L&D has been evolving rapidly for many years now. However, in 2020, COVID-19 pushed that acceleration into overdrive, forcing digital transformation to the forefront of most L&D agendas, while making it hard to remember what the office even looks like. For a year that started with everyone working in the office, now, the very idea of holding a meeting in a meeting room instead of over Zoom seems foreign. Like it or loathe it, this is the new normal for L&D. 

So, as we wind down our quarter-long deep-dive into digital foundations, we thought it would be a good time to examine a brief evolution of L&D, focussing on how COVID-19 has accelerated this evolution, a day in the life of L&D in 2020, and how to align these changes with the day-to-day realities of L&D professionals under the new normal. 

We’ll also focus on the all-important M-word: mindset, looking at how L&D teams can pivot from just working from home to learning from home. Finally, we’ll wrap up our digital foundations series with 4 practical steps your L&D team can take to hit the ground running in 2021. 

Before all that, though, it’s time for a quick history lesson. 

Those who don’t learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. So, while L&D may be evolving at a whirlwind rate, it has also never been more important to stop, breathe, and reflect on how we got here. A complete history of L&D would require a series of novels. However, a brief look at L&D’s evolution reveals a few key themes that continue to resonate. The (very) short answer is that almost everything has evolved; from technology to technique to attitudes. 

EdApp highlights one of the major evolutions in L&D over the last 30 years, stating, “skill requirements of employees were centrally stored on a simplistic database, taking little account of...the needs and preferences of employees to perform at their optimum… [now] instead of traditionally teaching what is considered mandatory for the topic, modern L&D professionals focus on building on pre-existing knowledge of learners, as well as identifying areas of weakness.”  

Personnel Today expands on this point, adding, “learners are often called customers or consumers now. This terminology signifies a move towards having learner needs at the heart of learning...this has engendered the concept of continuous, lifelong learning, something that wasn’t talked about 30 years ago.” Training Zone backs this up, saying the past few decades have been defined by a “more person-centred approach to training”, while Degreed adds that modern L&D strategies are a stark contrast to strategies of yesteryear, which “were meant for mass production and workers were rarely given unique opportunities.”

Clearly, one of the most fundamental evolutions in L&D over the past 30 years has been from one-size-fits-all training to bespoke, learner-centric development. 

While this move towards self-directed, soft-skill focussed training has been huge, it also goes without saying that technology has played a major part in the evolution of L&D. Technological advances have forced L&D to embrace collaboration and take wider business contexts into account — Personnel Today states that “L&D as a business partner or business consultant was not even thought of 30 years ago and now it’s commonplace” — while also allowing learning to be delivered in exciting, intuitive, and varied ways that break the traditional classroom-first mould. 

Still, while a lot has changed in L&D over the last 30 years, a few things have stayed the same. According to Personnel Today, the L&D pillars that have stood the test of time include lifelong learning, self-development, leadership training, and employees’ desire to work for companies that invest in their learning and development. 

For a more comprehensive overview of the history of L&D, these resources from Personnel Today and Training Zone are packed with great insights. 

That brings us to 2020, where things were ticking along nicely until COVID-19 sent everything into a frenzy, forcing L&D teams to evolve faster than you can say ‘outdated learning model.’

What a difference a year makes. For obvious reasons, the day-to-day realities of L&D in 2020 are a far cry from what they were this time last year — let alone 30 years ago. COVID-19 has changed a lot for everyone, fundamentally redefining our conception of ‘normal’, and L&D professionals have not been exempt. 

According to research, 94% of L&D professionals have had to change their strategy due to COVID-19 (66% have made significant changes), with only 5% expecting their strategy, investment, and resources to go back to what they were pre-pandemic. It’s time to drop the qualifier, the so-called ‘new normal’ is just ‘normal’. There’s no going back. A further 75% of L&D professionals said it wasn’t easy to cope with these changes, with 42% adding they “found coping with the impact on their L&D operation difficult.” 

The good news is that many of these changes seem to be for the better. A survey by Chief Learning Officer finds that 54% of L&D professionals are more optimistic than they were last year about the outlook of L&D, citing three main reasons. A majority of respondents agreed that their company will adopt new training methods (50%), their company’s blend of training methods will change (51%), and their company will look to develop more custom content (53%). 

This positivity is echoed by People Management, who believe that “we are further along now than we would have been without COVID-19 because we are having to think of different modalities and different content elements for the development of our people.” 

Evidently, the pandemic has not been all doom and gloom for L&D. Far from it. While it has certainly changed the day-to-day realities of L&D, much of this change has a silver lining. 

For example, demand for digital learning has increased by 82% from senior stakeholders post-pandemic, with 71% of organisations also experiencing increased demand from end-users. This is a huge win for L&D, given Go1’s 2020 State of Learning Report identified executive buy-in as the ‘final hurdle’ for L&D, finding “40% still feel executive buy-in is missing from their learning strategies.”

To cope with this increased demand, 21% of L&D teams have implemented a new digital learning solution in 2020, with “video, curated, mobile, and microlearning” proving to be the highest rated content, and “LXPs, virtual classroom, and collaborative learning” proving to be the most important tools to support organisations throughout the pandemic. 

