Heading into the final quarter of the year can be overwhelming and when it comes to training, sometimes it can be hard to find quick courses to help people continue to learn, while still staying focused on the job at hand. We’ve created a few ways for you to find content that can easily fit into any day. As always, you can check out our 12 Months of Learning, where we are featuring content in health and safety for non-office environments and introductory courses on project management. If you are looking for other short courses, we also cover three content partners below to help you meet that need.

What content partners should you check out this month?

Mindscaling, a US content partner, designs leadership training that makes an impact. They have over 200 courses, primarily under 15 minutes, in our Premium library covering some of the more unique aspects of leadership and have created learner paths on topics like Creating a More Balanced Workplace, Innovation, Doing the Right Thing, and a series of the Small Acts pathways on Confidence, Innovation, Kindness, and Team Management, just to name a few.

Mindscaling courses include real-life scenarios, action-oriented next steps, quizzes, and testimonials that will help you feel confident about the training you are providing to your leaders and they are all available through the Go1 Premium Library. 

Based out of France, Cegos provides us with a large variety of courses focused on the top soft skills needed in the workplace, e.g., stress management, time management, leadership, communication, and leadership. These high quality courses also come in a number of different languages, including French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Italian, and Portuguese.  With all courses under 30 minutes, Cegos is a great option to refresh a skill or learn something new in one short course.   

Below are a few courses our customers love from Cegos:

The 12 guidelines of effective time management

Allara is a leading provider in hospitality, retail, business skills, and leadership and management.  This Australian based content partner provides us with over 90 modern, animated courses, ranging from 10 to 60 minutes, including compliance in hospitality and retail. 

Interested in their most popular courses in Go1? Check out:

What great new content have our current content partners added to the Content Hub?

AssembleYou, a favorite for those who love audio learning, has added 7 new titles to their popular collection of podcast-style courses, including Speaking with Authority, Agile Leadership, Courageous Leadership, and Why Diverse Businesses are Winning.

Mindscaling brings their instructional design expertise to bear on their new People-Focused Leadership series, which includes 6 titles: Be Engaged, Be a Learner, Be Courageous, Be Resilient, Be Intentional, and Be Compassionate.

Mi-Crow specializes in microlearning (get it?) and they showcase their expertise with a new series of Mindfulness courses. Available as a comprehensive 57-minute learning experience, or stand-alone chapters that range from 1-4 minutes each. Chapter titles include What Time Off is For, Learn the Power of No, Don’t Always Expect Perfection, and Cheat Days are Important.

iAM Learning is breaking new ground with their innovative series around menopause, which includes Menopause Awareness at Work (Managers & Employees), Menopause - Asking for Support (for Employees), Menopause - Providing Support (for Managers), as well as Let’s Talk About Menopause – FlipCards.

Simon Sez IT, a trusted and prolific technology Content Partner, has added several exciting new collections: a 32-part series called Tableau Masterclass (which is also available as a comprehensive 5-hour course); a 111-part series focused on Power BI [also available grouped by level: Beginners (4 hours), Beginner to Intermediate (10 hours), and Intermediate – Beyond the Basics (6 hours)]; a 63-part series about dashboards in Excel; and a 44-part series called Python for Everybody. These collections are available all together in a 21-hour Data Analysts Toolbox: Advanced Excel, Python, Power BI, PivotTables.

Packt is a go-to for the latest in programming, data analytics, and devops, and they continue to grow their content offering with 10 new courses, including Cryptography Algorithms, Full-Stack Web Development with GraphQL and React, Designing React Hooks the Right Way, and Zero to Hero Java SpringBoot and JPA Mastery with Real Project. Packt has also added a 1558-minute course (that’s over 25 hours!) called Android Jetpack Compose - Build Android Native UIs Fast.

tts learning architects offers a quick demonstration of how to ensure Microsoft documents are accessible in their 1-minute video Are your documents accessible?

