International learning and development trends identified at the International ASTD Conference
As South African Learning and Development Practitioners, we sometimes feel that other countries are streets ahead of us. After I attended the 2012 American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) conference in Denver Colorado, I can confirm that this is not the case. World-wide everyone seems to be grappling with the same issues.
The training and development industry does however seem to be thriving across the globe, and organisations, in general, view the up-skilling and continuous development of their employees as a high priority. This is if you can believe the majority of the more than 9,000 people representing 76 countries who attended the 2012 American Society for Training and Development’s (ASTD) Annual International Conference and Exposition. More than 290 education sessions were offered in eight content tracks and three industry tracks and it was impossible for one person to attend more than 12 education sessions during the conference, in addition to the three plenary sessions.
I found that South African companies are quite progressive regarding their learning and development practices and that the education sessions merely served as a confirmation of what they are already doing. When I reflected on the information that I gathered during the sessions and especially at the Expo, some trends became evident. These trends are not necessarily new for many South African organisations, but nevertheless give an idea of what is currently top-of-mind awareness in the rest of the world.
Some of the trends that I picked up at the ASTD conference at the Exhibition and during the sessions were:
- Doing more with less: The economic recession has hit companies in the USA and Europe hard and, as a result, it seems they want to take more things in-house. Train-the-trainer programmes for in-house staff are consequently more popular than presentations by external consultants.
- The “appification” of training: The learning and development industry is starting to use the opportunities created by mobile technology and several downloadable training Apps for smart phones were show-cased at the Expo. The Ken Blanchard Company has for example the following free App that you could download on your PC by following these instructions:
1. Open browser and go to https://play.google.com/store/apps
2. Click Search Store
3. Type “How2Lead” and click Enter/return key
4. Install content
- Bite sized training: There is a trend to shorten the face-to-face component of training. It seemed as if there is a requirement to limit the face-to-face sessions to a maximum of 90 minutes. Words to describe these sessions are power hours, work-outs, real-plays. Even training videos are short – preferably no longer than 12 minutes.
- Portable, anywhere and on-the-spot training: Mobile training is becoming a reality, with learning content and assessments downloadable on cellphones, iPads etc. Some years ago IBM used the term “embedded training” meaning that training becomes such a part of the employee’s workday, that they do not even realise that they are busy learning. The mobility of learning interventions supports this notion very well.
- Post-training engagement: Social media is used extensively to engage learners after the training via Twitter, the different Apps, Facebook, etc.
- A strong focus on ethics, life balance and sustainability in training approaches and content.
- Generational awareness: There seems to be no end to the fascination with the potential differences between the generations in the workplace and the impact on learning and training.
- Informal learning is accepted as a major part of the learning experience, but most organisations would love to make it a bit more formal.
- The verticality of training: This means that instead of exposing learners to a variety of learning issues in a given year, organisations focus on one or two important aspects and focus all learning interventions on embedding just those aspects.
- The redefinition of coaching: Most people seem to accept that the debate about the difference between coaching and mentoring is unproductive and that time could be better served by focusing on the facilitation of learning on an individual basis using whatever method proves to be helpful in changing behaviour. Words like catalyst and producer to replace the word coach are being considered.
- There is a move towards “we-learning” where the idea is that the context must match intentions: This means that the managers and employees are all involved in the learning effort to achieve the desired objectives, e.g. a customer-oriented culture.
- Diversity management and training: The global nature of business and more women in the workplace necessitate that organisations constantly refine their diversity management practices and consequently, their training approaches.
- Leadership development is receiving a lot of attention as most organisations are very concerned about employee engagement and the leader is seen as a major catalyst in this regard. There is still a focus on Quiet Leadership and Servant Leadership. Leadership development also focuses on the management of remote/virtual teams and on creating a direct link between learning experience and application. The “leader as learner” concept is still high on the agenda. There is also a preference for strengths-based leadership development.
- The use of neuro-science in training and development is also gaining ground and several research studies showed the trainers how to structure their training to achieve the best results.
Many of these trends are already apparent in South Africa and it will be interesting to see how organisations adapt these trends in order to meet the requirements imposed by training legislation in South Africa.
