7 Learning and Development Trends in 2023

From the pandemic to employee shortages to a looming recession, running a business has been extremely difficult these past few years. Companies are facing challenges they’ve never faced before, and navigating these uncharted waters can cause a lot of panic. That’s why it’s so crucial for businesses to focus on learning and development for their current employees. Rather than hiring new employees, there are learning and developing trends you can follow that will maximize the talent you already have, so you’re not spending money you don’t have.   With the help of instructional design agencies, you can create effective training programs to help retain current employees and attract new ones when needed. From upskilling and reskilling to incorporating methods like immersive and microlearning, here are seven L&D trends worth trying to keep your team strong during even the most challenging times.

Let’s Explore Upcoming L&D Trends that Organizations Should Be Focusing On

If you’re looking to keep your current employees while also attracting new ones, there are a few things you can do.

Focus on Upskilling and Reskilling Current Employees

As a business, it’s imperative that you invest time and energy into your current workforce. While you could hire new employees, you run the risk of them not having all of the specific skills that are needed for the job, on top of the fact that you already have to take the time to train them for the position. Rather than go through that painstakingly long process, take a step back and look at how you can upskill or reskill the current employees you already have. What do we mean by that?   Upskilling can be defined as focusing on improving the skills of an employee. This helps fill any gaps you may find as the company grows. Examples include improving customer service, taking workshops or attending conferences, or sending an employee back to school part-time to receive certification in an area you feel is necessary for the business.   Reskilling, on the other hand, is learning new skills altogether to move employees into a new role within the company. If, for example, you have a receptionist that has shown that they have incredible marketing ideas, you may have them switch departments. However, you can’t do so and send them on their way with zero training. While they may have great ideas, it’s important to train them to perform well–aka reskilling.   Because hiring new employees can be time-consuming and expensive for a business, upskilling and reskilling can help cut costs during a time when it matters most. It also helps keep employees loyal to your business, helping you retain valuable workers.

Instructional Design Companies Encourage Leveraging Technology in Training and Development

It’s no secret that technology is ever-evolving. One of the biggest advantages of technology is how quickly it’s become a strong learning tool for training and development–especially immersive learning such as virtual and augmented reality. Using VR and AR allows you to create real-life situations that employees can interact with to help engage and train them, which can be one of the biggest challenges for companies.   Because the technology is so new, we understand that putting your employees through this training can seem questionable. But it’s been found to boost comprehension, offer employees a safe learning environment, and be extremely cost-effective compared to other training tools. In fact, this virtual teaching method is so effective that it was found to increase knowledge retention by up to 75%, according to a study done by Accenture. Not to mention that doing so allows the employer to view instant analytics to gauge the progress of an individual and the group as a whole.

Create a Personalized Learning Experience with the Help of an Instructional Design Agency

In the past, companies tried to enforce a “one size fits all” approach to training. However, that outdated approach is no longer valuable, which is why instructional design agencies are so helpful. For those unfamiliar with an instructional design agency, it is an agency that allows you to formulate a tailored learning format to satisfy each employee’s preferred style of learning. They take their time to understand the employees, what skills need to be developed, and how to fill the performance gaps based on their learning styles.

Incorporate Video-Based Learning

Ever since video-based learning became easily accessible, it has quickly become one of the strongest learning tools out there. They’re easy to follow (amongst all generations) and grab the attention of learners far better than reading.   Simply put, video-based learning is self-paced, giving your employees the freedom to plan their training around their schedule, allows for higher accessibility should content need to be revisited, improves learner retention, and it’s cost-effective. If your employees work remotely, it also gives them a chance to undergo training without having to travel.

Learning and Design Consultants Recommend Bite-Sized Training Solutions such as Microlearning

One of the most challenging aspects of training is providing the information in a way that doesn’t overwhelm employees. That’s why more and more employers are opting for microlearning, aka small bite-sized pieces of content that are easier to digest and remember. Some microlearning examples include:  

• Short-form video
• Snippets of audio
• Photos, illustrations, and Infographics
• Quizzes
• Podcasts
• Polls
• Flashcards

  No matter which medium you adopt, you should aim to keep lessons under 10 minutes. It’s been found that for many, the sweet spot is somewhere between two to five minutes. This allows the content to be fun and engaging, easily accessible, more affordable, and easy to deliver.

L&D Consulting Firms Encourage Social-Based Learning Techniques

While remote work has a long list of benefits, one of the biggest disadvantages is the lack of connection with coworkers. And although this may seem simple, bonding with other team members helps boost creativity and build trust within the company. Luckily, through social-based learning techniques, you can incorporate this within your business.   Whether you are in-office or entirely online, there are a couple of techniques that you can include to organize peer interaction. Some examples include having a question and answer session between seasoned employees and new hires, initiating roleplays of common problems encountered at work, and weekly meetings or office hours where employees can bring questions or concerns to their coworkers and managers.

Instructional Design Consultants Advise Using Learning Analytics to Measure Progress

Did you know that an average of 40% of US employees leave their job in their first year due to poor training? And the average cost of losing an employee is about six months of their salary? Those numbers aren’t too promising. That’s why investing in training is crucial. And to ensure that you don’t lose your employees, you should track whether your training methods are effective or not using learning analytics.   Many training options–especially those involving microlearning or immersive learning–have analytics in place that help you identify patterns within your employees. For example, if you notice that employees are quickly clicking through lessons, likely, they’re not absorbing the information in front of them. To test knowledge retention, you can use quizzes and assignments. Once you have this data, you can decide if there’s an issue with the training collectively or if an individual is struggling.

Partner with a Learning and Development Consulting Firm to Improve Your Organization’s Training Techniques in 2023

Here at Clarity Consultants, we want to set you up for success by offering a wide variety of L&D Consulting services. For over 30 years, we’ve provided everything needed for talent development, including instructional design, needs assessments, training facilitation, project management, and more.  

If you’re ready to improve the talent of your current employees and save money during these tough economic times, contact us today!