5 tips to creating an effective learning strategy

Just like in the real world where no two people are the same, in the world of Learning and Development (L&D), no two employees are the same either. Some teaching styles and learning techniques may work perfectly for one person, whereas the next could prefer an entirely different method to thrive. Either way, it’s important to understand and appreciate that in order for a learning strategy to really be effective, it needs to be adaptable.

For learning and development, building employee skills, increasing knowledge and competence, and taking a proactive approach to increasing employee satisfaction is the dream outcome. And while there are solutions out there to help achieve these goals, such as by providing tools for employees to learn on the job and chart their career path, it’s also important to remember that it’s only one piece of the puzzle to create a learning strategy. It needs to be an effective learning strategy.

Let’s explore.

1. Learning has moved to the digital space – your learning strategy needs to move with it.

In fact, Statista highlight that the use of technology-assisted teaching has grown over the past five years, with 71% of companies today using technologically assisted teaching such as online training courses. What’s more, 69% of L&D departments plan on investing more in this technology in the near future, so it’s a trend that’s not going to disappear any time soon.

The best course of action? Move to the digital space with it. Embrace the technologies, migrate over to online workflows, and allow learners the chance to engage with their learning when, where and how they want to.

2. AI tools can help enhance peer to peer learning

By working alongside AI, learners can receive training content which is based on their preferences, skills, personal traits, and most importantly, their data.

AI makes training strategies accessible to all diverse learners, and enables L&D teams to offer training options for their employees at any time, track results, analyse data and measure learning effectiveness.

This is because AI can collate all engagement data to discover what is working for different learners.

AI can confidently assign the most appropriate content that each learner will engage best with, rather than an L&D professional taking the time to sift through different content types and make decisions based on what they think the learner will like. In other words, AI allocates learning based on the users’ data – and so knows they’ll engage with it!

3. Build accountability into your learning strategy

When we think of traditional learning techniques, managers or senior executives have often been held accountable for a lack of internal training engagement, rather than learners themselves. Now, however, there’s a strong focus on the learner to drive performance change, as the focus shifts towards individual development instead.

This is a change in behaviour that means it’s the employees main responsibility as the learner, and therefore they should understand that their personal success rests with them.

To make this change effective, and embed it deeply into an overall learning strategy, L&D teams can use their LMS to monitor just how much engagement learning is getting across their organisation, allowing them to identify where learners are either taking too long to start certain courses, or skipping them completely.

This data can then be used to set completion goals – an impactful way of encouraging more participation.

4. Consider gamification as a strategic tactic

Building a sense of gamification and friendly peer to peer competition is an effective tool at stimulating collaborative learning, particularly as it helps learners identify solutions to problems through the input of several people and other types of mindsets.

In truth, gamification is a huge talking point in the L&D space. This is because, as humans, we’re programmed to want to win. Even while some people may not think they’re competitive, they still don’t want to fail.

According to Human Resources Today, games ‘hack’ the human brain and tap into its reward centre. They typically require quick thinking that can disarm learners and get them into a more competitive mindset. It’s proven to be such a success that some businesses are even looking to adopt full gamification strategies to keep the momentum going.

5. Use learning to create a great user experience

The thing about learning is that it’s not just all about the mandatory side – assigned content should be engaging as well!

It can be a brilliant tool for encouraging and empowering leaners, and as highlighted in a recent Forbes article, when an employee physically sees their own successes, it proves to them that they can always achieve more than they think.

With this, an effective learning strategy has the potential to turn learners into their own biggest advocates.

It makes them excited about what’s coming next!

Summary

The world of L&D has made some positive strides over recent years, with organisations now looking to adopt an employee-first strategy to learning.

At BuildEmpire, we’re the platform provider to help implement practices and programs that effectively engage and motivate employees, every day, through every challenge, with support every step of the way.

Our goal is to deliver solutions that not only meet your learning and business goals, but exceed them, and as your technical partner, we’ll work with you to build an engaging learning environment that fits the needs of your business and learners both today and in the future.

To learn how to put these tips into practice, and execute an effective learning strategy, get in touch.