For most of us, days are busy and it can be hard to sneak learning in.  This past month, I have been focusing on content that is in different formats, allowing me to learn while I do other things.  I’ve recently taken a few courses from AssembleYou. Most of AssembleYou’s courses are audio-driven, but also often include additional documents, like transcripts and infographics, as well as a final quiz, to help create a more formal learning experience. This week I listed to Why Diverse Businesses are Winning.  This 15-minute course talked about how diverse teams helps avoid groupthink and actually catch more errors because they focus more on facts.  This was a great reminder on why it’s important to make a conscious effort to build diverse teams and set everyone up for success.  AssembleYou’s content is a great option if you are interested in learning more on your commute or walking your dog.

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What content partners should you check out this month? This September edition highlights content for health and safety in non-office environments and introductory courses on project management.

The Go1 Content Insider - September 2022 edition

What content partners should you check out this month? This September edition highlights content for health and safety in non-office environments and introductory courses on project management.  

Logistics is a complex industry that requires meticulous planning and execution to ensure deadlines are met. Not doing so can have a knock-on effect, which can damage professional relationships and lead to lost revenue.

To consistently deliver a high level of service, what logistics skills are necessary? Below, we’re going to take a look at which skills employees need to progress in logistics, and what skills managers need to lead their teams effectively.

What are some fundamental skills required in logistics?

Many logistics skills and competencies are needed to make sure an operation runs smoothly. Without your team members possessing these crucial skills, your business won’t work as effectively as it should.

Data is the key to making good decisions, so the ability to analyze data will allow employees to put plans in place. By having and using data, employees can spot trends and patterns, and accurately forecast what may come in the future. This means solid knowledge of spreadsheets and mathematics is also important.

Without strict planning and organization, it’s impossible to successfully progress in logistics. Without proper organization, deadlines won’t be met, which means unhappy customers who won’t continue to use your services. Not only can this lead to lost revenue, but also potentially increased costs as your business struggles to pick up the slack caused by poor planning.

This may seem obvious, but skills in certain industries may not translate to the relevant skills for logistics and supply chain management. For example, knowledge of engineering and technology is needed, and the ability to inspect and maintain vehicles.

Warehouses are full of potential risks, so good safety knowledge is imperative not just from a legal perspective, but also from a moral perspective to ensure all employees work in a safe environment.

Part of this includes optimizing the layout of a warehouse to improve workflow and productivity and using the relevant technology to improve safety and automate certain processes.

Online warehouse safety courses are a quick and cost-effective way for all employees to learn this important information.

Despite meticulous planning, unfortunately, sometimes there can be unexpected and unpreventable delays. Because of this, flexibility and adaptability are crucial, especially for drivers who spend a lot of time on the road. Supply chains are complex, with many individual moving parts, so the ability to remain calm and evolve will ensure any changes are dealt with swiftly.

Every member of the team plays an important role in the supply chain. It’s a cliche, but also one that’s true - a chain is as strong as its weakest link. Stepping up and being accountable means every team member can shine.

What other skills will help further your logistics career?

The skills needed for logistics and supply chain management don’t end there - for those looking to climb the ladder and advance their careers in the industry, there are plenty more skills to develop.

An important part of good warehouse logistics skills - and logistics skills in general - is team management. It also falls under organizational skills but is more specific to how managers organize and manage their teams.

One of the difficulties with team management in logistics is how to manage employees who are on the road for most of the day. Warehouse staff are a little easier to manage, but trust also goes a long way.

Strong leadership skills will allow managers to effectively oversee teams, and keep productivity and efficiency high. To do this, managers must motivate and engage employees on a consistent basis.

A big part of effective team management, but also important when dealing with stakeholders and customers, is communication. Encouraging openness and honesty will allow for communication to come from both sides and create a more comfortable working environment.

As well as being able to communicate what it is they want to say, managers also need to be great listeners. By not listening, managers will never be destined to be truly great communicators.

Your teams can learn more by taking easily accessible communication courses.

We’ve already covered flexibility above, but more specific to managers and senior employees is contingency planning.

Disruptions can and do happen, so having confidence and the ability to quickly create a solid contingency plan will prevent further issues. This includes assessing potential risks, communicating with customers, and sourcing alternatives where necessary.

