Month: May 2023

How L&D pros can take advantage of new tech for human skills training

Posted on by Anthony Santa Maria

Technological innovations and economic uncertainty are challenging companies to think strategically about how to upskill for the ‘Future of Work’.

Upskilling has always been a priority for companies looking to drive innovation and stay competitive. By upskilling, companies save money by investing in developing current employees, instead of spending time and budget hiring new ones. They also improve workplace culture and morale by making employees feel valued and supported in their professional goals.

And according to LinkedIn’s 2023 State of Workforce Learning and Development report, the stakes for upskilling are higher than ever. Rapidly changing the way companies operate, automation and AI are creating new processes and re-tooling old ones. This is resulting in skill shortages with meaningful implications for the Future of Work.

While companies continue to advertise open positions under the same titles year after year, like “consultant” or “manager,” the skill sets required for them have changed by nearly 25% since 2015. By 2027, this number is expected to double. Yet, while technical skills will continue to evolve, human skills — like communication, leadership, and management — remain durable and in high demand.

L&D’s 2023 priority list

Owing to this, LinkedIn reports that the 2023 budget forecast for L&D remains strong — representing the third most optimistic view in seven years of tracking. Only 8% of L&D pros expect their budget to decrease.

Some other notable findings:

  • Companies are putting people at the center of their L&D efforts: 83% of organizations are looking to build a more people-centric culture. 81% of L&D pros say they are playing a key role in this effort.
  • L&D pros are closer than ever to business leaders: The percentage of L&D pros working more closely with executive leaders has grown significantly year over year, from 39% in 2022 to 44% in 2023.
  • Proactive skill building seen as key to navigating the evolving future of work: 89% of L&D pros agree that proactively building employee skills will help navigate the evolving future of work. They cite employee retention and upskilling as the biggest concerns.
  • Human skills are leading the future of work: Human skills (also referred to as “durable skills” and “soft skills”) like empathetic leadership, networking, effective communication, and “managing up” are some of the most important competencies in today’s hybrid work environment. 

What’s next for L&D?

This data begs the question — how do forward-thinking companies ensure they are investing in L&D with impact? And in a way that unlocks potential, drives employee engagement, and improves strategic business outcomes?

Historically, L&D professionals have struggled to get buy-in from employees using traditional e-learning and in-person programs. This is in part due to low completion rates (with a 15-30% industry average) and low information retention.

“Forward-thinking organizations need to create environments that embrace and unlock the potential of the whole employee,” said Linda Jingfang Cai, the Global Head of Learning and Talent Development at LinkedIn. New and innovative tech could be the key to unlocking impactful and scalable human skills training.

Immersive tech is the key

One way to tailor your L&D programs to engage the “whole employee” is through innovative tech solutions. Emerging tech like VR and other immersive solutions can increase knowledge retention by up to 75%.

Trusted for L&D and DEI training by leading companies like Uber, Etsy, and Ericsson, immersive learning helps learners translate learning into action. Through engaging and relevant experiences, learners build the memory and muscle needed to apply learning to real-world situations. When tied to a skills strategy, this helps create a feedback loop that connects learning outcomes to business goals. 

While immersive learning can and should be applied to many types of skills development, it’s particularly useful for building soft or human skills for today’s modern workforce, such as empathy and inclusive leadership. 

What’s more, is that 70% of people say they prefer immersive learning to traditional ways of doing human skills training.

Collect data to inform L&D strategy

LinkedIn’s report found that “progress toward career goals” is the #1 motivation for employees to learn. 

Mindful of this, centering your workers’ career development goals when designing your L&D strategy is one way to ensure engagement. We recommend surveying workers on their career goals and identifying potential opportunities for upward mobility. Tailoring your training programs in response to employee feedback will show your investment, and investment drives an agile, people-centric culture.

Taking a skills-based approach to hiring and internal mobility, where candidates know what skills they need to be successful in a role can be a helpful strategy in aligning learning to business goals. When employees can connect learning to career advancement, they are more likely to be engaged and motivated. 

Your employees who actively advance their human skills growth demonstrate a commitment to building an equitable culture and inspiring peak performance for all. They are well poised to be your next pool of managers and leaders.

Bridging gaps with tech

Incorporating new tech like immersive learning into any company process can be daunting. But, when it comes to L&D, the results are unmatched. To upskill with impact, show your employees your commitment to their success by providing them with the most impactful learning solutions for their careers, and the business. 

