A Thriving Government for a Virtual Future

Changing Landscapes

We are in the midst of a radical change to adult learning needs in the federal government. According to the World Economic Forum: the “combined effects of increased automation and the pandemic will drastically alter the labor landscape, with 85 million jobs “displaced” and 97 million new jobs created by 2025.” The demand for upskilling and reskilling paired with an increasingly interconnected and technology facilitated workplace should drive organizational learning strategy to shift from a “learning event” model to a “workflow learning” model. This will require learning and performance support resources that are discoverable, specific to the performance need, and where possible, personalized to the needs of the learner. To jump-start this, start by engaging key stakeholders and making the case for a learning ecosystem that emphasizes three features:

Focus on Workflow Learning Employees and organizations face increasing operational tempo, technological reliance and integration, and a shift away from value being created specifically by what you know, to value created through making connections, creative problem solving and teamwork. A focus on workflow learning ensures training and performance support is focused on the job to be done. This means 1) there is a variety of content types available to meet specific performance needs; and 2) there is a technology infrastructure that supports point-of-need access to these resources.

Use Technology to Support the Learning Experience Until this past year, the most common approach to adult learning in the federal government was still instructor-led training. With telework becoming status-quo, training has necessarily migrated to virtual and online. We have also seen the emergence of the Learning Experience Platform (LXP) as an adjunct and in some cases replacement for the Learning Management System (LMS). The LXP emphasizes learner interaction using social media, and self-curated content paired with formal curriculum or performance support tools. The continued maturation of these technologies and the demand for virtual vs. in-person instruction provides the foundation for a learning ecosystem approach that features a greater variety of content to support a broader set of workflow performance support needs; greater learner engagement and autonomy as we shift to more self-directed learning; and more precise tracking to enable better discoverability and predictive learning paths based on performance and interests.

Personalization and Predictive Learning Personalization has been a trending topic in L&D for several years. There are at least two approaches to personalized learning; 1) using artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze learner performance in real-time and make predictive suggestions on the best learning path for that individual; 2) provide a system, such as an LXP, that allows for and encourages self-curated content, emphasizing a self-directed learning approach. When designing and implementing a learning ecosystem, practitioners should consider what types of content and work tasking are best served with a personalization strategy and in turn, what type of personalization is most practical given technology access. Note, compliance training is not going away, so its important to recognize that a learning ecosystem contains a variety of resources. Some of these resources will be required and “pushed” to individuals (e.g., cyber security awareness training); and some resources will be self-generated and curated (e.g., blogs, wikis, instructional videos) that learners will “pull” from based on need and interest.

Today we are experiencing a fundamental shift in workforce dynamics including operating in a constant state of change, and the evolution of enabling technologies that are shrinking the space between the point-of-need and access to performance support and training. This confluence of technology and need is opening up new ways to support employees, and build resilient organizations that are more effective, accountable, and inclusive.