Yes, but fast!
Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games case study: imc Express
Welcome to the third in our series of posts exploring imc’s project with Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. In this post, we will explore how the Commonwealth Games used the imc Express authoring tool to create their own eLearning content in-house.
The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games organising committee needed a lot of custom content to support their workforce of over 50,000 employees, contractors and volunteers. Ideally, this would be created in-house, meaning they needed an efficient, easy-to-use authoring tool to produce lots of eLearning content in a short period of time.
Why did the Commonwealth Games choose imc Express?
imc Express is an easy-to-use authoring tool that takes the hassle out of content creation. Learning teams can easily import text from Microsoft Word, add multimedia content, drag-and-drop images and build interactive learning activities to build engaging learning experiences. To support the most inclusive Commonwealth Games ever, video content is automatically subtitled, ensuring it’s accessible to the entire workforce.
On top of this, imc Express offers a range of pre-made and customisable design templates, along with didactic templates to help authors convey their content in a didactically meaningful way. Content is adaptive and responsive for all devices, ensuring it’s suitable for the Commonwealth Games’ large, diverse audience who may be accessing training from desktop computers, tablets or smartphones.
Creating content with imc Express
The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games team has two imc Express ‘super users’ with the overall responsibility for managing the eLearning content creation process. These super users will set up the templates and send them out to each functional area in line with demand for new learning content.
The templated approach will empower more people to create learning content without needing extensive development or design experience, while also being able to create engaging and interactive eLearning content instead of a plain PDF.
Content straight from the in-house experts
The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games only has the budget for a select few highly interactive modules to sit on their LMS, and with no dedicated in-house content provider, imc Express will make it much easier to spread the content creation workload across functional areas of the organisation, ensuring modules come straight from the experts for the best-quality training.
Why Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games needs custom content
With 43 different functional areas (or departments), the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games needs to accommodate a wide range of learning requirements.
There are 279 different volunteer roles within these functional areas, covering everything from transport to media to medal ceremonies; much of which will be unique to the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
How the Commonwealth Games is using custom eLearning content
This custom eLearning content will supplement the in-person training which takes place within the Commonwealth Games venues in Birmingham, ensuring volunteers can make the most of their face-to-face time. The modules created in imc Express will help volunteers know what to expect before their in-person training, giving them a useful overview of their roles and the tasks they can expect to perform.
They converted over 50 static documents and plain text resources into engaging, interactive eLearning. This was made significantly easier by the fact that with imc Express, a single plain text input can be converted into multiple outputs, such as SCORM, web content or ebooks. This content was then imported directly from imc Express into the LMS, reducing manual content upload.
Providing this content as soon as volunteers have their roles ensures that they can start to prepare for the games immediately without having to wait for their face-to-face training. They will have access to photos, videos, maps and more created with imc Express by leaders in their functional area, ensuring they can turn up for their face-to-face sessions with a foundation of knowledge.
This primarily self-created approach will also allow the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games team to accommodate inevitable last-minute requests for learning content, as they can all be quickly created in-house using templates and the imc Express tool’s artificial intelligence to pull together accessible, attractive and engaging learning resources for thousands of volunteers, contractors and paid employees.
Curious how the story goes on?
Join us for part 4 when we will take a look at the implementation of imc’s LMS for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, including the challenges they overcame and how they launched the LMS to a workforce of over 50,000…
A future-proof LMS for 2022 Commonwealth Games
A future-proof digital learning solution with multitenancy LMS to train large numbers of volunteers and contractors at the 2022 Commonwealth Games within a short time frame.
A holistic learning management experience for Australia’s national rugby league
A rejuvenated approach to modernise NRL learning centre portal with a fully-integrated LMS that increased participation rates and positive learner feedback.
Curious to learn more about our award-winning Learning Management System imc Learning Suite? Then check here.
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Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games case study: The solution
Welcome to the second in our series of posts exploring imc’s project with Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. In this post, we will look at imc’s solution, including how the design tied into the Commonwealth Games organising committee’s unique requirements.
Following Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games’ public procurement process, imc’s proposed solution clearly came out on top. This was, in part, thanks to imc’s experience with other sporting organisations, such as Australia’s National Rugby League, along with their on-budget, on-brief solution.
Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games project kickoff
The project kickoff took place in November 2021, with the initial go-live planned for late February 2022 - a very tight timeframe for such a large-scale, complex LMS project, so efficient working practices were a must.
An inclusive learning platform
A key consideration for this project was that the Birmingham 2022 games will be the most inclusive Commonwealth Games to date, with more medals for women and a bigger para-sport programme than ever before. Birmingham is also a very diverse city in the UK’s West Midlands. This need for inclusion had to be reflected in the choice of learning platform. The LMS needed to be simple, accessible and suitable for use by a wide range of learners.
Building an LMS within time limitations
Additionally, it was vital that this programme remained within the planned scope. With such limited time, it was not an option to stray outside the initial plans, so the Commonwealth Games organising committee and imc agreed very early on that this LMS needed a very clear focus with no room for scope creep.
Designing the programme
With so many volunteers and contractors involved in the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, it was essential that the programme ran efficiently and didn’t take up more time than was absolutely necessary. The last thing the Commonwealth Games organising committee wanted was to ask a volunteer working four shifts to participate in a full week of training, so a smart design was extremely important.
All employees, contractors and volunteers involved with the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games must attend four-hour face-to-face orientation sessions to help them familiarise themselves with the venues and procedures specific to each location. Therefore, a blended learning programme was quickly established as the best approach, with the LMS providing additional bitesize training and support while protecting limited face-to-face time.
Integration with a workforce management system
The LMS element, B-Bright, takes user data from workforce management system Rosterfy, the volunteer portal. For the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, this takes place through a simple data transfer service, but with more time to prepare for future games, these systems will be integrated. This is one of the advantages of a multi-games contract – lessons learned from this version can be directly implemented in future versions, instead of starting from scratch each time.
Managing users
There are thousands of people involved in the Commonwealth Games, all of whom have different learning needs and roles to prepare for, across 43 functional areas and 279 different volunteer roles. The data transferred from Rosterfy to the LMS flags the type of user and automatically gives them access to the relevant training within the course catalogue.
This data also tells the LMS which functional area the learner works in, so they are also automatically enrolled into role-appropriate courses. This removes a huge amount of manual work for the organising committee, and ensures that the user management process is streamlined and efficient,
A future-proof solution
The LMS is built with multitenancy in mind. While this solution will be operational for the six months around the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, the platform itself will be reused for future games.
User data for future games will be completely separate from the Birmingham 2022 users, meaning that unique designs and content can be applied to the LMS without affecting other host cities’ experiences.
An agile approach
This solution has been designed with future games in mind right from the start of the process. While the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games requires a quick, on-brief solution, there will be much more time to automate more elements of the platform for future games. Owing to this agile approach, the larger scope of more complex learner journeys and close integration with other systems can be iteratively rolled out over time. Getting started with what is required now with built-in flexibility means that the solution will be ready to adapt to what is needed in the future.
Curious how the story goes on?
Join us for part 3 when we will take a look at how the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games organising committee used the imc Express authoring tool to create their own customised eLearning…
Part 1: An LMS for the 2022 Commonwealth Games
The challenges to designing a digital learning solution for a large & diverse audience at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
A podium spot with eLearning
Training is not only essential for the professional athletes, but their trainers, referees and crew members also need continuous professional development. We tell you how that works with eLearning.
Curious to learn more about our award-winning Learning Management System imc Learning Suite? Then check here.
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Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games case study: The challenge
Welcome to the first in our new series of posts exploring imc’s project with Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. In this post, we will reveal the challenge faced by Birmingham 2022 Games, and what they needed from their new learning management system.
What is the Commonwealth Games?
The Commonwealth Games brings nations together in a colourful celebration of sport, human performance and culture. Birmingham 2022 will see around 4,500 athletes from 72 nations and territories compete in 19 sports and eight para-sports. Much like the Olympics, the Commonwealth Games takes place every four years, moving cities for each event. As the biggest event ever to be held in the West Midlands, Birmingham 2022 is expected to attract more than one million spectators to the city and have a global TV audience of 1.5 billion.
