Why I’m a zealot for learning – and you should be, too!
I am a zealot for learning. Why? To learn is to live and to live is to learn.
The world around us is changing at a pace many people struggle to keep up with.
In the workforce, one of peoples’ biggest concerns is whether they have and can maintain the right skills to provide a good life for themselves and their families. This is a legitimate concern, but one that can be overcome with a little effort.
Skills of the future are evolving
Skills in the 21st century are perpetually evolving due to advancements in technology, process automation that is replacing work previously done by human beings, globalization and the changing demands of the consumer across industries.
Economists, industrial psychologists, academicians, and human resources professionals and the like agree that today’s skills begin to erode after two years! Two years?! Yes, two years. That is sobering, and it motivates me both as a leader and as a learner.
How we learn and how we work are evolving
Think about it, learning is everywhere right? When going about their day-to-day business, when people want information or to learn how to do something, they instinctually reach for their smart device and search for what they need in the moment.
This micro-learning, through video and games, has become a norm for everyone from small children building a foundation to senior citizens focused on keeping their cognition sharp. These tools are becoming an extension of our lives everywhere except in the workplace. Until now.
Let’s look at some facts about the future of work, according to Work Front, a platform for enterprise work management:
- We can expect to see the five generations working together with artificial intelligence (AI) seamlessly integrated into the work environment. Have a question or not sure how to complete a process? Just ask the chatbot on your desktop (or whatever interface you’ll be using!) and get the answers you need in real-time as you complete your work.
- Millennials and Gen-Z will become the largest demographic in the workforce and they will drive the demand to learn and work the same way they interact with the rest of the world – digitally.
- Social learning and collaboration will make crowdsourcing data to create adaptive and personalize learning experiences much easier.
Integrating how we learn and work
As a leader, I’m responsible for driving the evolution of how we learn at Blue Cross NC. We’re doing new and exciting things in the learning space to ensure employees have everything they need to remain marketable.
Filling first-of-its-kind role at Blue Cross NC, our Learning Innovations Lead, Dr. Lisa McCorkle is a neuroscientist specializing in learner-centered experimentation and innovation. With her direction, we are modernizing learning in ways that truly blur the line between how you learn in your personal time and how you learn at work.
We’re on a three-year journey. The first year, focusing on infrastructure, just ended. Content libraries will allow learners to organize, search for and retrieve the right information at the right time. Year two will be about integrating functionality within that infrastructure, delivering learning paths designed to create proficiency in a given discipline as efficiently as possible. These learning paths will be created with the assistance of AI-based on factors including job role, interests, and future skill needs. In year three, we’ll focus on measurement and continuous improvement.
With all the potential to be harnessed through the power of AI, there’s never been a more exciting time to be a learning leader. I’m passionate about finding and delivering the best learning solutions to our employees as their skills and needs continue to evolve. And I know I’ll learn a lot in the process.
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