Too many employers are clinging on to traditional training methods despite having reservations about how effective they are, a survey has found.
The poll was undertaken by Software-as-a-Service-based learning and talent management software supplier, Cornerstone OnDemand, and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, which published the findings today to coincide with the start of its two-day HRD annual learning and talent development conference.
The study revealed that, even though only 16% of respondents believed that formal education courses were the most effective learning and development techniques, a mere 17% intended to reduce their reliance on classroom and trainer-led instruction over the next two years.
This was despite the fact that such approaches still tend to dominate many learning and development programmes.
Dr John McGurk, the CIPD’s learning and talent development adviser, said: “Many of the learning approaches used by organisations are legacies of a learning environment where the classroom, courses and ‘sheep dip’ learning were the order of the day. However, in today’s environment, the skills of continuous collaborative and connective learning are paramount.”
Even those disciplines as compliance and advanced skills learning needed to be rethought with the arrival of gaming and simulation techniques, he pointed out.
As a result: “We need to take into account how generations learn and share knowledge and we need to understand anew the process of learning and knowledge,” McGurk said. “We need to lift our awareness of the emerging science of learning and, in some cases, we need to slaughter some of the sacred cows, which have informed practice.”
In the new world, he said that he expected to see a growing fusion of coaching, leadership and change management expertise, while being able to evaluate performance quickly would become ever more critical.
As to which learning and development techniques were felt to be most effective, a huge 52% of the learning and development professionals questioned voted for in-house development programmes, while 46% were keen on coaching by line managers.
Just under two in five plumped for on-the-job training, while a mere 11% preferred e-learning.
