Developing a digital mindset: How digitally literate is your L&D team?
Digital HRDeveloping a digital mindset: How digitally literate is your L&D team?

Developing a digital mindset: How digitally literate is your L&D team?

Chief Learning Officer and L&D specialist David James explores digital literacy in HR and the importance of evaluating L&D initiatives.

Digital learning & development isn’t new. We may have used different terms in our evolution from e-learning to online learning and now digital but we’re certainly no novices to using technology in our profession. However, one question looms large over L&D’s digital adoption:

How do we know if it works?

It’s an important question on many levels:

  1. Learning technology is rarely inexpensive. In fact, it can be very expensive, when we include platforms, content suites, and bespoke content development.
  2. It’s expensive to take employees away from their work to learn. 30 minutes here and there adds up.
  3. With skills gaps becoming increasingly urgent and organizations spending more on reskilling efforts, the ability to actually reskill (rather than just consume content in hope) seems to have presented L&D with its day of reckoning.

But how do we know if our digital L&D works?

In a recent survey that polled 500 employees, it was discovered that only 29% of respondents thought that their organization’s online learning (eLearning, virtual workshops or massive open online courses [MOOCs]) was effective. That is a damning assessment of corporate online learning considering both the expense and also the hope pinned on it making a difference to development and capability at scale.

One area digital learning is expected to make a difference is in support of new managers but in the same survey the biggest criticism of the training provided was that it was too generic and not specific to the situations faced in the new manager’s role.

But how can this be when L&D are neither new to using technology and the investment is so huge?

L&D big on implementation, little on analysis

If I were to ask you what problems you were seeking to solve with your organization’s learning technologies, what would you respond?

  • To provide just-in-time learning content to a large number of employees all vastly different needs?

This statement not only seems logical, but it’s been the broad rationale for investment in an online learning provision for decades. Providing an exhaustive library of content in a large system, ideally with a pleasant user interface and analytics at the backend is de rigueur, is it not?

I’ve known L&D teams get a great deal of internal credit for implementing new systems. With a little customization to make it look and feel like an internal system employees will flock to the whizzy new platform, won’t they? Well, they may be intrigued but rarely does a ‘successful’ implementation lead to sustained engagement, let alone what employees need to become better at their jobs and to improve their prospects.

So what does it take to move beyond another ‘successful’ implementation to achieving a planned outcome, i.e. actual upskilling or reskilling?

The answer is analysis. 

What's Hot

HRD Roundtable Report: Levelling Up Onboarding for the Hybrid World

Roundtable Report HRD Roundtable Report: Levelling Up Onboarding for the Hybrid World 5 May 2022

10m

HRD Roundtable Report: Levelling Up Onboarding for...

Attracting new talent is shooting up the priority list, but also proving more difficult than ever. A...

View event
HRD Roundtable Report: Redefining Company Culture in Hybrid Work Environments

Roundtable Report HRD Roundtable Report: Redefining Company Culture in Hybrid Work Environments 26 May 2022

10m

HRD Roundtable Report: Redefining Company Culture ...

The process of redefining a company culture is a complex one. Culture contributes directly to the da...

View event
Learning to win the talent war: how digital marketing can develop its people

Whitepaper | Talent Development Learning to win the talent war: how digital marketing can develop its people

11m

Learning to win the talent war: how digital market...

This report documents the findings of a Fireside chat held by ClickZ in the first quarter of 2022. I...

View resource
HRD Roundtable Report: Strategies For Re-Engaging The Hybrid Workforce

Roundtable Report HRD Roundtable Report: Strategies For Re-Engaging The Hybrid Workforce 5 May 2022

11m

HRD Roundtable Report: Strategies For Re-Engaging ...

We know hybrid working is here to stay, forcing many organisations to experiment with innovative and...

View event
HRD Roundtable Report: Making it ‘Worth It’ – What We Need to Reward, Engage and Retain

Roundtable Report HRD Roundtable Report: Making it ‘Worth It’ – What We Need to Reward, Engage and Retain 3 March 2022

11m

HRD Roundtable Report: Making it ‘Worth It’ – What...

We know the pandemic has caused many people to revaluate their careers and relationships with work a...

View event
Dave Ulrich: How can business and HR leaders simplify complexity?

Leadership Development Dave Ulrich: How can business and HR leaders simplify complexity?

1y Dave Ulrich

Dave Ulrich: How can business and HR leaders simpl...

HR thought leader Dave Ulrich outlines ways leaders can deal with complexity in an increasingly busy...

View article
HRD Roundtable Report: Using HR Data to Inform Organisational Decision Making

Roundtable Report HRD Roundtable Report: Using HR Data to Inform Organisational Decision Making 5 May 2022

11m

HRD Roundtable Report: Using HR Data to Inform Org...

Historically, HR hasn’t been as effective as it could be in sharing and communicating data with wide...

View event
Digital transformation investment grows but critical skills gaps remain - Coursera report

Digital HR Digital transformation investment grows but critical skills gaps remain - Coursera report

1y Leah Belsky

Digital transformation investment grows but critic...

Covid-19 has accelerated the rate of digital learning on a global scale. Coursera's latest report pr...

View article
Wellbeing in the hybrid workplace: how to successfully drive engagement

Employee Engagement Wellbeing in the hybrid workplace: how to successfully drive engagement

1y Alara Basul | Sponsored

Wellbeing in the hybrid workplace: how to successf...

Remote working has impacted the way we communicate as a workforce, but striking the right balance be...

View article
How to create a company culture capable of empowering the modern workforce

Culture How to create a company culture capable of empowering the modern workforce

1y Alara Basul | Sponsored

How to create a company culture capable of empower...

