Listening – an undervalued skill that brings results

In today’s exponentially challenging workplace, communication skills are crucial. You need to communicate at all levels, to your department, team, staff, and clients; yes, skillful communication is a no brainer. But an often neglected side to skillful communication is listening. Listening is an innate part of everything we do, and the crucial other side to communicating effectively.

Communicating enables a flow of information and ideas, back and forth, between your various stakeholders. Now listening might seem passive or less energetic than talking, presenting, explaining, convincing, or negotiating, but active listening is in fact, the flip side, the secret sauce to all of the above.  Think of listening as an interpersonal skill that will equip you to better uncover and understand the needs, requirements, and sometimes hidden preferences of your stakeholders.

Active listening. We covered Five tips to Active Listening in a previous post:

1. Close the door and remove distractions.
2. Don’t interrupt. Reinforce with good body language and occasional verbal reinforcement.
3. Stop thinking about what you’re going to say next and empathize with your colleague instead.
4. Listen to understand first and then listen “between the lines.”
5. Check for understanding, clarify, and confirm.

In the course of your work, you must listen to a lot of people: your boss, your colleagues and team members, your clients, those who report to you, and those you will recruit, professionally develop, or performance review over time. Potentially, you may have to listen to senior managers, board members, and so on, as well.

Here are five things to think about in a work context that will help you actively listen in any of the above scenarios:

1. Approach any conversation with a self-identified aim that you will learn something. Self-fulfilling prophesy is a strange thing: it usually works. So if you approach a conversation with the attitude that “hey I’ve got this, …and I know exactly what Peter is going to say” then the unfortunate reality is you’re simply not going to learn anything from that conversation. But if you realize that Peter has something to convey, something you may not have heard before, then you will learn something new.

2. Stop Talking! Focus on the conversation and never, ever, multitask. If you’re dealing with a group of people, say a focus group, make sure that you’re only ever doing one thing: actively listening. We now know the human brain simply cannot multitask, so don’t try to; either record the conversation – with permission of course – so you can check back on points later, or have a dedicated note-taker in the room. Try not to worry about being able to respond quickly to what’s being said. Be honest. Say “I’m really listening to what you’re saying, and I don’t have an immediate response.” That’s an acceptable reaction, some comments deserve real reflection and time.

3. Open the discussion wide and then drill down. If you ask specific questions or even closed ones [Yes/No answers] then you shut down the possibilities of more far reaching solutions, more creative conclusions and suggestions. Use open questioning techniques “What’s your sense of ….?” or “How do you see this ….?”

4. Empathize, encourage, and recognize everyone’s contribution! Life lesson from personal experience coming up.

He was the biggest toughest looking guy in the focus group, his contribution to the session was short, clever, and to the point, and I nodded at him to acknowledge it. Twenty minutes later, at coffee break, he took me aside and questioned why I seemed to smile at other speakers’ contributions but barely reacted to what he said. What was wrong with his advice?

Clearly nothing. The wrong lay 1000 percent on my side. Always recognize and respond to contributions, use names where possible, and if you’re smiling, make sure you’re smiling at everyone.

5. Lastly, and a slight corollary to point four, respect everyone’s contributions, and try to keep an open mind. Active listening is neutral.

You don’t have to agree with everyone, but you do have to understand them.

Email info@intuition.com to discuss how Intuition can help your organization enhance important skills such as active listening.

Why Listening Is More Courageous than Speaking: 5 Tips for Active Listening

Talking is easy. Listening – as opposed to simply not talking – is hard.

We all know that sometimes it takes courage to speak, but what about the courage it takes to listen? Listening is not about just being quiet, but about actually actively listening. And active listening involves a few rules that may challenge the innate tendency many of us have to just keep on talking. Or, if we’re not doing the talking, at least getting ready to talk!

Active listening is about focusing on truly listening, to not just hear but to understand what the speaker is saying. It requires a suspension of judgment until you have fully understood, an ability to empathize so that the speaker feels enabled to express themselves fully, and a healthy dose of resisting the temptation to give in to all your old habits around talking and listening.

Here’s five tips to help you practice the art of active listening:

Close the door. Literally or metaphorically. The point is, remove distractions in your environment so that you can give your full attention to the speaker. Consider switching off your phone. For you as the listener, it will help you keep your concentration and actively listen. For the speaker, it will help them see that you plan to give them your full attention. Which leads us to point 2.

Let the other person speak. Don’t interrupt. You can, however, encourage the speaker with your positive body language, good eye contact with nodding, and occasional reinforcements. If you do interrupt, take responsibility for bringing the conversation back on track.

Don’t prepare your response while the other person is talking. Poor listeners frequently prioritise their own needs and interests. “How does this affect me? How can I get my way here?” Instead, try to be completely open-minded and genuinely interested in what the other person is saying. This is difficult because we all have an innate bias toward our own interests. One simple trick is, just when you’re about to say something, pause and instead hold the silence for a couple of extra beats. Nine times out of ten, the person will continue to explain their situation or issue.

Listen to understand first, and then listen again to what’s “in-between” the lines. You’re not just gathering information, you’re trying to understand the why of what’s being said. Then base your response on this understanding. After you have really actively listened, you might find your response is different to what you might have prepared. Don’t be ready with your judgment before you have actively listened.

Check for understanding. Clarify and confirm (“So what I think you are saying is …”, “So let me be sure I understood …”). When they are finished speaking, recap.

So where’s the courageous bit? Well, it takes courage to be willing to put aside your preconceptions or biases and be open to going where the speaker is going without stepping in to challenge or redirect the conversation to where you want to go. It calls on you to show empathy to the speaker, to put yourself in their place and walk in their shoes. And importantly, it requires you to be open to the possibility that listening might change you, your view and your response.

Well, that’s all great, but even though you might be quite clear by now on how active listening works, you may be asking the “so what’s in it for me” question.  Paradoxically, the less focused on our own interests we are, the better we listen, the better we usually feel and then the real benefits ensue: better quality communications and relationships.

Try active listening. It’s a no-brainer. Active listening gets you more and better-quality information, builds trust amongst those you work with and ultimately enables you to better influence and persuade others. And, because it is such an underdeveloped skill, your ability to listen actively will give you an advantage. Now who wouldn’t want that?

Intuition provides solutions that help employees develop key business, interpersonal and communication skills that can be critical to both individual and organizational success.  Get in Touch to find out more about how Intuition can help you empower your employees with the essential skills for workplace success. 

The Road Ahead: Trends 2018 – The Best of the Rest

As well as the big trends that we previously reviewed in our series of The Road Ahead: Trends for Learning in 2018, there are, unsurprisingly in this time of rapidly evolving technologies, several other burgeoning trends worth watching. In this article, we review some of the best of the rest:

Chatbots: An Almost Human Conversation

Chatbots are computer programs that mimic conversations and can start to look like a quasi-conversation when done well. They operate using a set of pre-defined rules or machine learning and operate around a level of Artificial Intelligence (AI). They can be voice or text activated through existing social conversation tools such as Facebook Messenger, or smartphone text messaging apps. The key idea is that the more chatbots interact with people the smarter they become.

Proponents argue their potential for reaching people ‘where they are at’ (based on the prolific popularity of text messaging for instance – a 99% open rate) and suggest their potential for a range of learning applications[1].

Practical use scenarios might include virtual coaches for simulated interactions when training individuals and groups, marketing campaigns, event enrolment and registration, assigning learning activities or interacting with your LMS experience[2]. AI supported chatbots may also deliver AI guided learning support for work activities, offering the prospect of becoming smarter and delivering improved learning support.

Life After Keyboards

Elliott Masie reported from the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January this year that ‘almost every technology exhibited or demonstrated here was saying goodbye to keyboards.  Voice, Gestures, Screen Touches, Biometric ID and other non-typing methods are being focused.’[3]

Whether all this means that we will soon be learning or navigating our way around an AI-driven learning experience via a Suri type interface is unclear. However, it’s worth noting that as we become less reliant on keyboards in our personal devices – for example via touch ID on our phones, talking to our virtual assistants like Alexa or Google at home – invariably these consumer-led experiences and expectations will feed into the learning world. We can already see this trend of moving away from the device keyboard in learning via experiences such as AR and VR learning.

AI is the driving force behind many emerging technologies, and what they indicate is a different future with a different kind of user experience.  And as AI continues to evolve, inevitably, new ways for us to communicate with our personal devices and assistants will emerge. 

AI and Expanded Reality

Next, we’ll look at ever-evolving range of available experiences. Some writers refer to XR or extended reality as a descriptor that encompasses the various experiences along the reality to virtual continuum, including 360-degree video, virtual, augmented and mixed realities. And over time, we’ll engage in much more of these extended experiences. For example, we wear our AR glasses with overlays of visual images and data onto the real world. We hear audio tracks, sound effects and music via hidden earphones. We use wearable haptic devices that let us feel and interact with virtual worlds as we continue to connect and interact with our computers, the Internet, the cloud and one another more and more directly every year[4]. 

