There is quite a number of challenges that today’s businesses have to face, one of the greatest being tackling the great diversity of their workforce – whether this is determined by geography, ideology, or age.
In a constantly evolving corporate environment, veteran employees find themselves working in teams lead by their significant juniors. It’s the new way of the corporate ladder, climbed faster by talent and skill than by extended loyalty.
Read more: How to facilitate knowledge transfer between generations
In these unprecedented circumstances, instructional designers have to come up with learning materials that, if not altogether fit for all, have at least something appealing for every type of learner.
Knowing this diverse audience is key to creating successful training modules. That’s why instructional designers need to have a good grasp of people’s knowledge profiles as the first step in the learning content design process.
Even if Baby Boomers are now retiring in great numbers, they still make a significant chunk of the present-day workforce. Born rather shortly after WWII ended, they are a product of economical growth. A highly competitive crowd, Baby Boomers were the ones who coined the term workaholic, assigning a positive connotation to it. They are used to work hard and put in extra hours to achieve success.
When it comes to creating learning content tailored for this demographic, here’s what’s essential to consider:
These people grew up watching Baby Boomers in the workplace. They became independent at a rather early age and have the need to constantly prove themselves. They were raised with computers and lived the evolution of the internet and the automation that lead to a lot of workaholic, dedicated employees losing their jobs. Generation X individuals greatly value their time and personal life.
The things to know about how they prefer learning for professional development are:
The majority of the workforce now belongs to this category of employees. They are the first true digital natives and much of their life is happening online. Being already used to several platforms and multiple screens they make excellent multitaskers, but they need to be constantly stimulated, lest they shift attention. Despite their consistent online presence, Millennials greatly appreciate teamwork and collaboration.
In order for learning interventions to reach them, keep in mind that:
Read more: Do Millennials need special training?
The youngest of them all, GenZ are still on the brink of beginning their careers, but it won’t be much longer before they take the workplace by storm. They were born into the age of fast internet and unlimited connectivity. Even if they are constantly connected, their social media habits are very different than those of Millennials – they prefer “snack media”.
Their adult learning profile is not yet complete but there is enough evidence to suggest that:
Designing learning for a multi-generational workforce can be challenging but it also has its advantages. Preparing for a variety of approaches and preferences will ensure that the resulting content is complex enough to accommodate large numbers of users. Having such an assortment of modules will also increase their relevance in time and allow learning specialists to repurpose them easily.