Here are a couple of facts every employer or education provider should consider. According to Investopedia, around 365,000 Baby Boomers will soon begin retiring annually, and these experienced team and department leaders will remove their expertise, leadership skills, and knowledge from the overall skillset of their companies and organizations. According to recent forecasts, Millennials are expected to comprise approximately 75% of the global workforce by 2025.
This means that HR and L&D departments must find and raise new leaders among the millennials to replace the retiring baby boomers. However, a Deloitte survey back in 2015 showed that only 6% of the respondents were feeling confident with the upcoming swap of generations and leaders in the workforce. This is why leadership training for millennials is crucial for every company’s success.
Leadership training is aimed at building inspirational, organizational, managerial, problem-solving and conflict-solving skills needed for developing a mindset of a leader.
Topics might include time management and team management. Also, meeting planning and leading. Communication skills and task delegation. Other topics can cover workflow planning, monitoring, and control. You also can add employee performance evaluation and personal motivation.
Of course, there are born leaders who know this all by themselves or have had experience before joining the company. However, many more potential leaders can benefit from this knowledge and desperately seek it. This is why providing such training can be a beneficial business for eLearning educators and must be the core of corporate learning, with 39% of L&D teams surveyed by Deloitte already offering digital leadership training to their employees.
The only thing to keep in mind is that these online courses must be created and delivered in a format most suitable for Millennials.
Mobile bite-sized learning
Millennials use mobile devices a lot. 95% of the US population owns some mobile device, 100% of adults aged 18-29 own a phone, and 92% of them own a smartphone. In addition, 51% own a tablet, according to the Pew Research Center’s study on the state of mobile usage in the US. This means that leadership training (as well as any other kind of mobile eLearning) must be delivered in small chunks that can be consumed via mobile devices in 3-7 minutes, or bite-sized learning.
Cloud-based LMS solutions providing the possibility of downloading mobile materials for offline study are the answer to this demand. They let learners download training materials to study anytime.
For example, someone can review content while heading to a meeting or getting ready for an important conversation about productivity or team planning. Learners can review the materials without internet access if they save them on a smartphone. This makes the option even more helpful for Millennials with busy, on-the-go lifestyles.
Cross-platform blended learning
While many companies nowadays implement the BYOD policy in their business practices, many still prefer to make sure their educational materials are accessible only within a secure environment, as knowledge is often the key to providing a competitive edge and should, therefore, be kept protected. From the other point of view, face-to-face education is somewhat limiting for Millennials, as it puts certain restraints on their schedule and learning preferences.
Blended learning is the answer to this challenge, as it allows delivering most of the educational materials through the online medium while accomplishing tests, practical tasks, and other activities in the classroom. Due to such an approach, companies and organizations can ensure the security of their corporate training. In addition, educational bodies can significantly increase their student audience, adding value to their educational programs and allowing learners to study conveniently while retaining control over the grading, exams, and certification process.
The other side of the coin with the BYOD policy is flexibility. A learner might start a lesson on a PC or laptop. Then continue the next unit on a smartphone. And finish the test on a tablet. That’s why learning materials should follow a cross-platform approach. They must deliver a consistent experience on any device.
Learner engagement and gamification
Millennials are used to gaming as a means of interaction, engagement, and gaining new information. Using this in eLearning helps boost its efficiency greatly.
For example, leadership training gamification can include serious games with fictional characters in real-life situations. Learners can explore different scenarios and see the outcomes of their actions. This helps them build management and leadership skills.
E-learning courses also allow learners to split into groups and compete in solving various problems. This gives future leaders firsthand experience in forming a team, choosing roles, delegating tasks, managing projects, monitoring workflows, and analyzing performance. Courses on these topics are available. But real practice through gamification is even more valuable.
Reward Systems and Social Learning
The other side of gamification is introducing a system of rewards for achievements. Badges for accomplishing tasks. Points for participating in various activities. And leaderboards that show overall learning progress. Just make sure to make these leaderboards resettable every now and then. Seeing the undoubted leaders with millions of points can be daunting for newcomers. Quite the opposite — when the scores are reset periodically, the spirit of competition stays at an all-time high.
The last but not the least important component is social interaction. Integrating various social media and communication channels both inspires social learning and boosts the engagement of learners, who can ask for advice and gain answers from their friends and colleagues at once. Strong social use ensures intense collaboration and helps build healthy corporate spirits.
These are 3 parts of leadership training for Millennials that help make it efficient, engaging, and long-lasting. Do you have any points to add or replace? Drop us a line, and we are always open for discussion!
