From time to time, the question comes up: does Go1 invest in other companies? We think about that question in the context of how we achieve our mission to unlock positive potential through a love of learning.   

There is so much potential in the world, and so many opportunities to help people learn better. We see this every day in how fostering a love of learning can help people get new jobs, be more effective at their work, deliver better for their customers, and develop themselves as individuals. The world is moving quickly, and learning needs to as well. 

At Go1, the main way we’re helping to unlock that potential is by building the world’s best subscription library for corporate learning, and by opening up our technology for content creators to deliver excellent training to their customers directly. We think there’s a better way to get access to the learning and development experiences employers, employees, and citizens need, and we’re proud to be building it at Go1. 

However, we’re not the only people with amazing ideas about how to unlock people’s positive potential, and how to make learning and development better. There are lots and lots of great companies out there making products that we think are pretty great, and so wherever we can we like to help those companies succeed. 

One way we do that is by working with our content partners and our affiliate partners to help them build great businesses of their own. For content partners, that often looks like providing an additional income stream by being part of Go1 Premium. And on top of that, providing them with data and analytics to identify what the next great bit of content they should build is.  

It could also look like using Go1 Connect to deliver their content to wherever they want it to be. For our affiliate partners, that looks like providing Go1 Premium alongside their own great products to produce an amazing L&D experience for their customers. 

Another way we do that is by investing in great companies who are building amazing things we want to see in the world, and our investment can help catalyze. We’re not a VC fund, but we do like backing great companies where we think one plus one can be (much, much) greater than two.   

One example of this is News Over Audio (Noa). Noa makes it convenient for time-sensitive people to understand and know more about the news that matters, in minutes. Their editors work with some of the world’s biggest publications to curate and consciously package articles in a way that guides you through the biggest news topics. Their team of celebrated narrators then read these articles word-for-word so that you can listen anytime, anywhere. 

Why we have invested in Noa is that we see in them a company that is building a great product to make it easier for people to learn about the world around them. In this case, by putting great content into a format that is easier for people to find time to understand. We think Noa’s product is highly complementary with Go1’s own, so much so that we offer every Noa listener a Go1 learner record so they can connect up all of the things they’re learning. We also offer Noa subscriptions to all of our own staff for free. 

 Another set of examples are companies we have partnered with to co-fund the creation of amazing content we want to see in the world. Our content partners are building fantastic learning experiences, and when the right opportunity comes up for us to catalyze that content being made sooner, better, we co-fund its creation.   

A great example of this is our work with social impact organizations to help them create L&D content so that the impact of their missions can live on in the workplace. We're proud of our work with organisations like Challenge DV and Beyond Blue, that has brought learning experiences on important social topics that people can watch and re-watch at their own pace. 

So hopefully that’s given you a taste of how Go1 thinks about our mission of unlocking positive potential through a love of learning, and how investing in other companies can help achieve that mission. 

For more insights, 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.

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At Go1, our mission is to unlock the positive of potential of over a billion people through a love of learning. The main way we’re doing that is by building the world’s best subscription library for corporate learning. But we’re also doing that by investing in other companies who we think are building amazing things.

How does Go1 think about investing in other companies?

At Go1, our mission is to unlock the positive of potential of over a billion people through a love of learning. The main ways we’re doing that is by building the world’s best content for corporate learning and by investing in other companies who are building amazing things.

Picture two co-workers. The first is busy all day, racing from meeting to meeting, replying to messages, staring down a to-do list, and barely taking a second to breathe. The second appears to have time on their side, working at a methodical pace and taking regular breaks between tasks. Who do you think is more productive? 

Conventional wisdom suggests the first person is more likely to be productive. After all, the more time you spend working, the more you’re likely to get done, right? Many of us have been conditioned to believe in this ‘work til you drop’ attitude. 

In reality, the second person, who opts to take regular breaks, is significantly more likely to be productive, as they give their brain the time it needs to reset and process information. New research by Microsoft finds that taking regular breaks decreases the risk of employee burnout while also improving focus and engagement and helping people manage stress. In this case, the old adage rings true: work smarter, not harder. 

Unfortunately, many people probably relate more closely to the first person in this scenario. You might even know the feeling: you work and work, until sometime in the afternoon after yet another Zoom meeting, you feel the tension build up in your temples or the stress pool in your stomach. This way of working is unsustainable and, ultimately, unproductive. 

We’ll dig into this new research on why our brains need breaks, looking at the case for taking breaks, as well as the benefits of breaks for productivity. 

