We read with interest the research conducted by Towards Maturity on more than 2,000 potential workers which reveals the gulf between learner aspirations and the experience of learning in the workplace.
A study of more than 2,000 people who paid for their own personal development shows that a vast majority are keen to progress their career and maintain their professionalism. This is a stark contrast to the learner experience at work, with only 21% of organisations supporting employees’ career aspirations or personal job goals.
The new In-Focus report, The Consumer Learner at Work, produced by Towards Maturity in conjunction with learning provider Filtered, shows that 80% of employees who have invested their own time and resources in learning can see how online learning helps them further their career. Furthermore, 70% think online learning has had a positive impact on job performance.
This data is a wake-up call for L&D teams and Training Suppliers – learners want easy access to relevant and practical learning that will add value to their lives. For example, individuals who are active consumers of learning want to access learning when and where they need it. They are social – with 70% motivated by technologies that allow them to network and connect with each other. 90% of the sample download apps to further their learning – 50% are education-based and 49% are productivity tools.
Currently, 50% of L&D Leaders involve communities of practice in their offerings, yet only 11% encourage staff to solve problems socially together and just 12% use curation tools to facilitate access. This was a key reason why DPG have invested time and energy in developing the DPG Community of Practice to support our qualifications. Now in it's 3rd year it has become a fantastic support to its members to support CPD and formal qualifications.
Laura Overton, Founder and CEO of Towards Maturity, comments, “This research is with individuals who are investing in their own development – any one of them could be in your extended workforce! What we’ve found is a wake-up call for L&D. When learners say they are keen, curious and want to easily access relevant content, then organisations must listen. Clearly, corporate L&D is not providing what motivated learners want. Think about the impact this will be having on those who are less motivated.”
The research shows that employees want relevant content at the point of need. They also want to learn more from each other and from resources that are easy to find, using technology:
- 80% say Google or other web search resources are either essential or very useful to learn what they need to do their job
- 77% rate working in collaboration with others as essential or very useful
- 66% rate self-paced e-learning courses and 47% rate classroom courses as essential or very useful.
- 70% use their own smartphone, 52% their own tablet for learning
Even when L&D teams offer relevant content, they are finding it difficult to market it effectively with 61% of L&D leaders not having a clear communications policy and only 3 in 5 saying that staff can access learning at any time.
Paolo Lenotti, Head of Marketing at Filtered, commented: “Plenty is changing in our industry – or at least is on the verge of. At Filtered we are not just passionate about developing the best possible product but are also very keen on making a difference in the wider learning sector. And this is one of the reasons we conducted this research in partnership with Towards Maturity. Whilst we are all busy talking about 70:20:10, online versus face-to-face, social learning or gamification, how often do we ask ourselves why learners learn in the first place?
How do they do it? And are their learning behaviours recognised in the workplace or not?
What do think, is this your experience?
How do we bridge the gap?
This research is full of great insights and I am sure that – as with every Towards Maturity publication – the L&D community in the UK will pay great attention to it and, hopefully, react promptly.”
Download the report at www.towardsmaturity.org/in-focus/2016/consumerlearner
Replies
An interesting sample ..."In this new Towards Maturity In-Focus report, we draw on insights from 2,084 individuals who have invested their own time and resources in online learning."
This is a group who like learning and would probably fit within the growth mindset group if you use Carol Dweck's model. It would be very dangerous to extrapolate this to 'all learners'. The way a motivated learner wants to learn could well be very different to how a less or non-motivated learner needs to be encouraged to learn.
Cheers, Paul
Point well made Paul - I get the distinction between the growth mindset and assuming everyone could look at learning in a positive way. However could this motivation or lack of...be driven by their existing experience in the workplace i.e. crap e-learning or poorly designed courses. Therefore if organisations adapted and changed the way they providing access to information, the tools they used and the way they designed learning experiences perhaps the we'd see a shift in motivation from those with a more fixed mindset.
It's interesting that you mention growth mindset in this context as I'm also researching Self-Determination Theory (SDT) at the moment and how this links with intrinsic motivators to learn. It moves motivation far beyond the WIIFM framing, I like the three key areas of:
All of which would fuel and encourage a growth mindset and I'm trying to apply this in a community of practice context to help people see the benefits of being involved and contributing in this sort of environment. Irrelevant of what we do and how we do - if the 'why' isn't answered and we don't address/link the 3 areas above to the learning there will be a lack of motivation.
Hi Mike,
I have just been checking out Self-Determination Theory following your comment.
I think the point about relatedness is really key and very often overlooked in education and training as a whole. If you think about a young person who at school gets themselves in trouble several times and then gets labelled as a trouble-maker. They then can become disconnected from education by feeling disconnected with the system through the negative stigma that has been attached to them by those in power (teachers). This in turn can impact negatively on their educational attainment. Working with young people I have seen this first hand.
I go back to a point I made in my first post.. do L&D professionals think about the impact of formal educational experiences in respect of adult learning environments/L&D? If you have had a negative and not very connected experience with education in your past, what can change your perception of learning and inspire you to learn? ie what can L&D professionals do to bring you back and find a sense of belonging with learning and education (albeit the sense of belonging will probably have links to personal interest and a work/career related theme rather than just being about education and learning per se)?
