As banks and Learning and Development professionals enter 2021 better prepared having weathered the initial impact of the pandemic, conversations with prospective clients tells me that there’s a new common theme of challenges that have arisen for 2021.
I’ve put together the top three challenges that have cropped up in conversations about early career strategies with Learning and Development professionals, and suggestions to help shape a solution:
The new normal sees employees spending hours on virtual platforms as professional and personal lives roll into one. Learning from home erodes the line between a work/life balance. So too is the usage of virtual platforms like Zoom, as it blurs the boundaries between work and learning.
There’s a risk that learning effectiveness and productivity may become difficult to attain at best-practices level. Even discipline may become an issue with learners choosing to remain unengaged or even drop off through sessions.
Solution: Learning and Development teams are advised to look towards innovation to raise learning engagement and effectiveness, using multiple learning mediums, and incorporating more opportunities to work in groups and interact with their peers.
With the current working environment constantly sifting and changing, getting early career hires ready for their virtual desks without manager and colleague support in person, requires more than just knowledge of the financial markets and ESG.
The transition from campus to corporate has to adapt to this new normal which requires a level of personal effectiveness, from having impactful communication over virtual platforms to building networks and communicating with peers and managers virtually.
Grit and resilience are also becoming key skills to perform and excel in environments where support and camaraderie are not often immediately assessable.
Solution: Learning and Development teams are advised to blend an optimal mix of technical and personal effectiveness skills to bring the best out of their early career hires.
As holidays and vaccinations are rolled out to the masses and people eventually return to the office, early career hires will be returning to a “new” working environment where they have not yet been a part of physically.
They’ll need to adjust to different performance expectations and work alongside peers and managers long-term.
Solution: Learning and Development teams are advised to start preparing for this eventuality, and minimise the loss in productivity in the transition. They should also consider potential attrition risks should these hires be unable to overcome their obstacles.
Despite these challenges, it’s not all doom and gloom for 2021. Our virtual programmes have been developed and adapted with these challenges in mind to ensure that interns, graduates, and those within their early stages of their careers are able to reap the maximum benefits of online learning.
Innovation is one of Alpha Development’s core values and our team of specialist programme managers have designed effective and engaging learning programmes that ensure learners receive multiple learning mediums, advanced training and real-time solutions to enhance both their technical and personal skills.
If you would like to implement learning and development training that meets the challenges of 2021, we can help.
At Alpha Development, we specialise in providing training solutions for firms within the financial services worldwide. We’ve adapted our in-class training programmes to suit online learning. Our programmes come with interactive online training with real-life scenarios and solutions to ensure your team are able to adapt and transform into the leaders you want them to be.
To discuss how we could support you, email [email protected].