The training requirement
With each event comes a mammoth training requirement. With a workforce of over 50,000 volunteers, paid employees and contractors to rapidly upskill, Birmingham 2022 needed a learning management system (LMS) to streamline the training process for their diverse team.
To find a new LMS, Birmingham 2022 went through a public procurement process to find the right vendor. Birmingham 2022 has pledged to be the most sustainable yet, so sought a solution that could be reused across a multi-games contract, by Birmingham 2022 and future committees.
For Birmingham 2022, it was vital to ensure efficiency and value for money, so it was crucial that they chose the right LMS from the very beginning. The Commonwealth Games Federation’s vision was for better knowledge transfer between organising committees, with systems and contracts carrying over from one Game to the next to reuse as much as possible.
Plans for a blended learning programme
Birmingham 2022 knew that they wanted a truly blended learning programme, comprising eLearning, digital resources and live face-to-face training sessions. The addition of the online element was relatively new, and driven in part by the challenges posed by COVID-19. This would be in contrast with the very simple LMS used by the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, which was essentially used for ‘click next’ learning with no tracking or reporting.
The shift in focus to blended learning would enable Birmingham 2022’s training team to ensure that valuable time wasn’t taken out of face-to-face sessions to deliver soft skills training. This meant that workforce would receive their venue-specific training in person, while accessing role-specific and customer service-focused training online for more efficient learning.
Designing for a large, diverse audience
An important part of this project would be the huge learner audience, of 35,000 contractors, 14,000 volunteers and 2,000 paid employees. Additionally, this would be a very diverse audience, comprising different ages and levels of technical ability, meaning the LMS needed to be extremely accessible and user friendly.
With so many volunteers and contractors, Birmingham 2022 needed to ensure that their event scheduling platform, Rosterfy, would communicate with their LMS. This ability to transfer data from Rosterfy to the LMS would save Birmingham 2022 a lot of time that would otherwise be spent on manual data entry.
Finally, the LMS would need to support multiple different user groups over the course of the contract, along with different branding and content, so the chosen LMS needed multitenancy functionality.
Following an extensive tender process, the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games selected imc as their enterprise LMS vendor of choice. The project commenced in November 2021 – nine months before the start of the games. With this in mind, it was time to get to work on creating the perfect solution in a limited timeframe.
Join us for part 2 when we will take a look at the solution imc created for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games…
A holistic learning management experience for Australia’s national rugby league
A rejuvenated approach to modernise NRL learning centre portal with a fully-integrated LMS that increased participation rates and positive learner feedback.
A podium spot with eLearning
Training is not only essential for the professional athletes, but their trainers, referees and crew members also need continuous professional development. We tell you how that works with eLearning.
Check all Topics, Trends and Tools all around LMS.
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Learning with chatbots
Chatbots have advanced so far that it can sometimes be harder to distinguish between robots and humans. Learn more about how chatbots can be incorporated into corporate training to develop engaged employees.
Chatbots are being increasingly deployed as an important channel of contact. As a tech tool, along with phone and email, plus real human agents, they are becoming a vital point of contact for customers getting in touch with a company.
In addition, it has been used in e-learning content to create an interactive learning experience by using informal languages and creative GIFs. Effective conversational learning with real-time response is one of the advantages of chatbot learning.
Connecting with the consumers using a chatbot
LivePerson’s Consumer Preferences for Conversational Commerce survey found two-thirds of consumers would like to message with brands. Again, this reflects a preference for consumers to do business with companies that answer questions immediately.
Australian consumers are among the highest levels of chatbot users worldwide. Consumers particularly in younger age brackets, are interested in the convenience and ease that chatbot interaction can offer, but they can still be sceptical of bots and prefer human interaction.
However, when developed effectively, chatbots are extremely valuable and can offer a very unique way to forge a connection and develop valuable insights
Chatbots can become a robot teacher
Chatbot learning has evolved because we are now in an age where education has become more accessible than ever. We are constantly in pursuit of better, faster, and deeper ways to learn.
Adult learners are busy and rarely a priority to make time to learn, but utilising chatbot can change this tendency with spikes in productivity because of personable and knowledgeable training assistance.
Additionally, it can offer a welcome change to employees, with interactive training elements to engage them with high knowledge retention and put them in control of their own learning journeys.