As more becomes possible and inevitable, we can begin to see the merge of more of these capabilities: augmented intelligence tutorials systems (AITs) that combine the power of XR capabilities with AI, for example, and XR enabled smart assistants. It’s a future with an increasingly sophisticated palette of enhanced user experiences becoming more and more part our daily lives.

Podcasts: The New Cool

Meanwhile, not everything that seems new is new. It’s worth pointing out that some things come into their own over time such as audio podcasts^[5]. They’ve been around for ages, but their popularity has only recently increased.

24% of Americans have listened to a podcast in the last month. Podcasts can offer a regular output of information to listeners, is relatively inexpensive to generate and publish and, while not showing a hockey stick growth curve, this ‘spoken word’ medium continues to grow.

According to Edison Research, 25% of Americans aged 12 or older listen to podcasts monthly[6], with an audience who tend to be well educated, in a relatively high-income cohort, and weekly listeners consuming on average five hours of podcasts a week.[7] Data available from the recently released Apple Podcast Analytics feature suggests that podcast listeners are typically getting through 80-90% of podcast content in an episode. This data confirms that this is a highly engaged audience sector, and both longer and shorter form podcasts seem to be doing well[8].

Mind, Brain and Education Science
Another area to watch is Mind Brain and Education (MBE) science, a newly emerging discipline that pulls Developmental Psychology, Neuroscience and Educational Psychology together to answer the question: ‘How do we learn best?’ This is a growth area that is starting to offer well researched information that can inform pedagogy so that what we design and offer as learning works in sync with how the human brain and mind functions. AI may offer a role here also, as recent research shows that machine learning algorithms are figuring out how and where to deliver pulse electrodes within the brain to help improve memory and recall. Watch this space![9]

These rising trends bring the promise of a lively new vista of how we interact with and experience learning. So, whether your organization is an innovator who can’t wait to try out a chatbot with your learning audience, or you’d rather exercise a little more caution before you befriend the new learning trend on the block, keep a close eye on them; your next tutor might not be quite who you think they are!

If you would like to discuss any of the insights in this piece with our consultants, email info@intuition.com.

Part 1: Preview

Part 2: Microlearning

Part 3: Video

Part 4: Personalization

Part 5: Content

Part 6: Wellbeing

References

[1] https://digitalfluencycoach.com/learning/chatbots_potential/

[2] http://www.clomedia.com/2016/09/12/chatbots-for-learning/

[3] http://trends.masie.com/archives/2018/1/8/ces-report-1-goodbye-keyboards-try-vs-buy-update-culture-oth.html

[4] https://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/2508/metafocus-personalized-lifelong-learning

[5] https://www.emarketer.com/Article/Number-of-Podcast-Listeners-UK-Keeps-Inching-Up/1016292

[6] http://www.convinceandconvert.com/podcast-research/the-11-critical-podcast-statistics-of-2017/

[7] https://www.salesforce.com/blog/2017/04/20-stats-about-the-2017-podcast-consumer.html

[8] https://www.wired.com/story/apple-podcast-analytics-first-month/

[9] https://www.wired.com/story/ml-brain-boost/

Content is King?

There are those who will argue that content is and always was King: though, depending on your focus, it does seem to have taken a back seat for a while now. Today, ‘content’ wrestles with some of the ‘newer kids on the block’: learning experience (LX) coming to the fore, for example, or the coupling of the ‘content’ word itself almost invariably with the word ‘curation’.

But content per se may be coming into its own again – although perhaps not necessarily as we traditionally saw it. Content (and the many ways to create and deliver it efficiently) is now directed to a new type of recipient, the consumer learner.

The learner of former times has morphed into a consumer who, molded by technology in the retail world, expects a quick, easy, and on-demand learning experience. This consumer chooses their content from a selection of suppliers in a variety of forms including YouTube, Google and Twitter alongside more formal learning platforms, as they seek the right learning ‘product’ for their specific needs of the moment.

The continued proliferation of increasingly user-friendly content development tools means that it is easier than ever to create learning content.  In cases where rapid deployment is imperative, these efficient and author-friendly tools mean that many L&D departments have the capability to create some content at an adequate level in-house. Many organizations, however, have small L&D teams and require support with their content needs, sometime to effect a rapid turnaround, but also for high-end custom solutions that call for careful needs analysis and clever, creative design.

The evolution of agile learning experience platforms comes with an opportunity: there’s not much point in having a platform or tool without content, and factors such as increasing demand for more and more regulatory content (with shorter content shelf-life) mean that more and more content must be produced and delivered in ever shorter timeframes.

Two points emerge from this. First, with heightened competition for learners’ time and attention, the content bar is raised: content must be engaging and meaningful for learners to use it.  Second, we need to develop content that is not just for a once-off learning intervention.  A continuous learning model must consider content for delivery and reinforcement over time, so that new knowledge and skills are activated and maintained through content spaced over the learning calendar.

‘Content’ implies a wide range of formats and the ideal medium depends on the learner’s context and moment of need. A simple, straightforward PDF or document may serve that well; or a video- or audio-based micro-learning resource might deliver, while a game or AR/VR interactive course may serve other purposes.

The quality of content is at the heart of user and learner commitment and engagement. As more and more content becomes available, much of it free, users need to make choices about what’s really worth taking: quality of content rather than quantity becomes the deciding factor.

Curation comes of age

The aforementioned ‘curation’ and user-generated content also qualify as ‘hot once more’ topics. Content curation has come of age, not least because people frequently fail to learn, not from lack of content, but from trying to survive and thrive in a constant deluge of the stuff.

The curation of a few years ago – voluntary, generalist sharing of relevant articles and information – has become something more considered and strategic at an organizational level and all employees can play their part in recognizing, rating and sharing learning and meaning to a wider work audience. Curator skill sets are frequently highlighted, and while technology and AI enabled curation tools will deliver, they are almost always augmented with this human touch, bringing value, sense, meaning and context to the goods.  As organizations become flatter in structure, individuals’ roles as content and insight providers become even more relevant.  An article in Chief Learning Officer¹ described a group of industry analysts arguing for organizations to explicitly facilitate the creation of a network of experts to share wisdom in this way.

We believe…

Yes, some content may be becoming more commoditized, but it’s a bit more nuanced than that. Many L&D teams and businesses are looking for guidance and support to deal with the potentially overwhelming demands of fulfilling content needs, with managing and delivering content in ways that genuinely add value and bring positive returns.

There are also some shifts in the type of content areas of interest. With the themes of automation, AI and robotics taking up more and more news space, it’s been suggested that some exclusively human skills will become more and more important.  An FT article² highlights how workers need a ‘New Smart’ to work in this era of smart technology, with business leaders needing to be able to operate at the highest level of critical and emotional thinking.  Curiosity and open-mindedness will be key, along with knowledge and skills in areas like psychology, design thinking, creative skills, and data science.  With this, we can anticipate increased interest in these and other softer skills areas such as negotiation, presentation, performance management, mindfulness and others. Workers will need to ‘reskill and right-skill’³.

In addition, there is the need to equip workforces in industries that are experiencing disruption, especially digital transformation, with the skills to navigate working in these areas, and an understanding of the new digital environment they work in. FinTech, for example, has implications not just for those who bring specialist technical expertise to financial organizations, but to anyone working in the financial sector who needs to have an appreciation of how financial technology can help them do their jobs and solve problems, as well as equipping them with the skills to continue to adapt as the nature of their work changes.

Regulation also continues to be a hot content area, with increasing regulation placing more demand for content and learning to support the ever-widening reach of regulatory bodies.  This raises another interesting challenge: how, in businesses where regulatory training is consuming almost all training time, learners can take on other learning requirements, such as the skills mentioned above that are needed to future-proof their careers.

Actively managing the firehose of content learners face, facilitating access to the right content at the right performance moment, and empowering learners to manage and share their own learning, will continue to energize those involved in learning and performance, creating both opportunity and challenge.

It‘s possible content might still be King.

Intuition’s series The Road Ahead: Trends for Learning 2018 looks at the changing face of learning and, against that backdrop, examines what we see as the most significant emerging digital learning trends. 

If you would like to discuss any of the insights in this piece with our consultants, email info@intuition.com.

Part 1: Preview

Part 2: Microlearning

Part 3: Video

Part 4: Personalization

References

¹ http://www.clomedia.com/2018/01/25/network-experts-content-curation-insight-curation/ A Network of Experts: From Content Curation to Insight Curation Joe Arets, Bob Danna, Charles Jennings, Laci Loew

² https://www.ft.com/content/9d9f76c0-422e-11e7-82b6-896b95f30f58

³ https://www.clomedia.com/2017/02/08/clos-move-conduit-curator/

It’s a big word and a big topic and it seems to be everywhere. It goes hand in hand with some other topics we’re hearing and seeing lots about, such as UI/UX, the learner journey, data and data analytics, next gen LMSs and Learner Experience Platforms (LXPs).

