How Microlearning Improves Leadership Development

We’re on the verge of an ending decade, along with a generational change in workplaces all around the world, By 2025, millennials will constitute 75% of the global workforce, with older generations retiring. This also means that millennials will be taking on more and more leadership roles as the next decade progresses.

How to develop Leadership skills?

Effective leaders are hard to come by and even harder to develop, which means that organizations need to step up their leadership development programs if they want to survive and grow. Microlearning is the perfect training methodology for this, as it is well-suited to and aligned with the needs of leaders, as well as millennials who’ll take up leadership roles in the future.

With advancements in technology, the world is quite different from what it was in the last decade, and will undeniably change in the next decade. Thus, leaders of today and tomorrow need to develop greater global fluency, a sharper mind for innovation, and an almost superhuman ability to keep up with rapid-fire advances in technology. SC Training (formerly EdApp) provides users with a content library filled with a variety of courses based on different topics. Access the course library here to check it out.

Leadership and Microlearning

1. Microlearning Helps Leaders Keep Up With The Changing World

The world is constantly changing, technology is advancing, which means that things get done faster, which also means that modern employees are getting increasingly busier. In their busy lives, employees find it hard to squeeze in hour-long training courses. However, in order to be leaders in their field, employees need to keep up with all the new and relevant information regarding their industry, and that too in short and concentrated units. Microlearning does just that, providing leaders and leaders-to-be with information quickly and strategically whenever and wherever they want it.

2. Microlearning Enhances Absorption, Retention And Application Of Skills And Knowledge

What’s the point of learning leadership skills if an individual is unable to remember and apply them on time? That’s why microlearning is better than other training and learning methodologies. Whereas knowledge gleaned from other training methods is lost within 30 days or so, knowledge from microlearning isn’t, because microlearning is designed to fight the forgetting curve.

How to beat the forgetting curve:

Microlearning beats the forgetting curve by including bits that challenge learners to apply the learned skills and knowledge frequently. This leads to effective absorption, retention, and application of skills and knowledge, which are important for leaders.

3. Microlearning Deals With Only One Learning Objective At A Time

Leaders need to think strategically, using processes they learned to solve problems and get things done. In order to do that, leaders need to envision the end goal before they begin working on a problem or an opportunity. Microlearning encourages such thinking as each microlearning bit or unit deals with only one learning objective or task at a time, which enhances methodical thinking in leaders. They learn to break up a problem or opportunity in steps or pieces, which prevents them from getting overwhelmed and achieving success.

4. Microlearning Uses Different Strategies, Methods, And Formats To Develop Skill

Leaders need to develop a lot of skills in themselves and must continue to do so all their lives. These include accountability, strategic thinking, great communication skills, empathy, motivation, charisma, delegation, creativity, trustworthiness, and commitment, to name a few. These are skills where there is no upper limit, i.e., you could learn your whole life and still find there’s still much left to learn. The best way to ensure that you learn the most skills as quickly as possible is to learn using various strategies, methods, and formats, which microlearning can provide. Microlearning uses branching scenarios, simulations, gamification, interactive PDFs, and videos that explain the above-mentioned skills and topics in detail, over a period of time, which triggers spaced repetition, helping in the retention of skills and knowledge as well as promoting continuous learning.

Microlearning is an essential addition to a modern digital learning or training program, and, as evidenced from the points above, is very effective in leadership development. However, it is to be understood that microlearning shouldn’t be used as a standalone learning methodology, and is to be used alongside at least one macro learning methodology, as well as several other digital learning strategies such as mlearning, gamification, social learning, personalized learning and the like.

You may also be interested in the path goal theory of leadership training.