What are the benefits of chatbot learning for organisations?
Some of the advantages of incorporating chatbot learning include:
- Real-time analytics dashboards, these measure the most commonly asked questions, track active and engaged learners versus learners who are not engaged, view the interactions that happen during off-hours, and evaluate learners’ skill development.
- They will encourage employees to be more productive and better placed to learn at their own pace when they need support.
- They can push out personalised information to learners.
- They can review and access all learner created questions and responses.
- They reduce the workload of trainers.
How can chatbots be used in corporate e-learning?
Integrating chatbot learning into your Learning Management System (LMS) environment can provide your organisation with additional data about learners.
This will significantly contribute to the process of learning because learners are using an interactive mechanism as compared to traditional e-learning systems. Digital learning with chatbot offers more personalised and effective learning, by giving learners direct access and control to information and learning stored in the LMS.
Let’s Chat Compost
An example of a conversational learning chatbot approach developed by imc Australia was deployed in the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority (EPA). The chatbot complemented the Compost Facility Management Training by teaching learners some of the basics of the main concepts in the e-learning program, such as Odour, Pasteurisation, Contamination and the Composting Process. It was also operating as a driver to motivate participants to want to learn more by going on to complete the Compost Facility Management course.
imc Australia used engaging design (Chatbot framework) and a conversational learning approach to teach participants about technical concepts involved in composting, using an informal and fun approach to gain their interest and inspire them to complete further study on the subject. You can register on the EPA’s learning management system here.
Chatbot learning utilises interactive elements
Moreover, imc created a chatbot that uses more informal language and uses GIFs as well as emojis to make it a more interactive experience for learners.
We have implemented GIFs within our chatbot learning because they can make learning more vivid and entertaining.
Here are some of the benefits of using GIFs in e-learning:
- They visually represent ideas and information in a few seconds
- They are easier to follow than a series of still images
- They usually run in a loop and are also perceived out of the corner of the eye
- They are much easier to create than higher-end video content
- They can play automatically on almost any system
- They trigger emotions. The stronger the emotion, the better the memory
What do chatbots mean for your e-learning
Chatbot learning can make a more productive learning process. It offers a more personalised experience for employees and also makes learning and development departments more efficient.
So, if you want to provide on-the-ball support and real-time personalisation for your learners, make your initiatives more productive and efficient, then a chatbot might be right for your organisation.
Gamified Learning to Drive Learner Motivation
How does gamified learning increase employees' motivation and help them build their skills in the workplace?
Villeroy & Boch Chatbot Learning
A successful chatbot learning combined with web-based training to urgently train 400 sales representatives worldwide.
We provide an abundance of information to satiate your hunger!
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Train your external network with a robust LMS and curated e-learning content
Never underestimate the power of your external partner network for your business success – and training them plays a pivotal part in enabling them to thrive
Enabling the success of your external partner network is a crucial ingredient for your business success - it’s your job to support them in every way you can. Therefore, training plays a pivotal role in this. If your organisation trains its network of partners, you empower the people outside of your organisation to contribute to your business goals. Ultimately, it results in more trained resources, more efficient collaborative processes, and turns your partners into advocates who can become your most ardent supporters and sources of new business.
The LMS market in Australia
The Australian LMS market is a market that had significant potential, and was being underserved. This is because the cost of LMS deployment can be unnecessarily high and open-sourced solutions do not suit many corporate LMS needs.
When selecting an LMS in Australia, or anywhere, there are key requirements that must be met:
It is therefore important to implement a cloud-based LMS for external networks that is quick to set up. Moreover, it should also be user friendly and backed up by Australian support.
Your external networks may be wider than you think
You may ask: who are my external networks?
Here are a few examples of who you can empower to help grow your organisation through comprehensive e-learning training:
- Partners
- Customers
- Resellers and franchisees
- Dealerships
- Members and volunteers
- Friends and family
- The general public
How can e-learning enable these audiences to grow your business?
Utilising your external network can be valuable in helping your organisation to achieve its goals in a variety of ways:
- Investing in your external networks will improve their knowledge and skills. In return, they can use their improved skills to contribute better, quicker, cheaper, and more effective outcomes for your business.