Learner = Consumer

Personalization shows up in every aspect of our lives, and especially in our online activity. What we see and what we do is becoming more and more personalized – the content pushed to us, the ads we see, the continuous tailoring of our online world to what we have indicated via our online activity – what we like, what we are interested in, and what we may need.

Behind personalization in a learning context lie the philosophies of ‘learner experience’ and ‘learner as consumer¹’, pushing a drive towards learning solutions that meet the needs of an increasingly discerning, tech savvy, self-directed and time-pressured learner audience. This cohort has high expectations for both ease of access and engagement and, most significantly, the expectation of a personalized experience, to provide ‘me’ as a user with the best experience and content for my particular, individual needs.

In reality, though, when it comes to choosing how and to what extent to incorporate personalization elements in learning solutions, it may be a case of a little going a long way.  Much of the personalization in learning so far is limited to small personalization features that might be described as ‘baby steps’, but small steps in the area of personalization can nonetheless contribute significantly to a sense of an individualized targeted ‘made for me’ experience.

Personalization by Degrees

The bottom line is that with the levels of personalization people are experiencing on their many devices in their everyday lives, bringing personalization into learning is a must. It doesn’t have to be overly complicated, however. It’s a question of starting with the data you have now, or have access to now, considering what type and level of personalization will add most value for you and your learners, and building from there:

• Choices on how content is accessed – device or format (e.g. watch a video, read a PDF)
• Using learner first names – a small thing, but it matters
• Language selection
• Tailored learning paths and curated content according to role – job-focused personalization, for relevance and efficiency.
• Diagnostic assessments that result in targeted learning recommendations – promoting learning efficiency
• In-course personalization – such as personalized feedback or paths that shift the content experience in response to learner interactions
• Recommendations (for content in all formats) based on history, what others of similar profiles are viewing – a ‘Netflix’ type experience that reflects consumer experience and expectations.

Adaptive Learning

Adaptive learning is where the learning content, path and/or experience is adapted or modified to the learner’s individual needs, based on their interaction. Arguably, this is one of the most effective routes to high-impact personalization: tailoring the learning path to make the optimum use of the learner’s time, providing diagnostics allowing them to test what they already know, and potentially tailoring the nature of the learning activities, e.g. more practice for those who need it, less focus on the fundamentals for those who are past that stage, and learning transfer opportunities for those who are ready.

Adaptive learning can align learning experiences to the learner’s needs and level, gradually building towards the desired level of competency and independence, with verifiable evidence that they have met or accomplished prior learning needs at each stage.

The New

Nowhere is the drive towards personalization more evident than in the explosion of User Experience Platforms (UXPs) or Learner Experience Platforms (LXPs).

While LXPs potentially bring together features from many technological and product advances – including curated public and private content, tracking, analytics, and social collaboration tools – the promise of a ‘made for me’, learner-led, learner-centric experience is the big attraction. The growth of LXPs sees a shift away from a more traditional model where everything resides within the LMS, to a more dashboard-type experience drawing in content from multiple sources. A dashboard type UI, as often seen in UXPs/LXPs or learning portals, can be populated with channels and sources that are of interest to the individual user and that they can access in the flow of their work. The ease of access to relevant sources, regularly updated, can also help encourage the learner to form a habit of accessing and using the platform every day.

We believe:

Personalization is an area that we can expect to expand and develop, both in pursuit of the optimum user experience and as organizations strive to reap the benefits that targeted learning can provide both them and their employees. This growth will be fueled with development of the data analytics space.

In the UXP/LXP space, whoever the winners and losers turn out to be, the current excitement around these platforms highlights the promise of a new model of learning and information access. A powerful user-centered experience that is simultaneously aligned with organizational needs, providing learners with what they require from the learning ecosystem; maximizing the efficiency of delivering on the need, from whatever source, and minimizing the time to learn. And whether, if or when LXPs or next-generation LMSs deliver on all of this, they clearly signal a growing appetite for tailored, dynamic, ‘made for me’ learning solutions, accessible in the flow of work.

Underpinning the many choices we have in learning today, including personalization, adaptive learning, experience based learning, etc., all our options need to be considered in light of how best to facilitate learning for our particular audience, at their particular moment and need in time and place.  And as more data becomes available through analytics and constant feedback systems, we must rigorously monitor how well our chosen avenues work. No matter the technology, it is always still about fulfilling the promise of learning.

And whether your approach to personalization is data-focused, platform driven, or simply taking the first small steps to making the learner feel more like you understand the individual they are, one thing is clear: it’s time to get personal.

Intuition’s series The Road Ahead: Trends for Learning 2018 looks at the changing face of learning and, against that backdrop, examines what we see as the most significant emerging digital learning trends. 

Part 1: Preview

Part 2: Microlearning

Part 3: Video

If you would like to discuss any of the insights in this piece with our consultants, email info@intuition.com.

References

¹ Fosway Digital Learning Grid Report 2018

This is the year to invest in video learning. 

Why? Because everyone prefers watching videos to reading, and Internet data seems to bear that out. Some 3.25 billion hours of video are watched every month on YouTube¹.  So, video is mainstream, and has been for some time.

Most L&D departments – indeed most organizations – use video in some form to support learning. And, let’s face it, the phrase micro learning usually accompanies video in the same breath. But let’s unpack the video phenomenon a little more.  

Helping us with that unpacking is a research report Using Video for Learning based on a survey carried out in October 2017 by the eLearning Guild² across about 1,000 respondents from a range of industries³. At a big picture level, the report finds that where 41.3% of respondents used video for learning in 2009 this figure rose to 92.4% in 2017. The biggest surge came in the last five years: over 67% of respondents said they began using video in that time period.

Short videos of under five minutes are the most common output with just over 80% of producers⁴, and most video learning content is passive. A vast majority of respondents in this survey said their L&D departments created the video. Most people [over 83%] used video as part of a course, approximately 70% used it as short tutorials [micro learning], and just over 54% used it to supplement classroom training before, during or after the classroom activity.

Barriers exist to creating video that included subject matter not deemed appropriate, or costs exceeding budget.  This reflects our experience where cost and potential audience reach are major criteria when choosing to produce video.  We would add the rider that video is frequently considered to occupy a particular subject space, for example soft skills development, where a strong emphasis on realism is vital.

But video makes sense for a wide range of topics including onboarding (including the video mission statement from senior executives to newbies) and compliance topics, including roleplay and scenarios of ‘good’/’bad’ behavior; product and sales training, health and safety topics, soft skills and more.

 The Format

According to the Guild survey, most organizations created passive videos [66.3%] compared to animated videos [55.7%] or interactive videos [36.4%] and most video learning takes place on desktops.  While passive video may still dominate a large segment of videos produced, there is no doubt that video that is simply passive can lower attention and engagement levels. 

We believe that moving beyond the more passive format to interactive video must be a goal for those designing learning with video. 

What is Interactive Video?

Interactivity comes in a few different grades.

At a basic level,  

• Chaptered videos enable viewers to navigate and watch content relevant to them. Useful to measure and analyze which parts are most relevant to your audience.
• In-video questions – learners respond to MCQs, True/False, Ranking, Text input etc.
• Personal Bookmarks – learners bookmark video.
• Interactive Scripts – searchable texts of scripts with jump to functionality.
• Linked resources, other documents, web sites, PDFs etc.

At a deeper and more interactive level sits branched interactive video. The gold standard frequently mentioned at Awards ceremonies and exhibitions is Lifesaver⁵, an interactive video designed by the Resuscitation Council UK to teach CPR through dropping the learner into a variety of emergency situations where a variety of different situations demand prompt action.

The fusion of interactivity and live action film with the use of the keyboard to simulate compressions makes for impressive interaction and learning.  This type of simulation where action, roleplay or even rehearsal to webcam and a team of colleagues or supervisors allows interesting social learning possibilities with review, discussion or gamification functionality adding to the overall impact .

Further along the video development curve, we reach video in Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) with a growing interest in 360-degree video (video capturing 360-degree view for VR applications).   Live streaming is also becoming a more popular video learning technique, recording instructor/presenter-led lectures in live or virtual settings and recorded for later review and use. 

Format

Vertical video – also known as portrait mode video – has become important, and indeed according to Snapchat⁶ has gone from an unforgiveable sin to a mainstream media staple practically overnight. It aligns with the move from desktops to mobile devices as the main way people consume online video.

While interactive video may be the gold standard, or the standard to ultimately aspire to, in more passive video formats, quality of production values may depend on audience reach.  By this we mean many organizations will go with lower production values for an audience of 40 or 50, but for an audience of a few thousand plus will push for a slicker production.

We Believe…

Video can’t be ignored.  It’s important to stay ahead in technology and functionality related to video, particularly in interactive video.  As we know, many training departments create video learning for their organization and indeed much of this video learning is often created by just one person.

This is made possible by the fact that hardware and software for video production has improved dramatically over the last few years with smaller fully featured cameras and equipment available at competitive prices.  Many video and audio editing tools, as well as animation and effects software, come free at the entry level. Stock video and curated public video content found on YouTube and Vimeo can be used cleverly to construct and complement a video piece.

