NEW Industry Report from Towards Maturity: Transforming Formal Learning
Last week Towards Maturity together with DPG unveiled their latest report: Transforming Formal Learning. What they revealed was so exciting I had to share it with the world!
Their report explores how learning leaders can support the learner journey through formal learning, the importance of learning transfer (bingo!), and covers some top tips to put into practice. Data for the report has primarily been taken from the Towards Maturity 2015 Benchmark™ research with over 600 leaders.
Creating and delivering formal learning has traditionally been the focus for many Learning and Development professionals. Towards Maturity suggest that formal learning is not dead; 55% of employees still find face-to-face learning essential, with 76% of learners motivated to learn because they want to do their job better or faster. But they confirm that over nine out of ten want to improve the effectiveness of their face-to-face programs, plus the speed of the application of learning into the workplace. As such, formal learning needs to change. Traditional formal training must adapt to the needs of the modern learner and take advantage of the opportunities presented by technology.
One of the aspects I was most interested to hear about was around what is happening with the application of formal learning.
Towards Maturity found that 96% of L&D leaders want to increase the application of formal learning in the workplace with technology-enabled learning, but only 17% achieve their goals. This achievement sits at 55% in top performing learning organisations.
It was no surprise to me that the report found reflection to play a critical role in the learning transfer process, and, if used effectively and purposefully, helps embed concepts and theories from formal learning into practice. Learning from the Top Deck, we can see that of practitioners who are enhancing the application and transfer of learning into the workplace, 80% encourage and make time for reflection, and 45% encourage learners to keep reflective learning logs.
Great to see that the top deck are recognising the power of reflection in the transfer of learning. I firmly believe that it is a fundamental piece in applying learning back to the workplace.
Towards Maturity summarise by suggesting that formal learning is here to stay and will continue to be an important part of the learning landscape for the foreseeable future.
Congratulations to Laura Overton and the Towards Maturity team for another great publication. The findings around reflection are just scratching the surface – for a whole host of fascinating figures, and a handy resource summarising Nine Tips for Transforming Formal Learning, check out the full report to learn from the top deck and increase the effectiveness of your formal learning initiatives.