- If they are up-to-date with your developments and plans for the future, your external networks will align more closely with your organisational goals.
- By training and certifying your external networks they will be more compliant and follow your processes and guidelines and meet your quality, security and safety standards.
- Empowering and supporting your external audiences by training them will improve their skills and sense of engagement with your organisation.
By taking on board and implementing e-learning for your extended networks, you will grow your organisation as an extended Australian enterprise! imc Australia collaborates with our partner, Go1, to develop a case study to understand the benefits of this concept.
Where wasted potential lurks for companies
Learn how to train your external partner network with a robust LMS and turn a learning curve into an earning curve.
Multi Tenancy LMS Solutions
A multi-tenancy LMS is a single learning management system instance that serves various learner groups with differing training needs.
We provide an abundance of information to satiate your hunger!
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I just want to play!
Why gamified learning increases employee motivation
How can organisations incorporate gamified learning to build the skills of their employees? In our digital world, organisations are more likely to invest in e-learning but are often challenged by low completion rates. Therefore, content needs to be taught in a playful way! We checked with some experts how this can work especially in Australia.
Our play instinct
When it comes to the concept of play, we usually think about the interactions of children. A child’s imagination is not the limit of play. This is demonstrated by the Latin term “homo ludens” which means “the people playing”. Our play instinct is very pronounced, regardless of how old we are. This is because games offer us a world of fun and creativity. We mostly play in a digital context in the modern world, and institutions and companies alike can take advantage of this through gamified learning.
A recent government study of Australian higher education students² found that only 46.6% of online students completed their qualifications. For face-to-face students, this is 76.6% by comparison. These statistics are problematic, because if learners fail to gain knowledge, then both time and money are wasted. It is vital that we present e-learning content in a playful way.
It’s time to get serious
Another sub-category of serious games is digital education games and gamified learning. Their primary focus is to impart knowledge. There are three types of serious games, these are:
Drill and practice games
The classic knowledge building games apps develop to build vocabulary or mathematic skills.
Quiz games
The BizQuiz app from imc is an example in which employees and entire teams can take part in engaging quizzes.
Point and click adventure games
Roleplaying games with enriched content and an exciting narrative.
The "City of Goods"
Learning through experience
The psychological benefit of gamified learning
Intrinsic
Extrinsic
Gamification is embedded in our everyday life. This can be through motivational tactics such as benchmarking (calorie or step counters) and nudging (such as point systems).
In summary, your employees are more likely to be motivated through gamified learning, when it is applied playfully.
Educational games can help reduce dropout rates and help employees build their skills in the workplace. Therefore: Game on!
This blog article is an extract from an article written by Sven R. Becker (A board member of imc AG) and Stephan Urbanski (Senior Instructional Designer at imc AG).
The original article was published in the I+MIO e-magazine (Available in German only).
Go for Game-based Learning
We talk about what lies beneath the trend of this playful knowledge transfer method. We explain why it works so well and present 3 application scenarios for game-based learning in the company.
Training soft skills with serious games
Softskills are more important than ever. But how to train them? imc's research team dealt with this challenge in the DEVELOP research project.
We provide an abundance of information to satiate your hunger!
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learning culture
When the Act of Learning Becomes a Habit
Organisations that can readily adapt and change are the one's that succeed. Those who look beyond using learning for compliance are reaping the benefits.
A featured article in The Australian Financial Review
Researcher Imed Bouchrika, writing on research portal Guide2Research, says training has become an integral part of workforce development, employee performance and organisational competitiveness, noting that “intellectual capital is valued just as much as physical and financial assets”.
“Training and development is most effective when implemented strategically, which involves content development, method of delivery and integration of technology,” Bouchrika writes.
To remain competitive, continuous learning has become imperative in creating and maintaining a sustainable advantage.
imc's featured article as printed in the Australian Financial Review
Nick Petch, head of learning experience design and strategy at imc Australia, says a “big shift” is needed in organisations’ approach to learning and development.
“For many organisations, the core skills and competencies that drive their organisations have shifted and changed almost overnight. Overcoming these challenges means radically changing the way learning and development occurs,” he says.
Reaching Business Growth by Learning & Development
Bringing all parts of digital learning together will increase revenue, improve efficiencies and organisational growth.
