Let Them Learn Right Where They Are.

More and more often my clients are looking for ways to get just-in-time learning to new leaders regardless of location, job functions, and work hours.   They are facing the fact that everyone won’t and can’t physically gather in a room at headquarters for each training initiative.  So, I’ve been doing my research on leadership training and mobile learning.  Here are a few facts I uncovered recently.

·         The average age of managers when they get leadership training is 42. Yet the average age when they become managers is 33, according to an ATD study.

·         Less than 10 percent of employees under the age of 30 get the opportunity to participate in leadership development, according to a Ken Blanchard Companies study.

·         More people have mobile telephones around the world than have access to indoor plumbing, according to the United Nations.

Investing in current managers and future leaders today, rather than a decade too late might finally be a feasible possibility with mobile learning solutions.

When ATD published Mobile Learning: Learning in the Palm of Your Hand in 2011, the report mentioned a not-yet-common term called the app.  It also questioned whether recently introduced tablets would soon dominate the world of mobile devices. That year, 57 percent of surveyed learning and business leaders predicted that they would be using mobile learning in the next three years.  In 2013,  a similar study found that only 15% of the surveyed organizations were designing and/or utilizing mobile learning.  This year’s (2014) survey revealed a growth spurt: 28 percent of respondents confirmed that their organizations made internal learning content available via mobile devices.   Mobile learning adoption continues to be grow, albeit, slowly. 

What I learned from the ATD study is there are a couple of factors influencing organizations’ ability to adapt and adopt mobile learning applications. 

The decision to build it or buy it is one factor.   Organizations have four basic options: 1. 1. OEM learning apps  2. Enterprise wide solutions vendors   3.Outside consulting services; and/or   4. Internal development.  The ATD Study analysis shows better performance and learning effectiveness for those organizations that opted for internal development of their mobile programs.

The other factor compromises several element, all of which are obstacles to adopting mobile learning solutions.  The top drawbacks can be summarized succinctly as lack of money, fear of the unknown, and technology problems.  Organization leaders are asking whether or not they have the time, human capital and technical support to embark on such initiatives. 

If you’re organization has or will soon add mobile learning, share you thoughts, lessons learned, best practices and questions with us on social media.