Learning trends

Personalized learning: an in-demand trend in 2021 according to Craig Weiss

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personalized learning

PART 2: Craig Weiss Shares His Insight on the Power of Personalized Learning

Craig Weiss is the CEO and lead analyst for the Craig Weiss Group, which provides analyst, advisory and consulting services to buyers and vendors in the e-learning industry. With over 20 years’ experience working with companies of all sizes, he has gained a unique perspective on the Learning Systems market. Each year he publishes the Craig Weiss List of the Top 50 LMS, and he has ranked CrossKnowledge for the 5th consecutive year in a row, including #1 for 2020! 

Content that brings out individual personality

In Part 1, Craig Weiss gave his insights on learning systems in 2020. This time, Weiss  focuses on personalized learning and how it will be a dominating trend in 2021. In fact, he believes that when it comes down to it, learners will ultimately be asking themselves one question: How is this content of interest or benefit to me? To maintain engagement, it’s important for learning solutions to be able to take into account the personality styles of their users so they can push personalized content that people can relate to.

I think CrossKnowledge’s greatest strength is the pre-assessment personality test. If you’re honest with yourself (that’s the key, right?), then it tells you what kind of personality you have. I agreed with everything that was in the output.

Craig Weiss

What’s more, people retain content better when it connects to their personality. This creates a tie that is much stronger than if a manager were to assign courses at random. Team members would complete the courses because it is their job to do so, but they would not have the same learning experience or benefits, especially in the long term, that they would from more personalized recommendations.

Weiss emphasizes that learning must be tailored to the individual and also team members, and that this is exactly what CrossKnowledge understands.

Improved management and team development

Personalized learning methods can also help managers become better leaders. For one, they will be able to push content based on the individual challenges of each of their team members. For example, if one team member in the group loves talking but needs to improve presentation skills, then that person can follow a course designed for that specific challenge.

As a result, learning becomes more pertinent to an individual’s real needs and interests, while helping them develop their full potential. For a company that is focused on developing the leaders of tomorrow, Craig Weiss believes that the personalized learning approach offered by CrossKnowledge is the ticket to success.

Personalized learning can also help managers organize team members around projects. For example, based on personalities, managers can analyze group dynamics and figure out the best communication style for each personality type. By becoming more aware of these often subtle differences in the workplace, leaders will have a better sense of whether certain people will mesh well in a group. Then they can then anticipate potential difficulties in communication and plan accordingly.

Learning should be FUN

Learners are human, not robots. That is why it is so important for solutions to align with the way humans acquire, retain and synthesize information. When done creatively, this will establish connectivity with users and make learning fun. Learners are more interested and engaged with content when it speaks to them or helps them grow. This enhances motivation and, in turn, performance.

CrossKnowledge really has an employee-focused system. I actually had real fun with it, and I think that’s the key. Learning is about having fun. Who says you can’t have fun as an adult?!

Craig Weiss

No matter what department is heading the corporate learning program, whether HR or L&D, we must remember above all else that learning is for team members. Everybody wants to improve, whether professionally, personally, or both. Instead of offering programs that struggle to keep learners engaged, the focus should be on giving team members the chance to develop their individuality in a fun and relevant way.

Here at CrossKnowledge, we share Craig Weiss’s belief that learning should be personalized. We do our best to tap into personal experiences so learners have access to content that boosts personal development and helps them improve performance. The result? Managers and team members alike benefit from personalized tools that allow them to grow into the top talents they were meant to be.

CK Connect is an integrated learning solution offering personalized skill building for each learner in your organization individually, at scale.