Video learning has been around a long time for anyone who remembers the video laser discs of the 90s, however its use as a learning tool and component in larger learning programs is relatively new for most organizations and the baseline offering of passive, non-interactive video is giving way relatively quickly to more sophisticated, interactive, visual learning offerings.

Get on the bandwagon.

Intuition’s series The Road Ahead: Trends for Learning 2018 looks at the changing face of learning and, against that backdrop, examines what we see as the most significant emerging digital learning trends. 

Part 1: Preview

Part 2: Microlearning

If you would like to discuss any of the insights in this piece with our consultants, email info@intuition.com.

References

¹https://fortunelords.com/youtube-statistics/

²https://www.elearningguild.com/insights/index.cfm?id=216

³Data collected from the survey is available in the research report, Using Video for Learning, by contributing editor Stephen Haskin.
Largest category is education [19.1%], next Finance/Banking/Insurance [11.4%], Healthcare/Medical [11%], Computers [7.5%], down to Automotive [1.4%]

⁴‘81.7% said they create videos under five minutes in duration.’ Using Video for Learning’ Elearning Guild, page 13.

⁵https://life-saver.org.uk/

⁶https://idearocketanimation.com/17553-vertical-video-guide/

Microlearning – the state of play

Microlearning – those short, bite sized pieces of learning content, focused typically on one discrete topic, delivered at the point of need through a variety of channels to all devices – has been around for some time now.  While its stock is still relatively high as a learning concept, we are starting to see a dawning realization that micro on its own is not the answer to all things in the design of learning.

Featuring in Donald H. Taylor’s L&D Global Sentiment Survey for 2017¹, it took third place in a listing of what a group of 885 learning and development (L&D) people believed would be hot in 2017. In the 2018 survey, it’s down to fifth place but continues to get attention and airtime.  He also suggests that microlearning has plateaued in North America between 2016 and 2017 but expects it to morph into a mainstream part of learning production in the coming years.²

So microlearning is still on the learning radar. It’s worth pointing out, however, that micro is poorly defined and poorly understood or at least it means different things to different people³ and, more relevantly, may often be poorly implemented.

One thing that is evident is an increasing recognition that realistically in your L&D programs, you’ll probably need both macro and micro learning. Bersin’s graph of the learner’s career path⁴ shows where the different types of learning might fit.

Our experience is – that micro is useful, but that macro is interesting and relevant too.

NASBA seems to agree, pointing out in their standards for nano learning (microlearning) that “nano learning is not a substitute for comprehensive programs addressing complex issues.”⁵

Where is micro learning going?

Microlearning as a trend will continue. People will still shout for “resources not courses,” particularly in the performance support sense, and in the workflow, this makes sense.  However, it will gradually cease being over-hyped as it becomes merely one more tool in the arsenal of any blend. Already we are seeing some sense that not all users are as enamored about micro for formal learning; “If you gave me the option to take a 30-minute course versus a series of 5 minute pieces, I’d take the 30 minutes.”  People are getting a greater understanding of where it’s useful, where not so much and it may ultimately find its rightful place as an obvious technique, like any other obvious principle or technique, e.g., storytelling techniques are good for communicating key messages in a learning program.

We believe

• Microlearning as a technique is relevant, not least because it directs us to figure out what you want to say in your learning and to go short and discrete when you say it.
• Microlearning maps to the neuroscientific concept that most people’s focus is of the order of 15-20 minutes.
• Microlearning makes sense because it drives organizations to remove extraneous material, going with essential only.
• Microlearning often needs an impactful medium to achieve its full potential, e.g., video, audio, animation, etc., although it can be as simple as an interactive pdf.
• Microlearning suits performance support, real-world type application and may map more to early novice learning rather than later mid-career or mastery level.
• Microlearning really comes into its own when it’s blended into a more coherent learning strategy.

Think micro and spaced together

One powerful strategy for learning is to integrate a spaced model with the micro model, in other words, push out a model that includes small bundles of content that are then reinforced through a series of spaced interventions delivered over time.

Incorporated in a spaced model, microlearning offers a core set of elements and interactions not necessarily in a linear manner but delivered nonetheless to assure both robust and embedded learning and equally – using techniques of spaced learning such as retrieval, commitment and practice – the creation and maintenance of habit.

Intuition’s series The Road Ahead: Trends for Learning 2018 looks at the changing face of learning and, against that backdrop, examines what we see as the most significant emerging digital learning trends. 

Part 1: Preview

If you would like to discuss any of the insights in this piece with our consultants, email info@intuition.com.

References

¹http://donaldhtaylor.co.uk/survey/

²http://donaldhtaylor.co.uk/micro-learning-how-an-ld-idea-spreads/

³The Elearning Guild Report published (January 2018): The State of Micro Learning by Pamela S. Hogle, which surveys eight eLearning leaders collated a variety of views on microlearning.

⁴http://joshbersin.com/2017/03/the-disruption-of-digital-learning-ten-things-we-have-learned/

⁵https://www.nasbaregistry.org/preparing-to-apply/nano-learning

The Road Ahead: Trends for Learning 2018

The Changing Nature of Work and Learning

We are in a time of profound change, where everything from business and lifestyle to politics and personal lives is being profoundly affected by the impact of digital disruption and transformation. Although the full scale of this disruption may not yet be felt in many aspects of corporate learning, its potential to shift the learning landscape significantly is becoming apparent. 

The scale and scope of change in our living and working environments is such that it almost defies pulling back to compile a comfortable, tidy list of trends, or a neat list of “what’s up, what’s down.” Learning trends need to be viewed in a bigger picture context, with an understanding of the wider disruptive forces that are changing and will continue to change the field of learning. 

Intuition’s new series The Road Ahead: Trends for Learning 2018 looks at this changing face of learning and, against that backdrop, examines what we see as the most significant emerging digital learning trends.

In this series, we identify three big forces driving transformation that we believe will significantly impact learning: AI, Analytics and Automation. These are umbrella areas that are either already beginning to touch the learning sector or can be expected to influence the shape of learning in the medium term – impacting what people need to learn, how they learn, and how we design, develop, and deliver learning to meet their needs. 

Within this shifting wider landscape, we detail the following trends that we see as the most pervasive in the learning space.

Microlearning

A persistent trend for some time now and one that we can expect to continue. With a dawning realization that it has some limitations, as well as its much-touted advantages, and that microlearning is good for some things and not others, we anticipate that the hype will trail off and microlearning will take its place as one more tool in the arsenal of learning formats, one more component in the blend.

Video

This one is definitely here and now, and we can expect uptake of video to continue. With a preference for short video (under 5 minutes), it goes hand in hand with microlearning. Video is expected to continue apace, with organizations open to the full spectrum of production values, from guerilla to high-end. The challenge is to develop it in interactive ways to maximize its value, with a watchful eye on technologies such as enhanced video and 360 interactive.

Augmented and Virtual Reality

This is a great headline grabber, but in reality, it’s moving somewhat slowly, partly due to costs and complexity of implementation. That said, there are some great examples of its application in particular areas. Augmented reality may be moving faster than virtual, with 2018 expected to be a big year for augmented reality tech.

Personalization

This promises to tick all the boxes of addressing the challenges and demands of being a modern learner – increasingly discerning, tech savvy, self-directed, but time-pressured – and meeting the expectations arising from consumer technology experiences and trends: provide me with what I want, when I need it, and just for me. Some long-standing features, such as using first names, diagnostics, and learning paths, are all levels of personalization. More sophisticated data analytic driven personalization in learning is still at early stages, but we can expect it become more developed as data analytics advances.

User Experience Platforms (UXPs)

An exciting area that is generating increased attention. When or if they deliver on all that they promise remains to be seen, but as an indicator of the direction that learner and organizational learning needs and expectations are taking, and potentially suggesting a growing appetite for a new model of learning and knowledge access, UXPs/LXPs are worth watching.

Content

Continues to be important, but in different ways and for sometimes different reasons. Regulatory content dominates the conversation in some areas; content requirements are emerging in new areas, such as fintech; and the changing world of automation brings a new focus to perhaps uniquely human skills, such as critical thinking and creativity. For learning and development (L&D), increasingly user-friendly development tools make it easier and faster to produce learning content. However, issues such as managing the deluge of content to provide learners with what they really need and managing and facilitating content from many sources, including user-generated and shared content, continue to challenge.

The Ecosystem and the Blend

What becomes clear in the increasingly wide array of tools for learning is that there is no one stand-out approach that will solve an organization’s learning needs. Increasingly, solving problems becomes about drawing on an ecosystem of tools, a blend if you like, that is customized and adapted to an individual organization. We expect this area and the sophistication of thinking about these blends to evolve pulling from a wide palette, from personalization to micro, spaced, and beyond, and drawing from the thinking behind emerging technologies and emerging disciplines like Mind, Brain, and Education science.

