Tag: learning and development

05 Oct 2021
Banking elearning

How can banks provide better operations with banking e-learning?

Banks are including elearning to make sure employees are adept at doing their jobs. They are given games by the senior management to ensure they get a hang of their job roles.

How are banking elearning games helpful in handling customers?

Banks face a crisis when it comes to handling a tough situation. It’s because although customers have shifted to internet-based banking due to the pandemic still some of them prefer to come to banks. It’s because old people can’t operate online banking software and hence need resolutions of problems such as cheque clearance, the opening of savings accounts, etc. These banking elearning games make sure that customer executives experience situations like how to handle queues in banks and don’t panic when such a situation emerges.

These simulation games empower employees to handle their job roles better. For example, in a cheque clearing game, the employees are supposed to move the players, to handle tasks like when a customer gives a cheque after which they have to verify the details. Any wrong move in the game penalizes the players. All the game results are sent to the managers who then decide when an executive should be allowed public dealing. When an employee has attained a certain score, he can then be shifted to a customer handling role.

When employees play such games, they get hands-on experience in dealing with customer processes, so they don’t commit any errors in the actual process. Such elearning helps employees to deal with situations like mortgages, payments, and approval of loans. The customers want expedited processes when they come to banks and hence elearning has become a crucial way to achieve these results. Banking elearning must also include system safety because any carelessness can cause bugs to enter the system and everyone knows the consequences of data theft in such organizations. Hence access control is important in this kind of training.

Security is also important in banking elearning because if any information about the process is leaked, the operations can be compromised. Any hacker can get knowledge of a bank’s operations and this can be risky. Hence access to banking elearning courses should be there for employees only.

Teaching employees about hard skills, soft skills, and compliance

Banking involves a lot of administrative tasks done through software. Hence it involves teaching employees the correct use of software for their job duties so that they become efficient. After going through banking elearning employees not only gain hard skills, but also soft skills and customers are more pleased. With an elearning platform, when employees play simulation-based games for their skill assessment, their performance can improve. Such communication skills are quite useful in convincing customers to save and open accounts with banks. Of course, the ability to save differs between different customers. But their psychology towards savings can be influenced by a banking officer who can tell them about good rates on term deposits. This way, the customer can become more financially knowledgeable and learn about how savings can fetch him good rates of interest. But there needs to be the protection of customers so that they are not defrauded. However, law-making authorities in several countries have come up with rules to protect customers’ money.

In 2017, RBI made changes to the Banking Ombudsman law which protects customers in case they are misled about a banking product(mis-selling). For example mis-selling happens when someone tries to conceal facts about a financial product like asking customers to invest in mutual funds which are linked to securities whose values can fluctuate and there is no assurance of monthly returns. But banking elearning can teach employees to refrain from such practices to protect the integrity of a bank.

18 Mar 2021
Learning and Development

What will be the challenges before the Learning and Development teams in the upcoming years?

There will be changes in the Learning and Development industry in the future.

There will be drastic changes; some of them are highlighted in this article.

Employees sharing knowledge among themselves:

First of all, there will be the emergence of skilled workers who will share knowledge among themselves. So, instead of Learning and Development professionals creating a course, they will only facilitate the workforce sharing knowledge. This means that such professionals will have to upgrade their skills from being content creators to content facilitators. There will be networks for Personal Knowledge Management created for employees where they will be empowering each other with knowledge.

Creating asynchronous learning the same as classroom training: 

There will be events outside the classroom also. Classroom training will be replicated in the form of asynchronous learning. There will be also a replication of classroom interactions among the learners in the form of online form debates and virtual meetings. The learners have become evolved with the advent of technology. This means, that they look for information on the internet through MOOC’s, they are not satiated any more, with any knowledge shared with them in classrooms. The Learning and Development professionals will be thrust with the responsibility of creating experiences that can be seen on different devices, through social media and MOOC’s and provide on the job training through real-world experiences making use of 3D technologies like Virtual Reality. There will be an emergence of wearables to make sure that the learners take advantage of virtual reality. Wearables come in the form of smart electronic devices that are worn on the body so that there can be an exchange of information. They are like activity trackers such as smartwatches with sensors that provide data through the use of the internet. These objects are based on the technology of the Internet of Things.

