When Data Drives Learning, What Does L&D Do?
By: Kristen Hayden Safdie
Tags: Instructional Design, Data, Learning And Development, Big Data, Future Of Work

Photo by Liam Pozz on Unsplash

Last week, at Future of Learning 2019, Trish Uhl asked the audience how Waze has changed their driving habits. The responses were generally positive. Waze re-routes me when there’s a problem ahead that I wouldn’t know about otherwise. Waze accurately tells me what time I’ll arrive at my destination. Waze tells me when there’s an object on the road and, yes, Waze warns me when there’s a police officer ahead so I can slow down.

The intention of the analogy was to highlight how we use Waze as smart, context-based guidance as we perform a task. In our workplaces, we should use the same context-based supports in our workplace, driven by data. A great point, and one that we need to think about all the time in L&D. How can we use the data that the organization is collecting, actively or passively, to help people do their job better?

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When In-Context Means Out of Touch

I thought about it on the way to work the next day (I could, because I was using Waze to direct me). I realized just how good the analogy was.

Waze lets me focus on my podcast instead of looking for streets signs. If I’m wearing my watch, I even get a buzz on my wrist when it’s time to turn, and the haptic feedback is slightly different for right or left. I can’t describe how, I just know that my body knows which way to turn. Waze lets me put in the address of places in the town where I’ve lived for 6 years because I might not be able to find them otherwise. Waze highlights certain gas stations or restaurants on the map, biasing me towards spending my iced coffee and snack dollars at the stores they’ve partnered with.

It doesn’t just highlight how context-based support helps us in the time of need, it also reminds us that it’s not enough, especially for tasks that require strategic decision-making. We still need to be able to pull insights from that data and use those insights to guide our decision-making.

Data-Driven Tactics, Insight-Driven Strategy

At Motivf, everyone is a remote worker. This doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone works from home, it means that they work from the place that supports their ability to get their work done. My strategic decision-making when I figure out where to work from is intense. Am I ideating? Am I doing deep work? Do I have any meetings? Do those meetings need to be on video or can I get away with just audio? Do I need strong wifi signal or can I disconnect for a while? Do I need to pick my daughter up from daycare?

If I need to drive to work, Waze helps me navigate that task. I could even use context-based support to inform my strategic decision making. Alexa could wake me up by telling me my schedule and tasks. She could even play a song for my daughter at 7:40 to distract her so I could sneak out the door and make the 8:16 train.

Context-based performance support is changing the way we work, helping us make and execute tactical decisions. It’s also fundamentally changing the way we approach strategic decisions, but the future belongs to those who can translate that data into insights into human behavior, insights that lead to innovation, and insights that drive outcomes.