As April is Workplace Violence Awareness Month, it’s an appropriate time to stop and ask whether your workplace violence training is as effective as it could be. No doubt you’ve implemented training to make sure employees understand how to avoid or defuse situations that can lead to bullying, harassment or violence.  It might take the form of an online course teaching them how to identify, report, or control undesirable behaviours in the workplace.  Or it could be a workshop using role-play to teach employees how to react in specific situations. You have policies that define zero tolerance and outline the consequences of identified actions.  You may have even posted information around your workplace encouraging workers to identify and report specific instances. But how confident are you that you’ve done enough?  How do you ensure your employees are constantly vigilant? That they understand what should not be tolerated?  That they’re comfortable identifying and reporting potential problems? That they’d know how to react if a violent situation erupted? Bottom line…this topic needs to stay top-of-mind.  You need to be confident that your employees know what to do, and that they’re on board with your policies and procedures. Training is the most common preventative method, but this could be a critical problem. Because of the way training is typically delivered, it’s likely that employees will forget most of what they learned within 30 days, putting them at a huge disadvantage in a negative situation.   Recent brain science research has identified several challenges with conventional learning, and has identified key new techniques to deliver more effective learning and information.  These techniques are ideally suited to workplace violence training, which not only requires providing knowledge, but also impacting attitudes and beliefs, and creating a culture that openly and consistently addresses potential issues. So how do you leverage new training techniques to create a more informed, able workforce? Keep the conversation going.  Bite-sized training for as little as 5 minutes each day keeps information top of mind, and helps avoid learning overload. Repeat…repeat. Spacing, or the drip approach, repeatedly presents a topic with specific time gaps between each repetition, which helps embed the knowledge for the long term. Ask, and ask again.  Repeated retrieval—or testing—regularly injects Q&A into learning sessions, helping people retain the correct information for longer periods of time, while helping you to understand the knowledge gaps that must be addressed. Have some fun.  Gamified learning ties a tough topic to pleasurable activity, so when people recall the information they’ve learned, it triggers a positive emotional response.  Linking a tough topic with a pleasant feeling is one of the surest methods of shifting attitudes and ingraining responses. Say "I do." Confidence-based learning prompts employees to rate their confidence in the correctness of their knowledge—eliminating lucky guesses.  The more confident employees are in their knowledge, the better prepared they are to act when situations come up.  There are many examples of workplace violence and the truth is, any degree of workplace violence is unacceptable. Training programs and communications that constantly keep employees aware of the signs—and consequences—of violence, harassment and bullying will ensure that you create a proactive, positive environment. Take a minute and ask yourself, is your workplace violence training as effective as it could be? Written by Suzanne Hyatt The post Inform. Remind. Prevent. appeared first on Axonify.

This past March, at the Learning Solutions Conference, I was exposed to work of the amazing learning duo: Conrad Gottfredson and Bob Mosher. Bob shared the following diagram at the conference that does a great job of explaining the learning continuum. I thought that I’d share it with you, along with my interpretation of each of its three phases, so you could also benefit from this holistic view of learning. Source: Learning Solutions Magazine Continuous Learning Addresses the Entire Learning Continuum Rather than focusing only on event-based learning solutions, Gottfredson and Mosher argue that it is equally important to put a continuous learning infrastructure in place to support learners in their journey to succeed on-the-job. They believe continuous learning can be viewed as a three-phase model, which supports employees from the point of new knowledge delivery, through to competence, improved job performance, and ultimately business results. Phase 1:  Train   This phase is about helping employees to learn in a formal setting. But, rather than delivering training as a one-time event, we advocate daily bite-sized training techniques to ensure that employees aren’t overwhelmed with knowledge, but learn at a pace where they’re able to retain more of what they learn. New techniques, such as gamification, can also be implemented to enhance employee engagement in training, and ultimately their ability and willingness to learn. And eLearning systems that provide high levels of personalization ensure that employees are learning exactly what they need, the way they like to learn, which also leads to improved engagement and learning success. Phase 2: Transfer When training is delivered as a one-time event, it immediately becomes susceptible to knowledge loss. For successful transfer of knowledge, we know that several techniques help to improve on-the-job competency. For example, when repeated retrieval-or testing-is regularly injected into learning, people retain more knowledge for longer periods of time. By assessing employee confidence levels when they are asked to recall information, this prompts employees to consider how confident they are that their knowledge is correct. And this active reflection more fully embeds knowledge and helps elevate confidence, which is important when employees are required to act