NEW FACE OF TRAINING IN A SOCIAL-DISTANCING WORKPLACE POST COVID-19

By: Oyewole Sarumi PhD ACC

“This is not the time to stop learning — it’s time to prioritize it.” – Amy Borsetti on LinkedIn’s The Learning Blog

Introduction

COVID-19 is a disruptor. The pandemic has caused systemic shock. It has created a VUCARD (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous, Risky, and Disruptive) World.

When the Coronavirus SARS 2 hit Wuhan, China in December 2019, everybody in the world thought it was China’s thing’, and we all kept living our life as usual. However, with the globalised and interconnected world, we have created, by the time the virus got to most countries, we were all dazed and running helter-skelter to get covered from its onslaught.

It was damned too late for most nations. Italy, UK, Iran borne the brunt of this early onslaught, and lately as we write, the US, Brazil among others are still under its threat. Suddenly, our world has changed and we have to welcome a life of ‘new normal’ which many are still trying to get accustomed to including learning and development professionals and our clients – the business and the corporate world.

As the authors of the McKinsey article put it, “COVID-19 is a catalyst for this transition.” The pandemic has upended business around the world. Businesses will need to adapt, and that includes adapting their training strategies to rethink the who, what, when, where, and how of their employee development efforts will come to fruition these days.

According to Patricia Pomies, Chief Delivery Officer at Globant, “Employees and employers should expect an increased focus on reskilling and upskilling in the long-term. With new technologies and innovations constantly being introduced, organizations’ training and development will be more focused on putting employees at the centre of the business to ensure they are equipped with the skills needed to provide the best service possible to customers.”

That statement captures the reality and truism of today. Businesses can no more treat learning and development [L & D] as expenses, but an investment. This is predicated on the fact that with the rapid changes in technologies, L & D has transformed tremendously. The roles and responsibilities of employees have also changed enormously due to increased artificial intelligence (AI) and the Fourth Industrial Revolution (FIR). Therefore, the employees must be trained to learn, unlearn, and relearn to stay relevant and remain competitive globally. That precisely is what we do as learning and development professionals.

What is obviously clear is that the quadruple combination of AI, Robotics, Machine Learning (ML), Data Science (DS), and the FIR have compelled today’s L & D professionals to reinvent training strategies to suit the temperature of the seasons.

Responsive L & D professionals ought to be involved in the creation of an infectious disease preparedness and response plan, which may include addressing the need for social distancing, staggered work shifts, downsizing operations, delivering services remotely, and other exposure-reducing measures.

We could also recommend minimizing contact among workers, clients, and customers by replacing face-to-face meetings with virtual communications and implementing telework if feasible in clients’ clime.

Examining the HOWs of training in the New Normal

Many L&D professionals may need to reskill to become more proficient with remote meetings and training platforms in sync with the reality of the season. Today, it is essentially important that when preparing a virtual training session, a proactive and discerning trainer must recognize the need to incorporate more interactions for participants’ engagement.

The question to ask is: What pictures of training do we see in the post-coronavirus world? One fact is obvious, Learning and development have transformed from instructor-led and interactive to computer-based video training and eLearning training.

Simply translating the face-to-face world into an online experience is inappropriate and ineffective in the post-COVID19-19 era. We have to look after people’s physical and mental health as well as their technology needs. The solutions we have come up with should be vital and endure over the long term for the clients and us.

Now, some organizations are using virtual training and coaches who engage learners like real human trainers. Some organizations including IBM and Cisco started using virtual platforms to train their employees, and during interviews and meetings.

The millennial employees are enjoying virtual avatars. Earlier in June this year, Nigeria National Oil Company, NNPC interviewed 1000 new employees and onboard them virtually prior to resumption. Many organisations including civil servants across Nigeria are still working remotely, while some organisations have embraced virtual training, many are still Benton the in-person largely due to infrastructural dereliction and employee inadequacies with necessary tools and techniques.

My take is that it is essential to adopt technology and customize training programs in this new normal. Whilst it is good to remember that technology cannot replace teachers and trainers, it is also certain that no machines can replace humans. Technology can add value to the training programs. Therefore, trainers must harness technology effectively. I posit that learning and development must adapt to the changing times and technologies, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Trainers and learners must embrace uncertainty and leverage technology to add value to the learners.

The need to reskill and upskill workforces is accelerated by the onset of the pandemic. The greater reliance on technologies means that employees must be trained to operate them correctly and work efficiently. What’s more, with the size of teams shrinking because of financial difficulty for organizations, a culture of project-based, collaborative working will become more common. With this being the case, a new culture of continual training and learning will be reinforced.

The Imperative of Transitioning from ILT to VILT

Before the pandemic, the norm of training revolves around Instructor-Led-Training (ILT). Now with the fog of the ‘new normal’ hovering over the world, Virtual- Instructor Led-Training (VILT) is becoming the new fad. Proactive L & D professionals must embrace this remote learning (synchronous or asynchronous) with all they have, to be relevant and become sustainable in the medium to long-term.

In this regard, creative innovation is a sine qua non for effective blending. This involves creating and incorporating more interactions such as question-and-answer sessions, engaging visual aids, videos, polls, and a variety of breakout sessions, etc. All the above are important ways to get and stay connected with participants, while also keeping in mind the need to provide regular breaks.

Another important aspect of VILT is the duration – how many hours per day is adequate to cover the course content, and not become an impedance to the emotional balance of the participants? The main thing to consider is that it must be short – from 3-4hours daily, depending on the number of days agreed with the client. The overall aim is to ensure that quality of service is not compromised, while also not overlooking the participants’ mood and overall health.

