Virtual reality (VR), extended reality (XR), the metaverse. Many organizations are grappling with how to use these technologies effectively. Michael Thiel recently interviewed Tom Pizer, GP’s Director of Technology and resident expert, on his work with creating VR and Metaverse experiences.

What Is the Metaverse?

The Metaverse is an older term to describe a virtual reality space where users can interact with a computer-generated environment. This interactive environment can be accessed through virtual reality headsets and viewed through computer and phone screens. The environment can be designed as a large convention center for events, single or sets of classrooms, workshops, meeting spaces, concept visualizations, digital worlds, and much more.

Watch the interview and see what a flying building with multiple rooms can look like along with how Tom is working with companies to deliver Metaverse learning experiences.

What Are the Differences in Technologies and Terminology?

• Virtual reality (VR): VR is a virtual environment that shuts out the real world and creates another virtual environment before your eyes. To experience VR, you need a special headset that immerses you in the new reality.
• Augmented reality (AR): With AR, the real world remains central to your experience and is augmented by virtual details. Normally, the virtual details are superimposed on the screen of a phone or tablet, enabling you to learn more about an object by pointing your device at it.
• Mixed reality (MR): MR is a combination of both virtual and actual realities, allowing you to interact with both at once.
• Extended reality (XR): XR is the term for when these technologies are used together. Now that the technology is here, it is time to refine and expand upon it. We need to think about blending augmented and virtual realities, enabling hybrid learning experiences between virtual and face-to-face environments.
• Metaverse: A persistent VR space available and accessible anytime by users. These can be created with a variety of purposes in mind.

What Types of Learning Can Be Put into the Metaverse?

VR technologies are getting better and more accessible, so the capabilities and what can be built in the Metaverse is expanding constantly. At the moment, learning in the Metaverse has been effective in three categories.

1. Hard skills development: The Metaverse can provide opportunities to learn and practice these skills in a variety of ways, such as operating a vehicle, safely operating complex machinery and equipment, going through procedures such as plant start-up activities, putting on the correct safety equipment, and more.
2. Soft skills development: Designers can use the Metaverse to simulate and create branching customer experiences from sales scenarios to customer support, to work through concepts like emotional intelligence, or to facilitate live coaching and mentoring.
3. Collaborative workshop environments: While this category overlaps with the previous two, it can also be used to work with others outside of skills development, such as attending and delivering lectures, hosting meetings or productivity workshops, sharing resources, working in digital office spaces, and more.

How Is the Metaverse Transforming Learning?

Learning in the Metaverse creates a level of presence from both the designer and learner perspectives. By using the VR headset, it limits how much users can multitask, for example, making it easier to stay on task.

The simulated environment can be accessed globally, eliminating the constraints, logistics, and budgeting for travel. Offering persistent digital environments can also help to remove some of the time constraints for teams with complex schedules and across different time zones.

What Is Special or Different about Learning in the Metaverse?

It is surprising how easily our senses can adapt. In this example, even though users are moving around and discussing these ideas as cartoon avatars, the 3D aspect provides a large sense of scale. The experience feels like a personal space, and there is a sense of realism, while also providing capabilities users would not have in the real world. Examples of these capabilities could be leaping from building to building like a superhero or shrinking to a small size to float through an exhaust system to better understand the inner workings.

Any content that could be pulled into a website could also be pulled into a 3D environment, and users can explore and manipulate it.

The Metaverse can get highly realistic as well, but it depends on the size of the project and the processing power of the program and user interface.

Create and Update the Environment from within It

Developing VR and Metaverse environments, programs, and projects is becoming more streamlined. There are many templates to get started, apps available to provide tools with less coding, and companies that can partner to deliver more complex VR experiences.

Designers can download prepopulated rooms with lights, workstations, stages, classrooms, and more with the tools to customize each element with user content. Examples of user content could be meeting agendas, images, videos, shareable files, email, notepads, and more.

For More on VR and the Metaverse

Blog: XR Learning Programs for Lean Organizations

More Performance Matters Podcast Episodes

Our VR Solutions

About the Authors

Tom Pizer

Director of Learning Technologies for GP Strategies Learning Solutions Group, has over 20 years of experience in the technical digital media field. He has an extensive background in a variety of creative and technical media, including digital media specification, production, testing, and implementation. During his career, Tom has created, specified, directed, and/or managed hundreds of hours of educational, instructional, and entertainment-based media and has served clients in a wide variety of markets including the federal government, trade associations, commercial organizations, and educational institutions. A key aspect of Tom’s responsibilities includes staying abreast of emerging technologies and in-tune with the latest development methodologies, standards, and practices. To this end, he takes part in monthly advisory meetings for several of GP Strategies clients to ensure that their courseware is of the highest caliber and meets rigorous development requirements. Tom is also the technical lead for several proprietary GP Strategies technologies that are designed to reduce overall development time while increasing the creativity and diversity of GP Strategies body of work.

