The learning landscape is changing, and it is time for corporates and employees to gear up for this new challenge. It is also time for Learning and Development managers to do some ‘soul searching’ for betterment. Here are a few recommendations:

No more training calendars: It must be understood that Calendar programmes are not a solution. No shows and lesser participations, drop outs in middle of the programmes are common, and are widely seen for calendar training programmes. Your audience today is asking for more customised programmes and you need to address this.

Can I do it myself: You have taught me the theory and have given a reasonable reason to trust this model, but can we do it ourselves? Is there an interactive platform, a game, a social media, a playground, a simulation exercise on which we can work on? Can I feel what I have just learned? Can we move away from, ‘chalk and talk?’ We must redesign the way we have been training, at least, give the participants a feel of what and how it feels like doing it. Be it soft skills or technology, ‘do it myself’ is the latest thing that learners are looking for.

No more pedagogy but andragogy: ‘Andragogy’ is being talked about since the recent past in learning and development. Andragogy is more adult focused. Adults are selfdirected, responsible for their learning, experienced, and involved in the process of learning. Therefore, change your ways of learning and delivery. Encourage learners to participate, allow them to lead the discussions, present them with problems so that they can bring a solution, encourage peer to peer learning and engage in focused discussions. It is important that we provide meaningful learning experiences that are clearly linked to their personal and future goals. If you are an in-house trainer, you cannot be ignorant about what is happening in business. Put your hands into

Anytime/Anywhere learning: With more people spending a significant time travelling from office to home and back, it is time to enable learning at their own pace. Can we build solutions or leverage technology to allow them access to learning, applying of the concepts, practice, and certify anytime and anywhere?

Communication is even more important: Communication is a highly under-rated skillset. While we realise this, we do little about it. Communication matters, inside and outside the class. Communication skills have the capability to make or break a deal. Areas like negotiations, handling cross cultural communication or simply emails, would matter a lot today. In a VUCA world, communication assumes more significance than before, especially when you work with teams you would have possibly met or will never meet. For trainers, it is important that you focus on your words, your ability to listen, speak and mean ‘what you say’, (be honest) so that you get your non-verbal cues just right.

Choose to disrupt or die: The traditional ways are not working, attention spans are reducing for the kids, (new hires) employees are spending more time travelling and multitasking. Unless learning and development keep changing their methodologies, try new things, to keep themselves abreast of the environment, training will be ‘dead’. Make programmes and learning relevant in today’s context and keep challenging yourself. Do you have the ‘wow’ factor in all your training programmes? Set new boundaries and leverage technology to enable people in the organisation. Ensure that you do ‘more with less’.