YOUR GUIDE TO ONLINE LEARNING WEEK

In 12 years, most of our jobs won’t exist.

According to McKinsey, between 400 million and 800 million jobs will be gone by 2030. A version of them might remain, but as technologies like artificial intelligence and automation gain momentum, it’s safe to say we’ve reached an inflection point (as we did in the dot-com era) around the kind of work we do.

But just because these jobs will be gone doesn’t mean 800 million people will be unemployed. Instead, people will do different kinds of work, uniquely “human” roles that require collaboration and creativity. Adapting to these new jobs is going to take what’s called a growth mindset.

A growth mindset means you view intelligence as endless: You’re always able to learn new skills. In the opposite, a fixed mindset, knowledge is viewed as a limited commodity — you’re either good at something or you’re not. In my experience, most people say they have a growth mindset. And that might be true, but think about the times you’ve struggled or even failed. During those times, it’s likely that you transitioned into a fixed mindset.

Maintaining a growth mindset and engaging in what I call extreme learning — constantly gathering new information — are essential ingredients of success in our current (and future) work environment.

Online learning is a vehicle that enables organizations to scale extreme learning across the organization. Through online learning, organizations can help employees develop critical skills as your business transforms and learners can engage in courses to understand how to use new technologies, inside or outside of the office. Without online learning, it becomes difficult to empower self-directed learning, to build a learning culture across a dispersed workforce, and to accurately measure the impact of your initiatives to ensure your training is driving the business in the direct it needs to go.

I invite you to use National Online Learning Day (and week) as an opportunity to explore what skills your workforce needs to develop in order for your business to survive amidst this revolution. This guide is a collection of short articles designed to help you understand where your business can benefit from online learning, how you can best deliver learning content to your staff, and how to articulate the impact to your executive team.

Happy learning,

Jeff Miller AVP, Learning & Organizational Effectiveness, Cornerstone OnDemand

Why Online Learning Matters

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Online Learning Strategy: Where to Start

When getting started with online learning, there are four essential questions you should answer. This guide features consolidated articles to help you think through each question.

What is the business need you’re addressing with online learning?How to Address the Workforce Skills GapWhy Your Organization Needs a Digital Learning Strategy

What’s your strategy for addressing your business needs with online learning?The Key Elements of a Holistic Learning ExperienceThe Benefits of Microlearning for Employee Training

What content will you deliver?How to curate an awesome learning playlist (In Progress)

How will you measure and communicate the results of your strategy?How to Prove the ROI of eLearning Initiatives

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What is the business need you’re addressing?1

How to Address the Workforce Skills Gap

It’s no secret that organizations today are struggling to find the right talent to fill jobs. With rapid technological advancements, workers’ skills are becoming outdated faster than ever before. Ninety percent of CEOs believe their company is facing disruptive change driven by digital technologies according to Deloitte, and 70 percent say their employees don’t have the skills needed to adapt.

The world of work is quickly changing and employees require a lifetime of continuous learning to keep up. But many organizations aren’t providing the learning environment needed to tackle the workforce skills gap.

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LOOKING AHEADOrganizations should help their workers build comprehensive skill sets that are applicable to a variety of roles that will eventually be in high demand. That means placing a heavy focus on soft skills such as adaptability, culture fit and collaboration. With the rise of automation, robotics and artificial intelligence, essential human skills such as empathy, strategic decision making, emotional intelligence and ethical thinking will become critical as employees increasingly work in tandem with machines, Deloitte’s research revealed.

PREPARING FOR THE FUTUREInternal leaders must work together and share the same vision in order to successfully prepare their teams for the future of work. Leaders should meet to share their predictions about the skills that their company will need over the next two to five years, consider how those skills will support business growth and create a plan that will align talent management, training and culture to help achieve those goals.

IDENTIFY SKILLS GAPS EARLYA skills gap analysis can help pinpoint essential skills, compare them to skillsets of current employees and diagnose gaps. Current skill levels can also be measured through surveys, assessments, employee interviews or feedback from performance reviews. 

