The COVID pandemic had an immediate and significant impact on training programs. Now that we’re coming out of the pandemic, what are the lasting effects on extended enterprise learning? How has training changed forever, and how is it returning to “normal?”
LatitudeLearning is excited to partner with Brandon Hall Group, one of the premier consultant firms in the learning arena, to bring you a webinar on Thursday, February 16th, at 1:00 pm Eastern Time. The webinar will examine the extended enterprise’s evolution throughout the pandemic, from its first year to its current state, and to where it is heading.
Over the last couple of years, an overwhelming number of articles and reports have been published about how the pandemic has permanently altered the corporate learning environment. There is little doubt that the first year of the pandemic upended many components of the external enterprise. OEMs, for example, had to understand how to best maintain and refresh their skill sets among dispersed network dealerships.
Seeking to obtain critical findings about how large organizations were responding to the pandemic, in 2021, Brandon Hall Group conducted a series of interviews with key decision-makers. From these sessions, it was clear that employers with large training programs were managing to some degree to adapt to the conditions of the time, even if virtual meetings were no replacement for hands-on training.
Has Back-to-normal Status Been Fully Realized?
Two years later, we’re witnessing the extended enterprise quietly shifting back to pre-pandemic conditions – not entirely, but the idea that there is no going “back to normal” has been dispelled. That said, the need for hands-on training remains. While a steady shift back to the classroom is occurring, it is not yet fully returning to the level many industry insiders predicted.
LatitudeCG’s David Proegler was a guest on HCMx Radio, a human capital management podcast with Brandon Hall Group, to discuss this very impact that the pandemic has had on training.
Since the early days of the pandemic in 2020, all organizations operating in the extended enterprise were profoundly impacted and almost immediately in most cases. These businesses had little choice but to dramatically alter the way they did business, including some of them shutting down training facilities.
Training managers that were exclusively on the road found themselves now in their garages trying to figure out how to train people in strange and new conditions. Admirably, many wanted to adapt to leverage technologies for training as quickly as possible. Yet, there were aspects of the in-person experience that the virtual learning experience simply couldn’t duplicate. The best outcome that training managers could hope for was an adaptation to the pandemic conditions that would ensure they continued to train, as imperfect and challenging as it might be.
Classroom-only training returns but with complications
As time progressed and safety protocols became more relaxed, organizations returned to classroom-only training. Yet, the transition back to this setting has been anything but smooth and seamless.
Due to high turnover rates and fewer workers entering their networks, extended enterprise organizations face a group of new hires who are nowhere near as qualified as new hires only a few years ago. They would typically have little reluctance to send any of these new hires to be trained, except that sending new hires to training pulls them away from sales and service support.
Suddenly, the demands for training have shifted, with a severe need to provide basic training so network partners can ramp up training among their workers faster and more efficiently than ever. The desire for in-person instructor-led sessions still exists, but executive leadership wants these sessions to be shorter and more refined.
In November 2022, Brandon Hall Group conducted its newest survey to find internal and external tensions within companies training extended enterprise audiences. Measurement of the return on investment from training programs continues to be challenging. However, there are also positives to be gleaned from the survey, including the growth of virtual and augmented reality in training formats, even as instructor-led training is the most favored type of program.
Mark your calendar for this can’t-miss webinar on February 16th at 1:00 pm Eastern Time. Join David Proegler, Senior Managing Principal with LatitudeLearning and David Wentworth, Principal Analyst at Brandon Hall Group, as they share observations on shifting post-pandemic trends and best practices for partner networks to employ when training the extended enterprise.
Register for “Back To Normal? The Future of Extended Enterprise Training”
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