Training Industry Magazine - July/August 2017 - 25

for every 10,000 employees for a typical
Fortune 500 company, according to CEB.
Knowing that learning and growth
opportunities are now directly tied to
an organization's employment brand,
and that the majority of learning is done
informally, how can organizations put
more emphasis and find more value in
informal learning?

1. MAKE SENSE OF THE CHAOS WITH CURATION.
There is both an art and science to
curation. At the most basic level, it
means getting the right content to the
right people at the right time. But for the
curator, it's the ability to find, assemble
and filter the best quality resources into
a relevant learning experience.
Curation empowers L&D teams in two
ways: 1) the ability to produce more
diverse learning options and modalities,
and 2) saves money by reducing the
need for creating costly formal training
for each business need.
There are many ways to curate. It can
be as simple as creating a document or
pathway with the most relevant resources
on a certain subject. Bookmarks on web
browsers can serve as a "top hits" list.
And, at many organizations, it's the
L&D department centralizing the best
resources in a few (hopefully less) places.

No matter
how it happens,
your learners
are learning.
But more sophisticated organizations are
sharing the curating responsibility with
the learners. These organizations provide
resources, but they also empower
employees to discover and collect the
best resources themselves. After all, as

the data above tells us, the workforce is
the one inundated with content from a
variety of sources. Who better to advise
on what serves their needs best?
It's important to note that curation
applies to more than just content, like
articles, videos, etc. Curation also applies
to human interactions, like discussions
with peers or mentors. And don't forget
the third type of curation: system-based
recommendations. Think of Amazon's,
"you might like this too," or Netflix's,
"because you watched this." These are all
ways to put the most relevant learning
for each individual in front of the
other resources.

2. RECOGNIZE AND TRACK ALL LEARNING.
The key to empowering your learners
and
increasing
engagement
is
recognizing, facilitating and measuring
what's happening in-between the
formal learning settings. This includes all
the informal learning that is happening,
whether it be reading an article, a
conversation with a mentor or peer,
attending an event or taking a course.
Because so much learning takes
place informally, the majority is
happening outside the view or control
of L&D. Tracking all learning allows
organizations to see what topics are of
interest to workers, the organic growth
and skill development happening with
employees, ability to determine themes
that need more formal attention, find
unknown SMEs, and maybe even make
better learning investments based on
the most popular sources of content.
So, what should you track?
Oftentimes, there is still a need to
know what has been consumed. But,
Steve Boucher, vice president of global
talent development for operations and
technology at Mastercard, stunned
listeners when he revealed that
completions aren't one of his KPIs; he is
more worried about increased capability.
No matter how it happens, your learners
are learning. The better measures of
learning are using metrics such as usage,

recommendations to others and impact
seen by the employee's manager, as well
as employee retention.
Having this data also allows organizations
to personalize the experience, to
automate recommendations and to
connect learning to people's growth.

3. FACILITATE SOCIAL AND COLLABORATIVE
LEARNING EXPERIENCES, TOO.
Learning today starts with social and
search. Degreed research found that
when workers need to learn something
new, they are most likely to ask their
boss, mentor (69 percent) or their
colleagues (55 percent) for direction
first. Then they take matters into their
own hands. Almost half said they search
the internet, and 43 percent browse
specific resources online.
According to the 2015 Bersin Corporate
Learning Factbook, the best L&D
organizations are already delivering up
to 13 percent more via coaching and
collaboration.
The most forward-thinking organizations
make all that self-driven learning more
meaningful by being complimentary:
engineering useful connections and
interactions, giving real-time feedback
and coaching, and providing tools that
make the experience seamless and
learner-driven.
These things are easier said than done,
no doubt. Saying you value informal
learning means more than making a
course available on a mobile device.
It's about building a culture that values
learning from all sources, supported by
an environment that treats the learner
like a customer and makes the entire
L&D experience smoother, more useful
and more rewarding.
Sarah Danzl has nine years of experience in
the learning space, leading marketing and
communications efforts in both corporate
and startup capacities. She currently leads
the enterprise communications and content
development efforts at Degreed. Email Sarah.

T R A I N I N G I N DUSTR Y MA GAZ INE - EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING 20 1 7 I WWW. T RAI NINGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Magazine - July/August 2017

https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_winter2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_fall2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_summer2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_spring2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_winter2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_fall2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_summer2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_spring2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_winter2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20210910
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20210708
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20210506
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20210304
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20210102
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20201112
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20200910
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20200708
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20200506
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20200304
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20200102
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20191112
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20190910
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20190708
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20190506
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20190304
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20190102
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20181112
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20180910
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20180708
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20180506
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20180304
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20180102
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20171112
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20170910
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20170708
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20170506
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20170304
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20171112_se
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20161112
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2016fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2016summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2016sales
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2016spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2016winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2015outsourcing
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2015fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2015summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2015leadership
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2015spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2015winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2014fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2014summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2014spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2014winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2013fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2013summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2013spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2013winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2012fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2012summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2012spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2012winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2011fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2011summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2011spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2011winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2010fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2010summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2010spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2010winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2009fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2009summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2009spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2009winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2008fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2008summer
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