Sometimes, ‘break’ can be a dirty word in our breakneck, fast-paced modern culture. When you’re always on the go, facing various deadlines and pressures, it feels like there’s no time to take a break. Microsoft’s 2021 Work Trend Index report backs this up, finding that 54% of respondents feel overworked, while 39% say they are outright exhausted.

Many feel the pressure is always on to be succeeding, achieving, and boosting their productivity. There’s no time for a break — I’ll sleep when I’m dead! However, when we step back, take a deep breath, and critically evaluate this mindset, we realise it couldn’t be further from the truth.

The case for taking breaks is clear-cut. Put simply, our brains are designed for sprints, not marathons. They need time to rest, reset, and consolidate knowledge. Without this, our brains cannot function optimally. It is often during these moments when we are not actively thinking about anything that our best ideas suddenly come to us — those brilliant ‘lightbulb’ moments. 

This phenomenon is no coincidence. As Psychology Today explains, “the frontal lobe brain networks — responsible for reasoning, planning, decision-making, and judgment — work for you in creative ways when the brain is quiet, not while you are effortfully trying to find a solution to a problem. Moments of insight increase as the brain unwinds. Why? When not actively tackling a task, the brain connects random ideas and consolidates these with prior knowledge into exciting new thoughts, ideas, directions, and potential solutions.”

In other words, those moments when you’re putting in all your effort but running into a mental block often signal that you need a break. Increased effort does not necessarily correlate with increased productivity. In fact, this mindset is worth debunking. Obviously, you are more likely to complete a task if you work on it for 25 minutes than if you work on it for 2 minutes. However, as with many things in life, you will eventually reach a point of diminishing returns. For example, working on a task for 3 hours straight does not guarantee a better outcome than breaking that work up into four 30-minute increments. At a certain point, your brain will be crying out for a break. 

Numerous studies have attempted to quantify the benefits of downtime for our brain health. One such experiment, conducted by Marc Berman in 2008, saw 38 university students study lists of random numbers, then recite these numbers from memory in reverse order. Next, half the students took a walk in a botanical garden for an hour, while the other half walked the same distance through busy, heavily trafficked city streets for an hour. The students then memorised and recited the lists again. On average, students who walked through nature recalled 1.5 more digits than the first time they took the test, whereas those who walked through the busy city streets improved by only 0.5 digits. 

This study shows the benefits of downtime for our memory, focus, and attentiveness. Similar patterns have been observed in school students. A 2016 study by psychologist Karrie Godwin found that, during longer lessons, young primary school students were distracted about a quarter of the time. However, during shorter lessons, with more frequent breaks, attention and engagement skyrocketed. Ultimately, they determined that it was more effective to give students more breaks, settling on several 10-minute lessons rather than fewer 30-minute lessons. 

On a larger scale, a similar pattern is evident in studies of the 4-day workweek. One study from Iceland found that when workers reduced their hours from 40 to 35 per week, productivity stayed constant or rose in most workplaces. Likewise, Microsoft Japan tested a 4-day work week and saw productivity increase by 40%. 

While this might seem paradoxical, giving workers more breaks allows them more downtime to rest, reset, relax, and ultimately increase productivity. In these instances, less is definitely more. 

The benefits of breaks for productivity 

As anyone who has ever had to work long shifts will tell you, breaks are beneficial for many self-evident reasons: mental health, physical health, memory, and even attentiveness. Plus, who doesn’t like taking a 10-minute break to grab a coffee and a snack? When it comes to productivity, taking regular breaks is equally important. While this might seem counterintuitive to some people — how can working less be more productive? —  a recent Microsoft study analysed the benefits of taking breaks, concluding that our brains need regular breaks to maintain productivity. 

During the study, 14 people attended Zoom meetings while wearing electroencephalogram (EEG) equipment — a cap to monitor the electrical activity in their brains. On the first day of testing, participants attended four back-to-back half-hour meetings, all on different topics. The following day, these meetings were interspersed with 10-minute breaks, during which time the participants completed a guided meditation.

Following the study, researchers found three key takeaways: 

1. Breaks between meetings significantly reduce stress

Raise your hand if back-to-back meetings stress you out. Well, according to Microsoft’s research, you’re not alone.  During the study, beta waves, which are associated with stress, accumulated in participants' brains when attending back-to-back meetings. In other words, participants became increasingly stressed during back-to-back meetings. 

On the other hand, when participants took a break between meetings, beta wave activity dropped, allowing for a reset. As such, participants entered the following meeting feeling more relaxed, as beta wave activity held steady and never had the chance to accumulate.