These findings are supported by People Management’s survey, which found that 60% of respondents had made courses shorter, with a further 60% creating a virtual classroom environment, and 40% adding more video content. 

Collectively, this paints a picture of the day-to-day realities of L&D in 2020, showing an environment where change is one of the few constants, training methods are undergoing a major upheaval, demand for digital learning is way up (as is optimism, thankfully!), microlearning, video, and custom content are must-haves, and collaboration is the glue that holds everything together. 

The next step: moving from working from home to learning from home

We’ve discussed mindset a lot throughout our digital foundations series. And with good reason — mindset is at the heart of everything L&D does. Well, here comes that all-important M-word again. Working from home has become the new normal for many L&D specialists in 2020. Equally, lifelong learning and learning in the flow of work have become increasingly important to L&D in recent years (49% of employees want to learn in the flow, while 74% want to learn during their spare time at work). As such, L&D teams will have to grapple with what ‘learning in the flow of work’ means when many employees are now working from home. 

According to Emerald Works’ 2019 Transformation Journey report, 82% of L&D leaders want to “extend learning to other locations/remote workers.” However, only 36% are currently achieving that outcome. 

Teams will need to get up to speed quickly, as 82% of employees say they want to work at least one day a week remotely, while nearly one third say they would like to continue to work exclusively from home post-pandemic. In fact, according to the Harvard Business Review, employees are willing to accept 8% less pay to work from home. This looms a major challenge that L&D will need to address, as more and more workers go remote in the coming decade. 

So, how exactly can L&D teams make the mindset switch from working from home to learning from home? While the exact implementation will vary depending on your team’s unique needs, most experts agree on similar themes. HR Daily Advisor stresses the need for flexibility, collaboration, and increased emphasis on digital learning technologies, adding that “an organisation’s human capabilities will determine how well the organisation makes decisions and prospers.”

Similarly, Human Resources Director focuses on the importance of identifying skills gaps, investing in soft skills development, and offering microlearning opportunities, saying, “HR leaders should strive to provide training initiatives that do encourage employees to engage through rich content on their device of choice…[content] that is available online and offline all the time, so workplace training does need to be adaptable especially while we have remote workforces.”

Finally, McKinsey highlights the importance of enhancing digital learning and balancing business outcomes with a long-term view. They also underscore the need for continued learning, saying, “whether the effort is reskilling at the business-unit level or a company-wide aspirational transformation, companies can’t simply push the pause button on critical workplace learning.”

Many of these tips won’t come as a shock. Digital collaboration, developing soft skills, identifying skills gaps, and re-evaluating L&D’s relationship with technology are ongoing priorities for future-ready L&D teams. However, for L&D to take the next step forward, leaders must emphasise the importance of not just working from home, but learning from home, to fully embed the value of lifelong learning. 

For more expert tips on embracing lifelong learning, check out our recent webinars on Learning in the Flow of Work with Josh Bersin, and The Future of Skills and Lifelong Learning with PWC. 

Digital foundations round-up: 4 practical steps for your L&D team in 2021 

As we wind down both 2020 and our deep-dive into digital foundations, we thought it would be helpful to offer 4 practical steps your L&D team can take to kick off 2021 with a bang. 

Those with a keen eye (or just anyone who’s been paying attention, really) will have noticed we’ve been hammering a few key recurring themes that will shape the future of L&D. These are:  

We’ve emphasised the importance of soft skills for future-ready L&D teams time and time again, even dubbing them “non-negotiable if you want to succeed in L&D in 2021 and beyond.”

For L&D teams looking to hit the ground running in 2021, elevating employees’ soft skills should be a key focus. 

For more detail on why soft skills are so important, be sure to read our recent blog Skills for the future, today: closing the L&D skills gap.

Again, we’ve talked about the importance of a business value mindset relentlessly, thanks in part to some excellent expert contributions from Michelle Ockers and Laura Overton. Laura Overton even called business value “L&D’s bedrock of digital success”. 

Forward-thinking L&D teams would be wise to embrace a business value mindset in 2021. 

With remote work becoming the new normal for L&D teams in 2020, collaboration has become critical to success. As outlined above, we expect this to continue in 2021 and beyond, meaning collaboration will continue to be the word on every L&D team’s lips. 

4. Rethink your relationship with technology 

While technology has been critical to L&D’s continued evolution and success, Michelle Ockers believes we need to put technology into perspective, calling it “an enabler of learning and performance, not the saviour.” 

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 book a demo today to find out how Go1 can help with your team’s learning needs.

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As we wind down our quarter-long deep-dive into digital foundations, we thought it would be a good time to examine a brief evolution of L&D, focussing on how COVID-19 has accelerated this evolution and how to align these changes with the day-to-day realities of L&D professionals. 

Aligning digital foundations with the day-to-day realities of L&D

Education and learning are fundamental to building a thriving society. Those of us considered ‘privileged’ will likely never have to worry about education – it comes to us on a platter. But what happens to those who do not have such easy access to education. What about those without access to that plentiful ‘platter’? 

