A new year, a new era: and with it, Josh Bersin has published interesting predictions about what’s to come in the L&D industry. In the face of a slowing economy, companies will be looking at smarter spending on better learning solutions. This will be all the more important due to employee downsizing and the need to build a business case for critical workforce investments. Bersin believes that many will turn to new learning platforms or what he calls “Capability Academy” systems, an area where GrowthSpace has made its mark–and continues to evolve.
A Shift in Learning and Development
In his New Year’s article, “HR Technology 2023: What’s Hot? What’s Not?”, Josh Bersin discusses the HR solutions that will rule the market – and budgets – in the coming months. Included in his predictions are Capability Academies, which are characterized by:
- Instruction in technical, professional, and power skills
- Learning-by-doing instruction
- Scalable digital platforms for discussion, feedback, peer collaboration, and assignments under the supervision of a mentor, coach, or facilitator.
These platforms are skills-based in design, according to Josh Bersin. “They group large audiences into small cohorts; they integrate with content with live events, assignments, collaboration, mentors, and experts. And they can deliver all this at scale.”
Bersin followed up with an in-depth report on defining what mastery-based capability academies are and why they are important to outcome-based learning and development programs in organizations.
Sound familiar? If you’ve met GrowthSpace, it should. In fact, Bersin also recognizes GrowthSpace as a Capability Academy that’s on the move.
Mastery-Based Learning Platforms
Another term for Capability Academy is a mastery-based learning platform. Bersin explains that the time for learning management systems has passed, and a great candidate for their replacement is the mastery platform. The proof of their value is that “these vendors achieve 90% completion rates and Net Promoter scores above 60 (far above traditional content libraries).” Those numbers pretty much speak for themselves.
GrowthSpace Is Clearly Capable
In his review of GrowthSpace as a Capability Academy, Bersin summarizes: “a fast-growing company [that is] focused on building a ‘growth platform’ for individuals and teams.” What does he specifically like about this technology? These are the features he emphasizes are important:
A Blended Solution
Mastery platforms make sure that all development bases are covered by enabling an optimized learning mix. With the GrowthSpace platform, HR departments deliver “next generation” programming for employees ranging from individual learners to groups, depending on what’s the most effective setting. This can include:
- Workshops for soft skills
- Training for functional and technical skills
- Group and one-to-one coaching
- One-to-one mentoring
- And even internal mentoring management
The platform also lets HR teams customize L&D by allowing them to choose from a variety of skills, industries, media, and professional roles.
Beginning with Goals
Bersin recognizes that, when it comes to ROI, some companies are “just pulling their hair out” because their HCM technology doesn’t work as promised. To this end, one of the conditions for HCM excellence is to be outcome-driven.
That’s why GrowthSpace initiates every program with a goal-setting process. Users decide on a development objective as the first step, while GrowthSpace programming utilizes short growth sprints as a way to concentrate on meeting milestones and measuring success. At the end of each program, both the employee and the direct manager can grade the course and the expert who taught it.
Tagging and Matching
A Capability Academy also supplies a variety of experts – mentors, coaches, and facilitators – to handle each development topic according to the most appropriate learning method. But in a large organization, what’s the best way to customize learning?
GrowthSpace answers this challenge through a process of tagging and matching. Every expert on the platform (each with ICF certification) is tagged according to their areas of expertise such as particular skills, industry specialties, and experience. For those who have led courses before, their grades (see above) also appear.
Then, the platform’s AI model matches experts to employees and also suggests the kind of learning experiences that have the best chance of meeting the particular development objective.
A Case in Point
One more reason for Josh Bersin to appreciate GrowthSpace is that he has seen the platform in action. Cognyte, an investigative analytics company, has teamed up with GrowthSpace to provide an agile solution for Cognyte’s complex talent development needs. GrowthSpace responded with its multi-experience platform, which allows Cognyte to create L&D offerings that deliver vital content and industry expertise to the company’s top talent. Read more about it here.
Want to learn more about the new generation of mastery learning platforms? Sign up for GrowthSpace’s webinar on February 15th, featuring Josh Bersin and new 2023 research!
About GrowthSpace
GrowthSpace was founded on the belief that successful talent development not only benefits individuals but also drives business outcomes. Leveraging the world’s most robust talent development dataset and network of global experts, GrowthSpace helps employees and organizations drive successful professional growth, at scale. Hundreds of customers currently realize the benefits of the GrowthSpace platform, including Siemens, Microsoft, EY, Johnson & Johnson, ZoomInfo, and Lightspeed.