We will also highlight some more futurist but developing areas worth keeping an eye on, such as the emergence of voice-driven search, the use of Chatbots for learning, and an upsurge of interest in areas such as the booming topic of Wellbeing.

With all of these components in the mix, the question in this transformational landscape is how best to support your organization to optimize business performance.

Talent is crucial. Your people are your key success factor. Every organization gets this and is radically overhauling how their employees stay current and ahead of knowledge and skills needs: what trends to embrace, what technology to choose for your people’s learning?

We believe there is no single answer. The secret lies more commonly in using the best blend within an ecosystem of learning. Delivering successful solutions increasingly involves combining a variety of approaches and drawing on a range of tools and technologies to create destination learning ecosystems that will maximize individual, organizational, and business performance.

In the coming weeks, Intuition will be discussing the individual trends above in more detail. In the meantime, if you would like to discuss any of the insights in this piece with our consultants, email info@intuition.com.

For anyone who has invited Google Home, Amazon Echo, or other intelligent personal assistant devices into your home, the effect can be, well, disarming. Alexa (on Amazon Echo) likes to be addressed by name, while Google Home responds to “OK, Google” as the conversation starter. These are two of the leading intelligent personal assistants on the market, designed to help you manage your life, stay on top of your hectic schedule, and respond to your in-the-moment need for all types of information. And they’re just getting started.

Whichever of these “assistants” you might have welcomed into your home, it’s an intriguing taste of where artificial intelligence (AI) is at, and a portent of where it might be headed. Google Home can do everything from calling out the weather forecast for the day, to managing your shopping list, to telling jokes, to hauling out a definition of whatever new terminology might be puzzling you. She can recognize your voice, so with more than one household member talking to her, she can personalize better to the individual. If on occasion you ask her something that’s beyond her reach, she might respond that “I’m sorry, I don’t know how to help with that yet”, but, given the range of things she can help with, that “yet” at the end might feel just a little ominous.

 And that’s the exciting and maybe even scary thing. The “intelligence” of AI is growing all the time. And AI is out there in many forms, from Amazon’s product recommendations to self-drive cars.

Let’s step back for a minute, though, and clarify what exactly AI is.

AI is a broad umbrella term for making software simulate the things that humans can do, like solve problems, play chess, or drive a car, and ultimately do those things better and faster than humans. In other words, AI is about building machines capable of intelligent behavior. The scope of AI is broad, with AI powering features on your smartphone, in self-driving cars, in your Amazon recommendation list. And then there are the amazing new advances that we haven’t figured out yet that might change our world dramatically in the not too distant future. 

Because of its scope, we have different categorizations of AI, from “narrow” and “weak” AI to “general” AI. Narrow is machine intelligence that specializes in just one area, such as chess or driving. And this is the kind of AI that some predict will result in a huge number of jobs being replaced. General AI, at the other end of the spectrum, refers to AI systems that can theoretically handle any task – just like human intelligence; such systems are a lot less common than their narrow AI cousins.

There are lots of exciting advancements in the AI field, including in the learning space. At Learning Technologies 2017, Donald Clark offered insight into a few of the emerging examples of AI at work in learning. From the online tutor bot that successfully supported students through a semester in an AI module at Georgia Tech, without the vast majority of students realizing it wasn’t a human, to the AI “student” that performed in the top 20% of students the University of Tokyo entrance exams, it’s clear that AI is not only creeping into learning, but has huge potential in terms of application.  

And while these types of educational projects may not be very common, aspects of AI offer several affordances that can be used today in learning. Everyday apps such as Netflix, YouTube and Amazon use AI to make personalized suggestions or recommendations to us based on our prior activity, our usage patterns, repetitions, and so on. This kind of personalization is readily applicable in learning, guiding learners to what to study next based on previous usage and history.

Data can also help uncover better ways to design learning – helping to identify students who might be at risk of failure, pinning down what’s working, what’s not, what’s needed, and how to improve our teaching and learning approaches. And with robot writers offering a future where content is produced in a different way, the possibilities are huge for learning environments that utilize the best of system-based and human-based intelligence. 

So, if you’re involved in learning, perhaps it’s time to start looking at where, what, and how AI can enhance the way we design, develop, deliver, and optimize workplace learning. AI, along with clever use of data, has much to offer in helping us shape more powerful user-centered experiences that meet the needs and wants of modern learners and the changing nature of work.

And while there are certainly some things that your virtual home assistant can’t assist you with yet, one can’t help thinking that the “can’t help” response may soon become a thing of the past.

If you would like to discuss how Intuition can help bring your learning programs to life, please email info@intuition.com. 

Earlier this year Facebook’s Chief Security Officer, Alex Stamos, courted controversy when he criticized the cybersecurity industry for a lack of empathy. The security community, he said, must take a more people-centric approach in developing technologies that can be more easily used in a secure manner.

This lack of human understanding is endemic in cybersecurity. Many organizations continue to see cyber-threats as solely technological in nature and consequently respond by investing in technical controls only. Meanwhile, little is done to raise cybersecurity awareness or promote safe online behaviors, as it is common for non-technical employees to be looked down upon as “buggy” and unfixable.

According to a recent UK government cybersecurity survey, 40% of large organizations don’t train employees on cybersecurity best practices. This overreliance on technology for cybersecurity is patently wrong and is demonstrated by the increasing number of security breaches caused by human failure.

Even where an organization does make efforts to raises staff awareness of cybersecurity, they frequently take the form of routine, tick-box training programs, which lack the human understanding necessary to promote safe cybersecurity practices.

High-quality cybersecurity training is the quickest and most cost-efficient strategy for an organization to improve cyber resilience.

Employee education reduces the risk of human error, which according to recent scientific research is responsible for nearly 25% of all cybersecurity failures. It also brings employees into the defensive fold by arming them with the knowledge they need to actively detect and respond to security breaches. For example, the 2016 cyber-heist of Bangladesh Central Bank was first noticed by a vigilant employee who spotted a typo in a wire transfer. This “human breach detector” ultimately saved the bank over one billion dollars.

However, to reap these rewards, we need to fundamentally change how we address the human aspect of cybersecurity. We need to show more empathy for people by demonstrating a deeper understanding of human motivation, by making training more accessible and personalized. Furthermore, to fully leverage the security value that knowledgeable employees can add, we need to open-up direct lines of communication between non-technical staff and those responsible for cybersecurity. It must be as easy as possible for employees at the coalface to provide the ground-up intelligence necessary for organizations to improve cyber defenses from within.

Make it Intrinsically Motivating

Many organizations and training vendors assume that workers will act in accordance with cybersecurity best practices solely because it benefits their employers to do so. This is not the case.

To effectively motivate people to adopt cybersecurity best practices, organizations must align personal and business objectives so that cognitive dissonance is minimized. This psychological phenomenon is the internal conflict that people experience when we behave in a way that is contrary to what we believe. It is why we are recalcitrant and reluctant when we are forced to do something that we believe is pointless and a waste of time.

By showing people that behaving safely online not only protects them professionally but also personally, this internal conflict will be reduced and people will be more motivated to learn.

Make it Convenient

According to Basex, two out of three workers feel that they don’t have enough time to get their work done. While Gallop research suggests that people have as little as 1% of their working week to focus on learning and development.

Learners are overwhelmed. There is so much content and so little time.

Empathetic cybersecurity training takes this into account by providing on-demand content in bite-sized chunks. This enables employees to take advantage of the downtime between meetings and other work commitments to build knowledge and skills in small segments.

Convenience is further enhanced when learning is accessible via mobile devices, as this allows people to study while traveling or away from the office.

Personalize It

Different individuals and groups will be subject to different cyber threats. The C-Suite for example are more at risk to “whaling” attacks than rank and file staff, while healthcare employees are more at risk to ransomware than those within the construction industry. Therefore, the first step in personalizing training programs is to provide content that is specific to role, industry and location.

The next step is to personalize training based on learning styles and proficiency. Everybody learns differently, some people like to watch, others like to listen, some like to learn while traveling while others prefer to study at their desktop computers.

Likewise, individual employees will have different levels of knowledge and skills. For example, an employee may have detailed knowledge on phishing emails, but does not know how to respond in the event of a security breach. Alternatively, another employee may know what to do after a security breach occurs, but is completely unaware of the security issues when connecting to public WiFi.

Until recently, customizing learning to a person’s needs was the stuff of science fiction. However, advancements in Data Science have made personalized training a reality. Intuition, for example, has partnered with CybSafe to deliver an intelligent cybersecurity software solution that learns as the learner learns. This data-driven training and awareness platform tracks a wide range of user behaviors and continually customizes how training is presented, making it most appropriate for people to be able to assimilate, thereby increasing the likelihood of positive behavior change.

Ground-Up Intelligence

For people to be fully integrated into the cyber defensive fold and become another layer of security by detecting and responding to threats, we need to open effective channels of security-specific communication.

One example is a one-click report button that integrates with email applications and allows users to immediately report suspect emails. Another possible solution is a dedicated instant messaging line that allows users to communicate directly with their IT security team.

