Learners are Changing at Masie Learning 2017

Each year, learning functions analyze the contemporary challenges of learning in the workplace, and one thing is clear – learners are changing. Today’s learners have direct access to new digital learning tools, software and networks typically associated with smart phones, learning ecosystems and real-time simulations. This has created new learner expectations on how content is offered (in smaller bites), accessed (anytime and on any device) and performed (from gamification to VR). This has provoked a dynamic learning landscape with new expectations emerging in the fields of Diversity & Inclusion, Socially Dynamic Organizations and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) among others.

The top learning event of the year examining these expectations and more was Elliott Masie’s Learning 2017 located in Orlando FL at the Disney Coronado Springs Resort, October 22-25. The event focused on today’s challenges and new innovations emerging in the learning landscape featuring an A-list lineup of speakers providing their perspectives on how today’s learners are changing.

The event kicked off with the Learning Consortium roundtable with Elliott Masie and Bob Mosher hosting members to connect and benchmark with other members on the topics of Machine Learning, Curation, Compliance, Metrics/Assessment, Use of TED and Other Open Resources for Content, and User Experience. The rest of the week’s agenda focused on over 100 L&D presentations and intensives.

The highlights this year were found in Jayzen Patria’s work in Diversity & Inclusion; on-going research developed by Julian Stodd on Socially Dynamic Organizations; and Conduent’s own work in robotic process automation or RPA in learning administration.

Diversity and Inclusion

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Jayzen Patria is a notable speaker, facilitator and performance consultant for over 25 years. Central to his work is the need for L&D to drive the message about Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) more aggressively as leaders and change agents in organizations. In our current politically divisive culture, Patria believes learning content around inclusion to secure a sense of belonging is vital in surviving change and sustaining innovation in today’s organizations.

One of the pressing questions for L&D in Patria’s view is “How do you treat everyone the same, but value their uniqueness at the same time?” Obviously, there’s a fine line on how to balance this question, and it involves letting go of the old adage of America as a melting pot, and embracing a newer optic of corporate America as a mosaic of industries and people with universally diverse but equally valuable life experiences. As L&D continues to take stock in all points of intersection on this topic, the ultimate goal will be to outline the most integrated and diverse messaging that drives and enables D&I in organizations that keeps everyone working productively and in harmony together.

Socially Dynamic Organizations

Affecting systemic change with single point interventions for a cultural or digital transformation program in formal organizational structures is just not sustainable long-term, states Julian Stodd, founder of Sea Salt Learning. As author of The Social Leadership Handbook, he believes formal organizational structures will need to give way to more socially dynamic organizational structures with strong social leadership rooted in authenticity and trust. Stodd explains that this requires restructuring our organizations entirely, evolving our formal organizational and traditional roles of control to a more scaffold structure that is more easily reconfigured to create a socially dynamic organization with strong social leadership and learning function that understand the forces that act upon the organization.

In Stodd’s view, social leadership is tricky, in particular for C-Suite executives, who often exist in spaces where they have strong formal power but experience high consequence if their messaging comes across inauthentic. For more on this topic visit Stodd’s blog.

Robotic Process Automation – RPA

As a sponsor at Masie Learning 2017, and presenter at this year’s Suppliers Showcase, Conduent was pleased to present our Automation Suite highlighting the use of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in our focused industries, including RPA in learning administration. We invited attendees to explore how companies use software that combine artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning capabilities to handle high-volume, repeatable tasks that previously required a human to perform. The value of RPA software is ultimately in how it learns to capture and interpret the actions of specific processes in existing software applications, to then manipulate data, trigger responses, initiate new actions and communicate with other systems autonomously. Large and small companies will be able to reap the benefits of RPA by expediting back-office and middle-office tasks in a wide range of industries, including insurance, finance, procurement, supply chain management (SCM), accounting, customer relationship management (CRM) and human resource management (HRM) (Farley. B).

Currently, Conduent’s state-of-the-art Automation Suite has garnered wide acclaim in its effectiveness and efficiency of operational processes that reduce process time and costs while expanding capabilities and improving quality. During the past six years, Conduent has launched numerous unique new services in the transportation, healthcare and customer care industries. In 2016, The Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) named Conduent Services the recipient of the Outstanding Corporate Innovator (OCI) Award. We enjoyed the opportunity to showcase our Automation Suite at Masie Supplier Showcase this year and were delighted to talk with new and old friends about our on-going progress in this exciting field.

We’d also like to thank Barbara Farley for presenting our work and the rest of the Conduent team for bringing it to life at this year’s event.

For more information about Conduent’s work in RPA, visit our following links:

Conduent Learning Services RPA Case Study
RPA – The New Offshoring
How to Start your RPA Journey
RPA in Customer Care Solutions