New kinds of jobs will evolve:

Initially, there was an invention of connectivity throughout the world. Then automation happened in which simple jobs started getting handled by machines. Now, there are jobs which are located over the world. Soon, we are going to enter an age in which robots are going to work with us. Robots are increasingly getting used in the manufacturing industry. 

Hence, the nature of the training imparted by Learning and Development professionals will change. This implies that such professionals will have a different set of responsibilities. Its because jobs will exist now will vanish and there will be a new set of jobs. The task of L&D professionals will be to make the workforce ready for jobs that are not even in existence yet but will arrive in future.

But if the Learning and Development guys can’t keep up to their jobs, there will be a highly useless workforce in the future that does not have the requisite skill sets. Organizations will pay adversely for such a useless workforce because their jobs won’t be done efficiently.

Different kinds of skills required in one place to solve problems: 

There will be multiple skills required in future jobs. So the workforce will have to be trained for them. There will be problems in jobs not able to be handled by even highly skilled individuals. Hence, individuals from different teams will have to work on multiple projects simultaneously. These teams will collaborate on a project once it gets started and then move on once it’s done. So, the team will have flexible working models. However, the collaborating teams will be provided with proper technological equipment to carry out the project tasks. The task before the L&D team will be to make sure that such collaborating teams can work with each other. They should be able to work through social networks meant for large enterprises.

 

23 Dec 2020
Learning and Development

Why to use storytelling in L&D situations?

Learning and Development are so important for businesses as of now.

The main aim of L&D professional is that the elearning material should stick in the minds of the learners. However, the learner might respond differently to every learning program. It’s important to have an aesthetic visual design to make the elearning program more interesting for users.

Storytelling is quite important for learners. Storytelling makes them take more interest in the program. So, in this article we will get to know how using storytelling in an elearning program will make learners grasp more from it.

Advantages of storytelling 

Neuroscience tells us that our brain responds more to stories.

Enjoy the content: Stories make us enjoy the elearning content. Our brain remembers a story quite well. The brain categorises all the information which comes at us and then it recalls all the stories easily as compared to other information. Storytelling organises all the information in an entertaining manner. They are a way to organise human experience. Stories take away all the non-important information that is not worth paying attention to. They let us know what information is to be retained and what not.

Retention of information: Stories make learners retain information. Its because they hook with the audience at three levels. These three levels are head, hands and heart. The head implies that the learners understand what is the logic behind the module. The heart implies what they are grasping has some utility and the hands imply that they become more effective. The storytelling must incorporate all these three things.

Provide them with real-life experiences: Storytelling makes sure that the characters are the same as learners. The personal stories inspire learners to find solutions and help them attain business objectives. The storytelling is suitable for all kinds of training, be it training for products or skills. If someone who has been just hired needs to be oriented, this approach also works for him. Storytelling means learners watch and listen to the elearning content and don’t leave it in between. They complete the module which is given to them.

How to tell stories 

The storytelling is an effective way of training, both for synchronous and asynchronous modes of training. In elearning, stories are told through characters, animation, and narration. The stories can be told to the learners to make sure that the concept is not mechanical for them. They simply can’t be expected to go through slides and put their heart in it without a story. They need a story to imbibe any kind of information. The learners can then be tested for what they have learnt ina story through a scenario given to them through drag and drop. They have to choose the correct option which is correct in the given situation.

With stories, connections are formed between the organisation and its workers. Stories have a maximum impact on employee and they remember what they learn. Storytelling can include use cases built in the Learning and Development

15 Dec 2020
Learning and Development

Are Learning and Development important for modern-day companies?

Companies are focussing a lot on the learning of employees.

There has been a lot of focus on Learning and Development nowadays because of computerization.

Every day, a new software gets invented and employees have to be trained in that.
If employees don’t learn new skills with time, they can’t provide any benefit to the company.

Coming up of new technologies
Learning new skills is also good for employees. Its because without learning, employees won’t be able to adjust to the company. They will feel confounded with the emergence of new technologies if they don’t learn. That’s why companies are focussing so much on learning.
It’s 4th industrial revolution happening at this time. So, companies need to be on an alert. In this industrial revolution, there is going to be a mixing of technologies. These mix up of technologies is going to encompass all spheres whether physical or biological. Thats why, the employees are going to be affected also. The business leaders need to be conscious of the environment and be ready for accepting this change by changing themselves and their teams.