2. Taking breaks increases focus and engagement 

We all know the feeling: you’re on your third consecutive meeting, your colleague is presenting an important slide deck, you’re trying your best to focus, but your mind keeps wandering, eventually drifting off into daydreams. Luckily, science now backs up these feelings. 

According to Microsoft’s research, participants who took meditation breaks between meetings showed brainwave patterns with positive levels of frontal alpha asymmetry, which correlates to higher focus and engagement.

In contrast, participants who didn’t take breaks had (you guessed it!) negative levels of frontal alpha symmetry, suggesting negative engagement during the meeting. 

Put simply, not taking breaks between meetings made it far more difficult for people to focus.

3. Stress levels spike when transitioning between meetings

Finally, researchers noticed that if participants didn’t take breaks, stress levels spiked when transitioning between meetings. For participants who did take breaks, stress levels decreased during this period.

According to Michael Bohan, who oversaw the research, this is because “you’re coming to the end of the meeting, knowing you have another one coming right up, and you’re going to have to switch gears and use your brain to think hard about something else.”

“Our research shows breaks are important, not just to make us less exhausted by the end of the day, but to actually improve our ability to focus and engage while in those meetings,” he adds.

Ultimately, the message is clear: to maintain focus and engagement, reduce stress, and improve productivity, breaks are vital. To function at your best, breaks should be factored in as a regular part of your daily workload; just like checking your emails, replying to Slack messages, and attending meetings. 

While old-school thinking may perceive taking a break as lazy or unproductive, nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, breaks are one of the best productivity tools in your arsenal. So, next time you hit a brick wall at work, remember this breaking news: your brain needs breaks, and so do you.

For more insights, be sure to subscribe to the Go1 newsletter to stay on top of all the latest L&D trends. Or, you can check out our articles on scheduling breaks to increase productivity and why you need to switch off from technology during your break.

We’ll dig into the new research on why our brains need breaks, looking at the case for taking breaks, as well as the benefits of breaks for productivity. 

Why our brains need breaks to maintain productivity

Go1 and Workplace from Meta (formerly Facebook) announce the launch of a new integration that enables employees to easily access and engage in online training, all without leaving their workspace.  

With Workplace, Meta are on a mission to make work more personal, providing employees with a platform to connect, communicate, and collaborate. 

The Workplace platform is also ideal for delivering just-in-time micro-learning experiences, meaning learners no longer have to spend precious time switching between platforms – one of the biggest barriers to employee learning and productivity.  

“Meta has already revolutionized how people connect, and now with Workplace, that same technology can connect teams in a work setting. When organizations use unified communication tools, people become closer, teamwork gets faster, and culture gets stronger. Combine that with learning and development opportunities that are proven to boost retention, organizations can deliver more value to their customers,” said Andrew Barnes, CEO and Co-Founder of Go1. 

We’re also pleased to announce a partnership with Enablo, who are experts in transforming the employee experience and are a premium partner for Workplace. They’ve helped organization's (including some of the world’s largest) roll out Workplace as their communication and connection tool across their workforces. 

Go1’s integration is now live and available to all customers that use Workplace. 

Does your organization use Workplace from Meta? Request a demo of Go1 in Workplace today.  

To learn more about the integration, visit https://www.go1.com/workplace-from-meta  

Go1 and Workplace from Meta (formerly Facebook) announce the launch of a new integration that enables employees to easily access and engage in online training, all without leaving their workspace.

Go1 and Workplace from Meta announce new integration that removes barriers to employee learning

New integration between Go1 and Workplace from Meta enables employees to easily access and engage in online training, all without leaving their workspace.

Removing barriers to employee learning with Workplace from Meta

Written by Lauren Waldman, founder of Learning Pirate, and a revolutionary in the discipline of organisational learning and development. With nearly 20 years of experience as a learning professional, complemented by qualifications in neuroscience, Lauren is driving the evolution of the way individuals and organisations learn, approach learning, and join forces with their brains! 

Imagine this: you’ve been locked up at home for most of the year, balancing your home, social and professional life in a way you never have before. While that’s happening, you’re also experiencing a vast array of emotions and feelings, constantly wondering what’s to come next in the world. On top of all that, you’ve had to maintain productivity for work but have found it increasingly hard to focus.  

But we don’t have to imagine this. This really did happen, with many still living in a variation of this existence across the globe.   

Now let’s add learning. Learning that may need to be done to onboard as a new employee, or to upskill as an existing one.   

Learning in order to adjust and adapt to new protocols, policies, procedures, health standards and cultures.   

