Why Personalization Is The Key To Corporate Learner Engagement

Personalization: The Key To Corporate Learner Engagement

When it comes to corporate learner engagement, personalization isn’t just a trend or a “nice to have” anymore – it’s an expectation.

Bersin by Deloitte’s Meet the Modern Learner infographic demonstrates that today’s learner is overwhelmed, impatient, and distracted. Research shows that people touch their phones 2,617 times per day (on average). Work interruptions can cost up to six hours per day. And, humans now reportedly have an attention span of eight seconds – yes, that’s ostensibly shorter than the attention span of a goldfish.

Learning and Development professionals are tasked with engaging corporate learners, but in a world distracted by an endless stream of ubiquitous Internet content, engaging employees is a lot easier said than done.

So, what’s they key to cutting through the noise? The answer lies in leveraging learning technology to implement personalized learning programs.

Cutting Through The Noise With Learning Personalization

Your learners aren’t strangers to personalized experiences – in fact, the sites where people spend the majority of their time on the Internet all provide some degree of personalization. Social networks like Facebook and Twitter have introduced algorithms to help cut through the overwhelming amount of content appearing on a user’s main feed. Netflix recently overhauled their rating system to provide more personalized content recommendations. Plus, Google’s algorithm also considers individual factors such as a user’s location, previous search activity, and more to tailor search results and ultimately help the searcher efficiently find what they’re looking for.

Internet users aren’t just accustomed to personalization, however – it’s becoming a demand. In a recent survey, Accenture Interactive found that consumers have a positive attitude toward personalized offerings and services. Similarly, Janrain reported that 74% of consumers get frustrated when content (ads, offers, etc.) appear on websites that appear to have nothing to do with their interests.

The positive impact of personalization is all fine and good for consumers (and marketers, too), but what does it mean for your corporate learners? Personalization works, and people expect it – so much so that the expectation now extends beyond the consumer experience and into corporate learning.

Thanks to developments in learning technology, the possibilities for personalizing the learner experience have become far more substantial than they were just a few years ago.

Personalization And Learning Technology: Better Together

In the context of corporate learning, a personalized learner experience should provide the training content that a specific learner needs, when they need it.

Learning technology is essential for executing personalized learning programs. For example, here are 3 ways a Learning Management System can address corporate learning personalization:

1. Providing on-demand content.
   Today’s learners expect just-in-time answers to their questions. Centralizing your training content and allowing it to be accessed on-demand in your Learning Management System enables personalized, self-paced learning.
2. Leveraging learner data.
   Data is essential to personalizing the learner experience. Learning technology can help learning administrators gather data about specific learners to understand their specific learning needs, analyze their skill gaps, and provide customized training programs – and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
3. Facilitating social learning.
   Those familiar with the 70:20:10 method understand that learning happens socially and collaboratively. If your LMS enables social learning, it can allow a learner’s peers or your organization’s subject matter experts to provide personalized training recommendations to learners, as well as respond to questions on a one-to-one basis.

Winning The Engagement Battle

Engaging your learners means winning their time and full attention.

This isn’t to suggest that your employees are using their time inefficiently, or wasting their working hours watching cute cat videos on YouTube. The fact is, the modern learner’s behavior has evolved due to a number of external factors. In order to engage your learners, your Learning and Development methods and technologies must evolve as well.

Engage your learners with personalized learning programs and, ultimately, drive organizational success.

Want to learn more about personalized learning? Register for Docebo’s upcoming webinar, The Explosive Role of Personalized Learning: How eLearning Brings Individuals Into the L&D Equation.