CREATE A LEARNING CULTUREBy creating a learning culture and an environment that welcomes knowledge-seeking, companies can help employees feel comfortable about self-improvement. A strong learning culture starts at the top, with company values dedicated to knowledge and improvement. The best way to ensure that this culture permeates the entire organization, however, is to align learning with strategic goals, and show how it makes a difference in the business.

of CEOS believe their company is facing disruptive change by digital technologies

say their employees don’t have the skills needed to adapt

90%

70%

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PROMOTE CONTINUOUS LEARNINGIn order to build top talent from within, improve retention rates and develop strong leaders, organizations must provide employees with continuous learning opportunities. New hires should receive training that sets them up for success in their current position and tenured employees should participate in up-skill training that prepares them to take on a new project or work towards a promotion. Increase engagement in learning by investing in new technology and fresh approaches, such as video and mobile learning tools, microlearning and personalized learning paths.

ASSESS PROGRESS AND IMPROVESkill development is key for business growth and sustainability, and the right learning solution will help close skills gaps, increase productivity and improve business outcomes. To deliver ROI to both to company leaders and employees, track how your learning program affects specific business outcomes such as employee productivity, retention and time to promotion. And as technology and skill requirements continue to evolve, keep evaluating learning programs to ensure they address pressing problems.

According to Bersin, companies with a learning culture are:

more productive

more likely to have talent with relevant skills

more likely to be first to market

37% 58% 32%

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The digital age has impacted everyone’s personal and professional lives. A recent MIT Sloan Management Review and Deloitte global survey found that 90 percent of companies anticipated that their workplaces would be disrupted by digital trends to a moderate or great extent. Today, that is proving to be true—but some areas of the workplace, such as employee training and development, are still lagging behind.

Where can online learning help your organization most: collaboration, community, tracking progress, or news and updates?

Why Your Organization Needs a Digital Learning Strategy

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As you develop your online learning strategy, think about the opportunity to improve in four areas of your organization:

CollaborationOnline learning allows employees to come together to apply what they have learned to real-world scenarios in the workplace, help each other with training tasks, and reward

one another with award badges. This kind of positive feedback strengthens employees’ ties to their company and pushes them to accomplish more. In fact, a 2013 Deloitte report found that workers with access to digital collaboration tools were 17 percent more satisfied with their work culture.

CommunityGiven today’s dispersed workforce, online training can forge relationships among employees that may not otherwise work together by allowing them to connect with

their peers and subject matter experts to share ideas online. Greater community bonds among employees benefit the company’s bottom line, too. A study by the McKinsey Global Institute found that when employees at organizations are connected, productivity increases by 20 to 25 percent.

Tracking ProgressAccording to a study by Bailey Adams, when people write down items on a to-do list, they accomplish an average of 50 percent of the tasks within a day, 18 percent within

an hour and 10 percent within a minute. When people see their assignments organized on a single list, they are more likely to complete them.Online training software lets employees track all their responsibilities and tasks in one easy-to-manage platform. 

News and UpdatesAccording to a recent study by Dynamic Signal, 73 percent of communications professionals say that communicating company news to workers is a serious

challenge. Online training software helps surmount this challenge by offering a place for anyone to post the latest news relevant to the organization.

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Online learning will help our organization:

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3. List learning outcomes e.g. increase collaboration, fill skill gaps, engage remote employees

This will result in business impact e.g. increase sales, retain customers, innovate faster

This Year’s Overarching Business Goals:

1.

2.

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4.

This Year’s Overarching Talent Goals:1.

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4.

Learning Goals By Department:

Sales:

Marketing:

Operations:

Customer Service:

Online Learning Topics Needed to Support these Goals: 1.

2.

3.

4.i.e. Soft skills, leadership, digital skills

Worksheet: Tie Your Learning Initiatives Back to Business Goals

What’s your strategy for addressing your business needs with online learning?

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Today, the way people work and learn is being disrupted. Employees are plotting their own career paths and expect constant access to L&D opportunities. As advances in technology continue to shape the job market and evolve skill requirements, employer perspectives are shifting too.

The Key Elements of a Holistic Learning Experience

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of core job skills will change in 3 years

of CEOs worry their employees aren’t armed with the skills they need.