While new working patterns that emerged from the pandemic have earned a permanent spot in the w...

View article
WATCH: Connection and collaboration in a hybrid workplace

Leadership Learnings WATCH: Connection and collaboration in a hybrid workplace

1y Amy Kirkham

WATCH: Connection and collaboration in a hybrid wo...

Alison Noon-Jones, VP of People & Culture at Leidos UK & Europe, shares how crucial employee engagem...

View article
Turbulence ahead: Why it’s time to be bold in your leadership

Leadership Development Turbulence ahead: Why it’s time to be bold in your leadership

1y Terence Mauri

Turbulence ahead: Why it’s time to be bold in your...

HRD thought leader and Hack Future Lab founder Terence Mauri sets out why the biggest risk to leader...

View article

Data & evidence is your friend… and doesn’t need to be scary

The bedrock of digital is data. Without it, we have more of the same expenditure without the returns. 

This doesn’t mean burying our heads in spreadsheets staring at numbers and hoping to see patterns. It means asking questions about what we’d see if assumptions were true and seeking data to validate whether it’s true or not and then understanding what’s going on from there.

So when it comes to new managers, the assumption that they need development as they transition can be validated by asking and answering a question like: What would we see if promoting managers without preparation or guidance was problematic at your organization? 

We might see:

  • Unproductive teams (missing targets); 
  • Disengaged or disgruntled team members; 
  • Complaints to HR;
  • Team members leaving the organization;
  • Over a longer period of time we might see a lack of talent coming through;
  • Talented or well-regarded employees plateauing;
  • Talented or well-regarded employees applying for roles outside of the team

We could answer these questions by seeking the data relating to teams in which a new manager had been appointed in the last 12 months versus data from teams where the manager is longer established. 

What does the data say? Is there a problem to solve? What problems specifically need addressing? In what areas of the organization?

Armed with this data, you can then speak with these managers to understand their experiences; speak with their managers to get a different perspective, and even with their team members to understand what the transition lacked.

With this data and evidence, you are then in a position to address issues or problems directly with targeted digital resources and workshops. And what would be your measure of success? Well, you know what the data was before and so an improvement in results would indicate success and anything other than improvement would suggest trying something else.

This seems harder than implementing a new system, right? And what was the alternative? Buying exhaustive libraries on content and courses, none of which refers to known issues new managers face as they transition into a new role in the very specific context of their team and stakeholders inside your organization.

Digital literacy is far from buying new platforms and content suites and more about scaling development efforts to address known problems and this is why a foundational understanding of data will advance any team’s digital literacy more than any new platform ever will.

So the first question you should be asking your L&D team to test its digital literacy is: 

How do we know our digital learning efforts are delivering planned results that affect people’s ability to do the work required today and tomorrow, beyond subjective assessments?

If you’re able to answer this question then your team is on the literacy scale. If you’re not able to answer it then they’re not.

 

Comments are closed.

What's Hot

HRD Roundtable Report: Levelling Up Onboarding for the Hybrid World

Roundtable Report HRD Roundtable Report: Levelling Up Onboarding for the Hybrid World 5 May 2022

10m

HRD Roundtable Report: Levelling Up Onboarding for...

Attracting new talent is shooting up the priority list, but also proving more difficult than ever. A...

View event
HRD Roundtable Report: Redefining Company Culture in Hybrid Work Environments

Roundtable Report HRD Roundtable Report: Redefining Company Culture in Hybrid Work Environments 26 May 2022

10m

HRD Roundtable Report: Redefining Company Culture ...

The process of redefining a company culture is a complex one. Culture contributes directly to the da...

View event
Learning to win the talent war: how digital marketing can develop its people

Whitepaper | Talent Development Learning to win the talent war: how digital marketing can develop its people

11m

Learning to win the talent war: how digital market...

This report documents the findings of a Fireside chat held by ClickZ in the first quarter of 2022. I...

View resource
HRD Roundtable Report: Strategies For Re-Engaging The Hybrid Workforce

Roundtable Report HRD Roundtable Report: Strategies For Re-Engaging The Hybrid Workforce 5 May 2022

11m

HRD Roundtable Report: Strategies For Re-Engaging ...

We know hybrid working is here to stay, forcing many organisations to experiment with innovative and...

View event
HRD Roundtable Report: Making it ‘Worth It’ – What We Need to Reward, Engage and Retain

Roundtable Report HRD Roundtable Report: Making it ‘Worth It’ – What We Need to Reward, Engage and Retain 3 March 2022

11m

HRD Roundtable Report: Making it ‘Worth It’ – What...

We know the pandemic has caused many people to revaluate their careers and relationships with work a...

View event
Dave Ulrich: How can business and HR leaders simplify complexity?

Leadership Development Dave Ulrich: How can business and HR leaders simplify complexity?

1y Dave Ulrich

Dave Ulrich: How can business and HR leaders simpl...

HR thought leader Dave Ulrich outlines ways leaders can deal with complexity in an increasingly busy...

View article
HRD Roundtable Report: Using HR Data to Inform Organisational Decision Making

Roundtable Report HRD Roundtable Report: Using HR Data to Inform Organisational Decision Making 5 May 2022

11m

HRD Roundtable Report: Using HR Data to Inform Org...

Historically, HR hasn’t been as effective as it could be in sharing and communicating data with wide...

View event
Digital transformation investment grows but critical skills gaps remain - Coursera report

Digital HR Digital transformation investment grows but critical skills gaps remain - Coursera report

1y Leah Belsky

Digital transformation investment grows but critic...

Covid-19 has accelerated the rate of digital learning on a global scale. Coursera's latest report pr...

View article