Research has shown the effectiveness of Learning and Development programs. Such initiatives have to be changed as per company and departmental needs.

A Harvard Business Study Review has proved that a majority(70%) of companies are quite successful when they make sure that their Learning and Development is as good as the priorities of the business.

Training needs of millennials 
Training also matters to boost the skills of employees. This is because millennials have career aspirations. Millennials have already thought of their career plans and choose their employers accordingly. Hence companies should focus on training to retain them otherwise they are likely to leave the job if it does not involve any skill enhancement. Millennials have become an important part of the workforce. Reports say that till 2025, 75% of the workforce will consist of millennials.

What millennials look for in jobs?
Millennials are not looking for jobs, they are looking for skill-based experiences that can foster their career growth. Josh Bersin, who is the founder of Deloitte says that millennials are not looking for job-related benefits such as cash bonuses and easy working hours. Instead, millennials are looking for what skills they are going to imbibe on a job.
Millennials are not satisfied with generic training programs. The training programs must be in sync with their learning needs. Therefore the companies must create their Learning and Development programs accordingly.

Focus on employees’ needs 
The companies thus have to think about what freedom they can give to the millennials so that they learn accordingly. However, a company has to take care of its budget also. But, providing millennials with the freedom what they want to learn is also important to retain them in the company.
The companies must not worry about the budget for the learning and development programs. Instead, spending on such programs is the only way to attain success. Learning and Development should be in sync with the business objectives of the company.
Its because according to a Standard and Poor’s survey, 40% of businesses won’t be there in the coming 10 years. It’s because they are not able to keep pace with technical developments. Thats why L&D must focus on the needs of the employees and make sure they get what they want.a

02 Dec 2020
Learning and Development in elearning

What should be the focus of the L&D team of a company?

The learning and development needs of an organisation need to be in sync with what the learner wants. So, what are the top areas on which an organisation should focus:

If Learning and Development are developed to be in sync with employees, then agility must be a key trait of it. This implies that learning should be as good as the environment. This environment refers to the workplace where it is going to be used. The days in which Learning and Development gave you courses have gone. The role of elearning is to facilitate learning now.
It implies that elearning does not refer to giving content only. It implies that there should be a learning infrastructure in which learners have the primary focus. This is important so that learners can learn continuously.
The aim of elearning should be to make employees imbibe skillsets that can take the organisation in different directions. These skills also make sure that the employees have great careers ahead of them.

Having a skill base

The modern-day employees require a vast skill base. So the elearning team must identify all the skills that will boost the ROI of the company. The focus of L&D must be that the workers should be able to execute several roles. There should be specialisation but employees should have versatile skills which are important for taking an organisation forward. Developing such versatile skills is only possible through the right focus of L&D.
The organisations benefit from change when the skill levels grow as such. So, increasing skill levels means investing in the future of the organisation.
 
Let’s look at some areas where the organisation’s learning and development team can be of help:

 
Onboarding: Onboarding is one of the most important areas for a company. If employees, don’t have such a nice experience in onboarding, they might leave their jobs. Onboarding can make sure that employees can have access to resources whenever they want. Onboarding can be made an interesting process and new employees can have complete control over it.

 
Internal communication: Communication is now more frequent than ever before. With so many mediums of communication, you have to respond quite quickly. This kind of quick response causes some confusion. Hence, great communication is an important area where employees need to be trained. It’s important because we work across different locations and projects. Efficient communication implies being able to ask questions and provide answers also. So, communication is an important part of a management role.

 
Management of projects: The employees must have all the information to be able to manage projects easily. So, project-based training teaches employees how to build teams. Apart from how to build teams, there can also be training on how to utilise the skills and time of other people. When employees are trained for project management, they can take these roles when required. Many project management classes are happening externally but employees should sign up for these courses in-house because then it’s focussed more on what the organisation needs.
Leadership training is also important for an organisation so that there are leaders who comprehend the organisation and its requirements and can adapt.
In creating training modules for all the above needs, the L&D should realise that learning can’t be segregated from an organisation, it is integral to the prosperity of a company.

He was a German psychologist who is known for discovering the forgetting curve. According to this curve, the biggest decline in memory happens within 20 minutes, and then 1 hour.