Want to learn more? Download on our 2023 Guide on Human Skills Training.

Get the Guide

Unlocking the Business Case for DEI: Maximizing ROI, Engagement, and Innovation

Posted on by Anthony Santa Maria

The “business case” for DEI is, and probably always will be, a hot-button topic. Despite proof that there is a direct relationship between DEI, innovation, and financial results, business leaders are still not giving DEI the investment it deserves. 

In 2021, the Washington Post asked U.S. companies, which had promised a total of $49.5 billion to diversity programs, how much they actually spent. It received responses confirming less than 4% of that amount — $1.7 billion.

Business leaders often forget that people programs solve a pressing business issue. And one that long predates the pandemic and hybrid work: when employees don’t feel a sense of belonging at work, they check out. They don’t learn, they don’t contribute, they don’t stay. 

The cost associated with attrition is enormous — today, it’s nearly $350 billion a year! And a big share of that cost is directly related to a lack of inclusion and belonging. Sixty percent of employees who left their companies in the last year did so because of a lack of inclusion and belonging. 

Breaking down the business case for DEI

At Praxis, we get this question from our partners every day. What’s the business case for DEI? What’s the ROI? We love this question. Because when companies launch DEI programs with intention, the results speak for themselves.

To confront the ROI question head-on, Praxis called on our in-house experts to discuss the latest trends in DEI, ways to maximize ROI, and proven methods for improving employee engagement and experience. 

In our most recent webinar, called “Proving the Value of DEI Training: Measuring Impact and ROI,” Dr. Olivia Holmes (Curriculum Measurement Lead) and Sabrina Rønningen (Head of Client Impact) draw on a wealth of experiences working with Fortune 500 clients to show what DEI success looks like.

“The typical assumption is that having diverse employees means, inherently, that you’re able to capture more market share and perhaps expand productivity. This is true, but we’ve found it’s an incomplete narrative. What really does work is focusing on those levers that drive inclusion, belonging, and engagement.”

The answer to unlocking those levers, Rønningen explains, is data.

“When businesses have the appropriate data to know how and where to focus action, companies see increased success and innovation,” she explained.

Looking at recent data on what’s motivating DEI performance today, Praxis’s team identified the following trends:

More cross-functional partnerships

“Talent leadership is starting to take new shape, becoming more cross-functional. DEI departments are working closer with L&D, realizing that it really takes a cohesive effort” said Rønningen.

With 83% of organizations looking to build a more people-centric culture this year, and human skills singled out as a key priority for L&D teams, cross-functional departments are a must.

“We can’t expect to keep doing the same things every year, the same type and nature of programming and skills development, and expect a different result. Working across functional leadership within the talent team is a key takeaway,” said Rønningen. 

Be clear about what your business is trying to accomplish with learning

“Make sure you’re crystal clear from the start of every learning program how you’re connecting learning to the business,” said Rønningen. 

This ensures employees don’t feel their time is being wasted or that their learning is happening in a silo. Learning needs to be contextually relevant and be directly applied to employees’ day-to-day. Dr. Holmes recommends narrowing the focus of impact measurement to acquired competencies (or skills learned) and knowledge retention. 

Tracking skills gained alongside productivity and culture surveys directly show how your programs led to company success. 

Embrace the latest tech — or get left behind

Don’t be afraid to embrace the latest tech when upskilling your teams. Immersive L&D solutions increase confidence in skills application by 275%. This is because they’re designed to capitalize on knowledge and research about how people learn. When learning is done well, companies see positive results. 

“With one of Praxis’s clients, a Fortune 100 company, we saw that employees were +15% less likely to look for alternative jobs and +8% more motivated,” said Ronningen.

The changes in behaviors are also telling — “One of our earliest clients, a Fortune 500 Tech company, saw that even 8 months after training, over half of employees noticed changes at all levels of their org, including management and leadership” said Rønningen.

Partner for success

In the past decade, we’ve seen work spill beyond the office and become not just an extension of, but a primary expression of, our values and identities. In order to sync our work with those values — inclusivity and equity chief among them — we need to focus on our behavior and how it promotes (or inhibits) collaboration. This is true both within an organization’s teams and its external partnerships.