on their knowledge in a real situation. Phase 3:  Sustain In the sustain phase, employees need to maintain their knowledge and skills, with the ability to unlearn and relearn information as change occurs in the organization—so they can continue to perform their jobs effectively. Spacing is a technique that repeatedly presents a topic with specific time gaps between repetitions, which helps embed the knowledge for the long term and keeps knowledge top of mind where it can be accessed as needed. When processes change and employees do not remember all the details, performance support applications allow employees to look up information in real time, at "the moment of need". This helps employees perform their job functions correctly and remain competent in an ever-changing environment. [Note: We’ll be chatting more about performance support in future blog posts]. New Training Techniques Work in Harmony These training techniques work together in a continuous learning model to deliver knowledge in the most impactful way, support employees as they move to subject mastery, and help employees sustain their knowledge for the long term, where they can apply it again and again on the job. By viewing learning more holistically, organizations can help foster the right knowledge and behaviors throughout the employee journey, improving ongoing employee success and, ultimately, generating improved results for the organization as a whole. Written by John Astorino The post From Learning to Performance: 3 Key Phases Essential for Learning Success appeared first on Axonify.

On May 17, I’ll be at the ATD Conference in Orlando, Florida participating in a panel discussion with Dr. Alice Kim—Research Associate at York University and the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest—and Jackie Morton—Manager, People Potential at Lululemon Athletica. We’ll be answering a number of questions about brain science and the evolution of corporate learning. Left to right: Alice Kim, Carol Leaman, Jackie Morton Here’s a sneak peek into one of the topics up for discussion: What are your 5 top tips for trainers seeking to make use of how the brain works? Make it Short and Sweet - You likely know individuals at your workplace who can talk a blue streak. But when they talk on and on and on and on, you start to tune them out. You don’t do this on purpose. It’s just that your brain is wired to learn and remember more information when it is presented in bite-sized pieces, rather than lengthy, drawn out discourse. So, when putting together employee training, think about how you can chunk information or hold shorter, more focused sessions instead of doing lengthy CBT. Make it Fun - Think about the training you’ve had in the past. What stands out in your mind? Chances are, you’ll remember the information that corresponded to a fun activity. That’s because when learning is fun, our brains associate that information with that particular event and are better able to recall it in the future. So, if you want employees to remember what you tell them, make sure you tie it to something enjoyable. Make it Personal - You’ve probably heard the corporate mantra, "It’s not personal. It’s just business." Well, training is one exception when business should be personal. After all, when you make training relevant to the individual, learning is much more effective because the person can identify with what’s in it for them. Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, consider creating sessions that are tailored to the needs of specific individuals and their roles within the organization to increase overall comprehension and memorability. This definitely requires more effort, but the payoff will be greater in the long run. Make it Stick - Telling something to someone once isn’t enough. To really boost retention, you need to repeat information again and again, over time to solidify neural pathways in the brain. This repetition helps employees recall the right information at the right time. So, when developing your training, consider holding several sessions on the same topic at specific times throughout the year to deepen knowledge and memory. Make it Memorable - If you want to help employees encode information more deeply in their brains, put it in context. In a classic experiment by Craik and Tulving, participants were shown a list of 60 words. They were then asked to recall certain words by being asked one of three questions: 1)   Is the word printed in capital letters? (tests structural processing) 2)   Does the word rhyme with ____? (tests phonemic/auditory processing) 3)   Would the word fit in the following sentence: "He met a _____ in the street"? (tests semantic processing) The result was that participants were better able to recall words when asked if they would fit into a specific sentence. This higher recall rate resulted because the words had been processed more deeply in the brain. So, when putting together training, consider using as many real-life scenarios and examples as possible to illustrate the information and increase the likelihood employees will remember it long term. Want to hear more? Join us at ATD on May 17 for answers to fascinating questions, like: What has led to the explosion in brain/memory research over the last decade? What is the disconnect between traditional approaches to learning and how the brain actually works? Why is this research even more important, given the characteristics of the "modern learner" in today’s work environment? What is the likelihood that, with the evolution of technology, we’ll be able to provide each employee with a training solution that nearly perfectly matches the way his/her brain works? If you can’t make this session in person, we’ll make sure you don’t miss out. All our responses will be provided in a post-conference write up on our blog. Stay tuned! Written by Carol Leaman   The post 5 Ways to use Insight About Your Noggin to Create Better Training appeared first on Axonify.