As we all know, the Training Process Framework (TPF) organizes training functions and processes into four functional groups: administration, content, delivery, and technology. COVID-19 is now speaking to us in a clear accent: the time has come to focus on technology. In furtherance to this, Keenan McBride encouraged us to ask the following questions:

Does your organization have collaboration tools that will enable you to reach learners whom you can no longer gather in a hall or classroom?
Can you take advantage of a learning management system (LMS) or learning content management system (LCMS)?
Can your technology enable learners to receive feedback and take assessments?

Then, he asked us to consider our content:

Does it needlessly ramble?
Is it interactive?
Does it meet the stated learning objective?

In the end, to embrace the new technology effectively, virtual training should always be direct and make sure you engage participants and keep their attention for the best part of the programme. That is a task that must be seen to be done by independent reviewers on the sideline.

Cindy Pascale writing on L & D’s New Normal: “Prepare Now” cited the following reasons why companies are making the transition from Instructor-Led Training to Virtual- Instructor-Led Training nowadays:

Costs less

Online is generally less expensive due to less time away from work and no travel costs and other incidentals like materials, bags/folders, writing materials, and meals.

Consistency

Online provides a more consistent learning experience; everyone gets the same message. Instructors have different communication styles and can interpret or present materials in different ways.

Shorter training time

Typically, the seat time of an online program is less than half (or one-third) of an Instructor-Led Training program. A Brandon Hall study concluded that eLearning takes 40-60% less time to complete than traditional classroom training. This means that the learner can achieve the same learning outcomes in much less time.

Learner centric

The eLearning approach is learner-centric and provides learners with control, enabling them to go through the training at their own pace. Also, they can refer to the training if needed.

Flexibility

eLearning provides anytime, anywhere access to training. Additionally, it gives learners a choice to select the device on which they want to learn.

Learning retention

According to a study by the Research Institute of America, the learning retention rate is in the range of 25-60% for eLearning, whereas it is 8-10% for face-to-face training.

Review

When training is offered online, the learner can “on-demand” review the training. For instance, the learner needs to do a coaching session. The learner can review the steps to a great coaching session, gather their thoughts by re-watching the course, and do a better job meeting with the employee.

Learning and Development Today Require Agile Mindset

A great consideration is this: as we social distancing in training, I believe the time has come to incorporate Agile mindset into our day to day interaction with clients and participants. Why? This is because Agile project management has benefits such as faster times to create services and products, more empathy with clients, and better responsiveness to change especially in the VUCARD world that the pandemic has constraints upon us. What makes agile management works is not just the tools, techniques, and software. What makes Agile effective is the mindset.

There are twelve principles that support Agile Manifesto’s values. The two that are most relevant to L & D professionals and training managers are first, “Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable training and development.” And the second is: “At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behaviour accordingly.

In other words, we must regularly ask our clients about their training needs and build courses to test and refine them. When we do this, our clients appreciate that we continually refine the sessions or classes and we promptly adapt training to meet their immediate needs. That is the kind of agility that the post-pandemic era deserves and we as professionals must be responsive to our client needs. Recently, I had to reschedule an in-person coach session online while retaining the learning objectives and other developmental activities. So, having an agile mindset gives me the ability to change rapidly and effectively in delivering exceptional projects to my clients. I think every L & D professional needs to consciously develop this agile mindset in times like this.

Conclusion

No matter how we are dealing with COVID-19 and its implications, the nervousness that we share about the future is undeniable, but it also spurs us into action. Disruptions on a global scale force businesses to get back to basics and focus on creating a new strategy that can stand up to anything, including how you and your clients or teams learn. In this wise, proactive L/D professional should start doing things right by ensuring that clients don’t lose out in their pursuit of knowledge and development of workers. The time we are called for clients-support-mechanisms to work them through the ‘training fog’ that this pandemic has bequeathed to us.

I remember vividly what a client told me in early July, ‘Doc, we can’t do this training at all because my staff aren’t adequately prepared with the necessary infrastructures to benefit appropriately.” Candidly, I did understand what she meant, and I posit that we as professionals may have to engage our clients to restrategise first, then retool before reskilling. That was exactly what we did, and this client has enjoyed great service from us and others since then.

So, let us try and find out what we can give and where we can give it, and how we may be of assistance. Many clients are in the midst of turmoil because they are yet to know that in this post-COVID -19 era, L & D is no more an expense centre, but a key investment as we move into the fourth industrial revolution where AI, robotics, machine learning, and data science will be the order of the day. Finally, in the words of Abraham Maslow, “In any given moment we have two options: to step forward into growth or to step back into safety.” What is your option? Like Amy Bor
to stop learning, this is the time to give learning and development a priority in our order of things.

So……“Let’s keep learning. Let’s keep developing. It is between the two that our growth lies” – Oyewole Sarumi [2012]

Oyewole Sarumi is Associate Professor of Organizational Leadership and Business Transformation, ICLED Business School, Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria

References.

Rao, M. S. Learning and Development in the Post-COVID-19 World. Retrieved Oct.12/20 from https://learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/learning-and-development-in-the-post-covid-19-world

Noah Zandan. Learning & Development from a Distance, During COVID-19 and Beyond. Retrieved Oct.19/20 fromhttps://www.quantifiedcommunications.com/blog/remote-learning-and-development-covid-19

Natasha Bonnevalle. In an in-depth interview, Natasha Bonnevalle, partner, THNK School of Creative Leadership, discusses how to create learning programmes that achieve more with less and how to manage difficult emotions. Retrieved from https://www.meritsummit.com/blog/article/after-covid-19-how-to-rebuild-learning-and-development