Learning that is required for people to do their jobs on shop and factory floors, to maintain compliance, keep people safe, understand new products and services etc.  

Does anyone else feel their levels of overwhelm increasing as you read this? A slight tightness in the chest as the pile of things to do gets bigger?  

This is what employees, otherwise known as humans, are experiencing all over the world when it comes to balancing workload, maintaining productivity, and trying to keep up with necessary learning at the same time. 

At a recent event (Learning Futures, hosted by iVentiv) myself (appearing as a floating virtual head), along with Nick Ramsay and David Hastings of Go1, facilitated a session with learning leaders to have some pretty open discussions about learning under the conditions of heavier cognitive and emotional loads. 

To bring this into context, let’s look at the brain and the science which helps us navigate all of this.  

First thing to know, the brain is expensive! And its currency is energy. Our brains are designed to process and send information through electrical signals (energy). As you may imagine, the more areas activated, the more energy is being transmitted. Not as much as you may think, but more than when you’re in the resting state. 

In the resting state, when you’re not actively participating in a task or being stimulated, like when you’re doing focused learning, the brain is consuming about 20% of the body’s energy. That’s a whole lot, considering its size and the amount of real estate it occupies in relation to your entire body. 

So how does knowing this help us as learning professionals - and everyday humans for that matter? 

 Having a baseline understanding of our own cognitive resources allows us to not only be more aware and understanding of the limitations of those around us, but enables us to help to protect them as well.  Allow me to explain. 

Focused learning takes a lot of cognitive energy. So making decisions on how to execute and roll out learning initiatives that still need to get done should take this into consideration.   

What else is going on in the organization that will need people’s cognitive energy?  

Are people navigating and adjusting to hybrid working conditions?  

These are just some of the things that are going to be taking up people’s cognitive and emotional energy.   

Slowing down, to take a greater look at the landscape of what’s going on across the organization, will help in making decisions on how much more you can add to someone’s plate without deteriorating their energy entirely. Don’t forget, people are also being consumed with managing their personal lives, which for many have now merged with their working lives.  

This doesn’t mean that learning has to stop, but it does mean that the way we go about it has to be much more strategic and intentional. So let me offer you some practical suggestions on how you can navigate that. 

Things you can take into consideration:  

Short-term training vs long-term learning: Do people need to know or be able to do something for a short period of time or do they need to learn something more permanently? It’s the difference between cramming for an exam the night before then forgetting everything a few days later vs taking the time to encode the learning into a long-term memory to transfer for future use. (The latter is going to take more time.) 

Environment: Where does the learning need to take place? And more importantly where does the transfer of that learning need to take place. When you ask yourself those questions you may find that the two don’t match up.     

If you’re learning something remotely that needs to be transferred into a specific environment, you’re going to want to consider the additional time and transfer activities that will be needed to do so. Just because I’m amazing at Mario Kart, doesn’t mean you should let me behind the wheel of a real car (yes, I know, an exaggerated example but it makes the point nicely doesn’t it?) 

And last in order, but certainly not in importance… 

Design of the learning itself: I realise that this consideration is completely blurred by my own professional bias, but it still stands as true. The beauty of understanding how the brain operates, even at a foundational level, is that you can be better informed on how to design to work with the operational system as opposed to against it. This allows us to manage the cognitive resources in more effective and efficient ways for our learners.  

Needless to say, there are several more things to share about this topic and many more things to consider, but allow me to save your cognitive energy for the next part of our journey.     

All great learning begins with awareness and if I’ve accomplished that then I’d say we’re well on our way to continuing the adventure. 

Take care of those brains, minds and bodies.  

YARR for now... (You Are Really Ready!) 

Keen to hear more insights from the webinar? Watch the full session.  

You may also like to read Lauren's article on how joining forces with our brains can help us to be more emotionally intelligent and empathetic in the workplace. 

Focused learning takes a lot of cognitive energy. Therefore, the way we go about learning has to be much more strategic and intentional. Learning Scientist Lauren Waldman offers practical suggestions on how learning leaders can navigate that moving forward. 

Carrying the cognitive load of learning 

We are excited to announce a partnership with fellow Australian start-up Pursuit Technology (creators of Acorn LMS). This integration provides Acorn LMS users access to the breadth of the Go1 Content library and the ability to map this content alongside their organisation’s capability frameworks.  

Pursuit Technology seeks to unlock the potential of the workforce through providing innovative software solutions that streamline systems. They have maintained an impressive 100% retention rate since launching Acorn LMS seven years ago, working with companies of all sizes, from local business to federal government agencies.  

