The freight industry needs to wake up to the reality that as millennials start to dominate leadership positions, it is critical to understand how online learning and innovative technological platforms can help organisations. “Millennial leaders will not be constrained by how things used to be done,” says Jenny Purchase, head of sales and marketing at No Ordinary Corporation. “Traditional instructor-led development programmes should not be eliminated, but by themselves they are just not enough anymore to create sustainable behavioural change and increase acquisition of relevant and usable skills that make an impact on business and performance results.” The answer, in her view, is a blended learning approach, which would include instructor-led programmes as well as online learning. “The design of these solutions should be flexible enough to provide the workforce with choices to learn in the way they learn best.” “As we continue to be busier and busier, microlearning will afford us the opportunity to learn while making the best use of our time. Gamification is a concept in the online learning world that is gaining a lot of traction as it enhances user motivation and completion/adoption rates.” The nature of the older generation South African audience is that they prefer classroom engagement and interaction. “Millennials search for free online content for personal development and with so much available they are able to access it. As this is self-driven the companies often lose the opportunity to tap into this development.” And when it comes to content, it can’t be a “one size fits all” approach. The range of courses available is limitless, says Purchase. But it’s the ability of the service provider to translate the material into meaningful engagement that makes the difference. “Each organisation is different and unless the material is adapted to suit the outcomes, companies land up wasting money.
INSERT: Micro-learning will afford us the opportunity to learn while making the best use of our time. – Jenny Purchase