Looop’s Chief Learning Officer, David James, was recently joined by Sukh Pabial — a prominent L&D blogger and podcaster — in an episode of the Learning & Development podcast to discuss the modern learning leader and the skills and mindset required for the future of L&D.
Sukh is a prominent voice on Twitter and regularly challenges the L&D profession with his different approach. Sukh created the Modern Learning Leader programme to help L&D leaders acquire new knowledge and skills in order to best support employees in the modern age.
In this podcast, Sukh and David explored how L&D is changing, and how to adapt and broaden the skill sets required to evolve with the workplace.
Listen to episode 4 of the Learning & Development podcast here.
The conversation in L&D around digital and disruption seems to be never ending. Technology has come into play and transformed the workplace, but so many L&D practitioners are still missing the mark when it comes to engaging their staff.
This is caused by an unclear direction on how to upskill in the area of L&D, according to Sukh. The skills required for L&D professionals are becoming more fragmented and are not always comparable or related disciplines. This can result in individuals focusing on deep learning for each particular specialty in a linear way to further their own development and be able to fulfil the role of a modern learning leader. And this is what inspired Sukh to create the Modern Learning Leader programme, which is a two-day masterclass designed around modern learning theories, models, approaches and methodologies.
There are so many different L&D specialties that each require a great deal of understanding and time to learn, but there’s no broad development in place that combines skills that are prevalent within L&D. And Sukh sees this as a huge gap in the industry, because if you go to one L&D practitioner and ask for help to learn what they do, you run the risk of failing to know what everyone else is doing.
Becoming a modern learning leader starts with understanding what your employees need. So if L&D practitioners can shift their focus from learning solutions to actually understanding what their staff are doing day-to-day in their roles, there will be a far better understanding and awareness of what needs to be provided in L&D initiatives.
Even if you don’t necessarily have the right tools, skills or knowledge in that moment to be able to help deliver on the stuff your employees need, it’s about knowing where to develop yourself to best support your employees with the challenges and problems they face.
“The profession is trained on ‘L&D skills’ and how to develop content, but it needs to go deeper than that,” — Sukh Pabial.
If the workplace is going to evolve then the focus needs to be on business goals, not learning outcomes. By looking at the day-to-day skills and challenges employees have, the right tools can then be found that will actually help people to perform better. That’s the stuff that makes a difference, and that’s the way L&D can align with the rest of the business.
If you’re interested in finding out more about how to become a modern learning leader, listen to episode 4 of the Learning & Development podcast.
Interested in finding out how Looop can help you align L&D with the rest of the business? Book a free demo to speak to one of our experts.
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