How to drive up digital learning quality by setting a clear vision

A clear vision will help you stay on track and inspire others to join you on your journey to better quality learning. But where do you start? And who should you get involved in developing this vision? We asked top learning leaders from Worldpay and Clyde & Co. to share their insights, examples and approaches as part of the Learning at Large Knowledge Hub.

How to create a vision that takes people with you

Put vision setting in your sights with the help of two experts

“If we don’t know where we’re going, it really doesn’t matter how we get there.”

– Patrick Bowl, Learning & Development Director, Worldpay

We interviewed Patrick Bowl, Learning & Development Director at Worldpay, and Guy Wilkins, Senior Digital Learning Manager at Clyde & Co, to find out why setting a clear vision for your organization is so important and how best to do it.

They shared how they developed digital learning visions in their organizations, where they started, and what mindset traps to avoid. The interviews were packed full of tips and tricks, which we’ve neatly packaged up alongside some useful tools, for free on the Learning at Large Knowledge Hub.

This is a sneak preview of what we discussed with Patrick.

Why is setting a clear vision so important?

1. Things won’t fall apart when rapid change hits

L&D teams in large organizations faced with rapid change, need to be able to respond at speed. But moving quickly can mean it’s harder to move in the same direction and sustain quality.

How can you meet urgent needs but still provide quality learning experiences? How do you embrace a new technology, and know it’s going to help?

In a regularly changing landscape, a clear vision helps people from across the organization stay focussed and work towards a ‘north star’ goal.

2. It helps stakeholders see learning like you see it!

Having a well-communicated vision can also transform how learning and development is seen throughout your organization, and bring focus to projects.

“You want to inspire people to be the best that they can be. But you want them to be channeling their thinking in the right direction.”

– Guy Wilkins, Senior Digital Learning Manager at Clyde & Co

If you’ve ever had a battle trying to convince a business leader that their idea of a learning project is not the best use of your team’s resources or employee time, or struggled to get stakeholders engaged with a really big important learning project that needs them, your vision can help.

3. It helps you onboard new people and gel your team

If you’re looking to scale-up operations and/or bring in more people to produce effective elearning,  a clear vision will get people onboard and working autonomously in no time. It lays out what good looks like, and where you’re going as a team.

A vision is a mantra for a team and means you’re all pulling in one direction.

What does a vision need to be?

After interviewing our experts, we landed on four key characteristics of a strong vision.

• Inspiring: Our experts explain how they make sure their vision grabs people’s attention. Find out how you can tell the story of where you want your digital learning to be so people will want to follow.
• Simple: Get expert tips on how to effectively communicate your vision across your organization so it’s easy to connect with and everyone can get on board.
• Collaborative: Find out why you can’t go it alone when setting your vision. Discover how the input of business leaders and learners can create a truly holistic vision.
• Flexible: Avoid making your vision too rigid. Get some expert advice on how to adapt your vision as the landscape changes, communicate updates and share your progress.

“We can think of a great vision…But if we don’t have the buy-in, and people don’t use it and get the value out of it, it really is wasted time.”

– Patrick Bowl – Learning & Development Director, Worldpay

Haven’t the time to create a vision?

That’s what we hear from many learning managers who are new to running a team or in the midst of heavy changes. It can feel hard to justify the time to put together a future vision if you’re firefighting. But our research into the habits of the most successful digital learning managers shows that it’s worth every second and helps get you out of that hole.

Put vision setting in your sights, faster and smarter by harvesting the ideas and methods shared by our two experienced learning leaders and make use of the free tools.

Access to the Learning at Large, Knowledge Hub to hear what Guy and Patrick have to say.