This year, the journey for most of us has been challenging. There is no doubt that COVID-19 knocked the wind out of our social wings. The very fabric that society is built on has been torn, and the cracks of disparity have become more evident than ever. The path to education has changed, perhaps irreversibly, as some of our most trusted education providers have become agile. However, although education delivery has changed, for most, access has not. While some would argue that education has become even more accessible with the rise of digital technologies, cost remains prohibitive for many. Those less fortunate have seen the road to education become longer, bumpier, and further out of reach. 

In Australia, over 1.2 million children are living in poverty. This is not only alarming but shameful. Additionally, many hard-working Australians have been struck by the pandemic and left without work and an income. Compound this with the enormous debt that seems to be forever increasing, and many have been hit not once but twice. 

So, what about education? What about the children that were promised the sky, the sea, and much more from life? They are struggling more than ever before. Those hit hardest are those who cannot pay for education. Or, even if they can afford education, the cost of books, stationery, toys, and other necessities leaves them treading water. 

So, Go1 decided to help...just a bit. Our wonderful Brisbane team put together a small toy and book drive this week. Everyone managed to find it in their hearts to give what they could. In the end, we rounded up 56 toys and books, which we hope will delight and inspire children. Learning is truly a gift, and these precious little souls will get something very special for Christmas. Who knows what will become of them? They may be our future doctors, developers, or even CEOs. The special part is that we gave hope. 

Thank you to everyone who contributed, and most of all, thank you to the children who inspire and share our love of lifelong learning! 

Our wonderful Brisbane team put together a small toy and book drive this week, rounding up 56 toys and books, which we hope will delight and inspire children. Thank you to everyone who contributed, and most of all, thank you to the children who inspire and share our love of lifelong learning! 

It has been an exciting year for Product at Go1, from exciting integrations with Microsoft apps for learners to access learning anywhere, to improving the Go1 Platform experience. Watch our release highlights for 2020, below. 

Feature retrospective - Go1 Platform 2020

2020 saw us releasing our Learning app for Microsoft Teams, allowing your employees to truly learn in the flow of work. 

The app enables you and other members of your organization to find, consume, share, and discuss resources from the Go1 Content Hub right within Microsoft Teams. 

What's more, you will soon be able to share resources from the Go1 Content Hub within Microsoft Team Meetings, so you can create engaging ways to learn together, remotely. Check it out below.

Microsoft Teams core functionality 2020

Coming to Go1 Platform in 2021, Achievements offers a more flexible and robust experience for those allocating and tracking their training, and a simplified experience for learners. 

Achievements will be your new solution for delivering learning pathways and continuing professional development (CPD) for your team, so stay tuned to find out more.

You will be able to ‘set and forget’ your learning, with more dynamic enrolment capabilities. 

Within Achievements, you can allocate mandatory and optional learning so you can offer choice to your learners. A progress bar will offer a clear indication of their progress towards completion. Learning target types are more flexible and can be articulated by duration, points (just like awards), or % of total resources.

Stay tuned next year for more information on this feature.

Product year in review for 2020

It has been an exciting year for Product at Go1, from exciting integrations with Microsoft apps for learners to access learning anywhere, to improving the Go1 Platform experience. Watch our product release retrospective for 2020, here.

We are pleased to announce that the Go1 Content Hub is now available to evaluate and purchase on SAP® App Center, the digital marketplace for SAP partner offerings. 

We've developed a pre-built connector for the SuccessFactors’ Open Content Network (OCN) so that Go1 learning content can be delivered directly to the SuccessFactors Learning Management System (LMS).

More than 100,000 courses can now be discovered using the Go1 Content Hub and instantly pushed into a customer’s SAP SuccessFactors solution. The Go1/SAP integration also supports single sign on to ensure learners accessing content can do so securely and seamlessly.

“As a world-leading provider of Human Capital Management software, SuccessFactors is a logical platform for Go1 to integrate with. The SAP SuccessFactors OCN integration allows organisations to now seamlessly access the world’s largest learning library and deliver training from more than 200 of the world’s best providers through a single solution. We're excited for the journey ahead and can’t wait to help ease the burden facing organisations who aim to deliver great training to their employees,” Basem Emera, Go1 Head of Partnerships, said.

Find, try, and buy SAP partner solutions digitally at www.sapappcenter.com.

At SAP App Center, businesses can discover approximately 1,600 innovative partner solutions that integrate with and extend SAP solutions. There, customers can find the SAP-validated partner apps they need to grow their business and for each purchase made, SAP will plant a tree. 

Learn more about the Go1 x SAP SuccessFactors integration

SAP SuccessFactors is the global provider of cloud-based Human Experience Management (HXM) software. Their HR application suite integrates onboarding, social business and collaboration tools, a learning management system (LMS), performance management, recruiting software, applicant tracking software, succession planning, talent management, and HR analytics to deliver business strategy alignment, team execution, and maximum people performance to organisations of all sizes across more than 60 industries, in over 200 countries and territories. 