For many organizations looking to improve L&D, DEI and engagement, partnering with outside experts is the right choice. They have the resources and expertise to design and implement a forward-looking solution for the company. That frees up time for company leaders to focus on managing the day-to-day. And they can adapt the approach to stay up-to-date with the latest trends. This approach minimizes stress and maximizes results.

According to a report by McKinsey & Company, companies with DEI training see increased employee satisfaction and outcompeted their competitors by 36%.

“Recognize and settle into great partnerships and integrate them into that role you have,” recommended Rønningen.

Real change takes time

Creating a vibrant, inclusive company culture takes time. But prioritizing your people’s learning and development will generate trust and goodwill fast.  

“One of the best ways to support behavior change is to build knowledge, skills, and practice to help people deeply understand how to collaborate and work across differences, and to inspire psychological safety. This is the only way to inspire peak performance across teams” said Rønningen. 

Watch the full on-demand webinar

Fostering Connection in the Workplace

Posted on by Anthony Santa Maria

Research shows that the strength of co-workers’ connections in the workplace plays a key role in determining levels of team engagement and performance. Directly correlating to higher performance, collaboration, levels of innovative thinking, good working relationships are one of most important factors that contribute to job satisfaction.

The long periods of physical isolation people went through during the pandemic heightened the value of this link. 

In a recent webinar “Fostering Connection in the New World of Work,” Praxis Labs Curriculum Lead Dr. Olivia Holmes explains the link between feelings of belonging and performance in the workplace. She references American psychologist Abraham Maslow’s renowned theory of human motivation, often referred to as the Hierarchy of Needs, which proposes that in order to achieve self-actualization, people need to first have their “base needs” met. In addition to physical well-being and safety, this includes feelings of love and belonging.

How companies can support greater connection in the workplace

And despite companies’ best efforts to preserve a culture of belonging since the pandemic, 60% of employees report feeling less connected to their coworkers in the past year. And more than half of employees who left their jobs in the last year said they lacked a sense of belonging. This build-up of disengagement and employee turnover results in trillions of dollars lost globally per year. 

To remedy this, companies like Meta, Amazon, and Starbucks are calling for employees to return to work fully in person, assuming a lack of face-to-face interaction is to blame for decreased engagement. But this doesn’t have to be the answer, especially for employees who prefer the flexibility that remote or hybrid work offers. 

Dr. Holmes suggests that all companies, whether remote, hybrid, or in-person, can foster greater connection and belonging.

“The advancement of technology has made this possible, literally shortening the distance between people,” she says. Noting how the internet has been proven to make expressing one’s “true self” easier, she cites frequent contact and mutual disclosure as key to building and maintaining strong co-working relationships.

Regardless of whether your employees are working on-site or remotely, there are a number of proven ways to foster social connection in the workplace.

1. Make sure you are meeting your team’s physiological and safety needs

Employees who don’t feel their basic needs are being met will disengage, no matter how many team-building activities you schedule. When benefits like mental health apps and fitness stipends are connected to a wellness strategy that supports employee safety and well-being, companies can see improvements in connection, belonging, and engagement. 

2. Get people together, whether remote or in person 

Whether it’s just once or twice a year, provide opportunities for employees to get together in-person at a team or functional level. Throughout the year, plan activities that promote team-building, vulnerability, and ways to set inclusive team norms and ways of working.

3. Be able to articulate and share group goals, norms, values, roles and responsibilities

One of the biggest culprits of employee burnout and disengagement is not being able to connect one’s scope of work to the company’s larger mission, vision, and goals. Rallying employees around a shared purpose can help new and existing employees establish closer bonds and team cohesion that promotes better collaboration and innovation.

4. Start at the top 

When leaders communicate transparently through turbulent times, it helps build trust that informs employee’s perceptions of leadership and company culture. When people feel anxious about economic headwinds, they are more likely to seek jobs elsewhere. This can be a challenge, especially at a time when businesses are trying to tighten their recruiting costs and focus on upskilling and reskilling existing employees in critical areas. 

5. Leverage emerging tech to build human skills 

Advances in learning technology that helps people build skills like empathy, connection, and interpersonal communication, can help move the needle on business metrics like equity, manager effectiveness, and productivity. 

Working better together 

A robust workplace social life positively correlates strongly with fulfillment, pride, and meaning. When you invest in equitable access to networking and create opportunities for informal contact and collaboration, stronger and more meaningful employee relationships will follow.

Watch the Webinar