Yesterday, we had the pleasure of participating in a webinar on ATD’s increasingly popular Science of Learning Community (now available on-demand). The idea for this webinar came from a common need we’ve been seeing in the learning community and that is the need to practically apply the science of learning. The webinar was aptly titled: "The Science of Learning - 7 Actionable Insights From Real Data." Our two featured speakers for the webinar were Dr. Alice Kim and our Vice President of Development, Phil Menary. Alice and Phil each shared a number of insights based on data gathered from over 250,000 learners from the Axonify platform. Before sharing the insights, Phil set the stage by citing some statistics from Bersin’s Modern Learner infographic. The most interesting number that Phil highlighted from Bersin’s research, is that the modern learner only has 1% of a typical workweek to focus on training and development. In many ways, this webinar was about how to leverage the science of learning to maximize that 1%.  Here are three of the seven insights that were shared on the webinar: 1. Spacing improves retention According to the data, employees retain more information if it’s spaced out over time as opposed to being delivered all at once. In thinking about how this could apply to the modern learner, imagine if ‘training bootcamps’ ceased to exist (this was actually a question on the webinar). Instead, what if the same information was delivered to the learner in short bursts over a long time?     2. Repetition improves confidence Confidence is extremely powerful. When it becomes dangerous is when an employee is highly confident in the incorrect information (think of a safety procedure for example). The data Phil shared on the webinar, which is taken from a large cross-section of companies, shows a very high correlation between repetition of information and confidence growth: Rather than just showing and testing an employee something once, what if you used a small portion of your allotted 4.8 minutes in a day to test them on it again? How does it affect your environment if you’ve employees who are highly confident in the wrong information? 3. Tangible rewards increase participation There was a lot of discussion around this point on the webinar. Tangible vs. intangible rewards and even the topic of extrinsic vs. intrinsic motivation is something that been discussed in learning literature for a long time. The data Phil presented shows something very clear: tangible rewards have a strong correlation with participation.  Coming back to the modern learner … this is one way you can get him or her to actually engage in training and development within those 4.8 minutes a day. Rewards don’t need to be elaborate, Phil suggested some creative examples such as an executive’s parking spot for the day or even some company swag.   To discover the rest of the insights, you can watch a full recording of the webinar and get the webinar slides anytime on ATD’s website (note: you might have to register for a free ATD account if you don’t already have one).  Tell us, what are you doing to maximize the 1%?  Written by Shum Attygalle The post Webinar Summary: The Science of Learning in Action appeared first on Axonify.