Go1 makes it easy for organisations to learn, with the world's most comprehensive online library of learning resources. Go1 pulls the world’s top online learning providers into one place, delivering all the learning an organisation needs in a single solution. With over 1.5 million learners - and growing - Go1 is a world leader in online learning.

Go1 has raised over US$80 million in total funding from investors including M12 - Microsoft’s venture fund, SEEK, Madrona Venture Group, Salesforce Ventures, Shark Tank investor Steve Baxter and Oxford University. To learn more about Go1, visit www.go1.com.

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.

By integrating with SAP SuccessFactors OCN, the Go1 Content Hub now delivers a seamless content experience to customers.

Go1 Content Hub now available to try and buy on SAP® App Center

In a constantly evolving technological landscape, keeping up with new skills, knowledge, and proficiencies is a major challenge for L&D professionals. It’s hard to find time to learn the ins and outs of that new efficiency app, or master your team’s new messaging tool, in between everything else. With so much to learn, it’s difficult to be a jack of all trades, let alone a master. 

Still, in an era of digital transformation, L&D is at risk of being left behind. Unfortunately, L&D appears to be digitally underskilled, having been unable to keep pace with the rapid rate of change in recent years.

The good news? We’re here to help L&D teams close that skills gap and unlock your full potential. We’ll ask ‘are L&D digitally underskilled?’, before diving into how to close the L&D skills gap, soft skills vs hard skills, and the top emerging skills for 2021 and beyond.

Ready to become a skills superstar? Read on. 

The short answer is yes, L&D teams are digitally underskilled. 

According to Skillsoft’s Mind the Gap report, 48% of L&D employees believe their team is underskilled to deliver what is needed for their business. Similarly, Emerald Works’ 2020 Back to the Future report finds that 39% of L&D respondents believe that L&D is ‘overwhelmed & under-equipped.’ Perhaps more notably, this figure is trending in the wrong direction — up from 29% of respondents in 2019. 

In her recent article for Go1 Crafting a digital learning strategy that creates value, Michelle Ockers summarised this issue, stating, “L&D team skill levels reported by learning leaders at the start of 2020 include only: 

32% have adequate technology/infrastructure skills compared to 40% in early 2018

32% have adequate skill with virtual classroom/webinar delivery

29% have adequate digital content development skills.”

Again, these skills are moving in the wrong direction. In another worrying trend, LinkedIn’s 2020 Workplace Learning Report finds that 79% of CEOs are concerned that a “lack of essential skills in their workforce is threatening the future growth of their organisation.” This is up from 63% in 2014, coinciding with the increased adoption of new learning technologies. 

This skills gap is further demonstrated in Emerald Works’ The Transformation Journey report, which shows the stark difference between the skills L&D teams deem important, and the skills L&D teams actually possess. 

For example, 84% identified performance consulting as a priority for understanding business requirements in the future, however, as of 2018, only 34% of L&D teams had those skills in-house. Additionally, 93% said facilitating collaboration was a priority, but only 23% have those skills in-house. Finally, 92% said digital content creation was an essential skill, yet only 31% have adequate in-house content creation skills. 

Ultimately, underskilled L&D teams are being left behind, as The Transformation Journey report found that high-performing learning organisations are 3x more likely to “possess the right skills to exploit learning technologies for business advantage.”

The good news is that L&D teams recognise this issue and are working to change it, with 62% of L&D professionals saying that ‘closing the skills gap’ is the number one goal of their L&D program in 2020, according to Udemy.                             

However, while this is beginning to have an impact, it may not be happening fast enough. Deloitte’s 2020 Human Capital Trends report finds that “L&D teams are not moving the needle far enough...while 50% of our respondents reported that their L&D departments were evolving quickly, 14% said that this evolution was not happening fast enough.” 

The message is clear: L&D teams need to keep up and develop future-ready skills, or risk being left behind. While digital transformation is happening quickly, L&D teams must be agile in equipping their teams with skills that are relevant in 2020 and beyond. 

Currently, L&D’s skills seem to be trending in the wrong direction; so how do we turn things around and close the skills gap? 

Upskilling & reskilling to close the L&D skills gap 

While closing the L&D skills gap won’t be easy, most organisations recognise the need to invest heavily in skills for the future. Largely, this will involve wide-scale upskilling and reskilling efforts. Gloat provides a useful comparison of these terms, explaining, “upskilling is the process of learning new skills or of teaching workers new skills, while reskilling is the process of learning new skills so you can do a different job, or of training people to do a different job.” 

Basically, upskilling can help employees excel in their current role, while reskilling trains employees to perform in new roles. Keep that in mind, as they’re terms that you’re likely to hear a lot in the coming years. 

In fact, according to LinkedIn’s Workplace Learning Report, 51% of L&D professionals plan to launch upskilling programs in 2020, while 43% plan to launch reskilling programs. Further, Deloitte found that 84% of L&D professionals said they would increase their investment in reskilling programs, with 53% adding that they would increase this budget by 6% or more.