As with any business, budget management is a key skill for a logistics manager. Because budgets are fixed, any unexpected or higher than anticipated costs can eat into potential profits, which can have a negative impact on the entire business. So, while the task of delivering on time is crucial, doing so within budget is equally as important.

A part of progressing in a logistics career is also helping others progress in their own. To do this, developing talent by providing feedback and constructive criticism will ensure employees continue to grow. That means becoming a mentor and coaching team members, contractors and freelancers will not only help them to progress but improve the overall performance of their team.

Where can you learn more and boost your logistics skills?

Ready to help develop talent within your organization? Go1 has a wide range of online logistics courses available to access right now. For more information on how Go1 can help your business with its training and development, book a demo with a member of our team today.

Logistic roles require keen strategic and planning skills, but there’s much more required to be at the top of your game. Check out these top logistics skills!

The tops skills to progress in a logistics career | Go1

The top skills to progress in a logistics career

Over the past year, the Emerging Stronger team has developed a series of tools to make it simple for L&D professionals to embrace evidence-informed tactics to improve business impact. In the fifth of this series of “Making it Simple to Do the Right Thing”, Shannon TIpton introduces you to the Cultivating Learning in Workplace Communities Tool.

Download the Cultivating Learning in Workplace Communities Tool here. 

A community is “a way of being together with both individual authenticity and interpersonal harmony so that people become able to function with a collective energy even greater than the sum of their individual energies.”  M. Scott Peck

Communities create belonging. And this is particularly true in the workplace today. When people feel as though they belong to a workplace community, they become more dedicated to their group and become more motivated to level-up their performance. 

Studies tell us that those who feel isolated in life also feel hopeless. And within the workplace that feeling is compounded by a sense of powerlessness and apathy, which ultimately can take its toll on morale, productivity and engagement. 

Today our workplace communities have the same potential for creating a sense of belonging, especially with the increase in remote working. In fact the glue that has been keeping us connected is enterprise collaboration and the technology that enables it. Last year Gartner revealed that 80% of workers were using tools such as Slack, MS Teams in 2021, up 44% from 2019.

These online communities provide us with fertile ground in which learning can grow. All we needs is a plan to prepare, sow, and nurture. What is more, the rewards of that plan is a harvest of learning, a  sense of belonging, an increase in psychological safety that develops an energy for creating positive change.

Here we will guide you through the benefits of using the Cultivating learning in Workplace Communities Tool – with some handy hints on how to best incorporate this tool into your workplace toolkit. 

Benefits of using the Cultivating Learning In Workplaces Communities

Encourage people to take responsibility for their own continuous learning

Support people as they learn from work and each other

Improve performance through practice, reflection and collaboration

Build and sustain motivation through connection, accountability and progress

Given all the information about the benefits of learning within workplace communities, why don’t we see more of them in action? What is the barrier? 

Generally, the reasons for why workplace communities fail are numerous, if not somewhat predictable. 

Competing platforms - every department is acting in silo’s. This leads to duplication of effort without alignment with the organizational strategy and business goals. This results in platform over-population.

Lack of top-down, management support - Generally L&D will put in place a platform, place together a limited communication plan and hope that people will start conversing and engaging on the platform. There may be a “honeymoon” period but shortly the enthusiasm dies down, and the platform becomes a ghost town. 

Organizational competitiveness - it is very hard to be collaborative and share openly if an employee knows that s/he will be judged and measured against their peers. This turns team members into opponents. When behaviors are focused on win-lose outcomes, building a community can be difficult. 

However, despite the barriers in front of us, it’s critical to find, nurture and support the learning that is occurring in the workplace communities growing within our organizations. While it may seem a daunting task, it’s not impossible. Just as one may consider tackling a weed strewn plot of land as more effort than reward. We know that with the proper tools and plan, the weeds will eventually be a proper flower garden.

With the Cultivating Learning in Workplace Communities Tool we adopt the analogy of a community being a fertile ground which can be nurtured into a garden that blooms of learning. Subsequently then, this tool will help you to cultivate and support learning in the communities that are currently woven throughout the organization - both formal and informal.