Pursuit Technology believe in empowering users with their functional solutions and through partnering with Go1, can significantly scale that support.  

Blake Proberts, Managing Director & Co-Founder says: 

"By empowering organisations to map Go1 content to their capability frameworks, they are given a greater understanding and control of their internal mobility. Essentially, they’ll be able to create learning pathways with this content in Acorn that address their unique skills gaps, develop a perpetual talent supply and support individual performance plan goals.” 

Basem Emera, Go1 Vice-President of Partnerships & Alliances, said the easy integration and breadth of Go1’s content hub is a boon for Acorn LMS learners. 

“Go1 is the most comprehensive online corporate learning marketplace with more than 3.5 million learners globally. We’re looking forward to a strong partnership with Pursuit Technology that will see Go1’s content hub play a pivotal role in enhancing the learning and professional development journey for Acorn LMS users.” 

Throughout the integration’s development, every precaution has been taken to ensure high data security standards have been met. Learning and people data transferred between the Acorn and Go1 systems can be obscured during transmission to ensure it cannot be intercepted.  

Get in touch if you would like to learn more about this partnership.

New partnership with Pursuit Technology will enable stronger and more aligned learning pathways

Streamlining the learning experience with Pursuit Technology

New partnership with Pursuit Technology will enable stronger and more aligned learning pathways 

Happy and motivated employees are at the heart of a well-functioning and successful business.

Research shows that when people work with a positive mindset, performance on nearly every level – productivity, creativity, engagement – improves significantly.  

As the way in which we work continues to evolve, it is important that we are working towards creating a workplace where people feel connected, have a sense of purpose, and are appreciated and recognised for their contributions. 

“When we feel love and kindness toward others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it helps us also to develop inner happiness and peace.” 

Did you know there are scientifically proven benefits of being kind? According to the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, carrying out acts of kindness can: 

Reduce stress: kind people have 23% less cortisol (the stress hormone) and age slower than the average population. 

Reduce anxiety and depression: kindness stimulates the production of serotonin – a feel-good chemical that heals your wounds, calms you down, and boosts happiness. 

Lower blood pressure: acts of kindness create emotional warmth which releases a hormone known as oxytocin and protects the heart. 

Relieve pain: engaging in acts of kindness produces endorphins—the brain’s natural painkiller. 

Kindness is the best example of a butterfly effect. The positive effects of kindness are experienced in the brain of everyone who witnessed the act, improving their mood and thus making them more likely to “pay it forward.”  

A single act of kindness has the power to transform the world 

An act of kindness doesn't have to be a big expensive gesture. Even the smallest acts can have a great impact. Here are some easy ways you can spark a bit of joy and positivity right now: 

Find out something new about a co-worker: it can be easy to get caught in the motions of familiar conversation, especially when you see someone every day. Make an effort to learn something new about a co-worker. 

Complain less: being positive in a negative situation makes you a leader. 

Send an encouraging email: this is a sweet and simple way to boost someone’s spirits is by sending good vibes to someone’s inbox. 

Ask, "Are you okay?": This simple question can really make a real difference to anyone going through a challenging time. 

Be spontaneous: sometimes, random acts of kindness just come to you in the moment! 

Never underestimate the power of kindness 

Kindness grows in a virtuous cycle and success lies in recognising that we can influence the culture we work in by simply being kind.  

What will you do to remember kindness today? 

Kindness grows in a virtuous cycle and success lies in recognising that we can influence the culture we work in by simply being kind. What will you do to remember kindness today? 

The power of kindness in the workplace 

Whether we want to admit it or not, we’ve all experienced days where we’ve sat at our desk for what seems like hours just trying to get SOMETHING done. On those days it may feel like no matter how hard we try, the brain fog just will not shift. And distractions seem to be jumping out at us from every angle.  

This can be especially difficult when we’re trying to learn something or are required to take in and retain a lot of information. Most people will have heard the term ‘in the zone’ often in relation to an athlete trying to concentrate in a game. But what they may not know is that there’s a similar term that can apply to all of us in the workplace: ‘learning in the flow.'  

In a recent presentation, Global Industry Analyst Josh Bersin, who coined the term, discusses ‘learning in the flow’ in relation to the learning journey that comes with any job.  

“In the early part of the job, there’s a steep learning curve and then you reach a point in the job where there’s a plateau and you go through a declining learning curve where you’ve ‘got this under control’ and you need something to keep you alive and growing… so you can keep going up the curve… we want to fill in the curve with micro and macro learning offerings that are timed to fit needs depending on where you are in the curve.”  