Other estimates find that 54% of employees will require extensive upskilling or reskilling by 2022, while McKinsey believes that by 2030 “375 million workers—or roughly 14% of the global workforce—may need to switch occupational categories as digitisation, automation, and advances in artificial intelligence disrupt the world of work.” Whatever number you place on it, digital transformation will fundamentally change the way millions of people work, making upskilling and reskilling indispensable for the future of L&D. 

COVID-19 has only accelerated the need for upskilling and reskilling, with 43% of companies increasing their upskilling/reskilling efforts in the wake of COVID-19. The good news is that these efforts have had measurable positive outcomes, with 80% of employees saying upskilling/reskilling has boosted their confidence, and 91% of companies saying upskilling/reskilling has boosted productivity. 

Further, Udemy estimates that 38% of the workforce have been upskilled this year, compared to 14% in 2019, showing L&D teams are starting to recognise the need to keep pace with digital transformation. 

Ultimately, Deloitte predicts the future of work will involve ‘superjobs’, making upskilling and reskilling even more critical. They define ‘superjobs’ as, “roles that combine work and responsibilities from multiple traditional jobs, using technology to both augment and broaden the scope of the work performed and involve a more complex set of domain, technical, and human skills.” 

In other words, with technological advancements leading to increased automation, as well as changing societal needs, traditional job roles will change — perhaps drastically. As such, workers will need to adapt their skills and knowledge to perform in these emerging roles. 

With this in mind, let’s look at the top skills you need to be focussing on to stay ahead in L&D in 2021. 

Top skills for L&D professionals in 2021 (and beyond) 

Before we get into the list, it’s worth looking closely at a key area that may shape the future of L&D (and work more broadly): soft skills vs hard skills. 

Indeed provides a useful definition of soft skills and hard skills, stating, “hard skills are related to specific technical knowledge and training while soft skills are personality traits such as leadership, communication or time management.” 

For example, hard skills include things such as speaking another language, SEO expertise, or Salesforce knowledge. In contrast, soft skills include things such as communication, creative problem solving, and leadership. 

This is important, as the rise of AI means soft skills are becoming more and more in demand since many hard skills are being automated. According to LinkedIn’s Workplace Learning Report, investing in soft skills is smart as “the shelf life of technical skills is relatively short—less than 5 years—while strong leadership, creative, and communication skills are always in demand.” This is a sharp decline, as not long ago, hard skills were estimated to have a shelf life of 10-15 years. 

Fortunately, executives have noticed this trend and are acting accordingly. According to IBM, “a shift is occurring; executives’ views regarding the priority of critical skills have taken a turn from digital and technical to behavioural.” In other words, many executives now value soft skills (behavioural skills) above digital or technical skills, recognising such skills will be crucial for success in the future. Workers have also noticed this shift, with 87% now saying they actively seek out opportunities to learn new skills in the workplace. 

Clearly, soft skills are non-negotiable if you want to succeed in L&D in 2021 and beyond. LinkedIn’s Workplace Learning Report has identified the highest and lowest priority skills for L&D professionals, based on the percentage of surveyed L&D professionals who are focused on developing these skills. Unsurprisingly, soft skills come out on top. Leadership management (57%), creative problem solving and design thinking (42%), and communication (40%) top the list, while at the other end of the scale, mobile computing (9%), engineering and coding (8%), and cloud computing (8%) lag behind. 

LinkedIn also takes this a step further, identifying the top 5 soft and hard skills for L&D professionals in 2020. Heading up the soft skills list is creativity, followed by persuasion, collaboration, adaptability, and emotional intelligence. These skills all centre around a common theme of working together and bringing new ideas to the table. Evidently, L&D pros expect this to be a key pillar going forward. The top four on this list are the same as in 2019, showing their ongoing importance, while emotional intelligence is a new entrant on the list. 

When it comes to hard skills, blockchain is number one, followed by cloud computing, analytical reasoning, artificial intelligence, and UX design. 

Udemy’s 2021 Workplace Learning Trends report delves further into this topic, showing that soft skills have been all the rage in 2020. According to their research, consumption of time management and motivation courses are up 990% and 855% respectively compared to 2019. Listening skills (+1,650% increase on 2019), business communication (+1585% increase on 2019), and interpersonal feedback (+686% increase on 2019) are also on the rise, as are decision making (+1,240% increase on 2019), strategic thinking (+848% increase on 2019), and teamwork (+812% increase on 2019). 

The common theme? Soft skills are hot, hot, hot. For L&D professionals to succeed in 2021 and beyond, developing and honing their soft skills should be a key focus. 

For more information on developing soft skills, check out our blogs on The importance of soft skills in today’s workforce and Why training for soft skills should be your number one priority. 

Or, if you’re still hungry for more, why not read the other articles in our Digital Foundations series, Understanding business value vs learning value and Rethinking the ‘L&D’ mindset. 

In an era of digital transformation, L&D is at risk of being left behind. The good news? We’re here to help L&D teams close the skills gap and unlock your full potential.