This tool has templates to take you through five parts:

Part 1 – Dig into purpose: As mentioned, what is the purpose of the community “garden”. Dig around to unearth why people are gathering in this space, what they are trying to do there and set learning goals that support this purpose.

Identify Purpose. Identify who is working in this space and the problems or opportunities that have drawn them together (e.g: onboarding support to new starters in the organisation).

Define learning goals. Set goals that support the group’s purpose with indicators that will help you know if you are on track (e.g reduce time for new starters to reach competency).

Identify priority knowledge, skills or topics. Make a short list of priority skill or knowledge topics to (e.g. How to answer customer complaints, how to find critical information).

Part 2 – Prepare the ground: Understand and improve the growing conditions of the community garden. Is the garden set-up for success?

Is the purpose or common interests of the community clear so people can decide if the learning is relevant to them?

Are guidelines posted that describe how people are expected to participate and behave in the community? 

It is easy to join the community? Are you asking people to jump through too many hoops?

Part 3: Sowing into your community: To support learning and performance, know what seeds to sow and why. Sowing is about seeding the learning process in the community with relevant content, questions, and activities. Applying principles from learning science will ensure you not only drive engagement and interaction but provide essential nutrients to grow learning.

Thoughtfully curate quality content that is relevant to the community learning goals and share it in a way that seeds engagement. 

Be a role model and share content effectively. 

Questions are a powerful way to stimulate learning. Review recent community discussions to find examples of effective questions.

Part 4: Nurture community learning: How to water, fertilize, weed and prune the garden in order for learning to thrive.

Weed the garden! Make it easy for people to find current and relevant content, find interesting conversations and each other.

Look for areas where engagement and learning are happening and support it’s growth.

Make it easy for community members to support each other, showcase SME’s or others who are contributing value. 

Part 5: Harvest results: Gather and use the fruits of your labour. Look for signs of learning maturing.

Gather the crop (find the information or learning that is “ripe” to share)

Prepare the harvest for distribution! Save resources being shared and created into a repository, tagging them for easy search.

Plan how to use the information gathered, can the resources be reused in other “gardens”?

Download the tool for guidance notes and templates for each part of Cultivating Learning in Workplace Communities Tool. 

As with anything, there is no “one-size-fits-all” solution. The needs of your organization will vary.

As you unearth the variety of communities established in your organization, you will find that every learning community will have their own shared goals built around the people within it. Think of this tool as one to help support and nurture a community specific learning journey. 

The best learning community environments are collaborative, with open communication that’s aimed at promoting a rich experience that allows for the sharing of ideas, finding answers, and filling in skill or knowledge gaps. But also, a well-nurtured workplace learning community will provide support and even have a bit of fun together.

Employees everywhere are looking for a deeper partnership with the business, are wanting stronger bonds with colleagues, and are looking for clear paths to collaborate and learn. This tool can help you achieve these goals. 

In this series we have seen that most of the tools work just fine on their own, but work at their best when combined with other complementary tools. 

The Cultivating Learning in Workplace Communities Tool does work stand but will provide even more impact when combined with others in this series:

Use the Cultivating Learning In Workplace Communities Tool with other tools in this series

Needs Analysis Tool: Use this tool to double check that your workplace community activties become essential support business critical needs vs an unwelcome add on.

Curation Decision Tool: Use the curation decision tool to create laser focus on the best content to sow in your communities. 

Power Hour Tool: Use the Power Hour tool to inject accountability and visibiity into your workplace community strategies

Communication Plan Launch Tool: Use the communication planning tool to explore smart ways of  leveraging your communities to engage your community and maintain learning momentum 

Improving Impact Tool: Use your improving impact tool to help clarify what conversations you need to encourage to uncover impact and use your workplace community harvest to feed the data in your improving impact tool

You may also be interested in the previous blogs in this series:
Making it simple to conduct a needs analysis conversation, where Shannon Tipton covers delivering valuable content with the Needs Analysis Tool.
Making it simple to curate with impact, which dives into moving beyond learning aggregation with the Curation Decision Tool.
Making it simple to engage with managers, Laura Overton talks through improving engagement with managers with The Power Hour Tool.
Making it simple to market learning and increase engagement, with Laura Overton exploring how to best spread the word on your learning solution with the Communication Plan Launch Tool.
Making it simple to improve impact, Laura Overton walks through a powerful and adaptive resource, the Improving Impact Tool.

