The changes ushered in by COVID-19 impacted the learning and development industry in many ways. Here are six strategies that will reshape corporate learning in 2022.
by Britt Andreatta, Ph.D.
November 11, 2021
When COVID-19 shuttered offices, it’s no exaggeration to say learning and development professionals played a key role in assuring their organizations survived and thrived. They were essential in helping their organizations quickly pivot to working remotely. Simultaneously, they quickly redesigned major training initiatives to ensure uninterrupted learning and growth during a time of unprecedented change.
The changes ushered in by COVID-19 impacted the L&D industry in these ways and more. As we face the next massive shift introduced by a hybrid workplace, the following six strategies will reshape corporate learning in 2022.
Sharpening crisis and change management skills
The pandemic delivered a hands-on lesson in how to lead massive change in record time. Rapidly deployed initiatives enabled organizations to not only survive but to thrive during lockdowns. The key was bringing along employees — no small task considering humans are biologically wired to resist change as part of their survival instinct.
Even in normal times, 50-70 percent of change initiatives fail. The culprit is often leadership’s failure to understand how threatening a workplace change can be to employees. During the past year, leaders with strong crisis and change management skills outshone their counterparts by calling upon these best practices:
- Explaining the why behind the change.
- Communicating clearly and consistently.
- Leading with transparency about what was happening and when.
- Providing the training and resources people needed to make the change.
- Listening and responding to the needs and worries of their employees.
By continually fine-tuning leaders’ crisis and change management skills, learning professionals can position their organizations to survive future crises that are sure to come.
Ensuring wellness by addressing burnout
One of the biggest challenges in most organizations is an exhausted workforce experiencing record levels of burnout. Burnout has three components, and is what is driving The Great Resignation:
- Emotional exhaustion or the fatigue that comes from caring too much for too long.
- Decreased sense of accomplishment and the feeling that nothing the person does makes any difference.
- Depersonalization, which is the depletion of empathy, caring and compassion.
Actively tending to burnout now and in the future is key for every learning professional. It’s not realistic to expect people to keep working harder and faster without helping them achieve a healthy work/life balance.
With anywhere from 40 to 90 percent of workers considering changing their jobs, organizations must show a true commitment to cultivating a culture that genuinely cares about employee wellbeing. Many employees are wanting the ability to work from home so they can eliminate the commute and live in more affordable areas. Gone are the days when a company culture could be established with perks like fun furniture or free food.
Forward-looking L&D strategies incorporate a focus on self-care and wellness, with tools and guidance to help employees in these areas. In addition, they must help managers and leaders develop the skills to meet future challenges without overstretching their teams. This includes emotional intelligence and the ability to build psychological safety, in addition to change management skills.
Rebalancing learning for a new normal
Learning evolved quickly as in-person L&D events were cancelled overnight. Organizations that were already leveraging online learning made the pivot quickly and easily. Companies that weren’t found themselves scrambling to craft and launch an online strategy.
As it becomes safe to gather in larger numbers, organizations will need to balance the push to keep costs low (i.e., keep all learning online) while meeting people’s hunger to meet in-person. Learning professionals are best positioned to craft the learning strategy and business case for the investments that support an array of future learning paths.
Accelerating adaptation to a changing world
As the world faced a deadly airborne virus, people’s lives literally depended on understanding scientific and medical principles. With so much at stake in how we interact, follow safety protocols and manage the tension between personal freedom and the common good, organizational learning must evolve dramatically.
Every organization’s success now hinges on employees acquiring a certain level of science literacy. Such knowledge is critical to moving through this and future global crises, whether pandemics or events triggered by climate change. Today’s employees need basic knowledge of such occurrences to navigate the impact on supply chains, workforce/community safety, and markets around the world. Learning professionals will need to make science literacy part of professional/leadership skills, tailored to their industry, organization and employee base.
Going mainstream with cultural competence and citizenship
The far-reaching impact of George Floyd’s death was evidenced in global protests and people voicing new expectations around corporate cultures and citizenship. Racial justice demonstrations and discussions around the world underscore that workers care deeply about these issues and expect their workplaces to lead the way in addressing bias and systemic oppression.
In response, companies quickly revised product and marketing strategies to address heightened demands for cultural sensitivity. Moreover, many were compelled to audit their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and programs for gaps when it came to addressing systemic oppression, privilege and allyship.
At the same time, global citizenship has taken on a whole new meaning with people expected to know more about history, the experiences of a wide range of people and the actions to take to make things right. In fact, they need to engage in an unprecedented level of critical thinking.
To help employees develop greater levels of awareness and analysis, L&D professionals will need to augment existing programs designed around building cultural competence and citizenship.
Establishing a sense of belonging in the workplace
While the world pivoted to remote work this past year, it became clear that teams need more than video meetings and online collaboration tools to thrive. Humans are a tribal species and our brains rely on biological cues to build trust and establish a true sense of belonging.
Not only do team environments need to leverage the gifts of each individual, the group needs to make its members feel safe enough to bring their best work forward. When this is done right, members feel they belong and the group is set up to achieve peak performance.
That’s why L&D professionals are being asked to help foster psychological safety in the workplace so employees feel a true sense of belonging. Reaching that pinnacle of performance often hinges on people’s ability to speak up, noting potential threats to the group’s or organization’s success. In fact, in Amy Edmondson’s study, the highest performing teams had the highest reporting rates for errors. While it might seem paradoxical, this is actually a sign of a very healthy team.
Ideally, building blocks such as these will be woven into current learning strategies to drive high-value, measurable outcomes.
Move forward with confidence
The silver lining from the past two years is the gift of clarity. People around the world are clear about what they value and what matters most: They crave more connection, more flexibility, more equality, and more balance. Knowing that these elements bring out the best in people and organizations, it’s smart for learning professionals to help their organizations develop the skills that enable such workplaces to exist and thrive.