Skills for the future, today: closing the L&D skills gap 

Go1 is proud to be named as one of LPI’s Top 15 Highest Performing Learning Technology Providers for 2020-21. Established in 1995, the Learning and Performance Institute is a self-governing professional body for global workplace learning professionals and organisations. (LPI 2020)

Edmund Monk, CEO, LPI, said: "Learning technology providers operate in a highly competitive space - they must ensure their products are accessible, stable, high-performing, compliant, scalable, and rich with reporting functionality.”

So what does achieving the LPI accreditation mean for organisations?

“LPI accreditation validates their commitment to providing the best technologies, as well as their dedication to staff development, market relevance and business performance. The 15 organisations have a clear roadmap by which to build their capability and adapt their strategy for continual success. They demonstrate a strong customer value proposition and have a corporate culture that instils confidence throughout sales and marketing, to delivery and after-sales support,” Monk explains.

"Prospective and existing customers can be assured that these 15 organisations will provide the highest quality of service and the best user experience. They are trusted business partners, acting always in the best interests of their clients and, as such, fully endorsed by the LPI."

For Go1, being accredited by LPI means building a larger awareness in the UK market for a globally scaled product. 

As Ollie Browning, Go1’s Head of Sales EMEA, said, “we are delighted to have been recognised by the LPI as one of their Top 15 Highest Performing Learning Technology Providers and to sit alongside such great organisations. Getting external validation from an organisation with a global view of the market is rewarding for all the team at Go1 working hard every day.”

Go1 named one of LPI’s Top 15 Highest Performing Learning Technology Providers for 2020-21

For many teams, feeling engaged and connected while working remotely has been a challenge. Regular Zoom calls and the occasional Friday drinks are great, but they can lack a certain something. That’s why at Go1, we’ve decided to go back to the future with a good, old fashioned book club. 

Spearheaded by our wonderful UK team, the Go1 Book Club  — powered by premium content partner Blinkist — has been a hit. So, we thought we’d share the love and help you get started with your very own, Blinkist-powered book club. Here’s everything you need to know. 

As mentioned, the big question on many people’s lips this year has been: ‘how can you keep employees engaged in their development and connected with colleagues while working remotely?’

In our humble opinion, the answer is simple: a book club. 

Times are changing (more rapidly than many of us can keep up with!) and organisations need to think differently about how to foster collaboration, increase team connectivity, and encourage personal development.                    

A book club is a great way for team members to connect outside of traditional, formal work contexts such as meetings and 1:1s. Book clubs allow participants to share ideas and engage in thought-provoking discussions in a more creative, informal setting. 

The best part? It works! The UK Go1 Team now meets every fortnight to discuss the week's 15-minute ‘Blink’...and any other tangents that arise along the way! 

It may sound silly, but the biggest barrier to engaging with a book club can often be the actual reading part. Unfortunately, with packed schedules and a rapidly changing world, not everyone has time to consume a 400-page novel every fortnight. That’s where Blinkist comes in. 

Blinkist offers 15-20 minute summaries of non-fiction books. Blinks can be read or listened to (the audio starts automatically), and with 145 titles currently available on the Go1 Content Hub, there’s something thought-provoking available for everyone. 

Standout titles include:            

The Introvert’s Complete Career Guide 

4 tips for running a successful book club

You’ve got the books (or Blinks, in this case). Now, for the club. Here are 4 tips for running a successful book club. 

A book club is only as good as its participants. With that mind, the first step to running a successful book club is spreading the word to generate interest. Be sure to highlight the benefits of a book club, whatever that means to your team — be it creativity, engagement, or just a chance to drink wine and talk about a book, with minimal actual reading involved! Whether you spread the word through Slack channels, a team-wide email, or simple word of mouth, make sure everyone knows they’ll want to be there or be square. 

You’ve got everyone on board. Great. Now, the hard part — finding a meeting time that suits everyone. The important parts here are finding a day, length, and frequency that suits your team. Based on our UK team’s experiences, we recommend fortnightly meetings. Be warned, this step may involve a little trial and error to figure out whether 30 minutes is long enough, or Fridays work better than Wednesdays. Start by getting something in the calendar that everyone can attend. If necessary, you can tweak things from there. 

When running a book club, it’s important to find a balance between structure and natural conversational flow. Still, it can be a good idea to come prepared with a few questions in your back pocket, to prompt discussion in case of any awkward silences. A few starter questions might include: 

What did you find most interesting about this book? 

Was there anything about this book that you didn’t enjoy/agree with? 

What new things did you learn? How can you apply these learnings to your life? 

What questions do you still have after reading this book?

Did any quotes or passages stand out to you? 

Have you read other books by this author? If so, how did this one compare?

Did this make you want to read the whole book, or did the 15-minute Blink suffice? 

Again, you don’t want the book club to feel too restrictive, but a few ground rules can help ensure everyone feels heard and engaged. A common ground rule may be setting aside time for each team member to share their thoughts about the Blink, to ensure everyone can participate in the discussion. Ground rules can also be a little more fun, such as whether alcohol/snacks are appropriate (or encouraged) during the book club. Whatever rules your team decides on, the most important thing is ensuring everyone is on board! 

