While we are planning for facilities management, social distancing, and providing PPE, employers should also plan for a variety of learning and development initiatives that can ease the transition. For some “returning to work” means simply going back to the office, while for others this means actually coming back to work after being out of work for some period of time.

As with any Learning & Development initiative, understanding your audience and their needs is key. Employees will likely fall into two categories: 

1. those that are excited to get back to work (returning from remote work or furlough) and
2. those that are not (for a variety of reasons)

Your management likely has new things to consider and be trained on, such as new processes and procedures related to health and safety, changing business priorities, and a schedule to safely return employees to work. 

Returning to work provides an opportunity for L&D to help our employees feel supported, cared for, and that their health and safety are a priority, while empathizing with a variety of experiences that people are having through this pandemic. Here are the five areas that should be considered for returning to work: 

1. REQUIRED TRAINING / COMPLIANCE:

• • Were there any required training or deadlines that were missed due to furloughs? Compliance deadlines? 
  • Are there any new requirements, knowledge, or information that you haven’t historically trained on? (e.g. social distancing requirements, PPE training, OSHA safety training) 

2. RETURN TO WORK

• • What training do you want your employees to complete PRIOR to returning to work, will this be required? 
    • COVID safety refresher, hand washing, social distancing, etc.
  • CDC return to work guidelines
  • SHRM guidelines and checklists

3. BUSINESS STRATEGY

• • Have business goals, focus or strategies changed? Do teams need to be trained on new goals? We’ve all seen examples of companies completely changing their product or focus to help during this time. Think of alcohol brands that shifted to producing hand sanitizer, or apparel companies now producing PPE. 
  • What impact has this had on your L&D plans for 2020, including professional development plans, leadership development, or other budgetary impacts? 
    • What was formerly trained in person, large group training, and/or requiring travel? This will likely never be coming back. L&D can, and should, take this opportunity to plan how to improve and modernize their training and development programs to help better train and retain employees. 
    • Where can we implement a blended learning approach, and where can Instructor-Led Training be completely replaced by elearning? 
  • For our leaders and management – what do they need to know? 
    • Has there been any shift in leadership style during this time of crisis? 
    • Flexibility for employees, what considerations should be made for new schedules, new shifts, etc.? 

4. ROLE SPECIFIC

• • Have there been any changes to any of your previous roles? 
    • Many roles have been eliminated or taken on more responsibilities to respond to this new reality. This likely means that employees will have skill/knowledge gaps that we will need to identify and fill. What training is required to ensure these employees are productive? 

5. WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED? 

• • With so many changes occurring in companies, it is very likely that L&D has identified new opportunities/knowledge gaps that need to be addressed and planned for. 
  • Gather feedback from your employees, they will be able to provide you with the best information regarding where training will be most beneficial. 
  • Who are your new subject matter experts, or champions that you identified? Who are the employees you can lean on to help drive your program forward? 

It’s possible that for many companies, L&D initiatives have been paused during the pandemic. If that is the case, there are endless opportunities to get ahead on other L&D projects, such as building toolkits, communication plans, 2021 training curriculum year, or getting a solid handle on reporting and metrics for your program. 

At the end of the day, remember we are all dealing with this situation in different ways. Be empathetic with your employees and identify the areas where we can help them succeed and thrive as we continue to grow and learn from this situation. We mentioned “normal” might never quite mean the same thing it did before. This is your chance to redefine that normal for your employees and learners, show them you’re here to help them succeed. 

As organizations around the world prepare for their workforce to return to the workplace, elearning can provide a critical and efficient path to train and prepare employees for the changes they will face.  From staying healthy at work, best practices for safe business travel, to collaborative working with virtual teams, your workforce can return to the workplace more prepared and knowledgeable. These courses are made available free of charge through 15 June 2020.  Please use them to help your employees return to the workplace more prepared and knowledgeable.

The post 5 L&D considerations for returning to the workplace appeared first on OpenSesame.

What can we do to help

We need to remember that every person is likely still adjusting to changes in work and the new reality of life in general. Each person will have a unique response to these stressors. So what can we as L&D professionals do to help our employees and their families? 

Our role during these times is to help ensure employees are safe, healthy, and know they have the support of the company. Many employees will find their workload significantly increased, while others may need to transition into a temporary new role or take on different responsibilities that are new to them. Things will change for many of us, and our job is to try to anticipate the needs of employees as we and our companies adapt to this new (hopefully short-lived) normal. 

At OpenSesame, we want to ensure our employees feel the support they need to be successful and productive through these trying times. Here are some of the ways we’ve addressed this within our own (and new) work environment:

Physical health and safety:

1. • Released an elearning course package educating our employees about COVID-19 and general best practices for staying healthy.
   • Implemented a mandatory work from home policy to ensure employee safety.
   • Redistributed budget to employees to purchase items if needed to work more comfortably at home, such as a desk or more supportive chair.

