Learning companions – analysts – all-rounders: All this is what personnel developers are expected to be today. The changes are difficult to keep track of. What do companies really expect from L&D teams, and what do personnel developers need to achieve in the future? We give you an insight into the trends of 2020.
Personnel developers today are expected to not only identify needs and develop strategies. Personnel developers are expected to be learning companions, coaches, mentors, data analysts, digitalization experts, and miracle workers. And all this please at the same time and immediately, in order to meet the new requirements as quickly as possible! No wonder, then, that the slogan “PE is dead! Long live PE!” is becoming louder.
But what do companies and employees really expect from personnel developers? What do L&D teams need to achieve today and in the future to keep personnel development up to date? We summarize the findings from the eLearning Trends 2020 for you:
What do companies expect from L&D teams?
The continuing education costs in Germany are horrendous: Companies spend around 14.2 billion euros annually on trainer fees and learning materials, plus indirect costs for work absences and travel. These huge investments must ultimately pay off for the companies.
Consequently, companies expect their L&D teams to develop training measures that demonstrably guarantee long-term improvements for the company. These worthwhile measures include:
Development of new and further development of existing competencies, tailored to the respective company goals.
Permanent changes in behavior among employees for sustainable corporate success.
Expansion of skills for self-directed learning as the basis for increased “learning on the job.”
Opportunities for measuring the success of training and employee performance with business-relevant KPIs.
Reading tip: Measuring the effectiveness of training measures is a challenge for personnel developers. In another article, we summarized how you can measure the success of training with three key questions.
The goal of the companies is therefore clear: Sustainable training that involves learners and supports broader corporate goals with a wide data base. What skills must you now offer as a personnel developer to meet companies' expectations?
Personnel developers in L&D teams must offer more and more, especially in the areas of analysis and digital competence.
What do L&D teams need to achieve in the future?
The classic requirements for personnel developers are largely covered by companies' expectations: Building new competencies, further developing existing competencies, identifying gaps, and closing them through targeted measures – these are the tasks personnel developers are familiar with.
Performance of L&D beyond formal training
Formal training is now only part of the task catalog for L&D teams. Additionally, personnel developers must cover other areas:
Provide “just-in-time” learning offerings that are always available to your employees in their daily work and not just in isolated learning systems or training rooms.
Mentoring and coaching, not only for employees but also for managers who should accompany the learning processes.
Motivate employees through targeted challenges to continuously learn and repeatedly refresh and apply the new knowledge.
Support employees in consolidating new knowledge in the long term – after all, in classical training without further follow-up, over 90% of the content is forgotten after 60 days.
In summary, you will be responsible in the future as a personnel developer for understanding, further developing, and consolidating the learning culture in your company. Only through a learning culture where learning is positively associated, sufficient time is allocated for learning, and the motivation to learn is continuously maintained, can L&D teams achieve sustainable success.
Reading tip: How your employees can find enough time to learn is explained in the article “Time wasting? This is how learning times work in companies.”
Digital focus for personnel developers
However, this is not the end of the offerings from modern L&D teams. Additionally, you as a personnel developer must also establish and implement digital competencies for your employees:
Implement platforms to enable your employees to engage in social and collaborative learning.
Provide curated learning content for the platforms that inform and encourage your employees to explore further content.
Encourage employees to create their own content (user-generated content) and thereby actively participate in digital learning.
Offer flexible online content that is available on all devices and tailored to your employees.
The tasks of your L&D team today are thus no longer only “analog,” but also focus heavily on digital support. A learning management system (LMS) is now an essential tool in almost every company, and creating content for your employees is becoming a standard task for personnel developers.
According to studies, traditional in-person training will still play a significant role in companies despite all the digitalization. A perfect method for linking digital and traditional training is blended learning, which is being used more frequently in companies.
Do you want to know what advantages blended learning has? Or do you want to convince your L&D team of blended learning? Then download the 7 arguments for blended learning in companies now for free as a PDF – and offer your company the perfect link between traditional and digital personnel development!
