13

Louise Pasterfield

Managing Director

Sponge

Putting people first

Louise Pasterfield, founder and

managing director at SpongeSpongeSpongeSponge, sets out

the single most important New Year's

resolution for L&D

Putting people first - three small words

that, combined, can make a big difference

to L&D in 2019.

For some organisations, 'people first'

learning will require a shift in how they

deliver workplace training. But those L&D

teams that make this their top New Year's

resolution will be rewarded with more

engaged learners and better results. Here's

why.

Aligning learning solely to business goals

will only get you so far. Human-centered

design that puts people first in the content,

design, strategy and implementation of

learning is the one principle that will help

drive the desired improvements in

performance and results.

Learners are changing

It might sound obvious, but it's a fact that's

often overlooked: to provide learning with

impact, you must understand the needs of

the people it's targeting - your workers,

and usually your customers, too. Which

leads us to the key question: how well do

you really know your learners?

One thing we do know is that learners are

changing, and that means the learning

must change, too. The respected

workplace learning and technology expert,

Elliott Masie, argues that "our learners are

leading and pushing innovation, as they

expand and evolve their approaches to

curiosity, discovery and information". He

pinpoints four of the biggest changes as:

• Learners no longer memorise;

• Learners would rather watch than read;

• Learners want learning closer to the

moment of need, not a yearly trip to the

classroom;

• Employees need a learning experience

platform that can aggregate all learning,

formal and informal.