By inviting, listening and responding to feedback, organizations can identify the root causes of unsafe cybersecurity behaviors. For example, end-users might find it too difficult to access internal systems and consequently turn to unapproved cloud services to get their jobs done. The removal of security barriers such as this is an important step in promoting safe cybersecurity practices.

Organizations who gather ground-up intelligence also improve their capacity to detect and respond to attacks by leveraging the sensory abilities of each individual employee to create a “neural safety net”. This as we saw with the Bangladesh Central Bank can be massively beneficial.

The establishment of efficient security-specific communications between end-users and security professionals along with effective employee education can transform people from the weakest link in the security chain into the first line of defense.

Conclusion

Good cybersecurity is about people and technology working together in unison to reduce cyber risk. However, for this to happen, organizations need to show empathy not only in how they make technology but also in how they train and equip their employees to respond to cyber-threats. For if, we become more attentive to the needs of people, they will in turn show greater care for the protection of our digital assets. That way, everybody wins.

Intuition – Securing Your Company Culture

Intuition is a leading knowledge solutions company. We work with our clients to reduce cyber risk exposure through unrivaled employee education.

Our holistic approach to the human aspect of cybersecurity includes training solutions for both software developers and non-technical staff, so that your organization can make and use technology in a safe and secure manner.

If you would like to receive similar content by email, you can sign up for our mailing list by filling out the form below.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the most significant overhaul of European Union (EU) data protection legislation in over 20 years. Amongst other things, it is intended to provide better protection to individuals and to give greater certainty to organizations in navigating data protection across EU member states.

However, as with all new regulations, you could be forgiven for viewing the GDPR as an expensive, time-consuming constraint on free enterprise. You might see the penalties for non-compliance and think that this is just another risk to your business, your employees and your career.

We are not denying this, the penalties for a major compliance failure under the GDPR are significant (up to €20 million or 4% of global annual revenue). However, our view is that these fines, however hefty, don’t fundamentally up the ante. Security stakes were already as high as they could be.

For even without regulatory penalties, a major data breach could mean potentially terminal financial, operational, and reputational consequences for a business.

As the scale of the cyber threat is revealed, organizations should welcome the data security requirements laid down by the GDPR as an opportunity to reduce the risk of data breaches. After all, if an organization’s data is compromised, regulatory fines may be the least of its worries.

GDPR – A Welcome Wake-Up Call

Data breaches impact an organization’s reputation and consumer trust. They affect its financial value – Yahoo’s well publicized data breach cost the company and its shareholders
$350 million in its merger with Verizon.

Data breaches threaten strategic information, monetary assets and intellectual property. They can even limit an organization’s ability to perform daily tasks – we all remember the NHS hospitals that were unable to perform scheduled surgical procedures in the aftermath of the WannaCry ransomware attacks.

As cyber threats continue to grow and evolve, it is very likely that costly data breaches will become more frequent. Consequently, it is surprising that there continues to be a general lack of cybersecurity readiness within many organizations. Accenture’s State of Cybersecurity and Digital Trust 2016 report found that when it comes to cybersecurity, there are clearly gaps between where most organizations are and where they need to be.

So, while the GDPR introduces severe penalties for compliance failures, it will also force organizations to pay more attention to data security in the face of the looming cyber threat.

The Implications of GDPR for Data Security

The GDPR will replace the various legal interpretations of the current EU Data Protection Directive with a standardized, pan-European set of requirements about how organizations must manage data on their employees, customers, and other relevant stakeholders.

Data security is just one element of a broad data protection framework laid down by the regulation. However, while it’s by no means the only consideration, it’s an important one.

Article 5 of the GDPR calls for personal data to be processed in a manner that ensures the appropriate security of such data, including protection against the risk of destruction, loss, alteration, and unauthorized disclosure or access.

However, this is as prescriptive as the GDPR gets. The regulation does not define exactly how an organization should ensure that protection. Rather, it requires that organizations implement controls that are “appropriate” to its level of risk – a clear nod to risk-based approaches to cybersecurity.

Risk-Based Security

Risk-based security programs provide a framework for the prioritization of threats. Organizations evaluate the individual risks they face by considering two factors: the likelihood that a specific event will occur combined with any impact that the event may cause. The result determines the significance attributed to each risk.

Organizations can use this basic framework not only to increase cyber-defenses in prioritized areas but also to reduce security where the level of risk does not justify security controls that can constrain business performance.

A detailed understanding of risk can act as both a business enabler and a defensive measure. Some areas of a business can act more quickly and with greater flexibility, while other riskier areas will require more protection, even at the expense of performance.

After risks are identified and classified, organizations can mitigate the most serious data security risks by implementing a security strategy that protects data with appropriate technological deterrents, policies, and training. This approach also prepares organizations for the worst cyber risk scenarios with comprehensive intrusion detection and response plans.

Just the Beginning

The GDPR comes into force in May 2018 and coincides with similar data protection legislation initiatives throughout the world. In the United States, the New York State Department of Financial Services recently enacted new cybersecurity regulations and discussions are progressing for similar regulations at a federal level. Also, the Cyberspace Administration of China recently issued a draft policy on new regulations designed to improve data security. These developments indicate the general appetite amongst governments worldwide and other regulatory authorities for change.

The Internet is often compared to the Wild West, a lawless frontier where some individuals take advantage of the system to benefit themselves at the expense of others. We should feel reassured at the prospect of data protection regulators riding into town to enforce the law in the name of a safe online environment where both society and commerce can flourish.

How Can Intuition Help?

Intuition is a leading knowledge solutions company. We work with our clients to reduce cyber risk exposure through unrivaled employee education.

Our holistic approach to the human aspect of security includes training solutions for both software developers and non-technical staff, so that your organization can both make and use technology in a safe manner.

We can also assist organizations to meet the broader data protection training requirements described by the GDPR.

If you would like to receive similar content by email, you can sign up for our mailing list by filling out the form below.

The US military is one of the most cyber-secure organizations on the planet. However, it was not always the formidable digital fortress that it is today. Hard lessons had first to be learned.

Back in 2008, a seemingly innocuous USB stick was picked up in the carpark of a Department of Defense facility and ultimately found its way into a laptop attached to the United States Central Command. The USB drive was loaded with malicious code that spread rapidly through sensitive networks causing what one senior Pentagon official called the “worst breach of US military computers in history.”

This incident was just one of a litany of harmful breaches that together became a catalyst for change. Beginning in 2009, US cybersecurity strategy was completely overhauled. Leadership was established, networks were consolidated, and technology was upgraded. Perhaps most significantly, actions were taken to minimize the risk of human error.

Quoted in the Harvard Business Review, Admiral Mike Rogers, head of US Cyber Command, confirmed that “we have gone beyond focusing on just the tech piece here, it’s about ethos. It’s about culture. [It’s about] how you man, train, and equip your organization.”

The Human Vulnerability

Cybersecurity breaches are an enormous problem for business. In 2016, the Ponemon Institute analyzed 383 companies in 12 different countries and found that the average total cost of a breach was $4 million, an increase of 14% over the previous two years. Add to this the potentially irreversible damage that a security breach can cause to a business’s reputation and consumer trust, and it’s easy to see why cyber risk is top of the strategic agenda.

But how should companies act to reduce their cyber risk exposure? Experts talk about the need to address the three pillars of cybersecurity; technology, policy, and people.

The role of technology is generally well understood and can range from simple things like electronic ID cards to sophisticated network firewalls. Policies are the rules and guidance that an organization puts in place to set expectations for employee conduct. Common examples include protocols governing password usage and social media activity. The quality and effectiveness of policy can vary from organization to organization, but in general, this too has been well addressed.

The human aspect, however, is a chronically neglected element of cyber defense. In our experience, many companies simply ignore or overlook people-related cybersecurity. Often, these companies simply don’t have the time, resources, or expertise to address it. Other companies conduct some form of training, but it’s an ineffective, box-ticking exercise that does nothing but undermine the importance of cybersecurity in the minds of participants.

The inadequacy of these defenses is not lost on hackers. They recognize that humans are the weakest link in the security chain and target employees with a wide range of nefarious tactics, including phishing, spear-phishing, and other forms of social engineering.

The extent of this security gap is reflected in IBM statistics that point to the involvement of human error in 95% of security breaches.

The lesson here is clear. Companies who are serious about reducing their cyber risk must take their lead from the US military. They must effectively address the human aspect of cybersecurity.

Security Culture

Any company seeking to minimize the risk of human error will need to establish a strong security culture, a shared set of ideas and behaviors that reflect and embody cybersecurity best practice.

Cultural change in any shape or form is a complex process. There are however several basic building blocks that organizations can put in place in attempting to embed a security culture:

Establish a positive tone at the top

Cybersecurity is a C-Suite level issue. People naturally respect and are influenced by authority. Employees, therefore, are much more likely to conduct themselves in a cyber-secure manner where cybersecurity is actively promoted by senior leadership.