The following post was featured in eLearning Industry on April 14th, 2015. We know you’ve seen it. Your employees sit in a day-long training session watching presenter after presenter. They fight drowsiness, boredom and distractions as they listen to more and more information that sucks the life out of any brainpower they have left. And all they can think about is their growing to-do list that is only getting longer by the minute. Reinvigorate Your Workforce The traditional corporate learning model is broken. Yet, US spending on corporate training grew 15% in 2013 to more than $70 Billion in the US and more than $130 Billion worldwide. That’s a lot of money to fork out on training that doesn’t work. Add to this the fact that 90% of new skills learned during corporate training are lost within a year and these high costs just doesn’t make good business sense. Today’s forward-thinking leaders know corporate learning is poised for disruption, and they’re not afraid to break the rules. They’re ditching tradition in favor of innovative eLearning technology and leadership practices that drive information retention and accelerate the business. And, in literally minutes a day, they’re seeing employees increase their knowledge and feel reinvigorated as they tackle their to-do lists. John Knoble, Director of Commercial Learning at Ethicon (a division of Johnson & Johnson) is a prime example of a leader who is challenging the training status quo. He’s launching a learning revolution through daily intelligent information reinforcement, fun gamified learning bursts and real-time data driven feedback. Intelligent Information Reinforcement The traditional "one and done" approach to training wasn’t helping Ethicon’s professional sales associates. Knoble knew he needed to find a way to increase training effectiveness. So, as part of his new learning approach, he invested in an eLearning platform that reinforced training in bite-sized chunks—a technique proven to increase knowledge retention. The eLearning platform assesses reps’ individual knowledge levels continually and presents them with targeted questions each day to test and reinforce the information they need to know. This daily reinforcement has had a dramatic increase in sales reps’ information retention and confidence. Fun, Gamified Learning Bursts Research proves that taking time out to give the brain a rest allows employees to recharge and approach their work with more focus and energy. In fact, a study from the Draugiem Group found that the distinguishing factor of the most productive employees was the fact that they took regular breaks. With this in mind, Knoble leveraged the gamification elements in the company’s eLearning platform to weave training into the workday—giving reps a reason to take a fun break from their regular to-dos, while still feeling productive. Sales reps can use downtime between customer engagements for a quick, 3-4 minute learning ‘burst,’ allowing them to play a game and refresh their knowledge before their attention shifts to the next pressing task. The game play and friendly competition with peers has driven voluntary participation rates as high as 90%. Real-Time, Data-driven Feedback Feedback is an effective way to keep employees motivated. In fact, research indicates companies can see a 14.9% decrease in turnover rates by giving employees regular feedback. It can also boost engagement. Instead of waiting for annual performance reviews to assess employee progress, instant mobile updates through the eLearning platform give Knoble a real-time play-by-play of his team’s learning progression, allowing him to respond immediately. By ‘tapping into the mind’ of the entire sales organization each day, the Ethicon learning team has the data to identify which areas require additional learning and which areas are strong. Ethicon mangers can coach the individuals who are struggling in certain areas before they become discouraged. The learning team can also proactively assess training materials regularly to support the company’s strategic products and keep those ‘top of mind,’ while developing sales skills that are the sharpest in the field. Minutes a Day Add Up to Hours of Value As Ethicon’s experience shows, by implementing next-generation learning methodologies, employees stay engaged and at the top of their game, while driving the corporate bottom line. Knoble says by continuously reinforcing learning every day, Ethicon has fundamentally changed the effectiveness of knowledge delivery to its sales teams. Knowledge lifts have increased in some topic areas by as much as 49% and the staff is increasing their selling power—All without the need to bring people into the training classroom, and at an annual cost for the entire organization that is less than a single training program. Written by Carol Leaman The post How Minutes A Day Can Reinvigorate Your Workforce appeared first on Axonify.

The Axonify crew just got back from the ATD Conference in Orlando, Florida. We were there to speak, exhibit and participate in conference sessions over the past week. As a marketer, my focus was to attend the sessions to gain more insight into the challenges of learning professionals and opportunities in this changing industry. In each session, I was surrounded with intelligent professionals from across the globe—experts in training and development. I felt like a fish out of the water, to say the least. But, as one of the few people outside of this profession, this also afforded me a kind of permission to ask questions. And these professionals were more than willing to dish about their frustrations. Probably the most common issue I heard was that learning professionals don’t feel valued in their organizations. They can’t get the attention of the C-level execs, and they don’t know what to do about it. These people are incredibly passionate about their roles and want to make a difference. To better understand this challenge and what learning professionals can do about it, I decided to attend several sessions on the topic. My favorite was a presentation by performance strategist and author, Ajay Pangarkar. Here were a few of his insights: Learning professionals need to align what they do with the goals of the C-suite. These goals include generating revenue, increasing growth and cutting costs. If learning professionals can’t align their business activities with these goals, they won’t gain the respect or budget dollars from key decision makers. Learning professionals need to remember they are part of a business, not a resource for the business. That means they need to shift their focus from the general concept of learning to the way that learning results impact business performance. This mindset shift will help them think more like a C-level executive and keep true training goals top of mind. Knowledge is power, only if people can actually use it. That means L&D activities must tie directly to achieving specific business goals. To do this, learning professionals must understand the overall business strategy, plus specific business objectives that align with this strategy, to create additional objectives, measures targets and indicators that map their efforts to business impact. ROI does not make sense as an L&D measure. Training is a cost center for the business and ROI is only used as a measure in profit centers. This means the learning department needs to create its own performance measures. As long as these measures tie to specific business objectives, L&D professionals will be able to show value to the organization. Have you managed to grab a seat at the C-suite table? We’d love to hear how learning is delivering real business value in your organization. The post ATD Conference Reinforces Need for L&D Professionals to Demonstrate Business Value appeared first on Axonify.