35%

70%

A report from the World Economic Forum projected that 35 percent of the core job skills required in the U.S. workforce will change in just three years. But, a Deloitte survey found that 70 percent of CEOs worry their employees aren’t armed with the skills they need to adapt to this transformation.

Forward-thinking organizations must do more than just manage the training process. Instead, they have to create a holistic learning experience that is employee-focused and multi-faceted. To do so, L&D teams need to become learning curators, not training facilitators.

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Benefits of Microlearning for Employee Training

A successful holistic online learning program will include three key elements:

Content Curation: A holistic approach to learning is built around collective content curation, rather than corporate ownership of development and training materials. For effective content curation, the goal should be to choose content that aligns with both organizational and employee interests. Ideally, a content collection should incorporate a wide range of topics, so that employees can tailor the learning experience to fit their needs.

Goal-Oriented Learning Paths: With more emphasis on learning than teaching, holistic learning offers employees more freedom to incorporate their unique learning styles as they figure out how they learn best. The learning experience can also be customized to align with each employee’s self-determined career goals. Today’s employers recognize that employee engagement increases when workers have an L&D experience that reflects where they see themselves going—whether their journey takes them up the traditional corporate ladder, or in another direction.

Continuous Learning: Today’s learning technology has shifted from a primary focus on compliance to a more continuous, collaborative learning experience. Rather than being offered only during onboarding or at other employee life cycle milestones, learning content is available on demand, all the time. An additional benefit for organizations is that with continuous learning comes loyalty. Research by Deloitte has also linked ongoing, holistic learning in the workplace to increased employee productivity and improved employee retention.

Cornerstone can help with this, we have a Content Curation team

Cornerstone has Learning Playlists to help w/this.

Empower employees to gain the knowledge and skills they need to advance their careers.

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Constant employee training and development are critical to an organization’s success. But in an age where workers are faced with information overload, identifying effective opportunities for training that don’t simply add to the noise is critical.Enter: microlearning, a relatively new trend in workplace learning and development that delivers information to learners in digestible pieces over time (usually under 5 minutes). Microlearning benefits include enabling employees to learn on-the-go and on their own time—and when workers are more engaged with learning, it means better results for the company.

INFORMATION OVERLOADOn average, Bersin by Deloitte found that people only have 1 percent of their workweek to focus on learning, and employees are now interrupted as frequently as every five minutes. In addition to distractions, workers are simply too busy and impatient to sit down and complete hours-long training. Most learners will not watch videos more than four minutes long, and 55 percent of people spend fewer than 15 seconds on a website.

WHAT IS MICROLEARNING?Microlearning can consist of content and employee development tools like short articles, e-books and videos and classes that can be completed in just a few minutes.Studies have proven the benefits of microlearning.

Microlearning causes the transfer of learning to be 17 percent more efficient, not to mention cultivating 50 percent more engagement. Microlearning is also more compatible with the functioning of the human brain: People learn better in three to seven minute stretches as opposed to when they are required to focus for several minutes or even hours.

Microlearning causes the transfer of learning to be:

more efficient

more engagement In 3-7 min stretches

17% 50%

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THE POWER OF VIDEONot all microlearning tools are created equal. Video is the most popular format for microlearning: 72 hours of videos are uploaded to YouTube every 60 seconds and one-third of online activity is spent watching video. When employers produce videos, experts recommend making content under two minutes long, since people start to tune out after that two-minute mark.Studies have revealed that the typical person’s attention span today is only five minutes. Even if classes, articles or e-books are mostly text-based, they should also include visuals, since visual cues help people remember information better.

GETTING STARTEDMicrolearning is going to transform how your employees learn and retain information, which has a direct impact on your bottom line. Today, the total estimated loss to a company thanks to ineffective training is $13.5 million per year per 1,000 employees. By increasing worker engagement and improving productivity, an investment in microlearning is an investment in the success of your organization.

The total estimated loss to a company thanks to ineffective training is $13.5 million/year per 1,000 employees.

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How to Curate an Amazing Learning Playlist

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Worksheet: What’s your strategy for addressing your business needs with online learning?

What tools will you use to deliver online learning content (e.g. LMS)

What type of online learning content will you invest in? (e.g. microlearning, courses, podcasts, ebooks)

Goals to build learning paths for (e.g. sales quotas, management skill development)

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2.