Running a book club through Go1 is simple. Just follow the steps below, and you’ll be up and Blinking in no time!

Log into Go1 Content Hub, and create a new group, e.g. ‘Fortnightly Book Club’.


Select ‘Enable discussion’ on the group.                


Add your book club members to the group.    


Add the asset ‘How to facilitate a Book Club discussion’ to the group.


Browse Blinkist to find your desired Blink for the next book club meeting.


Add that Blink to the group and assign the relevant due date for the next book club meeting.


And remember, the first rule of Go1 Book Club is...tell everyone!

For many teams, feeling engaged and connected while working remotely has been a challenge.  That’s why at Go1, we’ve decided to go back to the future with a good, old fashioned book club.

Say hello to Go1’s book club with a twist, powered by Blinkist

For many teams, feeling engaged and connected while working remotely has been a challenge.  That’s why at Go1, we’ve decided to go back to the future with a good, old fashioned book club. 

A turbulent year has shown the current L&D mindset isn’t connecting in the ways we want it to. Here’s how to rethink your L&D team’s mindset to embrace courage, confidence, and collaboration. 

Have you ever woken up on the wrong side of the bed? Grumpy, tired, or just not in the right headspace? If so, then look no further for proof that mindset is everything. There’s a huge difference between waking up in a cheery, positive mood and waking up feeling like something is slightly amiss. It all comes down to mindset. You can have all the best intentions, infused with a healthy dose of skills, but without the right mindset, you probably won’t get very far. L&D is no different. 

We discussed the ‘L&D mindset’ in our most recent blog post Understanding business value vs learning value. If you haven’t already read that, it’s a great introduction to L&D values and mindsets, as well as some of the broader challenges facing L&D. Have a look now! We’ll wait. 

If you need a quick refresher, we focussed on why L&D teams need to pivot from a learning values mindset to a business values mindset. Of course, doing so requires broad, team-wide mindset shifts, which is the exciting cliffhanger we finished on. 

To continue that theme, today, we’ll be looking at why mindset matters, the state of L&D mindsets, the role of technology, tips for embracing collaboration, and how to rethink your L&D mindset moving forward. 

First things first, let’s put mind over matter. 

When you examine it closely, mindset is at the heart of nearly everything L&D does. So much so, that 85% of learning team leaders said mindset was the biggest barrier to achieving their team’s goals in 2020, according to a survey by Michelle Ockers. 

On a broader level, research into business mindsets by Stanford psychologist Dr Carol Dweck found that companies that adopt a growth mindset are “are 47% likelier to see their colleagues as trustworthy, 34% likelier to feel a strong sense of ownership and commitment to the company, 65% likelier to say that the company supports risk-taking, and 49% likelier to say that the company fosters innovation.”

Bringing it back to L&D, research by Gallup finds that the number 1 reason people change jobs today is a lack of career growth opportunities. From this, they conclude that “if leaders don't change the way they approach development, they cannot expect sustained performance excellence.” That ‘change to the way they approach development’? Mindset. 

Basically, in L&D, all roads lead to mindset. It permeates through culture, skills, and performance, and is at the heart of everything we do. Unfortunately, it’s becoming clear that the current L&D mindset hasn’t evolved to keep up with wider organisational demands. Accordingly, it just isn’t connecting with learners, executives, and team members in the way we intend it to. 

Before we can work on changing this, let’s look at the state of L&D mindsets. 

According to Michelle Ockers, mindset is fundamental to everything L&D does — both good and bad. She explains this in her article for Go1 Crafting a digital learning strategy that creates value, saying, “L&D mindset gets in the way...In addition to adopting a business value mindset, those L&D teams who create the most value let go of tight control and share responsibility for learning with others. They see others as connected contributors to learning rather than passive recipients of content and training. This shift engenders curiosity to use technology to do things differently, rather than just doing things more efficiently.” 

The idea that ‘L&D mindset gets in the way’ should be cause for concern. Rather than facilitating growth and moving towards confidence, courage, and collaboration, the current L&D mindset seems to be holding teams back, focussing instead on control, status quo thinking, and fear of failure. 

This sentiment is echoed by Liberate Learning, who think that “L&D in organisations with predictable learning offerings fulfils ‘organisational hygiene’ purposes of compliance or employee engagement rather than being a critical business function with a measurable performance impact.”

Corporate Learning Disrupted takes a similar view, stating, “we need to transform the way we think as L&D professionals. The old beliefs need to make space for the new if we want to have a chance to align business and corporate learning.” Clearly, it’s time for a change, as L&D values are misaligned with practical, day-to-day realities. 

The 2020 Emerald Works Learner Intelligence Report shows the disconnect between L&D mindset and practical outcomes. They mention “an L&D industry that is declining in impact while consuming more investment”, adding “there is a gap between learning and development strategy and on-the-ground practice.”

To demonstrate this disconnect, only 16% of learning practitioners think their teams engage in online learning without being prompted. However, in reality, 74% of online learners say they’re happy to learn without any prompting. That’s not just a disconnect, it’s a chasm. And it all starts with mindset. Addressing these disconnects should be at the top of every L&D leader’s list. After all, it’s difficult to change your mindset if no one is on the same page.