A few weeks ago, we gave you a sneak peak into one of the responses we planned to share at our ATD Conference panel discussion on May 17, entitled Brain Science and the Evolution of Corporate Learning. The panel included Dr. Alice Kim—Research Associate at York University and the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest, Jackie Morton—Manager, People Potential at Lululemon Athletica and me, Carol Leaman—CEO of Axonify. You may recall that we also promised to summarize the additional Q&As after the event, in case you couldn’t attend. So, here they are! What has led to the explosion of learning and memory research over the last decade? Dr. Alice Kim: A lot of the recent work on learning and memory has been made possible by learning technology, specifically neuroimaging techniques that allow scientists to record images of brain activity while people are performing certain tasks. An example of this is FMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging).  Can you summarize the top 3 findings that have come out of this research? Dr. Alice Kim: The first one is something called the spacing effect. It refers to the finding that for long-term retention of learning, you’re better off spacing out the actual training events. This is going to help you retain the information better and also retrieve it more accurately after a longer period of time. This is something that is really well known in memory research.  The second finding is the testing effect. Again, this helps improve retention in the long term and it refers to the finding that testing or practicing retrieval is more effective for real learning as opposed to re-studying the information over and over again. The third finding is our own judgment of our actual learning (regardless of whether we’re doing well or poorly. Our ability to judge our learning is actually not that great. This has a huge effect on how we plan and practice our training. An excellent way to help us assess how we’re doing it is by practicing retrieval. That means if there’s any kind of procedure/info that you need to learn, and if you have a certain amount of time to study this information, it’s best to try some strategies that actively make you retrieve the information as opposed to passively trying to remember it. This could include attempting to explain the information to someone else or asking questions in your mind as you’re going through it and then answering them as well. How do the spacing and testing effect work hand in hand? Dr. Alice Kim: I think they can be applied to corporate learning in combination. The idea of the spacing effect is the opposite of cramming, where information is studied over and over again. With spacing you want to actually increase the timing between study events. This is going to help you encode the information better in your mind and you can combine this with testing. If you do combine spacing with testing, research has shown that this will result in the best performance. What are some effective retrieval techniques?  Dr. Alice Kim: One technique is to have members of your team explain or teach certain lessons to other members. This is a great way to assess what you do know and what you don’t know. Our own judgment of what we know and what we don’t know is actually very poor. Whenever we get into that situation where we have to teach something, it’s an excellent way to assess what we do have to review and what we don’t. Jackie Morton Think of your learners as active learners and incorporate that into all of your techniques. Move away from long lectures and all of the traditional conventional approaches that we’ve always taken and engage learners as much as possible. Use interaction in learning situations and have respect for the learner—that they have something to bring to the the conversation. If they are thinking about things from their own context and they’re generating responses and thinking about how it relates to what they already know, that’s where you’re getting the deepest learning.  Carol Leaman Retrieval-based learning is currently being used across many types of content. There are lots of companies using it for leadership training and what to do in risky situations. Instead of asking a simple factual question, they are asking questions that are scenario based. For instance, if you were presented with this situation and you observed an employee doing X, Y,Z, what would be your approach to dealing with this situation? This could be a multiple choice question. You could even employ different question styles. For instance, matching questions, which involve matching a response to a behavior and allowing employees to match the correct behavior. This tends to be a much more difficult question for employees to answer when compared to multiple choice. You can map the type of questions too. Those that are behavioral based tend to be more difficult questions styles to illicit more judgment on the part of the employee. There are companies using this already for many different things.  Is there any research that shows that gamification is better than retrieval practice?  