Five Microlessons From Convergence 2017

After three days at Convergence 2017—surrounded by some of the most innovative and thoughtful HR and business professionals—our minds are filled to the brim with inspiring stories, interesting trends and new technologies that promise to change the way we work.

But, one lesson that stuck with us from conference is that modern learners are experiencing an information overload and it's up to us to curate content in a way that makes it meaningful and relevant. So, taking that lesson to heart and since we know it was impossible to attend all sixty sessions, we have sorted through all of our notes from the conference and come up with five microlessons that give you a taste of what Cornerstone Convergence 2017 was all about.

"Personalization is everywhere."

- Adam Miller, CEO of Cornerstone

We are currently experiencing the age of personalization in software, says Miller. Take Netflix for example, as you watch, it customizes your homepage with suggestions based on your personal preferences. This is where the future of workplace learning lies. Apply the consumer experience to workplace learning and you have the ability to offer overwhelmed employees tailored, personal and relevant experiences in an age where content is the new normal.

"It's not about the management of learning, it's about the experience of learning."

- Josh Bersin, Principal and Founder of Bersin by Deloitte

According to the most recent Deloitte research of 700-plus business and HR professionals, corporate L&D earned a net promoter score of negative 8. A big reason for this, according to Bersin, is because L&D is stuck in the process of management when they should be thinking about how to create experiences. Companies are struggling to keep their corporate learning management system up to date with relevant content when employees can turn to Youtube, which has 400 hours of video content added every minute, and find exactly what they need. L&D needs to adapt by offering employees a mix of proprietary, open source and professional content that is easy to get, easy to consume and easy to find.

"Cultural UX creates conditions for greatness."

- Mollie Lombardi, CEO and co-founder of Aptitude Research Partners

We talk a lot about user experience in software, Lombardi argues we should also think about UX in culture. Is it effective, practical, experiential, meaningful and valuable? Is it dynamic over time? Does it consider perceptions of utility, ease of use and efficiency? Only 38 percent of organizations feel that senior leadership and employees define culture in the same way, according to Aptitude research partners. To fix this, it needs to be expressed at every level of the organization and every project should tie back to organizational values.

"We live in the age of experience."

- Dan Heath, co-author of The Power of Moments: Why Certain Moments Have Extraordinary Impact

People crave great experiences, but we have the wrong perspective on what it means to create great experiences, says Heath. When thinking back, people remember only the "peak moments" they experienced, not the entire thing. So the question arises, how do we build "peak" moments for our employees. Turns out there are four key elements to a "peak" moment: Elevation (extreme joy), insight ( a sudden realization), pride (us at our best) and connection (personal relationships with people). It is moments that incorporate all four of these elements that make life worth living, says Heath.

"You need a culture of innovation. You need a culture that says, 'Can we try this?' 'Yes!'"

- Eileen Riccio, Senior Instructional Designer of Talent Programs, T-Mobile

Eileen helped launch T-Mobile's leadership training program using a 70-20-10 model—70 percent learned on the job, 20 percent learning with peers and 10 percent formal learning—along with bitesize video learning. This had never been done before at the company, but it succeeded because leadership was willing to take a risk to figure out what could work. As technology and the world continue to evolve faster and faster the importance of a culture that supports not only innovation but encourages employees to try (and possibly fail) are the ones that will continue to thrive.

Photo: Creative Commons