analysts to make sense of data that could be used to make business decisions. With the development of Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (GPT) AI tech, this role is destined to be phased out soon. The big question is: what is the next big thing, and how can L&D professionals be up-to-date with all these changes? The risk in this scenario is having an employee population that may not have access to relevant and timely learning opportunities in those rapidly changing fields, thus resulting in skill gaps and a loss of the organisation’s competitive advantage.
• Measurement and evaluation of training impact: This is an old dilemma. All L&D professionals know the importance of measuring and evaluating training impact especially on level 3 (behaviour change) and 4 (business impact), but few are doing it well. The learning function exists to contribute to an organisation’s mission and goals. The most important reason to measure is to show results, to show that the investment in learning is having the intended impact on the bottom line. There are a number of reasons this is not working well. Some don’t know what to measure, others don’t know how to measure. The most common reasons, however, are that many believe that certain learning interventions cannot be measured, showing that there is still a lack of business experience by learning teams. Other reasons might be insufficient staff, budget, time, no support from the top, lack of confidence, or surprisingly, the belief that no one believes the measurement.  

With LearnTech being a space of incredible innovation and growth potential, what are some exciting ways in which you see learning solutions reinventing how organisations design and deliver their skilling programs? 

Currently, I am amazed by the number of emails I receive on a daily basis from a lot of startups in the L&D sector offering everything under the sun, and naturally promising wonders that will be generated through their ‘unique’ solutions. While I applaud and admire the fantastic moment we are experiencing in our area with so many great people inventing and reinventing learning, it is very challenging to assess and decide on which solution is most appropriate to a specific organisation or function. I see some of the following as those I am mostly excited about:

• Personalised learning: Some learning solution providers are beginning to utilise artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to provide customised learning experiences based on a learner’s learning style, proficiency skill level, and real time needs. Less sophisticated but not less effective approaches to personalised learning that can be initiated internally by learning teams are also generating great value. Those are things like offering learners a budget to learn what they believe they need to be more effective, or coaching and mentoring. 
• Microlearning: Bite-sized learning that can be consumed on-the-go are being offered by many out there. I believe the biggest value of this approach is the latest advancement on making it personalised, where those platforms have the capability to align organisation’s required competencies to current competency proficiency levels of learners and generate tailored and individualised learning interventions to each employee.
• Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR & AR): In the near future, I believe these technologies will be able to revolutionise learning through immersive learning experiences that simulate the real world and real challenges. The Metaverse is an example of this development. The challenge at the moment is to make such technologies more affordable. 
• Collaborative learning: More and more organisations are making use of cross-functional, cross-businesses, and cross-border platforms for collaboration, knowledge sharing and learning. I am sure the pandemic played a key role to make this happen. Microsoft and other big tech names have been developing many applications to help organisations become more connected and learn from each other. By facilitating peer-to-peer learning and collaboration, organisations are able to nurture and foster a culture of continuous learning and development. 
  

As we strive more to align learning outcomes with business impact, what are some best practices you would recommend to achieve this? How can we strategically balance both our employee career development expectations and business goals?

Here are a few of my suggestions: 

• Development of a learning strategy: Our learning strategy should be in full alignment with business goals and employee career development expectations. Strategic alignment should be a proactive exercise by the L&D team and completed before the fiscal year begins as it must ensure resources are focused on the highest priority organisation goals. It requires discussions with heads of businesses, sponsors, etc., and it is an iterative process of discovery, priority setting, and consensus building.
• Identification of competency models and skill gaps: Although important, they should be perceived as a means to an end, and not an end in themselves. The end is defined through the strategic alignment process, which focuses on the organisation’s highest priorities (first point). If they don’t serve the highest priorities, we need to reevaluate our investment in them. Once defined, we can conduct a skill/competency gap analysis to identify what the business needs to achieve its goals. By doing so, we can be 100% aligned with the needs of each business. 
• Fostering a culture of continuous learning: Encouraging employees to take ownership of their development and motivating them into sharing their knowledge and expertise with others is vital for achieving higher levels of engagement and retention of key talents. For this to happen, we need to purposefully build this environment through all our learning interventions. When providing training, add elements that require learners to teach, coach and mentor others what they have learned. When it comes to high potential talents (HIPOS), the L&D professionals must be tracking their every move, jumping in when needed, providing them with honest feedback, reminding them how their work contributes to the business goals, and supporting them into working on their pre-agreed goals. Such conversations must be very individualised and personal. 
• Measuring business impact: By measuring how our learning solutions are impacting the business bottom line, we are able to check on the effectiveness of a specific program and make adjustments when things are not working well. It is important, however, to have very specific and measurable goals that originate directly from the business plan. The use of scorecards should be encouraged to measure performance and should focus on the most important and relevant measures for that specific fiscal year. 

Given that our theme for People Matters L&D Singapore ‘23 is ‘Leading Off: Built for Disruption,’ what is a piece of advice you would like to share with our community on designing and strengthening disruption-ready learning ecosystems?

My advice will be to work very closely with the business and build a learning strategy together with clear and measurable outcomes. 

To understand the 'hows' and 'whys' of the L&D space and gain more insights from Newton Giraud in-person, join us at People Matters L&D Singapore conference on April 13 at Fairmont where he will be share his views on 'Mapping Your Ecosystem: Uniting Across Multiple Systems'