Redefining Your Organisation’s Learning and Development Strategy
The digital transformation of learning is having an immediate and notable impact on business performance. The dominant behaviours that will define success are adaptability, nimbleness and alignment.
Immerse yourself in the world of corporate learning and digitalization!
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Learning and Development - Driving Business Growth
The primary objectives of digital learning
-A guest article by Daniel Antman, Managing Director imc Australia-
It’s hard to think of a time when the importance of training, learning and development has had greater focus than now. Improving employee performance and achieving better financial results are the primary objectives of learning in the digital era.
Data suggests that when organisations spend USD 1,500 per employee per year on learning, they achieve improvements in profit margins of around 24% (Source: E-Learning Industry 2019). Corporate learning has been forced into rapid change and the requirement to learn anytime and anywhere has never been more important.
Bringing all parts of digital learning together
Virtual conferencing tools have become the dominant medium for communication and we’ve quickly become accustomed to this new way of connecting. What we have yet to come to terms with is how to develop and train employees and our extended networks in a purely digital environment.
Make no mistake, virtual conferencing tools are critically important in this new age, yet we must recognise they are not designed to deliver impactful and outcome orientated learning. The solution is bringing the sum of all the parts of digital learning together - technology, content and strategy.
Increasing revenue, improved efficiencies and organisational growth
Successfully doing so will deliver exceptional learning, development and training experiences that align with the learning organisation’s objectives of increased revenue, improved efficiencies and organisational growth.
The key to success are:
- leading-edge digital learning technology combining next-generation learning functionality
- high degrees of customisation based on users specifications
- simplicity of use for learners and administrators
For learning, training and development to be impactful and to align with an organisations objectives, a powerful combination of systems and content is required. The most sophisticated and technological advanced vehicles are only as good as the fuel source that powers them. It’s no different for learning.
Impactful learning by combining LMS, Content and Strategy
A cutting edge, functionality rich and highly customisable enterprise grade learning management system (LMS) can be applied for different purposes. These can include compliance, employee and external audience development, as well as onboarding and competency management.
The real power comes from connecting such a system with a content strategy that combines conceptual design, technology and analytics. So you will achieve the best learning experiences – be it 100 % custom content and/or ready-to-use off-the-shelf-material. The result will be impactful learning that has been proven to drive the achievement of business objectives. The benefits are clear and measurable.
Greater Employee Engagement
Capturing the time and attention of those who matter drives adoption, loyalty and understanding. When the people you are trying to reach become consistently engaged with what you offer, a defining difference sets you apart from the competition.
Increased Capacity
Digital transformation is the key to future growth. Enabling this capability today means setting your organisation with a greater capacity of obtaining better outcomes during unanticipated disruptions, marketplace fluctuation and restructuring.
Effective Onboarding
Empowering new hires to learn your organisation‘s ins and outs is only the beginning, as ongoing development will bring alignment and value to everything you do. When done right, overheads are minimised, and the hearts and minds of the people who matter most are won with ease.
Efficiencies Through Focus
Well trained and developed team members enable them to focus on their core responsibilities to drive value for their end clients. This drives a reduction in support overheads and will deliver far greater outcomes for everyone involved.
Retention – Employees and Customers
The process of obtaining great relationships, loyal customers and ongoing growth is an extremely time consuming and expensive investment for all successful organisations. Well trained stakeholders (internal or external) will drive value, trust and ultimately long-term loyalty.
Growth of The Bottom Line
When done right, training your team effectively can drive tangible and ongoing benefits to your revenue streams and overall bottom line by enabling your customers to see the value in what you provide.
Empowering the Employee – A Key Theme for 2021
Companies will need to redefine their organisation’s learning and development strategy in 2021 to ensure alignment with their revenue and growth objectives. Daniel Antman, Managing Director of imc Australia, talks about his experiences, lessons learned but also chances and possibilities for the Australian e-learning marketing in 2021.
Redefining Your Organisation’s Learning and Development Strategy
The digital transformation of learning is having an immediate and notable impact on business performance. The dominant behaviours that will define success are adaptability, nimbleness and alignment.
Immerse yourself in the world of corporate learning and digitalization!