Jackie Morton Gamification supports retrieval practice in a great way. There’s a substantial amount of literature that supports both retrieval and gamification. Most of us know that gamification is fun and if you’re doing something fun, it’s got your attention and if you combine that with retrieval, in my experience, that is a strong combination to support long-term memory.  Carol Leaman We actually use gamification de-coupled from the actual learning. There are three types of gamification that we often talk about: The first is simulation (like what pilots use to train); the second is game-based learning (which we would know as a video-type game); and the third is game mechanics. Our data shows that game mechanics promote 20% more participation with learning. Game mechanics are actually elements of the game but not the game itself. So things like: leveling up, leaderboards, gameplay. There are about 15-20 core game mechanics that we have shown will engage the learner in wanting to do the activity. But, the activity of learning is actually separate from the game itself. For example, using avatars or coaches, giving instant feedback and report cards, leaderboards, points, rewards and things for engaging in the activity are all examples of game mechanics. So, as I mentioned, across hundreds of thousands of learners, we’ve been able to show that those who play games, again de-coupled from the learning activity, participate 20% more in learning voluntarily and show significant increases in knowledge lift. How can retrieval/gamification and our compressed amount of time for learning, impact culture?  Carol Leaman We have a large segment of retail customers who have tens of thousands of employees and, in the retail sector, time is measured down to the second. What we’ve discovered is that when you make learning accessible on POS terminals, on mobile devices, basically anywhere the employee has access, they will find three minutes a day to do voluntary training. As an example, Walmart is using a very quick retrieval-based solution in 120 distribution facilities and it is only accessible on a laptop that is put throughout the facilities. Walmart gets 55,000 people a week out of 70,000 voluntarily going on and doing three to four minutes of learning. The best part about that is the feedback from general managers is that the culture of safety, within those distribution centers, has changed wholeheartedly. Some of their managers say that they’ve never before heard their employees actually talking about learning. Time is at a premium, but just allowing them that three minutes, when they have three minutes, has made a massive cultural and safety difference as it turns out. How does the research support using these brain science techniques to teach some kind of skill as opposed to knowledge?  Dr. Alice Kim Earlier, Carol made the distinction between declarative and procedural memory. Declarative basically covers information that you can explicitly say and declare, tell me something, tell me right now or say it out loud. The procedural memory we’re talking about is actually doing things (behavior). Research shows that spacing and retrieval are effective for procedural learning as well. The two findings (spacing and retrieval) are very robust and, when I say that, I mean they are very applicable across many different types of learning.  Carol Leaman A retrieval based practice, where you are measuring what people know and don’t know every time they answer questions, can be very effective at driving behavior change that is measurable in terms of a financial outcome for the organization.  I can give you three very specific examples of behaviour change that were measurable in different organizations. Walmart’s goal was to convey knowledge around health and safety issues and create a culture of safety. Their goal was to reduce OSHA recordables by 5% and they actually achieved more than a 50% reduction. That is the outcome of changing behaviour as a result of knowledge acquisition. Another example is Capital BlueCross. The company experienced errors in claims processing rates, which were a large financial cost for the organization. Through this new approach, they were able to reduce those claims processing error rates by over 60%. The third example is from the pharma sector, specifically in the sales function. As many of you know, in the pharma sector product knowledge is vital, very complex and changes quickly. Pharma reps practically need to be medical doctors themselves to be able to sell products. And with information constantly changing, it’s very, very difficult. Using this retrieval-based learning, pharma reps are actually able to sell more, so it’s more than just, What is the feature of the product I’m selling? It’s about, How do I sell more effectively? How do I position the product? It’s more judgement based/behavioural based information that they are constantly reminded of through retrieval practice, which is, in fact, changing sales outcomes.  Written by Carol Leaman The post How Brain Science is Driving the Evolution of Corporate Learning appeared first on Axonify.