As we emerge from the pandemic, we have all heard the expression the ‘new normal’. For Learning and Development (L&D), the new normal impacts how to deliver instructor-led training programs. Organizations have learned that there is no longer a ‘one size fits all’ solution. While some individuals are comfortable with reentering the classroom, others may be hesitant for many reasons, including health and wellness. This dynamic has created a need for a hybrid training environment for instructor-led training courses.

Hybrid training is when some of your audience is attending ‘in person’ and some are attending ‘virtually’. The thought of this approach can be daunting for L&D organizations, but certainly not impossible. There are many factors to take into consideration with this approach. For instance, it is important for facilitators to know where people are working from. Some people work virtually from home, in coffee shops, or in a shared space with others. It is especially helpful for a facilitator to know if there is background noise or if participants cannot use a camera. Participants need to ensure they have a place where they can focus.

Also, the facilitator needs to engage equally and understand that they cannot always read the room as easily as when they deliver the training virtually. They must build trust, ensure the training is inclusive, and that people joining virtually have an equally good experience as those in the classroom.

GP Strategies is helping many organizations adapt to this approach. Below are five tips to keep in mind when exploring a hybrid training approach. 

1. Have an onsite support person.

The onsite support person will help set up seating configurations and A/V equipment. They will also help distribute handouts, collect the roster, and serve as a point of contact.

2. Test, test, test.

Prior to the learning session day, it is important that the facilitator and onsite support person align on expectations and setup, as well as test to make sure the desired outcome is accomplished.

3. Determine audio configurations.

As part of the preparation and testing, you will want to determine the best audio configuration so that the learners and facilitator are able to communicate effectively. For larger groups, some find it best to use Voice Over IP (VOIP) which allows the site to use computer speakers to amplify the sound. A smaller setting might find it best to use dial-in with the phone on speaker.

4. Be mindful of activities.

If there are small group or independent exercises or activities, it is important to think through the logistics. How will the facilitator assign the learners to groups? Will the onsite support person provide the instructions? How will the facilitator know everyone is ready to proceed? How will the facilitator be alerted to questions from the participants?

5. Keeping the audience engaged.

The facilitator may not have access to typical body language or cues that help in monitoring for audience engagement. The facilitator will want to leverage strategies such as open-ended questions and pulse checks periodically to monitor for engagement. The facilitator will also want to keep their energy high as they are overcoming the challenge of being remote.

About the Authors

Megan Bridgett

Megan Bridgett, a leader in training and talent development for over a decade, helps organizations implement, optimize, and increase capabilities in their learning management initiatives.

Fran Colavita

Fran Colavita is a senior manager at GP Strategies, leading the instructor resource management teams and global associates network, which includes facilitators and producers.

Pride continues to be a time for many LGBTQ+ people to be unapologetically themselves, to celebrate who they are, and laud the crucial steps toward equality that have already been made. However, its roots in protest and the continuing need to stand against historical wrongs and ongoing injustices (including recent “Don’t Say Gay” and transgender-hostile bathroom bills) create a tension that isn’t lost on those enjoying all the revelry. This friction between celebration and protest complicates your organization’s participation in proceedings.

Every June, countless organizations approach Pride with noble intentions, showcasing their support of the LGBTQ+ community as part of their work on diversity, equity, and inclusion. However, the danger is that these shows of support are seen as exactly that—grandstanding that evaporates after four weeks on display. If your organization’s displays of solidarity are to seem genuine, they must be backed by consistent, authentic, and always-on effort.

Here are three questions to consider.

1) How Can Organizations Like Ours Authentically Support the LGBTQ+ Community?

What does authenticity even look like? Well, there’s certainly an element of futility in trying to learn how to appear genuine in any domain. In simple terms, authenticity is something earned by doing—backing up all those rainbow-tinged sentiments with meaningful actions, avoiding contradictory business practices. Authenticity definitely isn’t publicly supporting Pride while operating in markets where LGBTQ+ people are criminalized, while parental policies exclude same-sex or transgender parents, or where homophobic or transphobic acts go unreprimanded.

