Now more than ever, the survival of modern organizations depends on their ability to create and foster a culture of learning. As the pressure continues to rise for companies to upskill and reskill their teams, so too does the demand for more innovative, adaptive, and effective learning experiences. But creating these learning experiences isn\u2019t easy.<\/p>\n
Increased workloads, hybrid work environments, and a tightening labor market<\/a> have all put new stressors on learning, says Professor Lynda Gratton of London Business School. And no matter how vast or experienced your internal L&D department is, these ever-evolving demands pose a great challenge: How do you create meaningful behavioral change amidst the chaos, while also seizing every opportunity to help learners thrive? Often, the best way to address that challenge is to work with a learning partner.<\/p>\n Picture this: It\u2019s Monday. You\u2019ve just been assigned the task of helping your organization achieve a specific learning objective, complete with a timeline, a budget, and a list of deliverables. The success of this learning initiative is mission-critical to your company achieving its goals. The pressure is on. You return to your office, remove the cap from your dry-erase marker, and approach your whiteboard.<\/p>\n At this point, a few things might happen. Maybe you start brainstorming (with or without a team, depending on the size of your department). You probably have a million great ideas, but chances are, you know you can only carry out a handful\u2014if that\u2014because of your limited internal resources. Or maybe you find yourself a bit stumped, unsure how best to tackle the task at hand. Whatever the case may be, it\u2019s time to call a learning partner. From generating fresh ideas to providing a new world of capabilities, your perfect learning partner is prepared to help you succeed.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s explore a few reasons why hiring a learning partner is typically more effective\u2014and efficient\u2014than attempting to build the best learning experience in-house.<\/p>\n It\u2019s unrealistic to expect internal L&D departments to know everything there is to know about learning theory and be able to expertly orchestrate every element of a learning experience. And it\u2019s even more unrealistic to expect an organization without a fully stacked L&D team to suddenly become experts on how best to strategize, design, and carry out specific plans to achieve learning objectives. Your L&D managers, while skilled in their profession, probably don\u2019t have a ton of experience conceptualizing, scripting, and producing high-quality, effective video. But for a learning innovation company like Maestro, such a challenge is music to our ears.<\/p>\n When you work with the right learning partner, you gain access to seasoned talent in multiple disciplines with expert capabilities, quality tools, and a dedicated team on a mission to support you and your goals. The best learning partners live and breathe learning, and they\u2019ve spent years collecting valuable information, weaving together research and first-hand experiences to hone their craft.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s not all about the latest trends and research. While learning theory and knowledge is the foundation of our company, we\u2019re also experts in other key areas, like technology, media, and design<\/a>. And it\u2019s this combination of expertise that elevates our ability to make bold, innovative, and meaningful learning experiences.<\/p>\n Are you curious about Maestro? Do you want to know more about what we\u2019re capable of creating?\u00a0 We\u2019ve got good news\u2014this on-demand webinar provides the peek behind the curtain you\u2019ve been waiting for. In this short 30-minute Capabilities Spotlight, you\u2019ll learn what it\u2019s like to work with Maestro and what\u2019s possible with us as your learning partner.<\/span><\/p>\n\nAccess the webinar\u2192<\/i><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n It\u2019s easy to get lost in the trees and forget about the forest when you\u2019re outlining a learning experience. When that happens, what you need is a healthy fresh perspective.<\/p>\n It\u2019s true; you know more about your industry than we do\u2014as you should! But for learning partners like Maestro, learning is our industry, and our team of experts is extremely well-versed in, well, learning. At the start of a project, our main objective is to understand your learners, and by extension, your industry. Because we believe learning should meet people where they are<\/a>, we spend the necessary time in the discovery phase, using the Double Diamond framework<\/a> to gather relevant information about your learners\u2019 needs, motivations, and existing knowledge before we start developing a strategy. Through this process, we sometimes discover that what we thought was the primary issue at the heart of the challenge isn\u2019t actually the primary issue, much like we did when working with Johnny\u2019s Markets<\/a>. As you\u2019d expect, uncovering this vital information saved Johnny\u2019s Markets a ton of time and money down the road.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re operating on a tight deadline or a strict budget, hiring a learning partner might not sound like the smartest move, but it\u2019s often the smartest move you can make. We all know how important creating a learning culture is to the success of your organization. It\u2019s been found<\/a> that by investing in employee development, your company can improve profitability by 11% and double employee retention. So why not do it right?<\/p>\n You might not have the time or funds to invest in things like new softwares, piloting, or high-quality design to uplevel your learning experience. But we, as your learning partner, do! And we\u2019re not just capable of creating meaningful learning experiences; we\u2019re experts at it. We\u2019ve spent years cultivating our approach, allowing us to carry out our objectives efficiently without compromising on the outcome, i.e. lasting behavioral change.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a common misconception that working with a learning partner will break the bank, but at Maestro, we commit ourselves to making your dollars go as far as possible. From your very first conversation with us, you can be sure that we\u2019re strategizing how best to apply your budget so that you get the most value possible. For example, when a large charter school system came to us with a modest budget and the request to redesign a handful of their eLearning courses for them, we knew we could help them make a bigger impact with their budget. So, instead of redesigning just a few of their courses for them, we used the funds to train their internal team on how to do it themselves. And now they have new skills they can apply time and time again, saving them serious money in the long run.<\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve decided to hire a partner, how do you know which learning partner to choose? The best learning partners aren\u2019t just capable and qualified; they should meet these specific critical criteria<\/a> and be able to answer these questions<\/a> with confidence. Here are a few requirements you should consider non-negotiable when vetting potential learning partners.<\/p>\nWhy hiring a learning partner is better than doing it in-house<\/h2>\n
Breadth and depth of knowledge<\/h3>\n
Can your learning partner do this?<\/h5>\n
An outside (but not too far out) perspective<\/h3>\n
Cost and time effective<\/h3>\n
What to look for in a learning partner<\/h2>\n
They operate with a proven approach<\/h3>\n