Make people accountable for their actions

Accountability is also important. Under the newly formed US Cyber Command, all individuals are responsible for their own behaviors and all commanders are responsible for the security performance of their units. Tracking and reporting of cyber performance has been established, and individuals stand to be disciplined in the event of negligence. Companies too should seek to make it the norm that all individuals are accountable for their cyber behaviors.

Make security usable

Security usability is an important enabler for cyber-secure behaviors. Technologies and processes that are difficult or confusing to use will damage productivity and increase levels of irritation, motivating employees to bypass security measures in search of an easier life. Take passwords, for example. It is unlikely that employees will use sufficiently complex passwords where company protocol requires that they change their access details every week. Companies should ensure that security technologies and processes are as intuitive and easy to use as possible.

Prioritize continuous education

Effective employee education is essential for behavior change.  Companies should first seek to establish a baseline understanding of key risk areas. Make the message relevant by using straightforward, non-technical language and personal examples (people are more likely to care about cybersecurity when they perceive their own assets and loved ones to be at risk).

Following initial training, it is important to promote knowledge retention and behavior change with continuous education. Once-off training simply is not sufficient to ensure people remain aware of the risks they face. In fact, it is proven that people forget nearly 70% of what they’re taught within 24 hours of a training session.

Simulated cyberattacks are an effective method for keeping cybersecurity “top-of-mind” and promoting behavior change, especially when poor performers are delivered directly into corrective training. Regular security alerts and updates are also recommended for keeping employees informed of the rapidly evolving threats that they face.

Measure behavioral change

There is an old business adage that suggests that companies only get what they measure. The US Cyber Command have operationalized this sentiment with a simple scorecard system designed to facilitate accurate reporting on cyber performance and transparent accountability across the organization.

Companies too should look to develop basic of behavioral metrics as a bellwether for cultural change. Some behaviors can be measured using a simple observational method, but other behaviors, such as the propensity of employees to click on unknown e-mail attachments, will require some form of technology solution to measure.

Cyber-secure organizations should report on these core metrics on a regular basis and use the data to facilitate informed decision making on cyber strategy going forward.

Conclusion

If the Pentagon’s experience teaches us anything, it is that technology alone cannot protect the business world from the growing cyber threat.

Companies should look instead to embrace a holistic security strategy that treats people as equal in importance to technology and policy in securing their cyber defenses.

How Can Intuition Help?

Intuition is a leading knowledge solutions company. We work with our clients to reduce cyber risk exposure through unrivaled employee education.

Our holistic approach to the human aspect of security includes training solutions for both software developers and general staff, so that your organization can both make and use technology in a safe manner.

If unsafe cybersecurity practices are an issue for your organization, please contact us at cybersecurity@intuition.com to learn how Intuition can help you change behaviours and reduce cyber risk.

Intuition is pleased to announce that we have teamed up with CybSafe, the cybersecurity specialists, to offer an innovative solution to people-related cybersecurity challenges.

In a world where cyber attacks are increasing in frequency, severity and sophistication, this partnership will enable Intuition to assist our clients to reduce cyber risk through innovative employee education.

Recently mentioned in HSBC’s Trust in Technology report and named by TechWorld as one of the UK’s most promising cybersecurity start-ups, CybSafe’s GCHQ-accredited training platform is  revolutionizing cyber education by harnessing behavioral analytics to deliver contextual, threat-based awareness.

“We are excited to partner with Intuition, a leader in the knowledge solutions industry that shares the same values and approach to employee education as CybSafe. Information security continues to be one of the biggest threats faced by businesses today but, through this partnership, Intuition customers can count on cyber aware employees to be the first line of defence against cyber criminals. CybSafe prides itself on partnering with best-in-class organizations that align with our aim for reducing cyber risk and this partnership is a prime example of that,” commented Oz Alashe, CEO of CybSafe.

“The speed of technological development has created a dangerous knowledge gap when it comes to safe cybersecurity practices. In addressing this deficit, organizations need to do more than just perfunctory, compliance-type training. CybSafe’s data-driven approach is a step-change in cyber education that will enable Intuition to work with our clients to deliver real-behavior change” added Niall Darby, Chief Operating Officer at Intuition.

About Intuition

Intuition is a leading global knowledge solutions company. With over 30 years’ experience and offices located worldwide, we have developed and deployed our award-winning solutions for many of the world’s leading corporate and largest public-sector organizations. Our products and services include off-the-shelf and bespoke eLearning, classroom training, learning management systems, mobile apps, and advisory services.

About CybSafe

CybSafe is a leading provider of cyber security awareness training that focuses on better protecting people from cyber threats, both at work and at home. It uses a cloud-based platform grounded in psychology and behavioral science, which has been built to address the ‘human factor’ of cyber security.

CybSafe’s intelligent software harnesses collective lessons across the cyber security community in a low cost per-user subscription to help businesses of all sizes improve cyber security behavior and reduce cyber risk both internally and within its supply chain.

Our GCHQ-accredited software helps businesses and organizations to mitigate cyber risk with greater certainty, greater impact, and more cost effectively. In 2017, CybSafe was admitted into Level39, the prestigious technology accelerator based in Canary Wharf, London.

For more information on how Intuition can help your organization with cybersecurity challenges, email info@intuition.com or visit our cybersecurity page for a demo.

Unless you were hiding happily under a rock the summer of 2016, you can’t have failed to notice the plethora of Pokémon hunters that emerged following the release of Pokémon GO last July.

It seemed like everyone was doing it: wandering around outside, mobile in hand, with the sole intention of throwing Poké Balls at an unsuspecting Squirtle or Charmander, which were themselves digital inscriptions on an otherwise familiar (and very real) landscape.

But wait, what has this got to do with workplace learning solutions?

If the Pokémon Go craze has taught us anything, it’s that augmented reality (AR) has the potential to catapult user engagement into a new stratosphere; anything that doubles, triples, or quadruples engagement should have the forward-thinking L&D manager sitting up to take note. AR may extend well beyond a tool for engagement in the workplace. In 2013, Gartner predicted that AR will become an important workplace tool. In that report, Tuong Huy Nguyen defined AR as “the real-time use of information in the form of text, graphics, audio and other virtual enhancements integrated with real-world objects.”

Unlike Virtual Reality (VR) that immerses users in an entirely new digital environment (via headsets or special eyewear), AR meshes the real world with computer-generated objects via glasses, a headset, or a mobile device like a tablet or smartphone. AR overlays digital content like schematics, 3D animations, videos, images, or audio onto the real world and invites the user to interact with this digital content in a multisensory way. This additional information is triggered via the device’s camera and sensors. The experience is not as immersive as VR but already is delivering learning enhancements in a number of markets, including field based industries like oil exploration, mining, energy and pharmaceuticals.

Using AR for Augmenting Learning

A wide range of companies have been exploring and experimenting with AR for some time now from Sony, Microsoft, and Google to Intel and Apple. AR as a concept is not new. The term “augmented reality” was first coined by Boeing in the early 1990s, and in 1992, inventor Louis Rosenberg developed one of the earliest AR systems for the US Air Force.

Field-based industry learning applications make sense. AR presents opportunities for those working in hazardous workplaces and industries like oil exploration, mining, energy, and pharmaceuticals. Manufacturers of smart glasses are releasing hazardous location glasses, a technology ideal for environments where employees need to be hands free, have access to safety information, assistance tools, or remote assistance. Market research firm ABI Research said earlier this year that it expects AR in enterprise applications to “hit an inflection point in 2018, with smart glass shipments growing to 28 million in 2021.”

And while Google glass may not have cracked the consumer market for AR in 2014, consumer facing applications will grow. In fact, any content that is datable or static and would benefit from an additional content input or a unique perspective will be an ideal AR enhancement candidate from art and museum locations to journalism.

The potential for all educators is plainly significant and AR has many school-based applications. Hidden content in a History of Art lesson could transform a painting into a “talking portrait,” like in a Harry Potter movie, giving additional detail around sitter and artist while subjects like Math, Science, Engineering come alive through the movement, animation and fun that interacting directly with a live 3D model brings. AR features are perfect to support class materials.  This space is already filling up fast and there are a number of AR apps for pupils.

Evidence of Successful AR Learning
At the 2015 Augmented World Exposition, Santa Clara, California, Boeing electrical engineer Paul Davies shared the results of an internal study detailing how trainees performed when asked to assemble a mock wing for the aircraft manufacturer.

Three cohorts of learners were given three methods of training and instructions: one group received animated AR instructions displayed on a tablet, whereas the others got a static PDF on either a computer or tablet. Davies concluded that the AR-tablet group were 30% faster and 90% more accurate on their first attempts than the other groups. So while it is still early days for AR, studies like this one could point up a potentially effective learning future.

From Trends to Adaptation

AR is one of several learning trends attracting real interest in the learning community, typically appearing high on any L&D trends list, usually alongside VR. Not every trend, however, is destined for adaptation. The gamification trend rose quickly, and while many have integrated gamification successfully into their learning design, it has not gained the traction expected or predicted by now. How quickly AR will make it into general learning interventions remains to be seen. We need an uncomplicated path to development and application for this emerging technology, as well as an ability to imagine it into and around our learning challenges and solutions.

