The last two years have been exceptionally challenging. Leaders have been forced to adapt and learn new skills to drive success in a world that has been Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA).
Working from home has been a major challenge for business leaders. After decades of communicating face to face with employees and focusing on fostering an environment of togetherness and group collaboration, leaders were forced to encourage separation and distance with the same mentality of group collaboration. Working from home is the perfect example of needing to develop new skills at speed and scale.
Many leaders acted quickly, seeking digitally delivered leadership and business training to help their learners acquire new skills, improve knowledge and strengthen capabilities and compliance whilst working smarter.
It is essential leaders provide opportunities for learners to improve resilience and build knowledge in the workplace and in everyday life. You can create micro-lessons that allow your staff to learn throughout the day without sacrificing larger chunks of time. “Learning sprints” will only take a few minutes, focusing on providing small pieces of knowledge or easily digestible skills. For example, you can deliver a quick “how to” video for a team member, start the day with a short group exercise or give your employees an article to read. By creating continuous, on-the-job learning opportunities for all of your team members, you can advise how learners can apply skills to their daily tasks and interactions with colleagues.
When looking for ways to help your team, your approach should be as adaptive and flexible as you want your employees to be. Everyone has their own learning style, so before providing your employees with learning opportunities, you should discuss the approach they feel will be most effective. Regular discussions should follow, ensuring your learners’ needs and neurodiversity requirements are met. In some instances, it’s impossible to create individual learning opportunities when operating at scale, but small changes can help all of your employees. You can provide group tasks that vary in learning style so each team member has a day where they’re strongest. This is a great way to show flexibility and reassure staff that you care.
When helping learners to adapt, leaders need to be able to adapt themselves. Mindset is everything, so focus on the leadership style you need to achieve the goals that you’ve set. The most successful organisations are the ones that understand the importance of learning and are willing to listen to their employees in order to make that happen. It’s the responsibility of leaders to ensure that the learning is accessible, doable and achievable for every member of the team regardless of the size of your organisation, and small changes can help do that at speed.
If you’re eager to grow as a leader and address development needs at speed, you can explore our digitally delivered courses or learn more about our fully customised and blended solutions. For further information or advice, please contact our friendly training experts on 01252 618 400 or email theteam@gbscorporate.com.
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