With the advent of new platforms such as Uber, Airbnb and Mechanical Turk, it has now become possible for buyers and sellers of a wide variety of products or services to network and work together. The traditional nine-to-five shift has been replaced by a flexible workplace with agile norms. Thus corporate training also needs to inculcate these new trends in its sessions so that the workforce remains relevant for current needs. There is also massive diversity for companies with employees across different time zone and geographies, speaking different languages and following disparate mannerisms. The company culture then has to remain strong enough to absorb such disruptions and face the challenges.

Source:https://trainingmag.com/training-workforce-new-marketplace-economy

Some trends have been identified which have started to an extent but will eventually create massive disruptions to the learning and development industry. Learning marketplaces such as Pathgather, Degreed and Edcast have now sprung up. Many of these are aided by corporate universities, investing to aid in the process of management training. Payments are now being charged for entry into platforms but not for content creation. The development tools and resources are proving thus to be the differentiators. As Chief Learning Officers (CLOs) are being questioned on the returns per investment, the new maxim of pay-per-session is being followed. Like several other streams, notably marketing, the learning industry is also making use of algorithms to drive efficiency in trainings. The effectiveness of any learning intervention can now be deeply analyzed using such precise data available. A lot of content curation and development work is now being done by tools leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI). IBM’s Watson for example has made major inroads in developing content based on trends captured.

Source:https://trainingmag.com/5-trends-could-disrupt-learning-industry

Building strategic partnerships, often with unconventional sources has been observed to be a highly fruitful method of innovating in management training. Avon for example built a partnership with University of Central Florida (UCF) for this purpose. A teaching game was co-developed called Avon Fever. This was a low risk, fun game which hooked employees of the organization into the learning process. The university’s Institute for Simulation and Training (IST) had difficulties in scaling their operations, a gap which was filled by Avon which is known for its operational efficiency. In order to execute such projects, it is also advised that innovative teams with multi-disciplinary skill sets are developed.

Source:https://trainingmag.com/trgmag-article/how-do-we-innovate-training

A lot of HR and recruitment experts expect 2017 to be the year of regulations. Several new regulations of compliances have already come out in various fields such as paid sick leaves, employee injury or accident, retirement savings and safety procedures against chemical exposure. New standards have also come out for corporate training systems. Training managers are now taking due steps to ensure that compliance measures reach out to all key stakeholders. A survey conducted on professionals by XpertHR has deciphered top five concerns for such compliance challenges. These include election uncertainties, leave issues, workforce strategizing, cyber security threats and employee benefits. A training expert has highlighted a few ways to improvise present corporate learning modules. One of them is to shift part of the module to social media and mobile devices but to have strong policies for them. Employee handbooks need to be updated to include the new National Labor Relations Act. Diversity at the workspace needs to be formally protected. A few more unconventional methods have also emerged such as learning modules to be segmented. The content delivery methodology must embrace creative methods. The steps in the training path ought to be reduced. A system of automated notices and reminders must be put in place. And finally compliance training has to be included as a component within career advancement.

Source:http://www.hrdive.com/news/compliance-training-takes-center-stage-as-companies-face-greater-regulation/432761/

Emotional intelligence is increasingly becoming as important if not more than Intelligence Quotient (IQ). The former’s skills can broadly be divided into three categories- adaptability, collegiality and empathy. The lack of such soft skills is often the stumbling block behind otherwise extremely capable professionals failing to secure promotions. Cognitive skills and work ethics are easier to measure, but not soft skills. Professional service firms such as banks and those dealing with law, accounting or management consulting are notoriously poor at screening candidates on such norms. They conduct the recruitment based on tangible scores such as grades or experience. The careers of most professionals can broadly be divided into two halves. At the first stage, the new recruit goes through a transition from academics to work. Now instead of the teacher having all the answers the boss expects the professional to find out the answers and deliver. At the second phase they need to try and bring business for the firm rather than trying to keep the boss happy. A lot of people fail to juggle through such expectations on diverse projects, getting funding or seeking mentors.

Source:http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/the-emotional-intelligence-deficit-how-it-holds-back-so-many-professionals/

As organizations, have evolved the people concerned also need to accordingly. Corporate training is one line where newer technologies such as gamification and robotics can be used to bring multifold benefits. It is not that the quality of training is not good at established organizations. Instead it is that the focus on traditional classroom based sessions is not leading to the desired benefits sought. Thus organizations need to move on from their training cultures to learning ones. In the former, it is trainers under the leadership of the Chief Learning Officer (CLO) who drives the process, whereas in the former it is driven by employees themselves. In training cultures, it is assumed that learning takes place through special workshops, seminars and courses whereas in learning cultures, it takes place all the time using personal devices even. In the former, all content is centralized, while it is more democratically spread out in the latter. Departments vie for information in the former, but they collaborate in the latter. Thus CEOs need to grasp this major evolution in thinking and act accordingly.

Source:https://www.td.org/Publications/Blogs/Human-Capital-Blog/2017/01/From-a-Training-Culture-to-a-Learning-Culture

The likes of Wal-Mart and PayPal have learnt the hard way the best means to deliver corporate training with young recruits. The present generation brought up on a crash diet of Facebook and Twitter does not hold the patience to go through long classroom based lectures. So Wal-Mart has developed a mobile app replete with practical games to execute the said training. This has led to a fifty percent decline in accidents within just six months in addition to a lot of money saved. PayPal meanwhile has integrated its training process with Facebook and Periscope to provide short video based sessions. Other firms are even opting for continuous education tools such as Udemy.

Source:http://fortune.com/2016/12/28/corporate-employee-training-program/