The Future of Training: Moving from Learner Centric to Business Centric Model

The future of Learning and Development is moving away from Learner Centric, or employee needs model, and moving more towards Business Centric, or business needs model.  The reason behind this trend is that the business needs of the company should be considered when developing a training program.  To have a measureable effect on productivity moving to a Business Centric model is a must.

According to David Grebow, in his article The Future of L&D: Business-Centric Learning, “Before the learners ever see the content, it needs to pass the test of alignment with the business needs.”  

As an example: If one of the goals of the business is to increase and measure customer service; in the Business Centric model, the Learning and Development team would design training to address this goal of the business.  Courses might include: Customer Service Essentials, Retaining Customers, Improving your Customer Service Skills.

In a recent article in Training Industry Magazine, Key Trends 2014; Shifting to Business Centric Learning, Doug Haward stated that the Learner Centric model “missed the mark on the most fundamental principle for success: ensuring that training is aligned to the needs of the business first.”

Learning and Development has been focusing on the skills gaps for some time now.  The trend is to continue to evaluate what your staff knows and what they need to know to align with the business needs of the company.  An important trend to this model is consistency. 

In a rapidly changing industry, training is in fast forward: mobile devices, video integration, digital content, open source and flipped classroom.  Sometimes it’s hard to decipher what content can be used or applied to a specific training program.

Many businesses seeking to maximize performance are using the Business Centric model with a virtual component.  Moving to E-Learning allows companies to create a training program that is across the board for all employees and yet can give that element of Learner Centric while still meeting the Business Centric model.

Training is made more efficient and effective by online education companies like KnowledgeCity.com, that can create custom training paths designed to choose courses for each employee’s skill level and job responsibilities—courses that are most relevant to the work they do or need to be able to do to reach the business goals set by the company.

KnowledgeCity uses a proprietary algorithm and training advisors to choose the best courses, and the employee’s own manager approves or modifies the user’s final course list. By enrolling in the KnowledgeCity Training Need Analysis program, a company ensures that their employees receive the best training for their position in line with the company goals.

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Video Tutorials: A Growing Medium for Advanced Career Training

Traditional academic settings, such as universities and trade schools are starting to make way for technological advanced mediums to support students and working professionals who are always in constant locomotion. And due to the explosion of the “information highway,” video based training tutorials of learning multimedia software applications are growing in momentum.

Especially within the realm of business and higher education, online tutorials are increasingly the favored method of learning due to the fact that there is no constraint, unlike a traditional academic setting such as the classroom where it’s allocated with time and place restrictions and limitations.

With video tutorials, training courses can be accessed anytime, anywhere. Computer training is much more accessible than being interrupted from your daily activities and schedule to get to class on time. The beauty of online training is that it can be accessed without the disturbance in your personal and professional life.

Online training tutorials are also time efficient in the sense that learners don’t have to waste time in reviewing materials they already know. For example, learners interested in a particular course can just click on the software tutorials that pertain to their interest without having to go through the unnecessary segments.

Skeptics might point out that with virtual training, learners are unable to ask questions, problems, or concepts that they might have, unlike a traditional class where instructors are there in person to answer students’ questions. But most video tutorials performed are presented by specialists in their given field. The chances of having any concepts or problems unresolved in their tutorials are pretty slim. If there is a concern, all you would have to do is play the tutorials again and look and listen carefully for your answer.

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