Making AR Useful
AR has the potential to enhance the human aspects of learning by offering a level of supplemental content and interactivity that accelerates understanding and comprehension in a range of settings. The supporting technologies are increasingly mobile and hands-free; environmentally and spatially aware; and, well, just downright smart.

AR is a paradigm shift for educators, working in sync with a number of other up-and-coming trends in digital learning. Take a moment now to consider how and where you might use AR to radically augment your learning programs. Watch the portrait come alive.

If you would like to discuss how Intuition can help your learning come alive, email info@intuition.com. 

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the need to identify high-priority training needs for your people while at the same time being conscious that you need training that translates into real-value impact lasting well beyond the training intervention? Getting the right learning to the right people and producing durable results can be a challenge. Here are some quick tips to conducting the all-important needs analysis and eventually getting to breakthrough learning that will deliver what you and your people need.

Make Sure Training Is the Right Answer

Training produces results. We know this. However, remember that old adage “if the only tool you have in your toolbox is a hammer, then everything can look like a nail.”  Sometimes poor performance can be down to factors outside a knowledge and skills gap. It might be caused, for example, by environmental issues like a management culture that doesn’t support performance, where incentives may be misaligned, or it could simply be a problem around resources or tools within the environment. You must figure out pretty quickly what the causes of poor performance are in order to be sure that training will be an effective solution.

If you exclude the environmental issues, then poor performance is generally down to a lack of knowledge, a deficit of skills, a mix of these, or possibly a lack of motivation.  Generally speaking, training can target knowledge, skills, and sometimes motivation shortfalls.
Once you’ve established you’ve got a training need, then the next step is to start talking. A good place to begin is with the simple question “Why?”

Start with “Why?”

Whether your training requirement has come from a request from someone else in your organization or from your own analysis, always track down the why of it. That “why” will hopefully be a business goal.

Dump anything that sounds like an “order.” Cue: phone rings and a voice says, “Hey, we need two hours of training on Alpha learning concepts for Team Turin by end of quarter one.” Push back on a conversation starter like this with your own “Just tell me a little more about it. Why do you need Alpha learning concepts exactly?” And “What’s the driver behind your request?” Questions like this should help lead to an understanding of the business issues involved, ultimately resulting in a clear statement of business goals and outcomes.

Sometimes when we’re talking with colleagues about training, we feel obliged to “catch on” quickly, to “get it.” This can be detrimental to figuring out what’s really necessary. A simple technique is to ask for help understanding a point, “Can you explain to me how this works please, how Team Turin use Alpha learning concepts exactly? What do they need to do?” Stay with it until you get a clear picture of the changes that you are looking to bring about in your learners, department, or organization.

Caveat. Beware any training request that comes bearing a slide deck outline of the proposed course. While such material will be useful, alarm bells should go off because someone is trying to leap over your needs analysis. Start with the why and through some simple questioning figure out what’s really needed, what end results will look like, and how it might be measured.

Crystal Clear Goals

What you’re expecting from these steps include:

• Clear learning outcomes and goals
• A sense of what your metrics might be, for example, Team Turin will reduce customer care errors by 50% by end of next quarter
• Some design and delivery ideas as well as the core information to communicate 

Gathering Data

There has been a tradition in learning of data gathering. There are lots of methods to choose from, including staff surveys, consultations, interviews, records, and reports; all are ways and means of accumulating the data you need to make informed choices about training. In most cases, however, you simply won’t have the time. With a few carefully crafted questions, you can rapidly get to the answers, as long as you involve key stakeholders at the outset. And when we say data, we don’t mean all the data you can gather on just about everyone. You can’t do that. What you need to do is sample – get data from a representative sample of people.

Chain of Logic

Once you start getting data on board, you can start thinking about the shape of your solution. Keep a chain of logic working throughout your analysis phase. If you know what the business need looks like, let’s say it’s improving Team Turin’s audit results, you can quickly enough infer what actions or tasks people need to be able to do in order to improve these results.

Conclusion:
Remember where you started – your first step? Begin by establishing the business need underpinning the request and everything else will flow from there. Look at what people need to be doing, the behavior they need to demonstrate, and then gather just the data you need to identify if/what type of solution will resolve that need. Be conscious of the wider environment that people perform in and other factors that can impact their performance. Then, once you have honed in on a training need, move toward designing your solution by focusing always on the business goal or problem and the related performance/behavior needs. Maintain your chain of logic.

Intuition offer a wide range of digital content, platforms, and services to clients globally. We understand Needs Analysis and the process doesn’t have to be quite as painful as you imagine.

Why not set up a call with us today?

Check out our Cyber Security Top Tips to find out if your organization is fully protected against a cyber attack.

1)    Malware Prevention  Does everyone in your organization know how to recognize and handle phishing communications?

Scan for malware across your organization and protect all host and client machines with antivirus solutions that will actively scan for malware.

Make sure you have stringent policies in place around email, web browsing, removable media and personally owned devices.  Without a clear understanding of the risks and how to recognize potential threats, your organization is wide open to attack.

2)    Password Security  How strong is your password policy?

Simple things that may seem elementary are still extremely important when ensuring that everyone within your organization understands the implications of not following password security policies.  Make sure staff are aware of internal policies and enforce regular password updates with automated processes wherever possible.

3)    Network Security  How strong is your network perimeter?

Connecting to untrusted networks (such as the Internet) can expose your organisation to cyber attacks. A secure network that is robust enough to protect internal and client data is essential. It is extremely important to have strong ACLs (access control lists) on all network devices to prevent breaches by would-be hackers. Follow recognized network design principles when configuring perimeter and internal network segments, and ensure all network devices are configured to the secure baseline build.

4)    Secure Configuration   Does your organization have a detailed Information Security Policy?

A corporate policy and processes to develop secure baseline builds, and manage the configuration and use of your ICT systems are essential. Remove or disable unnecessary functionality from ICT systems, and keep them patched against known vulnerabilities. Failing to do this will expose your organization to threats and vulnerabilities, and increase risk to the confidentiality, integrity and availability of systems and information.

5)    User Privileges  How is provisioning and de-provisioning of systems access managed in your organization?

The number of privileged accounts with control access to audit logs should always be limited and regularly updated.  Monitor user activity, particularly all access to sensitive information and privileged account actions (such as creating new user accounts, changes to user passwords and deletion of accounts and audit logs). The danger of not managing this correctly can mean information falling into the wrong hands.

6)    Incident Management  How prepared are your incident response team if you come under attack?

You need to have an incident response and disaster recovery capability that addresses the full range of incidents that can occur. These incident management plans (including disaster recovery and business continuity) all need to be regularly tested. Be aware that your incident response team will need specialist training across a range of technical and non-technical areas to ensure they are fully prepared to handle any scenario.

7)    Monitoring  What is your monitoring strategy?

Your monitoring strategy needs to take into account previous security incidents and attacks, to contribute towards your organization’s incident management policies. Continuously monitor inbound and outbound network traffic to identify unusual activity or trends that could indicate attacks and the compromise of data. Monitor all ICT systems using Network and Host Intrusion Detection Systems (NIDS/HIDS) and Prevention Systems (NIPS/HIDS).

8)    Removable Media  How stringent is your policy?

The use of removable media is sometimes unavoidable, but if your policies around types of devices is not stringent enough, you can leave yet another area at risk to malicious attack.

Make sure your removable media policies control the use of removable media for the import and export of information.  Limit the types of media that can be used together with the users, systems, and types of information that can be transferred. Scan all media for malware using a standalone media scanner before any data is imported into your organisation’s system.

9)    Home and Mobile Working  Are your mobile staff protected?

In order to develop appropriate security policies that fully protect your organization you need to assess the risks to all types of mobile working (including remote working where the device connects to the corporate network infrastructure).

Train mobile users on the secure use of their mobile devices for locations they will be working from. Apply the secure baseline build to all types of mobile device used. Protect data-at-rest using encryption (if the device supports it) and protect data-in-transit using an appropriately configured Virtual Private Network (VPN).

How did your organization measure up?

If you’re concerned about the potential risk of a cyber attack on your organization, you cannot afford to be complacent, you need to make your systems secure immediately.

Intuition have worked with many of the world’s largest organizations to create exciting and innovative custom online training that is both visually and mentally stimulating to ensure maximum knowledge retention. 

In an age of information overload, we understand that when it comes to areas of high risk, a sheep dip approach is no longer good enough.  Using media rich games and simulations, we design, build and host  highly interactive and engaging courses which hold a user’s attention regardless of the subject matter.

We work with our clients to ensure that employees fully understand the content so that they can proactively and dynamically respond to risk in the everyday work environment.

Intuition is hosting an expert webinar on September 21^st to discuss the human aspect of cyber security. To register, please click here.