PwC’s Academy has been observing a growing demand for business-specific training tailor-made to the needs of the companies and their employees. An ever-increasing number of clients, most notably Human Resources (HR) and Learning and Development (L&D) professionals from various companies, are approaching us as a learning partner to assist them in the design, development and delivery of bespoke training to provide learning journeys for their employees.
The three key components constituting a learning journey are strategy, skills, and personalised content.
For a learning journey to be effective, the training programs being designed need to be strategically thought out to develop new knowledge, and build existing skills and competencies of employees through personalised content. Gone are the days when a rigid training program which tries to fit all employees into “one box” is satisfactory. Numerous studies show that a one-size-fits-all approach towards the career development of employees does not foster employee engagement and retention, and this is especially true for the modern employee.
- A point of departure for adapting learning journeys is awareness of the learners’ context because the learners' abilities are relative and change according to their contexts. Some contextual factors that need to be kept in mind when designing training programs for the career development of employees are age, language, socio-economic status, level of education or training, training experiences and learning difficulties.
- A second point to be kept in mind for enabling learning journeys is the workplace context. Employees’ skills and development journeys need to fit within the skills taxonomy that the company has established to achieve its business strategy. When these two essential points are covered, it is then the job of the learning partner to suggest learning methodologies that will help achieve an enabling learning journey.
HR professionals responsible for the L&D of their team members should strive to transform learning experiences into enabling learning journeys. This can be achieved by personalising the team members’ learning journey through personalised coaching and training content.
An excellent way to illustrate this is through a recent case study:
Receiving a request from a client for a bespoke training programme, the client provided a list of predefined topics that they wanted to have included as part of the programme and requested the development of virtual learning labs for their employees to be able to practise their skills. Modifying the list of proposed topics was not an option as these entailed specific skills needed as part of the upskilling training programme.
To ensure an enabling learning journey, live coaching and a mentoring help desk were implemented for learners to get the necessary support as needed.
This online coaching help desk included two elements:
1. Peer coaching was executed by creating online forums so that employees following the training could communicate with, help and support one another.
2. One-to-one coaching was realised through the Learning Management System’s (LMS) messaging system enabling learners to contact their training tutor accordingly for help and support throughout their training programme.
Another approach we took was to integrate checkpoints throughout the learning journey, rather than having the assessment at the end of it. Gamification was also integrated into the learning journey design to foster and retain engagement. For instance, a badging system was introduced whereby the learner earns a virtual badge for every one of the aforementioned checkpoints successfully completed, which can then be shared on platforms such as LinkedIn.
How we can help
PwC’s Academy is on a mission to transform the approach to L&D by offering best-practice training solutions to various businesses.
We assist HR professionals to co-design enabling learning journeys for their team members or create bespoke training programs tailored to the needs of their learners. This is the perfect time for HR and L&D professionals to plan the training for the year 2023, and we can help you develop effective training programmes and learning journeys suitable to the needs of your company and your employees.
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