In thinking about the use of social media or social media based learning platforms or communities, like the DPG community, I think this is a great avenue for L&D as a sector to explore in terms of supporting connectedness for learners in order to help them feel a sense of belonging, which in turn can support their motivation and attainment in respect of education and learning.
This is what I wrote in another post:
"If we think about theory and in particular Maslow's hierarchy of needs (http://www.businessballs.com/maslow.htm), a sense of belonging is key on the pathway to personal growth and development. One of the great things about social media is that people can easily get involved in discussion and sharing ideas and information which help to build a sense of belonging to a particular group of people who are connected by a common shared interest. I therefore think social media has the potential to be a great learning tool for L&D professionals."
Thanks for the insights. I am new to DPG and am loving this community and being able to get involved in such discussions!
Ps also to note... 55% of the learners in the survey are from North America/Canada and only 27% from the UK. (The writers of the survey must be a little confused as North America is a continent that encompasses Canada so not sure if they meant North America as a whole or USA and Canada?) Although some North American culture is not dissimilar to UK culture, there are subtle differences which could impact on motivations and access to L&D activities, as well as workplace organisational culture and employment, which are not discussed in this research. There will be subtle cultural differences between all of the North American countries so it would be useful to have a full breakdown of countries participating and a brief of their cultures in relation to employment and L&D. I think this needs to be held in mind when thinking about this research.
Interesting. I just read through the presentation that popped up on the L&D zone from Towards Maturity"Future Proofing your L&D Strategy" and then found this article and the report it was written about.
I just wonder the further breakdown of the demographic of participants. I wonder what impact the deeper demographic breakdown would reveal about the motivation of these participants in terms of them seeking out their own L&D opportunities, for example the specific learning accessed, the class status of participants and also the company breakdown (not just job role breakdown). I think the fact that 86% of participants are educated to graduate level is interesting. I wonder what the cultural and race breakdown (in relation to country of employment and birth) would reveal?
As with any research, what is the bias and standpoint of the organisation funding it? What are their key messages and motivations as an organisation and how transparent have they been with this when conducting their research & presenting their findings?
As someone who has always sought further learning opportunities, usually at my own cost!,I think this sentiment from Laura Overton is most prominent for me, "what about those who are not motivated to seek their own learning opportunities?"
Having put myself through much of my own study (as I am right now), I have felt undervalued by organisations and also felt let down by the lack of true* learning and development opportunities on offer. In my current role I feel very undervalued and my professional qualifications seem to be ignored and I feel are only recognised in the sense that it means I have a piece of paper that says I am competent to do my job which then satisfied the recruitment process for the role!
*True meaning as opposed to L&D activities that are mandatory for the organisation, like Health & Safety.
Although I see a benefit to this research in terms of L&D development, I think it only represents the views of a minority of the workforce. Therefore in terms of bridging the gap, I think this research needs to be looked at alongside broader workforce research in relation to L&D and not in isolation.
I am new to L&D so please feel free to point me in the direction of other research.
My questions following this reading (and being new to L&D) are:
1. How representative of the UK workforce do people think L&D research in general is?
2.Or is it that L&D research is only concerned with particular demographics of the workforce?
3. Given that 86% of participants in this study are graduate level, how much does a person's formal education experience impact on their L&D motivation and input in the workplace and does L&D as a sector look much into this?
4. With a move towards utilising technology for L&D activities, what research has been done into the competency of the general workforce in terms of making use of technology? My experience has shown me that many people in the workplace, although surrounded by technology, are still not as confident making use of it as a general consensus might assume.
It is worth noting the report below is also from the US
Hi Val,
You make very valid points and I've forwarded some of your questions to Towards Maturity such as Laura and hope we get someone to post something here around the report and subsequent article. It is easy to take a report like this and use it's findings to generalise however I do believe that whilst the title might be a little sensationalist there is a gap between how we (people in general) learn outside of work compared to the approaches to provide learning within an organisational context.
I also have come across this report - again by a supplier so we could question what are the motivations here - however it is very much linked to this report and makes for a compelling read
How the workforce learns in 2016
Mike
Hi Mike,
Thank you for your reply and thank you for passing my questions on. Please let me know what feedback you get, I am very interested to hear further. Please note I am not trying to be cocky! I had a great graduate and post-graduate education which pushed me to be a critical thinker so I like to try and look at things properly and not just take things at face value so-to-speak.
I will take a look at this when I get the chance. Thank you for sending more info to look at.
Thanks again,
Val
Morning Val - I'm hoping Laura will get involved in the discussion but I know she is a busy bunny.
I am loving your insights, curiosity and enthusiasm to dig deeper and get involved in these discussions. Without this sort of input there would be no 'community' and I find it interesting you almost feel the need to 'excuse' this behaviour as being 'cocky'. I know you're not excusing or being cocky at all, it but I think this does link to something around what we're discussing around challenging, questioning and thinking critically. We need more critical thinkers in general not just in L&D...those people who don't take what they see as gospel and have the confidence to question and challenge. I wonder how many people talk themselves out of getting involved and putting their thoughts and opinions forward in this community and in other situations for fear of 'getting it wrong' or being perceived as cocky or challenging or dare I say it 'negative'.
I find the whole thing fascinating and it's this interest that has driven my own development and career and forms part of my talks at L&D Show and ATD in the Denver next month - how do you build a develop successful learning communities...I'll make sure I share my Prezi with you for reference.
One thing is for certain - we need more critical thinkers