L&D expert Shannon Tipton walks us through the Cultivating Learning in Workplace Communities Tool in the latest blog in our Making it Simple series.

Making it simple to cultivate learning in workplace communities

It’s been a few years since Go1 played host to the Hon Dr Jim Chalmers MP, and we were thrilled to have the now Federal Treasurer and our local member back at Go1's Logan, Queensland headquarters. 

Dr Chalmers had a fruitful meeting with myself and fellow co-founders, Andrew Barnes, Chris Eigeland and Chris Hood, where we discussed a range of issues affecting the skills supply - now and in the future - amidst a worldwide talent crunch.

He was also briefed on the progress of Go1’s new global headquarters in Logan. The co-founders reiterated Go1’s desire for Logan to become an innovation hub, and the construction of our new headquarters solidifies our commitment to this region.

Dr Chalmers then participated in our end-of-week call across 22 countries, taking questions from both our Australian and US teams about economic participation and the economy, both locally and abroad.

One question was from Brisbane resident Julia Ponder, 70, a Go1 content operations associate. She asked the Treasurer:

"How do we ensure that older people, especially women, who want to work are able to and how can their skills and experience be appreciated and valued."

Julia Ponder, Content Support Associate

“There's a couple of things I think we need to do differently.

First of all, which obviously Vu and the team are doing here, is we need a change of mindset about workers with more experience.

When it comes to government policy, we do need to be prepared to do things differently as well. One of the things that we've recently done is making it easier for people who may have retired (and) who want to work a couple more days a week or just a few more hours, without jeopardising their pension."

"But I think most of all a change of mindset, and also as part of that change of mindset - and that's why this place has such a dear place in my own heart - is when you think about that lifelong learning piece. We have to ditch this old, outdated assumption that you finish school, you do a little bit of extra training in your late teens or early 20s. And somehow that sustains you for 40 or 50 years of working life.

This is something that Vu and I have talked a lot about over the years as I've tried to stay in touch with the magic that you're doing here at Go1, which is to recognise that people need their skills constantly topped up. We need to partner with great places like Go1 to make sure that we're actually doing that."

Citing industry research, Dr Chalmers said most people had around 17 different jobs spread across five different careers and with help from Go1, government, the training sector and other players, “we need to get better at that lifelong learning piece so people can update their skills so we get the best of both worlds – experience of people who’ve been in the workforce for a while at the same time have contemporary, up-to-date skills as well”.

The Treasurer also met the next-generation of Logan software developers and engineers - kids attending Junior Engineers' Coding Camp, organised in conjunction with Go1.

The fun and educational program is an entry into the world of coding, robotics and mechatronics, and is open to 7–13-year-old children of Go1’s employees.

His visit was capped off with Tiffany Abi-Fares, Go1 marketing coordinator and Logan resident, who presented Dr Chalmers with a locally personalised hoodie.

Jim Chalmers champions Go1’s lifelong learning vision as he joins teams from 22 countries on a weekly call and visits children participating in Go1’s coding camp.

Federal Treasurer visits Go1

Who knows best? Who works the hardest? Who’s suffered the most hardship and come out the other side stronger than ever? For as long as there have been generations, there’s been a battle of sorts between them. 

And while I’m sure we all, no matter what generation we are, like to believe our own generation has the right way of thinking, that may not be the case. As much as many of us favour our own generation more than the others, each generation has unique strengths and weaknesses. 

Additionally, it can be really easy to pigeonhole and say that “people of a certain generation always do this”. While we should steer clear of pigeonholing, we can use each generation’s  typical characteristics  to understand their backstories and perceptions. As a result, workplaces can determine the most effective ways to lead and engage with a variety of age groups in a way that benefits everyone. 

