VISION AND STRATEGY

In an ideal world, our leaders would do two important things very clearly. They
would establish a clear vision for the organization. A clear vision would explain

TOP

10

TRENDS

where the organization is going and why its going there. The next thing leaders
would do is set out a straightforward strategy that tells everyone, employees,
stakeholders, customers and the market how the organization will realize its vision.
Reduced to its simplest terms, that is really what we need leaders to do well.
Things get a little more complicated when we try and apply various leadership
models or competencies to these two core roles. But lets try and keep focused on
these important core roles over the course of this series of eBooks that will offer ten
leadership tips that we believe will improve employee learning in your organization.
Employee learning is directly linked to so many business benefits that it really should
not be viewed as a luxury or something to be allocated to the cost side of a
ledger. In todays world of big data, complex markets, ambiguous economies,
and volatile competition, a highly skilled, well educated and trained employee

population is a necessity for the execution of any well-designed strategy developed

by leaders. In other words, employee learning is a mission critical element that
directly supports the execution and performance of a variety of organizational
functions, including a core function of leadership the execution of
organizational strategy.

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1. Rise of the Millennials

2. Open and immediate
access to content
3. Short-form video
4. Bring your own device
(BYOD)
5. Mobile and HTML5
6. Responsive web design
comes to learning
7. Budgetary pressure
8. Upside down hierarchy
(everyone is learn and
teacher)
9. Collaboration rules and
the rules of collaboration
10. Competency-based
training still matters

VISION AND STRATEGY

We are seeing an amazing evolution in the marketplace of the definition of
leadership and organizational success. Just look at the astounding success and
growth of companies like Google and Apple and other innovation, technology and
web-oriented businesses compared to the growth of companies that are not
innovative or are in traditional market segments.

The competitive landscape is changing. The business, leadership and learning

models that got organizations to the pinnacle of success just a few years ago did
not work to keep them there in todays market, and the leadership and learning
models that pushed organizations to the top of their respective markets today will
not sustain future success. Only a commitment to continued learning, agility and
adaptability will accomplish that very difficult feat.
The learning trends we see coming in 2014 and beyond will have an important
impact on the way in which employees learn and develop on the job.

Leaders that can adapt to these trends will be in a great

position to lead organizations and employees to different
levels of success in a market characterized by volatility,

uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity.

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Within the next few years

the learning equation will be
80% informal, social, mobile,
and collaborative, and 20%
blended instructor-led and
virtual and actual classroombased.
This change represents one
of the biggest paradigm
shifts in the history of
learning and development.
Brandon Hall Group, State of
Learning and Development Report
2014

RISE OF THE MILLENNIALS

The demographic shift in the workforce, caused by the massive influx of Gen Y into
American workplaces, profoundly affects nearly everything we do. These employees bring
a new set of expectations and attitudes to work with them and since their numbers are so
large, we have no choice but to adapt, or we risk becoming irrelevant.
Ready or not, the Millennial Generation is here, and they are not going away. The
demographic data is staggering. Some studies suggest that by 2020, 50% of the US
workforce will be from the Millennial Generation. Baby Boomers will hang around in larger
numbers, and Generation X will begin moving in large numbers into board rooms and
executive suites.
The workplace will also be less homogenous in terms of race and gender. Exactly what all
of these changes mean is still uncertain, but we can be certain that the work world of 2020
will be different than the work world we saw as normal 5 years ago or even today.

OPEN AND ALL ACCESS

Its tempting to add this to the many influences of Gen Y on the workforce, but thats not
entirely fair nor would that be accurate. Everyone that uses the Internet to access content
is used to immediate, on-demand access to the content of their choosing, on the device of
their choosing. We all go to news sites, sports sites, Facebook, blogs, Instagram, YouTube,
Twitter and a host of other outlets for content to find exactly what we want, when we want
it. This is the way the Internet works today.
Like the Baby Boomers before them, the Millennial Generation changes everything they
touch. They made profound changes in schools, technology, entertainment, fashion, social
conscience, and a myriad of other significant areas that affect all of us. These digital
natives grew up connected to content at their finger tips. They are used to looking up what
they want, when they want it where ever they are. Digital migrants, like Baby Boomers,
dont always interact with technology in the same way. But theyve adopted many
behaviors associated with Gen Y using mobile devices for instant access to content of our
choosing, engaging in social networking, for entertainment, keeping informed, and a wide
range of other activities based solely upon each individuals unique needs, interested or
wants in the moment, on the individuals terms, and on the individuals device of choice.

