Dive Brief:

• It’s probably evident that the workplace training of today is vastly different than that of your grandfather, grandmother, and even your parents. “Gone are the days when the organization dictated what should be learned and how.," says Mary Frenson, marketing assistant at Check Director, and contributor at EdSurge.

• The rise in video training from 5% to 15% last year, which Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Trends study revealed. But Deloitte discovered that 61% of executives are experiencing challenges moving their companies towards self-directed learning initiatives, despite the increase in MOOCs and other free and low cost learning opportunities. Deloitte also found that only 8% of companies had dedicated CPD programs for their HR departments, although 84% of respondents rated this as important or very important.

• Organizations need to escape old-fashioned ways of training employees and embrace new technology at a faster rate in order to improve results for their workforces. Frenson urges companies to look at the ways that their employees want to learn and tap into this technology sooner rather than later. 

Dive Insight:

While workforce training has become much more accessible (and safer) than what our elders may have experienced, many organizations are still too intimidated by change because of all the new choices that are out there. Technology can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, companies know they need to adopt new technology to facilitate employee learning; on the other, they don't know where to start or what will work best for their employees. 

It's critical to consider the ways in which learners access educational content and then focus on these methods for delivering workforce training. Micro-learning via mobile devices is a prime example. Letting learners lead the process makes good sense when viewed from this perspective.