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Impactful Learning: The Driving Force Behind Business Performance
The digital transformation of learning is having an immediate and notable impact on business performance. Those who have adapted are reaping the rewards, says Daniel Antman, Managing Director of imc Australia. In his opinion, companies will need to redefine their organisation’s learning and development strategy in 2021. A personal statement.
Daniel Antman, imc
As we approach the end of what can only be described as a tumultuous 2020 and look forward to 2021, the dominant behaviours that will define success are adaptability, nimbleness and alignment.
Many businesses are going through their 2021 strategic planning right now. And, some who may have already completed their plans are going back to revisit them, to ensure they are relevant to the changed and the probable long-term structural changes we have seen.
There is also a sense the language of business is changing. A few months ago people in business were still saying “when things go back to normal we’ll do this and that”. Now the rhetoric is changing.
There is greater recognition - at least, empirical recognition - that we are probably going to be forever spinning on a new axis. Think back to the 2011 powerful earthquake that moved the main island of Japan by 8 feet and shifted the Earth on its axis. It’s where we are at in terms of the business landscape too – spinning in a different place and probably never going back.
Adaptability and Speed Are Key
We’ve seen many examples of businesses having to adapt to this new business as ‘unusual’ environment. In a learning context, we’ve seen companies pivoting from delivering in-house training sessions, offsite sales conventions and other forms of in-person professional development to a full digital delivery format. Those who have adapted quickly may well be best positioned to capitalise on the ongoing benefits of digital learning.
It’s one thing to adapt, it’s another thing to do it efficiently and effectively. Again, in a learning context, those businesses who have been fast and adept at embracing new delivery mediums are having more success in maintaining effective connections with staff and key stakeholders.
Aligning Learning Strategy to The Digital Generation
Aligning the delivery of quick, effective and meaningful knowledge-transfer with the commercial/performance imperatives of the business has never been more critical. For many astute business people, the current climate has highlighted the critical importance of knowledge transfer and learning to drive increased engagement with staff and other stakeholders including customers. Stable, well trained and stimulated employees translate directly to the bottom line. Well-developed and informed customers/stakeholders become advocates for businesses.
A recent LinkedIn research study identified the primary driver that connected Millennials and Gen Zs to the organisations they worked for was… development. Not pay or work conditions, but development.
For organisations who see themselves as genuine learning businesses, and who are committed to developing and growing their teams, their time has come. They are embracing the technologies that will enable them to deliver the learning that is valued by those seeking the development, support and care.
Happy, stimulated, developing and supported employees are those more likely to stay and contribute to the ongoing success - something every C-Suite and/or senior manager needs to keep in mind.
Virtual Conferencing Tools and Learning
Throughout the crisis of 2020 businesses have turned to and utilised connectivity tools including Zoom, GoToMeeting and Teams to mention a few. In many respects, these tools have been a communication lifeline for business.
Yet, on their own, they are not learning, training or development tools. Genuine learning that is impactful, sustainable and measurable needs to be expertly designed to ensure it delivers the desired outcomes through the chosen delivery platform.
Virtual conferencing tools can and often do play an important part in a blended learning environment. However, they are not designed to be alternatives to expertly designed and delivered learning platforms.
Would You Like Cake & Coffee With Your Training?
Are those days gone? No longer can businesses rely on the attraction of food and drink to encourage staff to join the in-house training sessions in the communal meeting rooms. Nor can they rely on trips to the local café which doubled up as the overflow meeting room when the office facilities were booked.
Yet the challenges that 2020 have thrown out open the opportunity for innovation and out-of-the-box thinking when it comes to learning. The sophistication and power of technology-driven learning platforms offer businesses with exciting possibilities to deliver knowledge in a way that can be a genuine game-changer.
Learning, training and knowledge-transfer are no longer the sole domain of the HR or Learning development teams. They should be a focal point for the C-Suite and boards when considering how to leverage digital learning platforms to develop, stimulate and ultimately retain the people they rely on to meet their business objectives.
Daniel Antman is the Managing Director of imc Australia, part of the global imc group and one of the world’s leading digital learning businesses.
Further information
If you would like to learn more about how to implement digital learning effectively, feel free to contact us.