Mental Health:

1. • Educated employees frequently about about available mental health and support resources through health insurance and local organizations. 
   • Released elearning courses about maintaining and discussing mental health at work 
   • More frequent and personal check-ins with employees. Sometimes a “How are you doing?”, or “How is your family doing?” makes a world of difference.
   • Created virtual socializing opportunities: morning meditation, daily stretches, virtual lunchroom, coffee breaks and happy hours using platforms like Zoom or Google Hangouts. Human beings crave connection, some of your employees live alone and may be particularly needing this more than others or even you do  personally.

Productivity

1. • Reimbursement for home office setup. We don’t all have an office at home, and we need to make sure our employees have what they need to be productive.
   • Flexible hours. Now, more than ever, our employees need to know that they can be there for their family and friends when needed.
   • Elearning courses and resources on best remote work practices.
   • More frequent checkins in the form of 1:1s, daily standups, or other ways to over communicate to stay productive.

Roles/responsibility changes

1. • Thinking ahead to anticipate training that will be needed for employees to take on new roles or responsibilities.
   • Provide opportunities for employees to let their skills shine. Provide the information your employees need to identify where their unique talents can help the company. 

We’re all in this together. If L&D can help us understand where the shifting needs of our employees might land, we can be ready to help support them at the right time. Outside of work, we’re all dealing with much more stress than normal. Now is not the time to overload our employees with training lacking intent. If we can try to anticipate the training and resources our employees need, then we can have it ready for them when they need it. Where L&D can shine now, is by being a source of support, care, and love for our employees. 

As the world grapples with the impact of coronavirus, we believe elearning can provide a critical and efficient path to rapidly educate employees about preventing the spread of coronavirus, how to work and manage remotely and the importance of social distancing. Our team has curated a list of courses about coronavirus preparedness and remote working for training your employees. These courses are made available free of charge through 15 June 2020. Please use them to help your employees reduce their exposure and spread of the virus. Immediate education and containment are key to saving lives.

The post How can L&D respond to times of crisis? appeared first on OpenSesame.

For the last 14 years, Whitby has worked with L&D professionals to build training programs by recommending elearning courses to meet and exceed their training goals.  These have included smaller 100-person start-up companies to Global 2000 enterprises. 

“It’s amazing seeing companies of all sizes and industries facing the same obstacles in deploying training, measuring impact and defining value,” noted Whitby.

By joining the board, Whitby hopes to help build chapter membership and enhance the member experience.  “The pace of change in business is only getting faster and belonging to a group that supports your professional goals has never been more important.  By bringing more folks into the conversation, we all benefit from each other’s expertise and experience,” remarked Whitby.

Whitby studied eLearning and Instructional Design at Rio Solado Community College and Entrepreneurship at Mt. Hood Community College. He is passionate about measuring the impact of training and proving results and excited about the prospects of taking ATD Valley of the Sun membership to new levels.  

For more information on how you can get involved in your local ATD chapter, visit www.td.org/members/chapters, or email member@atdvos.org.

The post Martyn Whitby appointed to ATD Valley of the Sun Chapter Board of Directors appeared first on OpenSesame.

The eLearning Coach

Connie Malamed is something of a superstar of instructional design in the US, and her relaxed style makes The eLearning Coach one of the most enjoyable learning podcasts out there. Episodes are released on an ad hoc basis but are always a treat, with informal conversation and a deep dive into topics like gamification, agile development and storyboarding. If you develop e-learning, this is the podcast for you.

The Learning and Development Podcast

This new addition to 2019 offers studio-quality production with host David James’s expert insights into all things Learning and Development. Guests this season have included Sukh Pabial, Kate Graham, Nick Shackleton-Jones and Barbara Thompson, each sharing their views on topics shaping – or damaging – the learning and development industry.

Emotion at Work

The Emotion at Work podcast hasn’t been active for a while, but we think that its back catalogue is such a rich resource that we’re recommending it anyway. Host Phil Willcox explores the role that emotion plays in our relationships, our reactions to conflict, and how we perform at work, providing a safe space to explore these topics in conversations that are thoughtful and revealing, backed up by research and evidence.

Freakonomics

Although not strictly an L&D podcast, behaviour economics plays such an important role in the design of learning and the workplace that we think Freakonomics is a crucial entry on this list. Launched as an extension to the global bestseller of the same name, Freakonomics has since dropped nearly 400 episodes. Don’t be fooled if it sounds dry: host Stephen Dubner recently tackled topics like sports gambling, the future of meat and an interview with Dr Marijuana Pepsi (her real name). If you’re looking to assess how incentives and systems support or hinder your learning interventions, this is a great place to start.

