Last week I read the report, “How the Workforce Learns in 2016†from Degreed. Degreed is a learning platform company. They asked 512 adults how they go about learning for work. There’s a lot of good stuff in the report, but one thing jumped out at me:
“Workers have more options for development than ever before, but they still want guidance. When they need to learn something new, though, they are most likely to ask their boss or mentor (69%) or their colleagues (55%) for recommendations. Many people also take matters into their own hands—literally. Around 47% search the Internet and 43% browse specific resources. But just 28% search their employers’ learning systems”
Wow. Only 28 percent search their employer’s learning system. Starting your search with your boss, mentors and peers makes sense, but why do so few go to their employer’s learning systems? I decided to ask around.
Last Saturday, I went to a housewarming party where there were lot of people in the early stages of their career. I asked them how they searched for information when they wanted to learn something at work. Their answers matched the report, so I dug a little deeper. They told me one important reason why the people who work at your company don’t use your learning management system (LMS). Your chunks are too big.
The people I talked with didn’t start with your LMS because they think it’s all courses and programs. They don’t want to take a course, the want to learn a couple of specific things to do something at work, the kind of thing we call micro-learning resources. Here are two recommendations based on Degreed’s report and my conversations.
If you have micro-learning resources available, beat the drum and tell people about them.
If you don’t have micro-learning resources available, make it a priority to add them your leadership development resources. Then, make sure you tell people about them.
