Next Learning 2019: highlights at a glance

On April 2, our colleagues Bart, Heike and Deborah went to the Next Learning event: a congress on how the new learning in an organization can/should be different. An inspiring congress with sessions on a variety of topics. We take you through two sessions from that day.

Generation Z

For example, Lecyca Curiel spoke about the new generation: generation Z, people born between 1995 and 2010 and growing up in the midst of a digital revolution. As an earlier generation, how do you deal with Generation Z?

She gave an interesting example. You ask one of your new interns to translate a press release into Spanish. When you walk by him (or her) later that day, you see that he is doing something else. You ask the intern in question why the press release is not being worked on. "Someone in my network is fluent in Spanish, so he'll translate the message for me, and in return I'll do a job for him now."

How do you feel about this as an employer? There were several responses from the audience. One thought it was smart to use the qualities of your network. It improves the quality of the translation of the press release. Another indicated that a press release can also be seen as confidential information. With this action, the integrity of the company can be compromised, as confidential information gets into the hands of a stranger, without being able to hold anyone accountable as an employer when things go wrong. Yet another participant felt that the intern in question was now learning little himself from a difficult assignment: instead of improving your own knowledge of Spanish by working on a translation assignment, outsource it to someone who has already mastered the skill. So consider carefully what your goal is with such a translation assignment. Do you want a high-quality translation or do you want your employee to improve his or her knowledge of the language? And do you also express your expectations and the goal to your employee?

20 Questions to ask before you start talking about learning objectives

In another session, Jeff Kortenbosch covered 20 questions to ask before you start talking about learning objectives. For example, before you determine the content of a training, it helps to ask yourself what is the problem you want to address. Define the problem you would like to create a training about. And is training your employees the best solution for that?

But also ask a question like: what is the impact on the organization if you do nothing at all? What happens if you don't implement e-learning? Or just the question: what does success look like? This, according to Jeff, is the miracle question: when you have solved everything, implemented training and increased employee knowledge, what is different compared to now? And how can we measure the impact of that solution? This doesn't have to be hard science. For example, consider the measurement: process X runs faster, platform Y is used more often, or fewer errors are made in activity Z.

In addition, are there any existing or pressing issues and/or behaviors that need to be addressed? An e-learning on company guidelines can highlight just that one additional point that often goes wrong in the company. For example, if a hairnet is not always worn over the ears within the company, this can also be addressed right away in the training.

Asking yourself these questions will give you a picture of where you are, where you want to go and how you want to prove that what you are doing actually works! For example, if employees are not wearing their hairnets properly, is training the solution? Why don't they wear the hair net properly? Is it because they don't know how to do it properly? Then training can be a good solution. If the employees know but don't do it, is training the solution or should you do something else as well?