SHORT VIDEO
Most of the content we absorb on the Internet today is dominated by one format video.
YouTube gets more traffic than any website other than Google. During peak traffic hours,
streaming video occupies the majority of the bandwidth in use in the US market. Short
videos at YouTube frequently enjoy millions of views. Most internet users view short videos
each day and multiple videos each week. Simply stated, short-form video is the content
media of choice for most adults today.
This third trend is a direct derivative of the prior two. We are seeing a huge shift in the type
of content the average internet user prefers, and its an overwhelming trend towards shortform video. The first iteration of the Internet was basically a place we all went to read
information. We didnt interact with the content, and we certainly couldnt interact with
each other. Thats all changed. Now YouTube is the 2nd most popular site on the Internet,
and people go there to find all sorts of content. Its not all funny cats and entertainment.
There is all sorts of substantial content on YouTube, too. But video dominates nearly every
top website today. Think of news sites and sports sites. What is the single dominant form of
content you encounter? Its video. Why? Because we are visual creatures, and our minds
process and recall visual and video images more rapidly and more effectively than any
other form of content.

Improve Your
Technology Literacy

TECHNOLOGY LITERACY
The major trends and movement in employee learning weve discussed in this
eBook relate largely to large-scale societal changes impacting how businesses and
organizations operate related to technology. The Millennial Generation did not
invent social media or Web 2.0, but this generation embraced the concepts of 24/7
connectivity in ways nobody could have really predicted 15 years ago.

Digital natives will soon be the majority of the workforce in the US. Leaders
regardless of generation will have to have a certain baseline level of digital
literacy just to establish a critical level of credibility and common ground for
communication, connection and work in such a workplace. Leaders who seem
intimidated by technology will immediately look out-of-date, behind the times and
irrelevant to employees whose entire lives are spent tethered to their phones, text
messages and social network of choice.

Recommended Resources:
The BizLibrary Collection
Access 100+ online social media
courses to leverage social media to its
fullest potential.

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Learning and development

must evolve from being a
training department to be
the driving force behind a
culture of learning that spans
the enterprise, providing
real, measurable value for
the company.
David Grebow, Principal
Analyst, Brandon Hall Group

TECHNOLOGY LITERACY
Here are a few things leaders can do to improve their digital literacy:
Explore unfamiliar, yet highly used, social media tools such as Instagram and Tumblr.
If your leaders are using these tools try Vine, or Snapchat. There are new and
interesting technology and social communication tools popping up all of the time.
Its not important to master them, but it is important to gain some familiarity with

these tools. More and more workplace productivity tools borrow features and
functions from the social media world.
Spend some time improving your own social networking profiles. Every professional
should have a Linked In profile. If you dont have one, get one. If you have one,
look up best practices on making a great profile and update yours.
Join Twitter. Really. Its an information network and its really useful and a great way
to stay informed on a wide range of topics.

Explore YouTube for business related content. Its there, you just have to search
for it.
Find two or three blogs to follow and read. Make one just for pure fun about a
hobby or a personal interest, and find two that relate to your industry and career.

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Few areas in the current

business environment change
as rapidly or as often as
technology. The BizLibrary
Collection provides the ondemand resources needed to
keep all of your employees
up to date.
Areas of focus include:
Microsoft Office
Adobe Creative Suite
Mobile Application
Development
HTML 5

Improve Your Emotional

Intelligence

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
With the demographic tsunami heading our way in the workplace, generations,
gender, ethnic, you name it, learning to work well with a widely diverse workforce
and team will be an extremely important competency. Ultimately, leaders with high
levels of emotional intelligence will be the ones who really separate themselves in
terms of true high performance from their peers.