The significant increase in the amount of discussion around the topic of learning in the workplace is undeniable. More and more workplaces are beginning to see the value of continual education for their workers. However, Bersin emphasises that, unlike in the past, “we don’t have time to get away from our office or get away from our job for weeks on end and go to courses”. 

As he goes on to say, “we also need to reinforce the fact that everybody is always reinventing themselves… humans are, by nature, learning animals.” This is just one of the reasons why learning in the flow rather than just keeping things as they’ve been in the past is so important. 

Almost more important than the education itself is that the workers participating in that learning are engaged in it and can maintain focus. Naturally, when workers are engaged in what they do, they’re likely to care more about what they do and become aligned workers. Aligned workers are those that have a clear understanding of their company’s goals, their personal goals and how the two relate to each other. A study conducted by business communication platform Slack, found that 90% of aligned workers know what they need to do to be successful. They’re therefore far more likely to be able to maintain productivity. 

While aligned workers are no doubt beneficial to a company, the Slack study found that aligned workers are more likely than unaligned workers to have over 10 meetings per day. This can often mean a lot of switching between different apps as you navigate the day, such as jumping between your emails, messages, video calls, and livestreams. 

Businesses may initially struggle to see such a strong link between the use of multiple programs and productivity. Surely, switching between apps doesn’t take that much time out of the day, right? Wrong. According to the Slack study, 64% of aligned workers spend more than 30 minutes a day switching between applications. That's a considerable amount of time when you think about it! 

This context switching (changing between apps) disrupts the flow. If we didn’t have to switch so often between apps, we’d in theory have up to 30 minutes extra per day to get things done, whether that be general work tasks or additional learning. 

In a world where so many of our industries are ruled by deadlines, this is particularly important. This is exactly the issue that Slack and other communication platforms attempt to tackle. By providing users with the ability to install and access dozens of apps all in the one, Slack removes one of the barriers that disrupts the flow - and therefore paves the way for continuous and meaningful learning in the workplace.   

Furthermore, it’s no secret that humans thrive on connection. The last 18 months, as we’ve all had to deal with the implications of a global pandemic, have forced us to look at connection and communication in the workplace in whole new ways. Workplaces have been forced to ask questions like: ‘what will work meetings look like now that people work from home?’ and ‘how can we be sure to maintain the morale that we have in office and extend it to those that work remotely?’  

Applications like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Workplace from Meta (formerly Facebook) attempt to remedy this and provide a platform that seeks to become an all-in-one solution to these questions. Whether it’s through online chat, watching livestreams or video calls, workplaces beginning to actively push for these types of platforms have opened the door to more flexibility both in learning and in the workplace in general. 

There really are infinite possibilities for the workplace when workers can learn together, then follow up that learning with discussion, all in the one place, even if they work remotely. 

At Go1, we have been keeping a close eye on this trend and believe learning should be a natural part of employees’ days. That’s why we developed our Microsoft and Workplace integrations, to decrease the switching between apps and assist with learning in the flow of work. 

Our latest solution that will also help support learning in the flow is Go1 Connect. Go1 Connect enables L&D providers to distribute content directly to the environments their customers use, whilst still allowing them to have full control. If you’re ready to learn more about Go1 Connect or have any questions, check out this page. We can’t wait to hear what you think!

Whether your workplace’s journey towards learning in the flow and minimising productivity barriers is just beginning, or you’re already well on your way, there is one major point that Bersin wants us to take home: “the more time you can learn, the better. There is no limit or saturation point to learning.” 

Most people will have heard the term ‘in the zone’ but what they may not know is that there’s a similar term that can apply to all of us in the workplace: ‘learning in the flow’.

How 'learning in the flow' can break down productivity barriers

Most people will have heard the term ‘in the zone’ but what they may not know is that there’s a similar term that can apply to all of us in the workplace: ‘learning in the flow.’

In this informative and thought-provoking webinar, Lauren Waldman, founder of Learning Pirate, is joined by Helen Marshall of Thrive, and Go1 Head of Content Partnerships, David Hastings to discuss humanising the workplace in a post-pandemic world. 

The session came off the back of a ground-breaking piece of research between Learning Pirate, Go1, and Learning and Performance Institute (LPI), which delved deep into the state of the current workplace.  

The research showed a workforce experiencing emotional strain like never before, and the impact that strain was having on leadership who want to do their best by their teams. All three panellists in this webinar share their experiences from the past two years and what they’ve learned along the way to help humanise the workplace.  