In this way, authentic support is rather simple: you just need a common thread running between the events you do during Pride Month and the work you deliver during the rest of the year. An organization could ask itself critical questions such as:

• Given your progress on LGBTQ+ issues in the last year, can your Pride events be justified?
• If challenged, can you demonstrate the solid foundations of support you have built for your LGBTQ+ colleagues?
• How transparent are you about your ongoing initiatives to support the LGBTQ+ community?

2) What Does Year-Round LGBTQ+ Support Look Like?

Answering the questions above will help you begin to understand how deep your support of the community actually goes and whether your Pride efforts are viable. There are many practical things organizations can do year-round to work towards this viability. Here are just a few to start:

• Have an LGBTQ+ specific anti-discrimination policy. This should be designed around the specific challenges that the community faces in the workplace.
• Operate D&I training programs on key topics such as inclusive language, personal pronouns, effective allyship, and the various identities within the LGBTQ+ acronym.
• Investigate and implement the overhauls required for your policies to account for the LGBTQ+ community’s needs. Consider healthcare, mental health, parenting, and wellness, among others.
• Host quarterly “listening circles” in which LGBTQ+ colleagues can share moments of celebration and identify opportunities for improvement (and act on those opportunities).
• Observe key dates outside of Pride Month—such as International Transgender Day of Visibility and International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia.

3) What Is Required of Individual LGBTQ+ Allies?

Organizations are increasingly embracing LGBTQ+ allyship as a visible counter to today’s climate. Cisgender and straight allies in the workplace can be an important piece of the puzzle: they can champion the cause by creating safe moments for listening and conversation, by standing up for marginalized colleagues, and just generally being engaged with the key issues.

Allies should be prepared to take action to challenge homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia that would otherwise be normalized across systems, processes, and behaviors. Just as with organizations at large, actions speak louder than words—anyone can say they believe in the rights of the community, but allyship is only properly practiced when it seeks to challenge perceptions and create change through action.

Expectations are high. Allies need to be dedicated, educated on key issues, humble when listening to lived experience, and ready to stand up and stand aside when required.

Why All This Work Is Worth It!

None of the work towards change described above is easy, but it is vital. Your LGBTQ+ staff and the wider community will feel it’s more than worth the effort, and it will help lay the groundwork for better retention of those people as part of your efforts towards inclusion. So as the celebrations continue, remember that Pride is just the tip of the iceberg—a showcase for your interventions on behalf of LGBTQ+ people all year round.

Remember: be authentic, be consistent, be transparent, and be proud of your people.

Build a better working environment for all of your employees and contact us today.

A version of this article previously appeared on c-levelmagazine.com

About the Authors

Alasdair James Scott

Your organization has designed a new training program, and everyone is eager to see business results. You have worked with your stakeholders to define what “success” looks like by creating a Measurement Map^®, specifying what to measure to indicate that the program is working. Now what? Making the jump to how to measure the program can be challenging, especially if you aren’t a “data person.”

A recent Watershed study found that while 94% of respondents want to measure business impact, less than half reported having any analytics capabilities on their learning and development (L&D) teams, and only 7% are actively seeking to add analytics staff to their teams. Further, when asked what the biggest challenges are to measuring impact, two of the most common answers were not knowing how to start and not having access to the data. If this sounds like your situation, how do you proceed with measuring the business impact of your new training program? Here are five tips to help you tackle the data dilemma:

1. Find a Data Analyst to help you

Data Analysts are your data wranglers. They have the skills to help you determine what data you need and can either pull that data for you or help find someone who can. Most likely, your project will require multiple data sets, such as learning, HR, and business data. Your Data Analyst can organize all of those files for you, cleaning them and merging them together. They can provide you with descriptive analyses of the data (counts, averages, etc.) and may be able to help with more in-depth statistical analyses, where needed. Maybe you don’t have anyone in your group specifically with that title. (In the Watershed study, only 20% of respondents had a Data Analyst or statistician on their team.) But might you have a person with access to data and an interest in analysis who can help? (Think about someone who provides you with reports and has a proclivity for Excel and start there.) Engage a Data Analyst in your project as soon as you can. Ideally, the Data Analyst would be part of your stakeholder Measurement Mapping session in which you and the stakeholders discuss the project’s goals and choose the metrics that will best show success. That way, they can hear firsthand what the goals for the project—and the metrics—are.

