Organizations are facing difficult times when it comes to recruiting and maintaining talent who can help the organization reach its strategic goals. But why is that? Today there are 50,000 professional skills in the world, however, many organizations do not provide the necessary training to help professionals gain these skills.
For organizations to successfully overcome these challenges, they have to place a greater investment in upskilling and providing opportunities for continuous learning. This is made possible through training that is focused on mastery-based learning.
In a recent webinar sponsored by Training Magazine Network, Amanda Wynne, BenchPrep’s Vice President of Marketing, and Jim Lundy, CEO of Aragon Research, revealed the latest in learning trends and how to maintain top talent by taking training to the next level with mastery-based certifications. Here are the highlights:
What is Mastery-Based Learning?
Knowing is not enough anymore. There is a greater need for mastery within today’s workforce.
Traditional methods of learning focus on knowledge retention for a certain amount of time until an exam or course completion. The problem with these methods of learning is that the modern learner is not retaining the information used after that course, thus not being able to translate those learnings into a skillset.
Mastery-based learning combats this short-term retention problem by focusing on the skills needed to perform certain positions. Unlike traditional methods of learning, mastery-based learning involves a heightened curriculum that begins with basic proficiency and can extend to expert classifications.
Mastery-based learning is the process in which the learner has mastered their knowledge where their job critical skills have been verified. How can one verify their job critical skills?
There are a variety of methods that can be used, such as passing a knowledge exam or completing a series of hands-on exercises. This approach of verification borrows from the approach used to certify professionals in the medical, legal, and IT field.
This method of learning will take more time and work, but the payoff is well worth it. Your learner will be able to walk away with tangible skill sets that they will be able to use to enhance their performance and bring the organization closer to its desired goals.
Two Trends that Lead to Mastery-Based Certifications
Sales Coaching and Learning in 2020: Focus on Mastery through Microlearning
For sales representatives to achieve sales mastery, it is vital that they practice their craft. One way to achieve this mastery is through microlearning. Microlearning is a holistic approach where it breaks down information into small and quickly digestible learning units and short-term learning activities that are used for knowledge retention.
Here are some ways to incorporate microlearning in your sales training:
- eLearning modules
- Sales simulations through daily role-playing videos
- Gamified activities
- Practice exams and quizzes
- Interactive PDFs & infographics
By incorporating microlearning in sales training it will help improve their sales knowledge as well as increase employee engagement by providing workers with a solution that easily fits into the breaks between tasks.
The Rise of Learning Assistants
Have you ever chatted with a customer service representative online about a problem you faced? There’s a good chance that the “person” you were talking to was a chatbot.
Chatbots are programs that simulate a real interaction with users through a chat interface. They have been on the rise for years and many companies have adopted this technology to help communicate with the world. However, there’s a similar technology that will be trumping chatbots very soon: introducing learning assistants.
Learning assistants are very similar to chatbots with the exception that they would be able to deliver any information on the fly. There are simple versions today where they are being used for job placement and recruitment.
We will see learning assistants become more prevalent within the next year. Although, currently, Q&A chatbots are a great tool to deliver faster knowledge to people until learning assistants become more streamlined.
How can you use a mastery-based learning approach for your certifications?
The need for top talent within organizations is more urgent than ever and the standard methods of training are not going to cut it anymore. Mastery-based certifications can help your organizations achieve these goals and more.
Learn how you can implement a mastery-based learning approach for your organization by downloading our webinar recording.
