With the digital revolution in full swing and accelerating at a rapid pace, employers are struggling to keep their existing employees well versed in their jobs and get new employees up to speed quickly. In addition, we have the retiring generation leaving the workforce at an ever increasing rate, leaving existing employees with little institutional knowledge to shore up their foundation.
All of this creates a significant gap in what employers want and need to remain competitive and what employees want and need to be engaged and productive.
In the past, corporate training was used to bridge the gap. Corporate training has been a costly venture for most organizations and honestly, has not gained significant traction with leadership due to the inability to prove ROI. Smaller organizations have been unable to fund these expensive training programs and thus they tend to fall farther and farther behind in their efforts to be competitive. The knowledge gap increases rapidly on a daily basis.
At times we look to government to close the gap. But even the government, at this point in time, is not positioned to keep up with the rapid pace of change. The government has always been a large bureaucracy, which is intended to move at glacial speed. Hopefully, this keeps them from issuing large policy changes that have a negative impact, due to lack of research or meaningful compromise. Schools are also hamstrung with the same issue. So where do we turn to keep up with the rapidly changing world and workplace?
As I listened to Zoë and Allen discuss solutions with a true passion for creating economic opportunity for everyone, I was reminded that it’s not just the politicians who will pave the way for a brighter economic future. It’s about the business owners and entrepreneurs who are creating jobs, the workers who may not have traditional education but have the dedication, and the people who are passionate enough to develop the training and the tools, creating a better life, for everyone.
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Organizations have a unique opportunity to help fill this widening gap. As organizations step up to the plate and invest in learning opportunities (not training) for their people, they create the environment for businesses to keep pace with the significant changes in the workplace and provide economic opportunity for their employees. It is a 'win-win' situation!
To do that, the learning landscape at organizations needs to change. A 2016 survey from a leading learning research organization, Brandon-Hall, demonstrates that this shift is already underway. Businesses are realizing that the traditional way of training their employees is not working and they are looking for more agile and nimble solutions that can keep pace.
Is your business ready to tackle the challenge of creating a culture of learning!