The onslaught of COVID-19 was a watershed moment for humanity. Things will never be the same and we now have a new normal. The microscopic corona virus has changed our lives forever. Let’s look at some impacts  on the corporate world – 

1. Digital Transformation got fast tracked at all companies – by several years at some.
2. The Great Attrition (or Attraction depending on which side you find yourself) continues to thrive.
3. A great customer experience is contingent on a great employee experience today
4. The nature of future of work is increasing in uncertainty by the day

With all this the role of the Chief Learning Officer (CLO) is crucial to how the organization responds today and in future. Learning & Development (L&D)  is no longer restricted to the confines of boring classroom sessions or stodgy documentation one wished shredded itself.  The winds of change in L&D at progressive companies started blowing a few years before COVID struck. Today, this is anything but discretionary.  Within the HR function we are seeing huge overlap between L&D, talent management and organization design. The L&D strategy will succeed only if it is forward looking, driven by the company’s business vision, and informed by the four impacts listed above.

The five key focus areas for CLOs this year will be as follows.

1. Reskilling and Upskilling:

 Organizations have been forced to undergo a digital adaptation in the last two years which has mostly been adhoc and reactive. Its time to move from adaptation to transformation –  exaption could be a part of the solution never THE solution. A thought out and deliberate Digital Transformation beckons.  In tandem with this the Competency Framework of the organization will be assessed and redesigned to align with the overall business and digital strategy. This new competency framework will inform the L&D strategy which, apart from others, will comprise the below  :

1. Content strategy (repurpose existing content/ co-create content/ build vs buy/ online course platforms)
2. Technology strategy (Learning eXperience Platform, tools to create learning in different modalities, learning analytics etc)
3. Power skills (creativity, imagination, cultural sensitivity, emotional intelligence)

2. Building a life long learning culture:

With business disruptions rampant and technology adding fuel to fire, the shelf life of technical skills has reduced to 2-3 years making it imperative for the CLO to create and perpetuate a culture of lifelong learning in the organization.  This also calls for a mindset reset. Learning will no longer be looked at as an isolated and discrete activity rather be woven into daily work  – learning in the flow of work. For best results lifelong learning should feb rewarded and form an input to the  performance management, recruiting and compensation strategy of the organization. 

3. XR/ Metaverse:

With Meta (Facebook) launching its first metaverse app Horizon Worlds metaverse will only get popular. Knowing  we may continue  working remotely/ in hybrid mode for some more time I expect adoption of metaverse to be quick and fast bringing down the prices of hardware (the likes of Hololens) and software. CLOs will actively explore how they can use metaverse and eXtended Reality (AR, VR, MR ) in appropriate use cases in their organization. These immersive technologies while allowing total focus without distractions also offer a great simulation experience in a fail-safe environment aiding learning and retention. Manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, hazardous materials industries, retail etc have great potential for these technologies. 

4. Digitization of content:

COVID-19 did force some organizations to consider digitizing their offline content. Now with the increasing attrition and job tenures shrinking, it is imperative existing knowledge in offline format be converted to a mix of online modalities that are structured instructionally allowing easy retrieval, consumption and retention. The instructional designer will bring immensely value to this endeavor – a mere porting exercise will severely limit the value that can be unlocked.

5. Training to support digital, erp and other change transformations:

Many organizations will embark on their digital/ erp transformations. Training for such transformation programs will focus mainly on online training modes. Digital adoption (DAP) tools will continue to grow in popularity as they get more powerful and versatile to be used to address the “how-to” of training users. Change management will continue to be crucial to the success of such programs. Transformation leaders will need to focus on how sustenance of learning (and training content) will happen after goes live. They would do best by empowering the CLO to own the transformation’s training strategy helping it dovetail into the organization’s long term L&D strategy as he spearheads lifelong learning at the organization.

These are truly exciting times for the economy as corporates gear up for future in the new normal and CLOs find themselves playing a strategic role inspired by Satya Nadella’s  transformation of Microsoft from a know-it-all to a learn-it-all organization.