Additionally, the 2020 Learner Intelligence Report found that, due to a disconnect between L&D strategy and actual impact, “60% of learning and development departments find themselves on the lower end of the EW Index”. This means these L&D teams are having a “transactional impact” rather than a real, behavioural impact, wherein the focus is predominantly placed on “competence, rather than capability.” Only 6% of learning organisations are deemed to have a “high-impact learning culture.”

In large part, this is down to a “lack of evidence-based practice”, as only 10% of learning teams use performance data to measure the impact of their programs, while just 12% use analytics to improve their service. 

The standard L&D mindset simply isn’t connecting. While ‘mindset’ will mean different things to different companies, what is clear is that it’s time for a refresh, moving from tight control to collaboration, from status quo to embracing new ideas, from fear of failure to courage and confidence, and from learning value to business value. 

As ever, technology has a part to play. According to Michelle Ockers, L&D teams are too preoccupied with “fear that technology will make L&D redundant rather than augmenting what they do and allowing them to create more value.” Given this, she recommends that L&D teams get technology into perspective, labelling it as “an enabler of learning and performance, not the saviour.” 

Thrive Learning puts it a little more bluntly, saying, “We choose to tether ourselves to these “band-aid” technologies. Our salvation. The ‘ooooh shinies’ of the world. The things that make us go “aahhh” and “wow”. Yeah, those super shiny technologies are sexy, sure. But unless we start resolving root cause issues, we’re never going to ever be able to really adopt them.” 

While this might sound harsh at first glance (or hilarious, depending on your perspective), the statistics back it up. Emerald Works’ Back to the Future Report found that investment in learning technologies increased by 3% in 2020. Despite this, “only 15% of learning leaders report successes in driving innovation for business growth – 3% lower than in 2019.” More investment, less output. 

On average, they found that organisations use 25 different learning technologies, spending over 21% of their budgets on digital. Even so, they conclude that “technology alone does not correlate to business or learning impact.” 

This is further evident among the top 10 extreme concerns for L&D, from a survey of 1,123 learning leaders. 29% are concerned by the pace of technological change and their team’s inability to keep up (up 10% from 2019), while 39% say L&D are overwhelmed and under-equipped (up 10% from 2019). 

Perhaps most importantly, 39% say that leaders have traditional expectations of L&D that are difficult to challenge (up 12% from 2019). This is worth emphasising, as it seems that these ‘traditional’ expectations are holding L&D back, keeping teams stuck with an outdated mindset. 

Still, it’s not all doom and gloom. Technology can be used to facilitate a brighter future for L&D, it just requires (you guessed it) a mindset shift. According to Emerald Works’ Back to the Future Report, high-impact learning cultures (HILCs) spend even more on digital (28%) than other companies. But it’s not the increased spend that correlates with performance, it’s their ability to “look through a different lens in order to change capability”.

The numbers are telling. 66% of HILCs use analytics to improve the learning experience, compared to 12% of average companies, while 91% of HILCs use technology to organise and make learning easier to find, compared to 28% of average companies. Finally, 71% of HILCs use technology to involve learning consumers in design, compared to just 21% of average companies. 

Shifting towards these practices would be an excellent first step for rethinking the L&D mindset.     

When analysing your team’s values and mindset, collaboration should be a primary consideration. As Michelle Ockers said, “L&D teams who create the most value let go of tight control and share responsibility for learning with others.” In other words: collaboration, collaboration, collaboration. 

McKinsey summarises the role collaboration will play in the future of L&D, saying, “L&D leaders must embrace a broader role within the organisation and formulate an ambitious vision for the function. An essential component of this effort is a comprehensive, coordinated strategy that engages the organisation and encourages collaboration.” 

Why is collaboration so important? Aside from the obvious, in top-performing L&D departments, team members are 50% more likely to understand how their work is linked to their organisation’s overall performance, while a massive 97% say that business leaders recognise that learning is aligned with the business plan. In essence, these organisations recognise that L&D is one piece in a far larger puzzle.

Additionally, 91% of L&D team members say collaboration is either essential or very useful to their job, while 80% say they are willing to share what they know with others (although 23% say they need a little help getting started). 

Nevertheless, this is another area where there is a major disconnect between mindset and output. In fact, collaboration in L&D is trending in the wrong direction. According to Emerald Works’ 2020 Back to the Future report, L&D teams’ in-house ability to facilitate social and collaborative learning decreased from 25% in 2018 to just 15% in 2020. 

Exacerbating this issue, only 31% of L&D managers work upfront with business leaders to identify the KPIs that they want to improve. Disconnect alert. This shows a worrying lack of collaboration between L&D and the wider business. To evolve the L&D mindset, this must change, with L&D becoming more plugged into wider organisational factors. 

Once again, the difference between HILCs and other organisations is stark. 91% of HILCs say they “actively encourage people to collaborate in building knowledge resources”, compared to just 37% of other companies.             