Modern corporate learning requires a modern design methodology: an innovation study

To keep pace with the rapidly changing workplace, corporate learning practitioners must break with outdated models to innovate agile, responsive, and iterative design methodologies. Too often, the creation of learning content is bound by antiquated, waterfall methods that protract content development timelines, limit opportunities for innovation, and result in stale and ineffective training. This study centered on the journey of the Content team at Grow Learning, a learning technology company, as they attempted to innovate their content creation process to achieve their performance goal of building 1,000 Microlearning® lessons over the course of 2018. The study aligned to the Clark and Estes (2008) gap analytical framework to illuminate the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences impacting the team. Research questions centered on: revealing stakeholder knowledge and motivation related to the goal, identifying the interaction between organizational culture and team knowledge and motivation, and identifying any resulting solutions. A qualitative inquiry method was employed, which included eight, one-time interviews with members of the stakeholder group. While knowledge influences were not validated in the study, significant motivation findings included the team’s profound reliance on a blend of collaboration and autonomy to reach their goals, in addition to strong evidence that psychological safety was a catalyst for the team to innovate on the established content creation process. Recommendations were strategically crafted to dovetail within the organization’s processes and procedures, including reinforcement at weekly 1:1s, team meetings, and all working sessions. This ensured that recommended supports would both validate and perpetuate the innovated practices developed by the team while also reinforcing the collaboration, trust, and psychological safety so critical to the team’s success.