With this in mind, let’s analyse the strengths of each generation – from Baby Boomers to Gen Z – including how generations can learn from each other to transform the workplace for the better. 

Some of their workplace habits may be viewed as outdated or no longer relevant by younger generations. However, the way Baby Boomers handle themselves in the workplace has seen them not just survive periods of uncertainty but thrive during them. And that’s something all generations could use help with right now. 

Baby Boomers in the workplace are also characterised by their commitment to their jobs, being more dedicated than any other generation. Furthermore, 53% of organisations say that they work well with others, making them an excellent addition to any team. Baby Boomers’ dedication to their workplace, combined with their excellent team skills, makes them excellent mentors for younger generations. 

While the fact that many Baby Boomers are not retiring despite being of retirement age may be perceived as a demonstration of their work ethic, it can also mean that many Baby Boomers struggle to maintain a work-life balance. Just as younger generations often turn to Baby Boomers to act as their workplace mentors, Baby Boomers can turn to younger generations to learn the secret to the elusive work-life balance. 

It’s no secret that during particularly busy times, work can feel all-consuming. Before we know it, work seems to become our whole lives. Previous generations may have believed that the harder you work, the more rewards you’ll enjoy. 

However, Gen X revolutionised the workplace by discovering the value of having a work-life balance. Prioritising work-life balance doesn’t mean that Gen X are less motivated at work. In fact, 70% of organisations believe that Gen X are the best workers. They’re also considered  the biggest revenue generators for businesses. 

Members of Gen X were also the first generation to grow up with computers as part of their everyday lives, both at home and at school. That’s a significant adjustment! Despite what could have seemed like a scary change, Gen X took it in their stride and thus began their journey of being self-sufficient, ambitious learners.  

This isn’t something that started and stopped with formal education. Members of Gen X have continued this behaviour throughout their career journeys.  

Something that goes hand in hand with their ambition is Gen X’s appreciation of constructive feedback. This doesn’t necessarily mean that members of Gen X want a strict work environment (they typically despise being micromanaged). However, it does mean that they care about and seek out ways to continuously improve and don’t mind if they have to hear some occasional tough love. 

Like everything, there are pros and cons to Gen X’s ambition and desire to be self-sufficient. They are also masters of self-deprecation. To help combat this, members of Gen X can consult with their Gen Z colleagues who are much more open to asking for help when it comes to wellbeing at work.

Alternatively, for members of Gen X who are shyer or would prefer to tackle self-deprecation solo, there are many online courses available that specifically deal with maintaining mental wellbeing in the workplace. 

Much like their predecessors Gen X, Millennials have also grown up around technology. In particular, they grew up and began to enter the workforce right in the middle of the rise of the internet. As a result, they taught themselves a variety of digital skills and fostered within themselves a desire to learn and continuously improve. Although they may not have known it while they were growing up, this love of learning is a contagious workplace skill. When members of other generations can see Millennials’ enthusiasm for learning, it encourages them to participate. That not only benefits the learners but has positive knock-on effects for the business overall. 

While it may be easy to assume that relying quite heavily on the internet and digital skills would make Millennials less social at work, it’s actually the opposite. Millennials’ passion for the internet has inspired social media tools specifically designed for the workplace, like Slack, Skype for Business, and Microsoft Teams, which are now commonplace in many businesses.  

The interactions that colleagues of all generations have on these online platforms, whether directly related to work or not, have significant positive effects for both individuals and the business overall. In fact, Harvard Business Review found that “employees who engage in online social interactions with colleagues through social media, tend to be more motivated to come up with innovative ideas.” 

Although the benefits of social media and technology in the workplace far outweigh the detriments, if Millennials find themselves relying on it too much, they can struggle to develop in-person interpersonal skills. At this point, Millennials can look to members of older generations in the workplace who began their careers long before the internet for how to feel more confident in this aspect of the world of work. 

