Upskilling is the key to success in the rapid changing world of work. One way to prepare the workforce for the future is using the learning pathways technique.
Learning pathways are goal-oriented steps of instructional experiences designed to foster growth. When learning paths are designed thoughtfully, it will reduce analysis paralysis and time waste.

Learning pathways

Learning pathways are an efficient way to overcome skills gaps within an organization, making the best use of an existing talent pool without the hassle of recruiting and hiring. Well-designed learning pathways cut through the noise by offering a clear series of steps to help employees reach their goals. It leads learners so that they know where they're going and are eager to get there.

The rise of learning pathways

Learning pathways can be an effective tool for unlocking the untapped potential of the talent already existing within the organisation. When L&D ensure to offer a variety of learning pathways to choose from in an on-demand format, it gives employees agency in their professional development. In this low-pressure environment, all members of an organisation can take ownership of improving their skillsets.

Designing learning pathways

<ul><li>Select high-quality resources. L&D teams should know the best-in-class content providers.</li><li>Include a mix of content, such as articles, videos, podcasts, and infographics. </li><li>Building learning scaffolds. </li><li>Communicate relevance. People are more motivated when learning is highly relevant to them.</li><li>Keep learners motivated by celebrating milestones.</li><li>Promote new learning pathways. Prepare promotional materials that convey the value of the pathway.</li></ul>

Best practices for designing learning pathways

L&D teams should stay in the know on what is the best-in-class content providers. YouTube and TikTok offers millions of videos with basic to advanced lessons on every imaginable skillset. Learners have developed expectations of what constitutes premium quality content.

Select high-quality resources

There are several ways to deliver content, such as articles, videos, podcasts, and infographics. Offering content in a variety of formats caters to a wide range of learning preferences and will keep learners engaged for longer.

Include a mix of content

People only remember information if they understand how it fits into a scaffold of prior knowledge. Learning pathways can help employees build on previous knowledge when it is offered in a microlearning format, short, incremental bursts that allow learners to take breaks and easily return to the information.

Build learning scaffolds

People are more motivated when learning is highly relevant to them and when they understand what they will gain from it.
At the beginning of the pathway, ensure that learners know what they will accomplish throughout the path. Relevance can be linked to job tasks and business objectives.

Communicate relevance

Designers of learning pathways can incorporate ways to celebrate learners' milestones.
For example, learners might receive a digital badge or downloadable certificate they can add to their resumes and include on LinkedIn or a professional portfolio when completing a course.

Keep learners motivated

After developing a learning pathway, launch it by sending out organization-wide emails and preparing promotional materials that shows the value of the pathway.
Share what opportunities could result from mastering the skill.

Promote new learning pathways

Learning pathways can prepare employees to take on greater responsibility, qualify for a new role, or cultivate better habits to improve their performance.

Learning pathways are goal-oriented sequences of instructional experiences designed to foster growth.

Stashed ideas

How to use learning pathways to close skills gaps

People need space to learn, absorb, and take charge of their career and individual development. Providing this seeds a deeper sense of professional self-awareness, a better understanding of role responsibilities, and a basis for personalized goal-setting.
It’s impossible, though, to contemplate those big-picture dimensions of professional skills advancement and career evolution when your days are too busy. Creating an employee learning community designates space for a growth mindset.

Make your workplace a learning community

In a remote environment, there are fewer opportunities to meet colleagues in person and to expand one’s network at conferences and industry events. '
One of the most fundamental ways to build these muscles is to practice. To foster this, give your team internal networking opportunities.

Build hubs for networking

Leaders can only create a culture of belonging for their employees when they have a diverse leadership team.
Employees can’t thrive if they feel like they don’t belong. Employees need a comfortable climate, a network, and the knowledge that the leadership team is a destination for everyone. A company cannot feel like an exclusive club for only insiders.

Think long-term on diversity

Mentor relationships support developing talent and inspire quality performance while providing a structured path for development. That means providing a safe place for exploration, experimentation, and risk. Development is best accomplished within a supportive community.
Having no opportunities to engage with senior leaders is a barrier. Lack of career support and mentorship is another obstacle. Commit to your team members, especially underrepresented employees. Develop and support their professional and leadership goals. These can be your future leaders and mentors.

Commit to mentorship mediums

Investing in employees is a critical long-term commitment for companies.

4 employee development tips to show your people they matter

Technological disruption, VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity) conditions fueled by the ongoing pandemic, and evolving organizational architectures are just a few of the major challenges businesses face today. As a learning leader, your role is to equip your workforce with the capabilities needed to stay competitive amidst these changes.
Being transformation-ready doesn’t mean adopting the latest technology to keep up with current trends. It’s about developing a learning culture that positions the entire organization to adapt to the inevitable unknowns the future will bring.

The State Of The Workplace

Does the culture produce and support insightful workers?There’s no guarantee that today’s knowledge will solve tomorrow’s problems or that skills will remain evergreen. But insightful employees can recognize when the nature of a problem shifts. They then use that comprehension to hone their skills and seek out fresh knowledge. These characteristics help workers face novel challenges, which allows the entire organization to transform as well.

Supporting Insightfulness

Does your culture extol growth mindsets?Many useless hours a spent by employees hiding their weaknesses. A learning culture fosters growth mindsets. In this type of organization, learning is not seen as a sign of weakness but of character. Failure is not the antonym of success, but part of the growth process.

