•   Article   •   3 mins

What Is Personalized Learning?

The pandemic and economic downturn taught us a few lessons about work and resiliency. If businesses want to stand the test of time, they must be adaptable. This requires an agile workforce that’s well trained and prepared to face tomorrow’s challenges. 

To minimize cost, training is frequently done in a one-size-fits-all fashion, leaving employees uninspired and without deep learning.

Personalized learning can be a real game changer, as it allows companies to deliver effective, adaptable workplace learning that contributes to achieving specific business goals. To fully take advantage of this, however, business leaders must understand what personalization is and the benefits they stand to gain from it.

Capturing the Power of Personalized Learning

By definition, personalized learning refers to a learning experience that’s customized — both in content and delivery method — to suit the needs of every learner. When done right, personalized programs have the power to drive employee engagement, identify and plug skills gaps and support business growth.

Think about this in terms of learning styles. Some of your more visual learners probably prefer to get their information via videos, while your more auditory learners prefer a podcast. Whichever way your employees prefer to learn is the right way for them. Giving them the right methodology for their optimal learning can increase their engagement and retention, helping you reach your learning program goals faster and more effectively.

Whatever learning methods you choose, consider your investments. 

Using spreadsheets and disjointed systems to implement your L&D programs can complicate learning and limit its effectiveness. However, a learning experience platform (LXP) can advance learning by taking into account a range of data points, such as employees’ job roles and skills and how these correspond to specific business goals and objectives. 

Your system should also be flexible enough to recommend tailor-made career pathing, which can help your people prepare for future promotions. In addition to a robust LXP, also carefully select your learning management system (LMS) and content authoring tools, which will dictate how engaging your content is. 

Encourage employees to share resources or courses and tools they’ve found useful. Let them allocate a specific amount of time in the week dedicated to perusing these materials and sharing key takeaways. 

In addition, implementing gamification and reward systems can further drive interest and improve completion rates, transforming learning from something employees have to do into something they want to do. 

The Benefits of Personalization

There are myriad benefits you can gain from personalized learning programs, both in business performance and boosted morale among your employees. Taking the time to tailor learning programs to the individual needs of each employee can help you build an agile workforce while keeping engagement and retention high.

Future-Proofing Your Business

Skills are rapidly changing and becoming outdated as businesses rush to digitize, automate and innovate in an increasingly competitive market. In fact, Gartner has found that 58% of the workforce will need new skills in the coming years to be effective.

Personalized learning can be a powerful tool for bringing everyone up to speed with the skills they need.

Imagine you have a team of 10 engineers who need upskilling in Python. Not all of them will have the same starting point when it comes to their existing knowledge, so offering one-size-fits-all materials can expose you to skill gaps and poor product development. Adapting content to what each employee needs can help them be confident.

Building a Strong Employer Brand

A Gallup study found that 65% of people consider upskilling opportunities crucial when it comes to assessing potential new jobs. A personalized learning environment that caters to the individual needs and aspirations of potential employees can help you stand out against your competition and attract the best talent for all the right reasons. 

Not only that, but delivering effective training to your employees also means they are far more likely to refer your organization to friends and family the next time you’re hiring — and businesses want to work with companies that appreciate and invest in their workforces, which can make your clients happier as well. 

Improving Employee Retention

Prioritizing learning can also help with employee retention as you support individual growth and development. A recent Deloitte study found access to learning and development opportunities is the second-highest reason an employee chooses to stay with a company, right after work-life balance. 

Personalization, in this context, can respond directly to this need for upskilling and deliver it in a more effective way for your people and your business. Since the content will be adjusted to the needs of every learner, employees will be able to learn more in less time. Instead of going through materials they already know or taking courses that are far too advanced for them, employees can follow a learning program that pushes them out of their comfort zones just enough to develop their skills. 

Transform your business with personalized learning.

Oftentimes, when it comes to gaining a competitive advantage, businesses focus on building the next big thing, whether it’s a product or a service. This is like building a house from the roof. You can’t have great products and services without a great workforce that stands behind them. 

Focus on your foundation — your people — first. Acknowledge that each individual is unique in their capabilities and aspirations, and create a training program that reflects that. Personalization has the power to truly transform your business by respecting the needs of each employee while reaching toward your higher purpose.

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