Millennials may have been the generation that grew up during the development of the internet, but members of Gen Z don’t remember life without it. For members of older generations, this can be pretty hard to imagine (surely we’re not that old, right?). However, it has made Gen Z the most tech-competent generation.  Further, although Gen Z are the youngest members of the workforce, they can act as tech mentors for older generations as they navigate a workforce where technology use is increasing exponentially. 

Members of Gen Z are also particularly ambitious, with two-thirds of them saying that their goal in life is to reach the top of their profession. To achieve this, networking with members of older generations who are already at their top of their field can be extremely beneficial.

Enthusiasm to grow in the workplace spreads like wildfire. When other generations see that Gen Z are motivated to learn and move their way up in the industry, it’s easier for them to be motivated too. 

Everybody knows that the internet never really ‘turns off’. There’s content being generated 24/7, whether it be related to people’s business life or their personal life. That’s a lot to focus on all at once! Growing up in this environment has meant that Gen Z are excellent multi-taskers and have come to be known as the ‘always on generation’. Such skills can be beneficial to pass on to older generations at work who may have had the rate of workplace technology use creep up on them faster than they anticipated. 

However, it can also mean that Gen Z struggle to switch off at the end of a workday.  When this issue arises, Gen X, the pioneers of the work-life balance, can be excellent mentors to Gen Z. Like all workplace skills, switching off can benefit members of all generations. 

By ensuring consistent upskilling and reskilling, members of all generations can  contribute to the improvement of the workforce and positively affect their company’s business goals. However, the emotional impact of different generations learning from each other and working together is arguably even more significant.  

If workplaces notice a generational gap, it may be worth considering broadening the typical age demographic of your workplace. In the meantime, engaging in workplace learning that actively seeks to improve some of the workplace habits of each generation can make a significant difference. 

When employees are happy, psychologically safe and motivated, they are far more likely to contribute their best work. This, of course, creates knock-on effects for the company overall, including improving retention rates and enticing other potentially high-value future employees to want to work for your company. 

For more insights into how you can use generational skills to help benefit your workplace overall, subscribe to the Go1 newsletter to stay on top of all the latest L&D trends. Or, you can book a demo today to find out how Go1 can help with your team’s learning needs. 

Let's take a look at the strengths of each generation – from Baby Boomers to Gen Z – and how different generations can learn from each other to transform the workplace for the better. 

How each generation’s strengths can transform the workplace

Over the past year, the Emerging Stronger team has developed a series of tools. These are built to make it simple for L&D professionals to embrace evidence-informed tactics to improve business impact. In the Sixth (and final) of this series of “Making it Simple to Do the Right Thing”, Michelle Ockers walks us strategically through the Improving Impact Tool.

You can download the Improving Impact Tool here.

When you talk about how your learning solutions add value, do you tend to focus on learning metrics like activity and engagement? Or are you comfortable and adept at discussing the business impact of your work, and linking it to a sound up-front needs analysis?

Even when L&D has worked with the business to be clear on what needs to be achieved, we tend to then work independently. We may get input from Subject Matter Experts as we curate content or develop a learning solution. However, we only occasionally engage others in solution development and delivery. Similarly, our evaluation mindset and practices limit the potential benefits available to us. We are often too inwardly focused, seeking to demonstrate how we add learning value. However, this doesn’t tell us whether our solutions have any impact on performance. 

Here we will guide you through using the Improving Impact Tool – with some handy hints on how to best incorporate this tool into yours and your manager’s toolkit.

Improving Impact Tool: Emerging Stronger

Interdependence and continuous improvement

According to the 2021 Learning Performance Benchmark Report, only 12% of L&D teams collect learning intelligence from line managers.

This is indicative of the the opportunity to engage others, particularly managers, to create shared ownership of solutions and responsibility to increase impact. Adopting a continuous improvement mindset regarding the purpose of evaluation leads to very different practices and outcomes. Engage in ongoing smarter conversations with managers that focus on key areas linked to improving impact, using evidence to inform your conversations and guide you to adapt your course.

