Building a Learning Culture - Step 2: Architecting Paths for Self-Guided Learning
Photo by Matt Walsh on Unsplash
This week’s post is part of our Learning Culture series. If you’re just joining us, you can read the intro and the first step, which is training managers on employee development.
A close second — in terms of overall impact and relative ease of implementation — is architecting learning paths for self-guided learning.
A key part of building a learning culture is harnessing the innate desire and motivation of employees to learn and grow. The big question is: How do we make it as easy as possible for our learners to serve themselves when they have a learning need?
For many reasons, designers are typically not designing for the “serve yourself” use case when they initially create learning experiences. This also requires a macro view of your catalog, so this may be a bit of a mindset shift for your team. We find that creating learning paths is a great exercise for everyone to do together so they can share ideas and possible approaches. Here are five steps to get you started.
1. Survey your employees to learn their daily needs.
Don’t just guess your employees’ daily learning needs — ask them! We recommend brainstorming with your team and also doing a small focus group with employees. Maybe they want to build core competencies like project management and communication. Maybe they want to hone some specific functional skills. Use the ideas you generate to create a survey that asks respondents to indicate their highest priorities. Include an open response field in case they have additional things to share. Consider sending a survey that’s tailored to each functional area but includes a list of core competencies that are common across all areas.
2. Review your catalog to identify applicable learning assets.
As you review the survey results, you may discover new needs that aren’t addressed through your existing learning library. And, now you have some data that shows the need, which should help you make your case for funding. It is likely, though, that you have many existing learning assets that serve the needs you uncovered.
We often see great smaller eLearning modules or one-page resources embedded within long curriculums that cannot be easily accessed after learners complete the training. It’s too much to ask employees to remember that one helpful PDF and search for it in the LMS when they need it. Have program owners review their curriculums and list specific helpful learning assets that might be included in one or more learning paths.
3. Set up learning paths or tap into ready-made ones.
At this stage you’ll compile the most helpful learning assets so they can be easily accessed anytime employees need them. Start by thinking of it as a Top 5 list. You might have a list of most commonly requested topics/resources for all employees, for the Sales team, for project managers, for people managers, etc. A learning path might include some eLearning modules, plus some PDFs, plus some stand-alone videos — it’s totally fine to mix and match modalities. Sequence might matter, or it might not. Because these learning assets are not designed to “go together,” don’t worry about creating a flow with transitions. The goal is to pull things together that will be highly valuable into one place. Your employees are smart — they’ll be able to make sense of it. :)
And if you subscribe to a content library, don’t reinvent the wheel! Leverage their top recommendations by category or link your employees directly to their ready-made learning paths. If you’re not finding what you need, ask your provider to help you create custom learning paths — they know their content best.
4. Make it user-friendly and accessible.
Now it’s time to decide where your new learning paths should live. You may want to create a new section on your learning platform. If that’s not a place your employees visit often, use another internal site they visit frequently. The key is to make everything accessible and easily navigable, so definitely go where the traffic is. You’ll also want to streamline the experience. Include a brief description of each learning path and the intended audience. Add a short caption for each asset in the learning path so they can easily spot what may be helpful. It’s also a good idea to give your employees a feedback channel so they can share what is helpful and any additional needs they may have.
5. Develop a communication plan.
Your learning paths deserve some thoughtful marketing! Think about the various channels available to you — and don’t just settle for an email from L&D that people might miss or delete. Think about your organization’s homepage and any central communications where you can snag a spot. Also, when you’re trying to change behavior it can be helpful to involve leaders in each area and have them share the news. Who can you ask to communicate the message to their teams? A combination of communication strategies can help you launch strong and sustain the new behavior you’re trying to cultivate.
We love helping our clients brainstorm how they can leverage existing resources and reach their learners in a whole new way. If you need support, please reach out. If you have tips or success stories to share, leave a comment below!