Companies have spent decades perfecting brick-and-mortar corporate learning and development universities, but many of these facilities shuttered in 2020 because of COVID-19. For L&D professionals, 2021 was a year of experimentation, and it only proved that hybrid learning is here to stay.
Like most other learning organizations, the COVID-19 pandemic was the first time professional services firm KPMG took its learning strategy completely virtual. “You cannot simply shift a multiday, in-person program to a virtual classroom,” says Corey Muñoz, chief learning officer at KPMG. “So what we focused on was answering the question of, ‘How do you translate that type of program into a virtual environment while maintaining a very robust, high-quality learning experience?’”
Deloitte had a similar experience. What started as a controlled rollout of a new learning platform turned into an accelerated change. They used these unique circumstances surrounding the pandemic as a “grand experiment” that allowed them to understand how people prefer to learn, says Eric Dingler, chief learning officer of Deloitte’s U.S. firm.
Digital learning was ubiquitous for months during the pandemic, but in-person learning is slowly becoming possible in some instances. A recent McKinsey survey about reskilling found that a varied and multichannel approach to learning works best, with potential learning channels including digital learning, in-person or virtual workshops, team assignments and expert coaching.
Hybrid learning strategies that are more intentional
In the past, about 20 percent of Deloitte’s learning took place at its brick-and-mortar learning facility, Deloitte University, Dingler says. The 800-room leadership and learning center in Westlake, Texas was important both to build skills and build culture.
As the workplace becomes more hybrid, the university will become more important to the organization’s culture, Dingler says, since many people will have even fewer opportunities to meet their teammates in person. They have to make it count when they are in the same room. For example, while pandemic restrictions remain in place, the center is currently being used on a limited basis for employees who have never visited a Deloitte office or met their colleagues in person.
“[Deloitte University] will continue to be an important part of our strategy, but our total mix will change in how we leverage the other modalities going forward,” Dingler says. “It will be a more purposeful, strategic and integrated mix than what they were in the past.”
As KPMG’s learning team has discovered what learning works best virtual versus in person, the organization has decided to be much more intentional in how to utilize the KPMG Lakehouse in Lake Nona, Florida, Muñoz says. For example, they’ve rethought the timeline of some programs. The typical program used to last five days at the Lakehouse, and now the average is between two and three days. This helps open up more spots so that more people can get the benefit of in-person learning throughout the year.
The learning center reopened in the summer of 2021 at 25 percent capacity and has since expanded to 50 percent capacity. Muñoz says KPMG is carefully paying attention to the evolving pandemic situation and will move to full capacity as soon as it is safe and practical to do so, with the guidance of health experts in all decision making.
Meanwhile, with the threat of a potential contagious COVID-19 variant disrupting plans at the Lakehouse, KPMG now has a clear plan B if the organization must shift to fully digital again, Muñoz added.
The response to COVID-19 among corporate learning facilities
The pandemic accelerated KPMG’s approach to blended learning and how to incorporate it into their learning strategy, Muñoz says. The learning team challenged themselves to think about the many dimensions of learning and what would be successful in the virtual learning environment. They made sure that their new program design included multiple channels to create a holistic learning experience, Muñoz says.
Part of what KPMG did to accomplish this was break down its learning programs into component parts, he added. For example, one of their popular audit programs was broken down into parts like readings, coaching sessions, guided practices and more. These are known as “road maps.” The learning organization found that this was an effective way to convert in-person learning and maintain the quality and effectiveness of the learning.
“We will continue to leverage those roadmaps for a more holistic learning experience [and] to deliver on the promise of a blended learning experience,” Muñoz says.
KPMG also utilized real-time learning in the midst of the pandemic to ensure that learners got the most timely material. Rather than using something like a content-heavy slideshow, the organization kept it more simple and brought subject matter experts on virtually to answer learners’ questions in real time, Muñoz says. These sessions revolved around topics including leadership, management and how the workplace is evolving in this new reality.
Deloitte also had its eye on strengthening agility in its learning programs. The organization began to focus on skills-based learning rather than role-based learning. Rather than taking courses on the skills related to the specific responsibilities of the position, people began learning the skills and capabilities that the organization needs across its workforce. This helps both the organization and their workers stay agile as things change unexpectedly, Dingler says.
“The pandemic has just contributed to the need for greater agility,” he says. “Given the business we’re in, we have a high need for organizational agility, [and we] need to reskill and upskill our people constantly so that we can continue to be valuable to our clients.”
Using data effectively
Without collecting and correctly analyzing the right data, L&D organizations won’t know what was successful and what wasn’t when they pivoted their learning strategies.
Deloitte used the pandemic as an opportunity to implement a stronger data-driven approach and found meaningful insights. Collecting the right data helped them discover that while many topics could be taught effectively virtually, others didn’t have the same impact without an in-person connection. One major insight was that while technical content did just as well or better as in-person, instructor-led learning in many instances, the opposite was true for learnings that were high-touch or highly interpersonal, Dingler says.
The organization made sure to put the appropriate time, attention and resources into collecting data, having conversations with stakeholders and using the data and intel to make design choices for the learning strategy.
“Taking that data allowed us to say, there are some things we can absolutely continue to teach in a virtual environment. But live, in-person learning can and should continue to be used for the things that matter more strategically,” Dingler says. Some of the topics that register with learners more in an in-person environment include interpersonal leadership skills and how to interact with a client.
KPMG also got more comfortable with their own testing and analytics, Muñoz says. “When you try some of these new ways or modalities, you’re going to have some lessons learned and you’re going to improve and iterate over time,” he says. “We really didn’t have the luxury of time [during the pandemic] so that really forced us into experimentation, which I think was very good for us in terms of innovation and creativity.”
One big success for KPMG is that expanding one of its biggest programs into something digital made room for many more learners. The Manager Leadership Development program focuses on lifting up people of color and other underrepresented groups. While it used to be a multi-day, in-person program at the Lakehouse, it lasts four to six weeks as a digital program that can accommodate hundreds of more people. KPMG will continue to evolve the program, and future sessions will likely leverage both the Lakehouse and virtual components.
The future of hybrid learning
Lakehouse held great significance to KPMG before the pandemic, and the past year has only taught them to appreciate the power of in-person connection more. The bar has risen for the Lakehouse, Muñoz says, and the company will continue to be more intentional with how they use the property.
“To bring people together, we need to make sure that we’re building capabilities but we’re also focusing on culture, connection and community,” he says. “We realized that in the environment we’re in today, those aspects are what engage and retain well-rounded professionals at the firm”
Dingler says that in the future of L&D, learning needs to be more adaptable, curated, holistic and skills-based. While this need existed before the pandemic, it has now only been accelerated.
“The opportunity ahead of us as a learning and development function is an incredible opportunity,” Dingler says. “We’re at a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fundamentally change how we approach things.”
Andie Burjek is a writer based in Chicago. She is a regular contributor to Chief Learning Officer and Talent Management. To comment, email editor@clomedia.com.
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How corporate universities fit into hybrid learning strategies of the future - Chief Learning Officer
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