This tool helps you to have smarter conversations to improve the impact of learning solutions in order to help you:

Engage others, particularly managers, to create shared ownership of solutions

Approach evaluation with a growth mindset

Efficiently identify and make evidence-informed improvements to solutions

Increase the business impact of solutions

Demonstrate the value that solutions have added 

Gather, use and share appropriate data to achieve all of the above

The tool offers straightforward, practical evaluation steps that can be undertaken with limited time and basic data literacy. 

The tool includes templates to guide you through a series of 30 minute conversations with managers whose team members are participating in a learning intervention. It also includes three separate conversation guides to help you prepare for and have smarter conversations (A) before, (B) during and (C) after a learning intervention. It includes visual ‘roadmaps’ of key check-in points in the life of both short and longer, more complex interventions.

Each conversation consists of three steps: 

Identify invitees and book the conversation

Review actions from preceding conversations and update the action log

Tailor the conversation guide if appropriate 

Ask questions as per the conversation guide

Agree actions and note them in the action log

Provide conversation participants with a copy of the competed guide with your notes

Continue monitoring completion of agreed actions

Each guide provides suggestions for when to have the conversation, specific preparation and questions to explore. You’ve got space to note outcomes and an action log template to keep track of actions from all of your conversations for a specific intervention in one place.

The real secret sauce in this tool that sets it apart from other ‘evaluation’ approaches, is the emphasis on gathering evidence that allows you to take immediate action. For example, the questions in the ‘During a learning intervention’ guide are in three sections titled:

Supporting participants to take action in their work

Evaluating progress against business metrics

What are you waiting for? I bet you have a learning intervention underway right now that you can use this tool to improve impact. Download the tool for guidance notes and templates for each of the Improving Impact conversations.

Context varies, so here’s some ideas to help you apply this tool in different situations to gain impact.

Pick your start point – a solution in development where you can identify a manager who cares about business impact and is willing to partner with you. Try using the tool with limited customization the first time, then experiment and refine how you are using it for best results.

Improving Impact offers a fresh way of thinking about the purpose of evaluation, and a straightforward practical approach that shares responsibility for monitoring progress and driving higher business impact. It’s good for you, good for the managers, and good for your business!

Over time these smarter conversations will shift your relationship with managers, lift your business impact, and boost your credibility and reputation as a value-adding business partner.

In this series we have seen that most of the tools in the Go1 Step Further Toolkit work just fine on their own, but work at their best when combined with other complementary tools. This is especially the case for the Needs Analysis Tool and Improving Impact Tool. 

Use the Improving Impact Tool with others in this series

Needs Analysis Tool: Use this tool to define business outcomes for a learning intervention before you start designing it, and then tracking and driving achievement of these outcomes through your Improving Impact conversations. 

Curation Decision Tool: Use the curation decision tool to carefully curate quality resources, then review the use and value of those resources in your Improving Impact conversations. Review and refine your curation decisions.

Power Hour Tool: Use the Power Hour tool to run a complementary team session to reflect on and engage them in driving the impact of a learning intervention.

Communication Plan Launch Tool: Use the communication planning tool to improve awareness of, and engagement with, your continuous improvement activities as you launch learning interventions and share improvement actions.

You may also be interested in the previous blogs in this series:
Making it simple to conduct a needs analysis conversation, where Shannon Tipton covers delivering valuable content with the Needs Analysis Tool.
Making it simple to curate with impact, which dives into moving beyond learning aggregation with the Curation Decision Tool.
Making it simple to engage with managers, Laura Overton talks through improving engagement with managers with The Power Hour Tool.
Making it simple to market learning and increase engagement, with Laura Overton exploring how to best spread the word on your learning solution with the Communication Plan Launch Tool.

Assessing the impact a learning solution is having can be complex. The Improving Impact Tool has been built to align and improve the business impact of L&D.

Making it simple to improve impact

By enabling students to take control of their own learning experience, eLearning can already be a less stressful way for employees to upskill and improve their knowledge. But, eLearning doesn’t necessarily remove all the general stresses that can come with the learning process.

However, your business and your employees can take steps to create a stress-free learning environment.

In order to learn in the best way possible, creating an environment that allows for focus and concentration is essential. Find out more with the experts at Go1.

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