What L&D Teams Really Want

In our research for the State of L&D 2016 report with InSync Training, we asked a few open-ended questions, including what the L&D world will look like in 10 years.

We also asked, “If you could wave a magic wand to solve one problem for your team today, what problem would that be?”

Many of the answers reflected the top challenges that teams face: budgetary constraints and limited people resources. Other wishes were for more advanced learning technology, more highly-trained learning staff,  better relationships with subject matter experts (SME), and more buy-in from learners and executives.

So when the fairy godmother comes around granting wishes, here is what the L&D community really wants:

Updated Technology

1. “To have an updated and functionally stable LMS.”
2. “New computers”
3. “IT support, we want to test a lot of new technologies to see if they would work for us but it’s not supported”
4. “[We] are using several different softwares: Litmos, Storyline, Regonline, Salesforce.  I would like to use one, integrated solution.”
5. “Expanding maintenance of our LMS to other employees to alleviate the bottleneck of requests that go to our LMS dept. A program that looks better aesthetically and can be altered with drag and drop features would allow other staff to troubleshoot issues. An app version of the LMS would also improve user access”

More Resources – Budget, People, and Time

1. “[A] bigger team with more money!”
2. “Time to do more elearning and content development.”
3. “Estimating project costs more accurately and quickly.”
4. “Faster development of content to be more agile.”
5. “I am ‘the team’ but this position is very manual labor intensive.  I would love this position to be much more automated freeing me up to do and learn other aspects of this position.”

Better Trained Staff

1. “The trainers need knowledge on adult learners, they need to know how adult learners learn.  They need to know how to engage the learners.”
2. “Everyone on our L&D team [would] be competent to delivery each basic skill training topic (our organization is 1,300 people spread throughout the US which makes it difficult to deliver content).”
3. “Quality content created by trained instructional designers and delivered by trained facilitators.”

The Ability to Demonstrate ROI

1. “Be able to provide evidence showing how training and other performance solutions are directly responsible in meeting business goals.”
2. “Better objectives that align to corporate”
3. “More persuasive ways to measure ROI.”

Better Relationships with Subject Matter Experts

1. “I would make all available SMEs willing and able to provide timely feedback and assistance during design and development.”
2. “Getting content from SMEs on time to meet completion dates for our courses”
3. “Shared understanding with SMEs.”

More Learner Buy-In

1. “Right now we force people to attend the trainings but I would like to create a learning culture within the organization where people can show their interest attending the training.”
2. “The learners would understand that partnering with us will improve their productivity, not take time away from their ‘real work.’”
3. “Getting people comfortable with eLearning.”

More Executive Buy-In

1. “Manage leadership expectations for new hires ability to absorb and master tasks.  We train them on too much up front.  They cannot master it all.”
2. “Senior leadership buy-in to support a learning culture in pursuit of a high-performance culture and unlimited budget and resources.”
3. “Get leadership to openly support training so that participants will follow through with training. Currently, too many have to cancel/reschedule due to pressure from management.”
4. “Make the business partners more receptive to blended learning approaches.”
5. “Our department is behind the times (about 5 years) and I wish management (C-Suite) would push everyone to our organization for learning.”

If you could wave a magic wand, what would you change for your team?

Free L&D Toolkit: Top 10 Things to Consider When Delivering Training Digitally

Whether you’re struggling to reach more mobile learners, keep the ones in front of you engaged, or start an entire digital training program from scratch, this toolkit will help.