The GoodPractice podcast

Obviously, we have to mention our own podcast. Now into its third year, our weekly podcast has been downloaded over 160,000 times and occasionally takes to the road for live shows with real, honest-to-goodness human audiences. Each week, hosts Ross Garner, Ross Dickie and Nicola Boyle chat with regular contributor Owen Ferguson and a special guest about topics such as evidence-based practice, performance support, challenges to face-to-face learning and (wherever possible) libertarian paternalism. And, of course, we always finish with our regular feature ‘What I Learned This Week’, a fan favourite that we hear has become a fixture at team meetings across the world.

Since 2000, GoodPractice has been creating inspiring learning and performance resources for blue-chip organizations across the globe. They inspire managers to overcome their challenges and improve their performance. The Management 101 Suite of elearning helps build key management skills through the insight and practice in the fun format. Learners can apply new skills immediately. The Management 101 Suite is ideal for new and emerging managers, as well as seasoned managers who want to refresh their skillset.

The post Five L&D podcasts we love appeared first on OpenSesame.

This year’s conference centered on themes surrounding future skilling and developing leaders for a 21st century workforce, leveraging learning technology advancements in machine learning and artificial intelligence, maximizing elearning utilization, finding training budgets and saving time managing and administering training programs. Customers spent two days networking with peers, meeting the OpenSesame team, sharing insights during roundtables and other sessions, learning from other OpenSesame customers, meeting new publishers at the Publisher Expo and more. 

Keynote speaker Donald H Taylor kicks off conference 

This year’s conference featured a keynote by Donald Taylor, Chairman of the Learning and Performance Institute, on the past, current and future state of learning technologies and our industry. Donald shared the results of his annual Learning & Development (L&D) Global Sentiment Survey which asks L&D professionals across the globe: “What do you think will be hot in L&D next year?” For a full recap of the results of the 2019 survey, check this blog post. 

Customer sessions and panel connect attendees

Four OpenSesame customers presented this year, sharing the intricate workings of their training program challenges, budget, how OpenSesame helps them and future goals. Speakers this year included EnerSys Inc., InComm, Carrington Mortgage, and Toshiba America Business Solutions. 

A customer panel, hosted by Donald Taylor, was a highlight for attendees this year! Attendees heard from L&D peers from WCA Waste Corporation, Pacific Seafood, and EnerSys. The discussion was interactive, thoughtful and covered topics such as leadership development, growing training programs, how to find elearning, their favorite professional development books, and more. 

Publisher expo

OpenSesame curates courses from our comprehensive library of 20,000+ courses from the world’s top course publishers. Eighteen of OpenSesame’s publishers joined us at the user conference in our first ever Publisher Expo. During the Expo,  customers met with publishers to learn and demo new courses offered through OpenSesame. In addition, two course publishers were featured speakers this year, Shawn Hunter from Mindscaling and Jeff Havens from The Jeff Havens Company. 

Networking at the OpenSesame office followed by world-class women’s soccer

After a busy first day of sessions and meetings, conference attendees visited the OpenSesame’s office in the heart of downtown Portland. After light snacks and office tours (as well as a greeting by an office dog!) attendees headed to Portland’s Providence Park to watch the Portland Thorns take on the North Carolina Courage, two defending NWLS champions! It was a beautiful night for soccer and networking with speakers, peers, the OpenSesame team and more.

Honoring the first ever OpenSesame Learning Excellence Award winners

The Learning Excellence Awards program recognizes OpenSesame customers that leverage learning technology, creativity, innovation and blended learning in developing successful training programs. OpenSesame CEO Don Spear and SVP Marketing Diane Haines hosted the award ceremony, which highlighted unique training programs and showcased the relationship OpenSesame customers have with their OpenSesame customer success team. It was a celebratory event to remember!

Winners this year included:

• • Most Creative Launch of a Training Program or Initiative – Incomm
  • Most Innovative Training Program – EnerSys Inc.
  • Most Successful Training Program or Initiative – GenesisCare
  • Successful Use of Blended Learning – Aimbridge Hospitality
  • Most Innovative Learning Culture – Choctaw Nation

Closing remarks and farewell until next year

After a busy two days it came time to say goodbye. After closing with the 2019 OpenSesame Learning Excellence Awards, OpenSesame CEO Don Spear closed the event by thanking attendees, our publishers and partners for joining. we hope you join us in Portland next year for the 2020 OpenSesame User Conference!

The post Highlights from 2019 OpenSesame User Conference appeared first on OpenSesame.