In a January 9, 2014 article from Forbes, Travis Bradbury, author of Emotional

Intelligence 2.0, said:
Your emotional intelligence is the foundation for a host of critical skillsit
impacts most everything you say and do each day. Emotional intelligence is
the single biggest predictor of performance in the workplace and the
strongest driver of leadership and personal excellence.
Bradbury went on to note that 90% of all top performers rank high in emotional
intelligence. Whats wonderful about this data is the finding that emotional

intelligence can be developed and learned. At its core, emotional intelligence is

built upon two foundational skills. According to Bradbury, social awareness being
the ability to accurately pick up on emotions in other people and understand what
is really going on. Relationship management is the ability to use awareness of your
emotions and the others emotions to manage interactions successfully.

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Emotional Intelligence is the

largest single predictor of
success in the
workplace.Emotional
Intelligence is managing
feelings so that they are
expressed appropriately and
effectively enabling people
to work together smoothly
towards their common goals.
Daniel Goleman, Working
with Emotional Intelligence

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Its easy to see why this competency is so critical to success for leaders, and its easy
to see why it will be even more important as our workplaces become more
complicated. We require leaders who can navigate the relationships and stresses
that will be organically present when the market pressures of volatility, uncertainty,
complexity and ambiguity collide with the demographic changes internally. This
stew of forces will be difficult for the most skilled managers and leaders to

manage. Developing a strong sense of emotional intelligence will provide a critical

tool our leaders will need in such a work world.

Recommended Resources:
The BizLibrary Collection
This 7 course series on Emotional
Intelligence includes:

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What is Emotional Intelligence?

Developing Self-Awareness
Developing Self-Motivation
Developing Self-Regulation
Developing Effective Relationships
Developing Empathy
Emotional IQ and DISC

LEARN
Everything you can.
Anytime you can.
From anyone you can.
There will always
come a time when
you will grateful you
did.

Sarah Caldwell

Improve And Develop

Collaboration Skills

COLLABORATION SKILLS
Another characteristic, or trait, of the Millennial generation is that they tend to be
very collaborative and social. They had school experiences where team and group
learning projects (collaboration) was routine and normal. As digital natives, they are
accustomed to interconnections and sharing information with widely scattered
networks of friends and contacts. Collaboration will become a more routine part
of business operations for a wide range of reasons, including the simple fact that

there are business benefits to collaboration such as higher rates of innovation,

collaborative organizations are more adaptable (agile), team members can work in
areas of strength easier, and collaborative organizations tend to have higher rates

LEADERSHIP and
LEARNING are
indispensable to
each other.

of employee retention and engagement.

John F. Kennedy
Collaboration is becoming not only a critical competency, but its also becoming a
successful operational model for high performing teams and organizations. In a
work world where collaborative organizations share information quicker, innovate
faster, are more adaptable and agile, collaborative leaders will be at a premium.
So collaboration will be a critical competency for leaders. Likewise, collaboration

may very well become a critical organizational competency and operational

model for the most successful organizations.

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LEADERSHIP AND LEARNING GO HAND-IN-HAND.

The simple truth of the matter is this has always been true. Todays ambiguous,
complex world seems to have thrown so many business principles and truths into
question, that the close connection between leadership and employee learning
seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle, too.
Leaders still play a central role in the success of employee training, and the tips
weve offered in this brief eBook will work to keep your leaders skills up-to-date,
relevant and in line with the learning needs, behaviors and expectations of
employees.
Its critical your leaders do not lag too far behind employees in terms of digital
literacy. Leaders have to be engaged in the current digital marketplace of ideas
and social behaviors. Leaders must also adapt behaviors that will help them to deal
with the pressures of a complicated work place and market, and high levels of

emotional intelligence will help. In fact, data suggests that emotional intelligence is
important for high performing leaders in any type of environment. Last, and not
least is the need to collaborate. Collaboration isnt just going to be a great
competency to possess and master. Its going to evolve into an operational model
for teams and high performing organizations.

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Learning and development

must evolve from being a
training department to be
the driving force behind a
culture of learning that spans
the enterprise, providing
real, measurable value for
the company.
David Grebow, Principal
Analyst, Brandon Hall Group

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