We’ve all pretty much figured out that learning doesn’t happen exclusively in the classroom or during an eLearning event:  it’s continuous, and needs to be available "just-in-time" for application on the job.  Driven by the need for Training to contribute strategic value, many organizations are creating a continuous learning environment to effect real and lasting improvements on job performance.  But training - even continuous - may not be enough to assist the employee when it’s time to apply the knowledge or skill to the job.  We all forget information or confuse details; particularly in today’s volatile, distracted work environment.  Advancements in technology are enabling workers to receive knowledge and support in the context of their work; which is opening the door for electronic performance support systems (EPSS). There are many definitions of performance support, from thought leaders such as Gloria Gery in the early 1990’s to current proponents including Marc Rosenberg, Allison Rosset, Conrad Gottfredson and Bob Mosher. They all agree on one thing: performance support provides information, guidance, advice, assistance, training and tools at the point of need - on the job. But with the ubiquity of learning and support technologies in today’s business workflow, performance support becomes much more integrated with - and difficult to distinguish from - continuous learning.  Bottom line:  as long as the employee has the knowledge and skill to perform the job effectively; who, what, where, when and how knowledge is delivered is becoming extremely flexible and variable. Open the Door While EPSS may be a somewhat new business concept, all T&D professionals should at least know what’s behind the door: what it is, how it’s developing, and how it can contribute strategic value to the organization.  Knowledge at the time of need A key purpose of performance support is serving up knowledge just in time to do the job.  But it can be so much more than that:  with the personalization capabilities of today’s eLearning systems, knowledge can be pushed out to employees based on their environment, their role, and their current level of knowledge, giving them what they need, when they need it. Employees can also search for specific knowledge at the point of need.  An intelligent performance support system will then add context-specific recommendations based on past searches and current learning plans. For instance, if a warehouse worker has searched for information on fork lift operation, the EPSS could suggest he might also be interested in information on loading large shipping containers, or how to work with vertical storage systems. And if he just completed a learning module on handling dangerous chemicals, the system may also suggest modules on what to do in case of chemical spills in the warehouse. Let Performance Support In Performance Support, when done properly, can have a dramatic impact on workplace effectiveness.  Over and above effective learning practices, it provides your employees with support at the point of need, giving them the ability to do their job more successfully, and drive a positive impact on business performance. As performance support becomes integrated with continuous learning, you create a collaborative environment where employees are retaining knowledge, finding additional information at the point of need, and even contributing expertise, for the benefit of fellow employees and the organization alike. Written by Laura Martin The post Anytime. Anywhere. Opening the Door to Electronic Point-of-Need Learning. appeared first on Axonify.

This week, the Axonify team is at the Performance Support Symposium in Austin Texas. As I’ve been attending various sessions, I’ve been doing some thinking about the impact of technology on learning. Recent advancements in technology have caused many industries to experience a significant evolution. Consider: Music Industry with the introduction of iTunes Video industry with the introduction of Netflix Transportation with the introduction of Uber Travel accommodations with the introduction of Airbnb   Yet, historically, technological advancements have not transformed learning and development. While new technologies have changed the way organizations can deliver and consume content (i.e. video, digital, mobile, etc.), they have not radically altered the way they provide training. For the most part, organizations continue to focus on classroom or course type training offerings with no post-training support on the job… until now. Technology is beginning to change how workers learn and receive the support they need to perform their roles. Evidence of this initial movement is clear at the Performance Support Symposium this week. Here, the buzz is all around—you guessed it—Performance Support. Although Performance Support has been around for a long time, with advances in technology, the ability to support performance on the job has increased exponentially. The time is now for radical disruption in the learning and development space. In the past, this moment may have gone by unnoticed and organizations would have continued to march on as usual. But, in this day and age, if organizations ignore this moment, they do so at their own peril. Competition is fierce and fast and results and failures are felt immediately. This world demands that we turn our attention to the business and deliver the support employees need to, not only be successful at their work, but to also sustain that success in a constantly evolving work environment. The exciting part is, with today’s technological advancements, this is now an option. Online learning (LMS), classroom training, video coaching and more are all important avenues for formal learning, but if this is all organizations do to support learning, then this approach is only half-way there. When it comes to performance on the job—performance at the time of need—the chance for employees to stumble is high, unless supporting elements are in place right then, right there. Performance support is a tool or other resource, ranging from print to technology-supported, which provides just the right amount of task guidance, support, and productivity benefits to the user, precisely at the moment of need. - Marc Rosenberg Effective learning requires a balanced approach that involves both push and pull: Organizations need to Push Relevant Content - Information Employees Must Have In Their Heads The employee consumes what the organization has identified as critical information for them to be able to perform and be successful on the job and in the work place. Employees need to Pull Relevant Content (Performance Support) - Information Employees Must Have at Their Fingertips The employee, directed by their own motive or reason for learning, access specific information, exactly when they need it. By adopting technological advancements and changing the learning focus from just a push learning environment within the organization to a more continuous learning cycle of both push and pull, a learning environment is created that provides employees with both the learning and the support they need for job success. And just as iTunes and Uber have enhanced our experience with music and transportation, learners are ready and eager to embrace changes in technology that will help them perform better on the job. Written by Jennifer Buchanan The post Taking Learning to the Next Level With Advancements in Tech appeared first on Axonify.