Showing vulnerability in the workplace

A key lesson shared between the attendees and the hosts was the challenge of bringing a new mental and emotional mindset into a professional environment. Not only is it a struggle to articulate personal emotions but it’s doubly hard to then vocalise those emotions to your teammates, whether junior or senior. 

Setting the tone at a leadership level, therefore, was a key call-out; when leadership place themselves in a vulnerable position visible to the business, they set the tone for those conversations to happen throughout the workforce. Enabling teams to be more open with their emotional wellbeing and thereby checking in on themselves and those around them to a degree that very few organisations have previously done.  

There is, however, an important caveat to that emotional openness that David Hastings called out in particular; the need for empathy. Whilst there is much about the current workplace that exists as a shared experience, to expect every person to approach it with the same emotional cognition and unique set of circumstances is potentially damaging. 

Leaders must recognise that individuals process experiences differently and so organisational level conversations should acknowledge the individuality of the teams it will impact.  

How to deal with digital fatigue

Building on this, Lauren Waldman explained to the webinar the principles of metacognition. And how emotional processing works four times faster than our executive function. This means we will always feel something long before we think or understand it, which puts great pressure on individuals, especially in leadership positions, to articulate the human response to professional experiences. 

It’s this disparity that can sometimes lead to small experiences being felt as micro-rejections, which can build up when not checked. 

Humanising the workplace starts with YOU

The closing advice of the panellists struck a tone of optimism that organisations throughout the world have been presented with a generational opportunity to rethink the role of the workplace in the emotional stability of its teams. 

The trick, as Lauren put it, is to ensure we continue to find time to upskill ourselves and our emotional awareness, especially knowing that the workforce of today is the leadership of tomorrow. And whilst it might feel like a trend to be considering the workplace in this way, it’s actually an evolution of humanity.  

Keen to hear more insights from the panellists? Watch the full Humanising the Workplace webinar. 

You may also like to read Lauren Waldman's article on how joining forces with our brains can help us to be more emotionally intelligent and empathetic in the workplace. 

Humanising the workplace in a post-pandemic world

It’s become an expected part of schooling for children to be taught how to develop life skills like work ethic, resilience and leadership. To be most effective, such skills should be nurtured throughout a child’s education. But what happens to those skills when the children who learnt them become adults and no longer have access to resources to maintain those skills? 

A recent report, conducted by McKinsey and Company, explored the skills that citizens will require in the future world of work. Among a number of other discoveries, it found that while skills and attitudes relating to self-leadership may be particularly important to employment outcomes, they’re not often covered by adult learning programs.  

So why is it that self-leadership is often not included in these programs? 

Much like a computer, adults’ self-leadership skills require maintenance and updates. By ensuring that such skills are included in adult learning programs, we can help those adults to become the best versions of themselves; both in a personal and professional sense. 

The report also found that the skills in the self-leadership category are strongly associated with job satisfaction - something that is becoming increasingly essential for employee retention in the wake of ‘The Great Resignation.’ 

Self-leadership can be divided into three primary categories:  

Let’s take a look at each of these self-leadership categories, how they can help today’s workers, and why they’re so important. 

Self-awareness and self-management are important first steps towards developing the skills workers need to become self-leaders.  

One of the biggest components that affects the ability to grow in self-awareness and self-management is our ability to understand our own emotions and triggers. 

When we are able to understand how we tick, it makes it easier for us to understand what motivates us as individuals. That way, when we’re working under pressure or are facing unexpected changes, we can move forward and continue to be engaged in the workplace.  

When we know what motivates us, we can understand our own strengths and when we understand our strengths, it’s a natural progression for our self-confidence to grow as well. 

A lot of the time when we think about the word ‘entrepreneurship’, we think about it in a business sense: how can I make the most money? What can I do to accelerate my business? However, an entrepreneurial mindset can also be applied to workers as individuals.  

In a work industry that is turning more digital by the day, entrepreneurial qualities like driving change and breaking orthodoxies are becoming highly favoured among employers. Especially now, businesses are continuously looking for ways to distinguish themselves from their competitors and be seen as ‘first adopters’ of new technology that’s tipped to become popular. By ensuring their workers are educated on the entrepreneurial mindset, businesses are paving the way for more innovation within them.  

