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4 shifts in L&D

These are the 4 broad shifts I have seen in the L&D landscape over the last few years (this is a slightly elaborated post from the year end update). These are not shifts - these are more my learnings and you can classify these as my approach to L&D more than anything else. 

  • The death of inspirational training. A few years ago, this was the norm. Inspiration driven training with quotes, examples, visuals was supposed to move the audience into taking action. I have written about it here. Bordering on motivational talk, it exhorted the audience to "change". Net result - zero. Smiley sheets full marks.  There are still occasions where you might want to use it sparingly, but well not so much.
  • The death of day long trainings. Earlier trainings ran for 4 days like a test match and then came down to 1 day (8 hours). Post pandemic, I have found it useful to keep trainings to 2 hours max. What that also means is cut down on the inspiration talk and all that dive into the topic right off. So, the keep the training crisp, structured and very focused.
  • The death of "everything". Earlier trainings were like a Mughlai Chinese Andhra North Indian restaurant that served breakfast, lunch and dinner. Now we decide. If we are an Udupi restaurant - probably even just a breakfast specialist and try not to do too many things. Partcipants come, learn a specific skill and go back with specific tasks to practice. So, that means ultra focused skill building
  • The death of L&D as engagement. Sure do that if you money to spare on in-person training or with consultants. But the best L&D is always focused on business outcomes. Nothing more, nothing less. 

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