3.

4.

Who will curate content? We recommend including both employees and HR.

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3.

4.

What content will you deliver? And how will you make it feel personalized?

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How to Curate an Amazing Learning Playlist

Employees crave learning and development—they are motivated to gain new skills, get promotions and thrive in their fields. According to LinkedIn’s Workforce Learning Report, 68 percent of employees want to learn at work and 94 percent of employees would stay at a company longer if it invested in their career. The number one factor preventing employees from learning, however, is the lack of time they have to find relevant courses and learning material.

The solution? Learning playlists.

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Learning Playlist: ExplainedContent providers like Spotify, Netflix or Hulu suggest films, shows and songs to users based on their history of engagement. A workplace learning playlist is similar, but instead of offering entertainment, it serves up recommended eLearning content. Curated learning playlists create opportunities for employees to easily find and engage deeper with the content most relevant to them.

Curating a Learning PlaylistAs a manager, you can curate an awesome corporate eLearning playlist for your employees, too (move over Netflix). You should include courses related to your employees’ jobs, career goals and personalized learning styles.

To be effective, learning playlists should be sorted into content categories such as “First Time Managers,” “Sales,” or “Productivity” and populated with courses relevant to individual departments. A salesperson, for example, can then quickly navigate to the sales playlist, which is most applicable to her and engage with courses like “Sales 101: Appointment Making and Handling Objections” or “Selling to Different Customer Roles.”

When it comes to sourcing content, a learning experience platform will be instrumental in helping collect data on your employees’ content engagement patterns and developing personalized playlists based on their

preferred learning styles. While some employees prefer short bursts of learning (also known as microcontent), others may opt for longer videos or articles. By applying insight from your learning experience platform, you can deliver the type of learning each employee craves.

Plus, some next-generation learning experience platforms can actually automate much of the curation process using artificial intelligence technology, taking the burden off managers

Beyond your own materials, you can also collect eLearning content from a variety of sources like YouTube, CyberU, BigThink, BizLibrary, TED and MicroLearn. Continuity and cohesiveness are key—like a music playlist, your learning playlist should flow and pieces of content should be in conversation with each other. Vary types content, too! Mix media by offering a combination of videos, readable PDFs, audio and other formats.

Employees can also contribute to custom eLearning playlists and share their expertise with colleagues. For instance, employees can add videos from YouTube and e-books from Salesforce.com to expand playlists, and add courses recommended by colleagues.

Now is the time to educate your employees and help them get ahead in your workplace and their careers. Start curating your custom eLearning playlists today.

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How to Curate an Amazing Learning PlaylistWorksheet: What content will you curate?

Playlist Theme:

Goal:

Favorite resources:

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How to Prove the ROI of eLearning Initiatives

Learning initiatives do more than keep employee skills up-to-date—they are a measurable way to make businesses more competitive.

Still, just 35 percent of talent development professionals say their organizations evaluate the business results of learning programs. In order for L&D professionals to get executive buy-in for their proposed programs, it’s essential to be able to measure ROI in training and development to prove business impact.

How will you prove the ROI and communicate the results of your strategy?

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Measurements, however, must go beyond the typical ‘number of courses completed.’ Quantifiable metrics such as productivity, employee happiness and engagement can help secure leadership buy-in on much-needed training programs and initiatives. By calculating elearning ROI, L&D professionals can back their proposals and goals with data.

Below, we examine metrics that can be used to measure elearning ROI and how to incorporate these metrics into the context of broader business goals.

Tip 1: Measure skills growth and performance improvement

The goal of each elearning course is, in some way, to improve how employees do their job. One of the most effective elearning ROI metrics L&D professionals can utilize is measuring improvement in performance. By tracking how performance progresses post-learning, L&D professionals can tie tangible results to learning investments.

To measure performance improvement, start by clearly defining what employees should be able to accomplish after completing a particular course. For example, the goal of training may be to eliminate the number of errors in a sales process or decrease customer service complaints. These desired outcomes will provide a standard that can be tested and measured. Next, administer an assessment both before and after course completion to gauge skills gained. As time goes on, observe on-the-job application of learned skills and run future assessments to track knowledge retention.

