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Learning and Development for a Hybrid Workforce

Learning and development for a hybrid workforce presents quite the challenge for learning leaders who need to restructure and reconsider both the content and the delivery of L&D initiatives. 

A hybrid workforce is far more dynamic than the traditional in-office workforce, and employees recently undertaking the transition to a hybrid working model have vastly different training needs than ever before. In fact, many hybrid workforces (including senior leaders, mid-tier leaders and frontline managers) are coming up against challenges and problems that they’ve never before seen in their working careers. This is quite the conundrum indeed, but we think it’s also rather exciting. Allow us to explain.

 

Learning and development for a hybrid workforce

 

A new learning and development opportunity

While providing learning and development opportunities for a hybrid workforce can seem daunting at first, this is also a very exciting time for learning leaders. For the first time in a very long time the structure of work has shifted, and with it so has the required content for learning and development initiatives.

This new approach to work, a hybrid working structure, calls for fresh new content and much more fluid and flexible training delivery options. This is potentially one of the most transformative and innovative times in the history of Learning and Development, and you’re here for it, which is pretty darn cool if you ask us.

You’ve got the opportunity to shape the future of your hybrid workforce through contextual and highly engaging learning and development initiatives. You get to try new things, explore new avenues and deliver something truly transformative for your people. Let that sink in.

 

Learning and development needs of a hybrid workforce

As is evident from the immense change in moving to a hybrid workforce, the learning and development content that is going to be most impactful and well received is always going to be content that is relevant and contextual to your people.

In this new era of hybrid work, your learning and development content needs to hit the mark like it never has before. Same-old won’t work in this time of digital transformation and innovation. Your people, from all departments, will need something that addresses the problems they’re facing and training that offers practical strategies they can implement right away to make their day-to-day experience as a hybrid team more enjoyable and effective.

Some of the learning and development opportunities that we have seen after speaking with countless organisations navigating the transition to and the implementation of hybrid work are as follows:

  • Hybrid team communication – asynchronous and synchronous, collaboration, 1:1 
  • Hybrid team leadership – coaching, motivation and engagement, conflict management
  • Hybrid team culture – team connection, team rituals, team support, team goals
  • Hybrid self-leadership – emotional wisdom, energy management

 

We address all of these areas with our clients through both bespoke and off-the-shelf training programs backed by science and delivered through our world-class PTV virtual training studios. We’ve seen the impact that these topics can have on the engagement levels and performance of hybrid teams, and it truly is astounding what can happen when the right content is delivered through the right medium. 

 

Delivering learning and development to a hybrid workforce

As we’ve started to lead into, and as you can probably imagine, delivering learning and development content to a hybrid workforce often calls for virtual training delivery. Live virtual training sessions are the future for much of learning and development delivery because it allows workplaces to deliver training in a way that is flexible for varying schedules, and in a way that the same level and quality of training can be delivered across an entire organisation regardless of the location of employees. 

While it can be tempting to opt for click-through virtual training delivered in the same way it always has been, these methods often lead to low learner engagement and low implementation of learned concepts. Through highly contextual, high quality virtual training delivery the concepts and strategies discussed can be openly explored with a live group, enabling a hybrid workforce to feel more engaged and connected with their fellow employees and the content itself. 

Many workplaces operating in a hybrid environment like to lean on the use of short virtual learning masterclasses as a way to provide quick bites of valuable information and content when required. This is something we’ve seen done with countless organisations including McCormick Australia who developed their own internal branding for this masterclass series as it became a huge hit with their team. 

While it may seem strange to offer virtual training delivery for a hybrid workforce where some are based on-site, we’ve found through our own delivery of countless programs that in-office staff actually enjoy being able to feel a part of the experience through learning alongside their fellow employees based at home or even in other states or countries. This enables a sense of community and strengthens workplace relationships, which is something we love to see in all workplaces, regardless of team structure. 

 

When creating learning and development for a hybrid workforce there are core considerations that need to be made, like content and delivery methods, but from a big picture perspective it’s clear to see that this is an exciting new era for L&D leaders.

If you’ve been tasked with sourcing new approaches and content for your hybrid workforce we would love to have a chat with you. Take a look at our world-class PTV virtual training delivery studios and our programs to see if we might be a good fit for your hybrid workforce.