Another quality that is common amongst entrepreneurs is excitement and energy. There are countless examples of videos of seminars conducted by entrepreneurs that show them almost bouncing off the walls, absolutely chomping at the bit to tell audiences why their idea/product/service is going to change lives. People often leave those sorts of events feeling motivated, excited and ready to take on the next challenge. That’s because entrepreneurial energy and enthusiasm is contagious. Along a similar vein, when people are passionate about what they’re doing, they tend to work harder. 

Imagine what would happen if we could bring more of that energy to our own workplaces? Think of the things we could achieve and the innovation we’d be able to bring forth in our respective industries! 

Unquestionably, the last 18 months have thrown a spanner in the works for workers in just about every industry. It’s meant that they’ve had to face a level of uncertainty that, for many, was difficult to cope with. However, skills relating to ‘goals achievement’ can help make the uncertainty a little less difficult. 

For instance, when we, as workers, develop our ability to take ownership and be decisive, it allows us to maintain a level of control and certainty in a time when control and certainty may feel hard to come by.  

Grit and persistence are other skills that workers have had to further establish since the start of the pandemic. While the growth of these skills was somewhat forced upon the workforce, the importance of them became clear almost immediately. Workers had to quickly expand on these skills or risk being left behind.  

Therefore, the continuous development of these skills has the potential to prepare workers to face uncertainty in the workplace, whether that be as a result of another pandemic (fingers crossed that doesn’t happen!) or something different.   

 In taking steps to actively include self-leadership as part of their culture of learning, workplaces are equipping their employees with essential skills that not only benefit them in their current role but throughout the rest of their career journey. 

To help you and your workplace reach their goals for self-leadership, we have composed a free playlist of courses within the Go1 platform called Emerging Leader - Managing Yourself.

The playlist includes learning content from Emerald Works, Pearls of Wisdom, iAM Learning and other Go1 partners. If you are already a Go1 customer, you can recreate this playlist in your own LMS or Go1 Platform. If you are not yet a customer, click on the link above to access the playlist. If you're interested in the Go1 Content Hub for your organisation's wellbeing and L&D goals, please get in touch with us today.   

While skills and attitudes relating to self-leadership may be particularly important to employment outcomes, they’re not often covered by adult learning programs. So why is it that self-leadership is often not included in these programs? 

The importance of self-leadership in adult learning

Tiger king. Homemade sourdough. Zoom trivia nights. And...the great resignation? For all the twists and turns of COVID-19, at face value, the great resignation has been one of the most unexpected. However, dig a little deeper into the nuances of this trend, and it begins to make sense. 

By now, you’ve probably heard many explanations for the great resignation, ranging from ‘lazy millennials’ stereotypes to claims that people were happy to live on COVID unemployment benefits, such as JobSeeker. In many cases, these explanations are more like excuses. In reality, the truth is far more nuanced, with many experts believing that the great resignation hinges on how organisations treated their employees during the pandemic. 

For example, according to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2021 Report, 57% of workers experienced daily stress, while the global rate of workplace engagement is just 20%. With numbers like these, it should come as little surprise that employees have resigned en masse. 

With this in mind, we thought it was the perfect time to analyse L&D’s role in addressing the great resignation. To do so, we’ll answer three vital questions: what is the great resignation, why is it happening now, and how can L&D teams help address this? 

The great resignation is exactly what it sounds like: in many countries and industries, employees are resigning in record volumes. In America, 4.3 million people, or 2.9% of the national workforce, quit their jobs in August 2021. In Britain, the number of open jobs surpassed 1 million for the first time that same month. Now, 94% of US retailers say they are having difficulty filling positions. 

What’s more, research by Microsoft shows that 41% of the workforce are considering leaving their jobs this year. Similarly, a study by Personio found that 38% of surveyed employees planned to quit their jobs within the next six months to one year. 

The term ‘the great resignation’ was coined by Texas A&M University Professor Anthony Klotz in late 2020. According to Klotz, “​​when there’s uncertainty, people tend to stay put, so there are pent-up resignations that didn’t happen over the past year.” As such, he predicted that workers would resign in large numbers following the pandemic “as burnout and working remotely trigger a shift in people’s identities.” So far, these predictions have borne out. 

In a recent article, Forbes defined the great resignation as “a sort of workers’ revolution and uprising against bad bosses and tone-deaf companies that refuse to pay well and take advantage of their staff. Millions of workers voted with their feet and walked out of their jobs—many without having another position already lined up. They no longer want to feel like victims. The quitters are making a powerful, positive and self-affirming statement saying that they won’t take the abusive behaviour any longer.”

The great resignation hinges on how organisations treated their employees during the pandemic. We'll dig deeper, analysing L&D's role in addressing the great resignation.