A Growth Mindset

Is your culture collaborative and matrixed?Even the most insightful worker can’t do it all. Sometimes the time required to hone a new skill will be too great. In these instances, insightful workers need to connect with those whose complementary skills can be an asset.Far too often, the help they need is siloed away in a neighbouring department. And within the hyper-specialized architecture of many modern organizations, that can be a difficult barrier to cross.

Collaboration

Is your culture adaptable?It’s clear that transformation is the default condition of today’s business world. There will inevitably come a day when the tried-and-true no longer works. When this happens, reactionary organizations panic and falter. But transformation-ready organizations evolve, and that begins at the employee level. A learning culture provides time and resources for employees to hone the skills needed to adapt to changing market conditions and demands, skills like resilience and agility.

Adaptability

Is the culture nurtured by leaders at the organization?Leaders have an outsized influence on everyone in an organization. Directors who want their managers to learn and grow must model a willingness to do so. The same holds true for managers who want to see their team members improve.Leadership culture must shift from a group of “know-it-alls” to one of “learn-it-alls.” Learn-it-alls grant permission to admit fallibility and desire to grow.

Cultivation By Leadership

This culture shift requires developing leaders with <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-questionologist/202103/are-you-intellectually-humble">intellectual humility</a> — they must be open to learning, commit to improving, and never use their intellect or position to discourage others. Teaching those skills will mean having open, honest conversations with key leaders as well as embodying intellectual humility yourself.

Intellectual Humility

A learning culture isn’t built overnight. Organizations must commit to intentionally developing employees, and that requires being strategic about how investments are made. To begin developing a <a href="https://bigthink.com/plus/5-tips-for-developing-an-effective-learning-culture-at-work/">culture of learning</a> at your organization, consider the following factors.

The Role Of A Leader

<ul><li>Maintain a consistent budget to gain buy-in by making the value of learning explicitly clear. </li><li>Write a mission statement that aligns your vision with organizational objectives, then choose and design programs with ROI in mind. </li><li>Plan ongoing initiatives to measure their impact, such as the use of qualitative feedback from employee surveys, and always be prepared to communicate on progress to goal. </li></ul>

Developing a Culture of Learning: Budget

It doesn’t matter how effective a learning program promises to be if employees don’t have the time to participate. For this reason, Google and others have instituted the 80/20 rule. They offer employees 20% of their time to learn, develop, and experiment with new ideas. This ratio can vary, but having a formal rule serves to convey the importance of learning.

Developing a Culture of Learning: Time

By building a learning culture, L&D leaders can equip their organizations to adapt to a business world that is transforming before our eyes.

Having a learning culture positions an entire organization to adapt to the inevitable unknowns the future will bring. 

How to create a learning culture in the workplace

In today's fast-changing world, companies increasingly need to be proactively resilient to be successful. They need to assemble teams quickly, draw on collective knowledge, find expertise, collect information in real time, and communicate strategic messages. To build those capabilities, organisations need a culture that enables employees to become "gig mindsetters" - salaried employees who behave and think like freelancers.

Thriving in a fast-changing world 

Gig mindsetters are continuous learners. They manage themselves, take the initiative, focus more on skills and less on roles, use better processes, and are confident to question the status quo. They share what they learn, take ownership of their growth, and have the ability to influence people.

Gig mindsetters

Large scale learning programmes often fail because they don't encourage people to take the initiative. Another approach is the learn, apply, share strategy. People who want to continue learning answer a formal but simple document that lists six questions. <ul><li>What will I learn?</li><li>How will I learn?</li><li>How will my company and I benefit from my investment?</li><li>When will I learn?</li><li>Where will I learn?</li><li>Who will help me make this a success, for my company and myself?</li></ul>

The learn, apply, share strategy

People want a sense of purpose. To establish whether your organisation has a gig mindset learning culture, consider the following questions: <ul><li>Are your employees able to communicate directly with senior leaders?</li><li>Are they encouraged to challenge the status quo?</li><li>Are teams built by focusing on skills and knowledge?</li><li>Are teams encouraged to share their work before it is completed?</li><li>When an experimental initiative fails, is it considered a positive experience?</li><li>Are people given time for external networking?</li></ul>

Creating a gig mindset learning culture

If gig mindsetters continually encounter obstacles, they may look elsewhere for more suitable places to work. Gig mindsetters may encounter difficulties at work because managers may think they are disrespectful or self-centred if they challenge the status quo. However, people with a gig mindset show loyalty to the organisation, not the processes. They are willing to improve things that will benefit the organisation.

Retaining gig mindsetters

These employees manage themselves, take initiative, and don’t hesitate to question the status quo — all helpful traits during uncertain times.

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How to use learning pathways to close skills gaps

4 employee development tips to show your people they matter

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How to create a learning culture in the workplace

How Workers with a “Gig Mindset” Can Help Your Company Thrive

Bite-sized knowledgeto upgradeyour career

#learningculture

IDEAS ABOUT #learningculture

How to use learning pathways to close skills gaps

4 employee development tips to show your people they matter

It's time to

READ

LIKE

A PRO!

How to create a learning culture in the workplace

How Workers with a “Gig Mindset” Can Help Your Company Thrive

Bite-sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career