The 2021 Cornerstone learning content that may be even more important in 2022

2021 may be behind us, but its learning trends won’t stop just because the calendar changed. And no team was more connected to learning trends than the Cornerstone Studios team.

Throughout 2021, we focused on the three trending learning topics that people wanted and organizations needed — diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB), leading in uncertain times and retaining employees. Whether from our in-house studios team or together with partners like SkillPill, TED, Madecraft, and more, we created content as applicable to a healthy, strong workforce in 2021 as it will be in 2022.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging

Throughout 2021, many companies increased spending on diversity, equity, and inclusion training for their employees. We expect this trend to continue throughout 2022.

First, employees are willing to pass over jobs at companies that don’t have a diverse workforce. And secondly, diverse and inclusive environments are directly related to a company’s success.

So we at Cornerstone Studios produced two learning series in-house to address this trend — A Seat at the Table and DNA: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

A Seat at the Table had people from diverse backgrounds having unscripted and honest conversations about how relevant social issues have impacted them in the workplace. And DNA: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is part of our DNA microlearning series built for Gen Z, and in it, we tackled topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, including gender, age, race, politics, and ability.

Leading in Uncertain Times

If there’s one lesson that the past two years have reinforced, it’s that change is constant. Most recently, companies have been planning a return to offices but COVID-19 variants continue to push these schedules. On top of that, employees are leaving their jobs and companies are restructuring, leading to a whirlpool of uncertainty.

That’s why we added three new courses to help people adjust — The H-Files: Leading Through Uncertainty, Managing Change in the Workplace, and TedTalks: 5 Ways to Lead in an Era of Constant Change.

With The H-Files: Leading Through Uncertainty, Cornerstone Studios aimed to explore successes and failures of the past to educate professionals of tomorrow on everyday topics with techniques for adapting, delegating, communicating, and taking care of yourself during uncertain times.

And that was just our in-house effort. We partnered with Grovo to create Managing Change in the Workplace to help managers learn how to lead their teams through change with clear communication, support, and strategy. And we also partnered with organizational change expert Jim Hemerling for TedTalks: 5 Ways to Lead in an Era of Constant Change. He outlines five imperatives, centered around putting people first, for turning company reorganization into an empowering, energizing task for all.

You can find those courses and more across many of our Content Anytime subscriptions.

Retaining Employees

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that 4.5 million Americans quit their jobs in Nov 2021. Dubbed “The Great Resignation,” this mass exodus shows no signs of slowing down. There are several reasons people are quitting, but some common motivations include a lack of support and development opportunities.

Our partner, Masters of Scale, tried to address one way to keep employees engaged with their course, Every Employee Needs Their Own Story of Hero-dom. In this course, Reid Hoffman, former co-founder of LinkedIn, explains why you should recognize employees for their work and help them believe they matter at their organizations.

We even addressed this in-house with the Cornerstone Originals series, The Glossary. The series contextualizes business terms employees hear at work every day. Each lesson is less than 60 seconds, meaning it’s easily bingeable for even the busiest employees. So far, the series has defined terms related to technology, finance, and sustainability. And as 2022 rolls along, we’ll for sure be adding more words to address the ways this year shapes how we work.

Here’s to 2022 🥂

The trends that emerged in 2021 are sure to continue into 2022. And as we begin the new year and all the surprises it has in store, Cornerstone Studios and our partners will ensure you and your workforce will have the learning content needed to be future-ready.

To discover more content from Cornerstone, visit the Content Hub to learn all about our content subscriptions and Original Learning series.