The results from our Axonify Learner Survey are in. And they’re so amazing that we couldn’t help but take the opportunity to toot our own horn! More than 4,500 employees from organizations including Walmart, PointClickCare, Kaplan, Ceridian and Bloomingdales participated in the first round of the Axonify Learner Survey. Respondents indicate that they are significantly more knowledgeable, confident and effective in their jobs as a result of participating in regular learning through the Axonify eLearning platform. In fact, 4 out of 5 employees believe Axonify-based learning solutions improve performance on the job. The Axonify Team Here are the top findings: ·       Nearly 80% said learning with Axonify has made me more knowledgeable  ·       Nearly 78% said learning with Axonify has made me more confident ·       More than 78% said learning with Axonify helps me be more effective ·       More than 80% said they enjoy and recommend Axonify as an effective way to learn Is it just me, or is this not incredible!?!?! In a world where traditional corporate learning experiences are considered "boring", "repetitive" and, "ineffective" at impacting performance, we know we’re on to something amazing. Here are a couple of reactions from the visionaries who know first-hand how Axonify is successfully impacting learning and job performance: "Axonify has amplified the effectiveness of our training programs," says Larry Dunivan, Executive Vice President of Sales at Ceridian. "Axonify delivers an engaging user experience providing immediate feedback to the student, and the ability to rank users individually or by teams creating a fun yet competitive learning environment." "Axonify has been nothing short of transformative," says Bloomingdale’s Vice President Loss Prevention and Risk Management, Chad McIntosh. "Our goal was to implement a learning solution that positively impacts our bottom line, and that our employees feel good about. Axonify has met that need repeatedly and resoundingly."  Still not convinced this news is transformational? Let’s look at the data. The high satisfaction rate with the Axonify eLearning platform is in stark contrast to published findings about how employees at various organizations feel towards traditional Learning Management System (LMS) solutions. In a 2012 Brandon Hall Group webinar, a poll of attendees found 27% of respondents said their company’s employees hated their LMS. This dissatisfaction also transfers to those who make LMS purchasing decisions. A Brandon Hall LMS Trends 2014: Satisfaction and Spending survey shows high customer dissatisfaction, with 47.7% of respondents indicating they are looking to leave their current LMS platform to move to a new provider. Similarly, results from a 2012 eLearning Guild survey show 31.5% of respondents were either dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with their LMS product.   We believe modern learners are ready to move away from traditional approaches and embrace a new way of learning. But, at the end of the day, it’s what Axonified learners believe that matters most. After all, they’re the ones who use the platform on a regular basis. While reports galore in Axonify demonstrate its impact on knowledge and performance, it’s really the learners who validate Axonify’s true value. To sum it up, most say they enjoy the Axonify experience; it makes them more knowledgeable; and it impacts their on-the-job performance. It can’t get any better than that! Thanks to all our customers who continue to support Axonify and contribute to our success. Written by Laura Martin The post Survey says…. Employees are thriving with Axonify’s modern learning approach appeared first on Axonify.