“Today, the half-life of learned skills is not even 5 years—fewer than 3 for digital skills”
[BCG Nov’21 report]
With the current race to hire and keep talent, along with ongoing evolution in types of skills needed, companies must better manage how they support people in their learning development.
I’ve personally often found it hard to get meaningful training due to a mix of specific expertise area, training agency contracted, HR processes, and company investment.
BCG says “Companies that build advanced continuous-learning organizations can attract and keep the best talent—and create lasting competitive advantage. Now is the time to take this challenge on. A new generation of technology—including AI-powered e-learning and coaching, as well as extended reality training—makes learning more streamlined, user-friendly, customizable, and effective.
“First, leaders need to be ready to continuously anticipate the skills that their organizations will need—many with fast-changing digital technologies—and then build and assess those skills quickly, at scale, and across the organization.
“Second, leaders need to establish a foundation for learning that allows the organization to maintain a habit of ongoing digital reskilling and upskilling in order to stay ahead of the next wave of change.”
BCG’s ideal learning ecosystem has five core components (below) and they found companies have many areas for improvement.
A business-driven learning strategy
A learning culture supported by a well-resourced, agile learning & development function
A personalized library of content for individuals and teams
Enabling technology, that continuously assesses programs and their impact
Way to integrate organizational learning and foster external collaboration.
“Learning should become business as usual”