With these metrics in hand, L&D professionals can assess how well employees are learning and how far they’ve come. To demonstrate the impact of executive investment in training, convert this data to a monetary value such as cost savings by looking at factors like historical costs, payroll or manager assessment of improvement.

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Tip 2: Pay attention to user behavior

Elearning ROI isn’t a one-and-done calculation—and modern learning platform tools can be a big help. Many elearning solutions today allow L&D professionals to see how learners interact with available courses.

Use these functions to assess the effectiveness of training and tailor it to meet employee needs. Are the majority of learners driven to a certain type of module? Do some courses have particularly high or low completion rates? These analytics can help L&D professionals learn how their employee base learns best.

With numbers to back up the most frequented topics and types of learning, L&D professionals can gain greater support from executives to implement the type of training employees need. When company executives can see what type of learning is most effective for their workforce, they can more easily and confidently direct spend.

Tip 3: Track employee interaction

Today, elearning is more intuitive and interactive than ever before. Learning platforms allow employees to discuss their experiences with coworkers, engage in productive conversations with team members and share content they find valuable.

By tracking interaction between learners such as likes, mentions, replies or shares, L&D professionals can better understand how teams are collaborating. This information can be used to support larger business goals such as providing employees with the best tools to drive company-wide innovation, closing existing communication gaps or creating communities where people can come together to collaborate.

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Tip 4: Don’t overlook employee happiness

There’s a strong correlation between employee satisfaction and professional development opportunities. Employees place a high value on the ability to learn and progress in their careers—42 percent of millennials say they are likely to leave their job if they feel they aren’t learning fast enough.

While softer metrics like engagement and satisfaction can be tricky to track and measure, they are still important to report on for ROI in training and development. The good news is, learning platforms are designed with employee engagement in mind. Learning can be highly personalized, collaborative and purpose-driven.

To measure these softer returns, track employee satisfaction by asking for feedback and monitor attrition rates. Get the attention of executives by demonstrating how the right learning initiatives can create a stable, happy workforce.

There are many factors that can be utilized to measure and prove learning ROI. When developing online learning initiatives, L&D professionals should consider how company goals can best complement employee learning needs. By creating measurable learning outcomes that can be tied to broader business goals, L&D professionals can provide employees with the skills they need to be successful and business leaders with the data they need to be competitive.

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Worksheet: How will you Measure and Communicate the Results of your Strategy? Here’s an example of how you could approach the exercise

Metric 1: Activity Goal

What activities did you complete to drive towards this business goal?

Ex: Course Compilation

How many courses were launched?

Which skills were addressed via online courses?

How did these skills align to the overall business strategy?

Metric 2: Engagement Goal

How did learners engage with the activities you completed?

Ex: Course Completion

How many courses did learners take?

Which courses were most popular?

Did the courses include a quiz/test? If so, how did learners perform?

Metric 3: Outcome Goal

What was the business impact of the engagement?

Ex: Sales Growth

What was the company’s average revenue per employee that completed learning courses?

Is this higher employees that did not complete a course?

Business Goal: Drive 20% Sales Growth this fiscal year

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Cornerstone OnDemand is a global learning and human capital management software provider that’s pioneering solutions to help

organizations realize the potential of the modern workforce.

CSOD.COM/ONLINELEARNINGWEEK

Join Us During #OnlineLearningWeekGet your employees to take control of their careers.Give them access to 20+ learning playlists for FREE during Cornerstone’s #OnlineLearningWeek.

Why We’re CelebratingCornerstone  was founded in 1999 with a simple yet bold idea to improve access to education on a global basis through online learning. We strongly believe that ongoing learning and development are what help organizations and the people who work for them to realize their full potential.We’re proud to extend National Online Learning Day on September 15 into a week-long celebration from September 10th-14th.

During #OnlineLearningWeek, Cornerstone will offer you and your employees free access to over 20 Learning Playlists curated by our Cornerstone team. Join us in developing the skills of the future!

© 2018 Cornerstone OnDemand | moreinfo@csod.com | 888-365-CSOD

Cornerstone OnDemand is a global learning and human capital management software provider that’s pioneering solutions to help organizations realize the potential of the modern workforce. csod.com

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