Learning Ecosystems: The Future of L&D?
Collaboration.
It’s one of the fundamental shifts that we’ve seen within the space of L&D over the past 5 years, and learning ecosystems are a great example of this shift.
Bas Puts - Global Head of Learning and Skill Architecture at Siemes, came on the Moving Forward podcast to discuss this in more detail.
In this article, we’ll unpack what learning ecosystems are, why they’re vital for L&D strategies and making them scalable, plus much more.
Scroll down for more or listen to the full podcast episode here.
To kick off, it’s worth understanding what a learning ecosystem is.
Bas provided his insights:
“At Siemens - we define it as The Learning and Growth Ecosystem. This means that everybody who has a stake within the topic of the development of people, should contribute, by bringing people together in an environment where they can thrive within their role.”
“For instance - your ecosystem could enable a skills manager, looking to curate content for a target group, or a topic owner for the global rollout of something like project management.”
Learning ecosystems can help to address a couple of core challenges that many L&D departments are facing.
First of all, there’s the core hurdle of time pressure and speed. Bas said:
“An ecosystem approach resolves this problem - because it’s no longer down to one person in the L&D department being responsible for onboarding. It’s a joint, or collective effort.”
Learning ecosystems also help with the other core problem that many organisations face - which is employee engagement and retention.
Bas also said:
“The entire learning ecosystem is based around the learner. It needs to be much more than a platform - it’s an experience. If it’s a compelling space, employees will be engaged to participate in the ecosystem.”
He added that this helps to lower the barriers to entry for L&D as a whole:
“Moving towards an optimised experience for the user, meant that we’ve labelled our ecosystem as a learning experience platform (LXP). It’s a one-stop shop for learning and growth. This means that employees don’t learn because they have to, but rather that they want to - it’s a fun space.”
Now, how exactly do you make an LXP engaging and compelling? Well, for Bas, it comes down to three fundamentals:
1 - Smooth
Employees should be able to access the content on the platform or learning ecosystem that’s relevant to them in no more than 2 clicks!
2 - Meaningful
Employees understand why the learning content is relevant for them and for the progression within their role or for their team.
3 - Inspirational
Learning shouldn’t be boring. The content should spark motivation for employees to be curious and upskill themselves further.
It starts with the understanding that L&D has evolved as a function, within the business. Bas explained that it is a different ballgame:
“We used to say that the L&D department was like a game of soccer - we were in the champions league and we knew exactly what it took to be successful. But now, all of a sudden, we’re playing basketball. The requirements from L&D are completely different, and what success looks like has fundamentally changed.”
Organisations who embrace this change are the ones that’ll go far - because they’re learning to invest in their employees in the right way.
There are a couple of core principles that L&D need to consider, when it comes to successfully building a learning ecosystem.
First - don’t assume that your employees know that it’s ok to take time out to learn. Bas said:
“In the beginning, when we were constructing the learning ecosystem, we did review interviews with employees on how they perceive learning. We quickly found out that people weren’t sure that they had the freedom to choose learning topics - almost like it wasn’t allowed.”
Within the context of the LXP or ecosystem, Siemens has 240,000+ users - which is huge! This begs the question - how do you achieve such a high level of adoption?
Communicate with employees, and invite them to the LXP. Let them know it’s there and they’re welcome to use it. Bas said:
“It’s a marathon - not a sprint. We discovered that we needed to shift away from the occasional activity of writing a newsletter or adding new site content.”
“Instead, we realised we needed specialists to build the learning ecosystem as a long-term campaign. It was about empowering people to work on their own development or journey.”
Second - L&D should shift away from feeling the need to solely own the curation or creation of the learning content.
Bas said:
“Think about TikTok - people follow people. Learning ecosystems work in the same way - treat it as a co-creation activity. Everyone can become a curator - there are 1700+ of them at Siemens. This is also known as the power of community based learning.”
“We have a saying: go from ego to eco. Be open to others’ opinions regarding the quality - does this fit the evolving needs of someone’s role? Have those open conversations and work together.”
It’s one thing to establish a learning culture. But the core challenge is ensuring that there isn’t a dwindling motivation from employees.
If this takes place, the wider domino effect can be the risk of employee sustainability.
But Bas argues that learning ecosystems have the power to counteract this:
“Learning ecosystems can be directly tied to the strategy of the company. There’s a clear acceptance that upskilling and reskilling has to be done faster than ever before”
“Especially as a company undergoes great, transformational change. Learning ecosystems can make the importance of a learning culture mission critical.”
It all comes back to the importance of making learning accessible and fun - through the ecosystem. Organisations can reap the benefits of this effort - through higher retention, as a result.
Sander Kok, (former CPO at GoodHabitz) also added to the conversation:
“Link the learning culture to the business strategy. What are the goals and what skills are missing that are going to help us reach those goals?”
Bas agreed, stating:
“The manager can shed light on the direction of the company, and how the employee plays a part in that. As a result, this further personalises the learning path or experience for that said employee.”
Learning ecosystems can also strengthen conversations around performance and career development, between managers and employees.
Bas said it’s a positive cycle:
“At Siemens, Learning Hours (the amount of time spent on the learning ecosystem) is one of the overall targets of the company. These metrics trigger the discussion between the manager and the employee - in terms of how the learning hours spent will also be meaningful. This then can feed back into the dialogue around the conversation relating to career development.”