2. Be open to suggestions and state that to your Data Analyst

Your Measurement Map lays out your ideal metrics for showing impact. But there may be times when a business metric isn’t available or reliable. Maybe your desired metric wasn’t captured for the entirety of the time frame you need, but another similar metric was and could be used instead. Perhaps some regions define a metric differently, so you shouldn’t directly compare them. Your Data Analyst can help figure that out. Approach this situation as a conversation about the data and make it clear that you value the input. It’s better to find out about any potential issues with the data early rather than after you have presented your plans to the stakeholders!

3. Collaborate on your operational definitions

You want the most accurate, complete data possible. To get that data for you, a Data Analyst needs a description of exactly which data to pull and what calculations to make, which requires that you both agree on definitions. So, expect a discussion around:

1. Who and what should be included? Does “all Customer Service Representatives” mean everyone who is active on the date you requested the data, the month the training program rolled out, or the beginning of this year? What about people who have been terminated or changed job roles? Should the list of training completions include all courses or just a subset? What if someone took a course twice; do you want both to count as “course completions,” or just the first or most recent?
2. What’s the time frame? What are the starting and ending dates you’re interested in? You said you wanted quarterly average survey results, but you asked for data starting in March. Do you still want this data aligned to a calendar quarter, or every three months starting in March? What does “weekly” mean? Monday through Sunday, Sunday through Saturday, or something else?
3. Do you want raw data or aggregated data? Sometimes, you’ll want details on every record, while other situations might call for the data to be summarized in some way. For example, do you want each individual training record (so that you know exactly who took what course when), or do you prefer the total number of courses completed, total hours of training, or percentage of training completed? If you are looking at sales data, do you want each individual sales transaction or the total sales per month (in dollars or in other units)? If the data are summarized, is that per person, per department, per region—and on what time interval (daily, monthly, annually)?

It’s fine if you don’t know the answers to all of these questions going into the conversation. Use this discussion to determine what options will yield the most applicable data to answer your research questions.

4. Ask the Data Analyst to write your data requests

Now that you know what data you want, you’ll probably find that you have to go to more than one data source to get it. (For example, personnel data is often stored in a different system than business data, such as sales or error rates.) Let the Data Analyst take the lead in writing up the specifications for the data requests and working with the various data owners to get the data.

5. Work together on the interpretation

Your Data Analyst will likely create many graphs and tables while analyzing the data. Go through the various data visualizations together and compare your views on what story the data is telling. For which groups is training making the most difference—for example, new hires or those who started out as lower performers? (Are those the same people?) Did the northwest region see a bigger change in sales than the other regions following the latest product training? Do the teams that increased their customer satisfaction scores also show improvements in customer retention? Use your knowledge of your program and your organization to uncover and highlight key insights into your story.

A good Measurement Map is an excellent start to a measurement project, defining what to measure. Taking the steps above to partner with a Data Analyst can help with how to measure, allowing you to obtain relevant, trustworthy data that answers your stakeholders’ business questions.

About the Authors

Melissa Lewis

Senior Data Analyst

Melissa Lewis is a Senior Data Analyst at GP Strategies, with over 20 years’ experience working with data across the public, private, and non-profit sectors. Her focus is on performance analytics, helping GP’s customers measure the impact of their learning and development initiatives through statistical analyses, data visualization, and storytelling.

Well, the 2022 ATD International Conference & Exposition is a wrap, and this gathering of around 8,500 talent development professionals (comprising in-person attendees in Orlando, Florida and virtual attendees globally) was certainly one to remember. As I reflected on these three days in mid-May, I was struck by the parallels between the conference and what we are seeing in client workplaces and learning experiences. So, I wanted to share some realizations and lessons learned during the course of this three-day experience—as well as what it means for talent development professionals.

It’s so, so good to reconnect in person.

I work from home and, despite spending many years as a frequent flyer, hadn’t traveled in over two years. Suffice it to say I was ready for some face-to-face interaction, and I know I wasn’t alone! I heard so many stories of colleagues who had never met or hadn’t seen each other in over two years. I myself met in person with colleagues and clients whom I’d only ever seen previously via Teams meetings. I reconnected with former classmates and coworkers, and even met some favorite authors and thought leaders. However, the impact of COVID was still present: many still wore masks, on-site testing was available, and hand sanitizer was a hot giveaway item in the expo hall.

Implications for talent development: If possible and safe, consider an in-person gathering and maximize every moment. In doing so, however, consider the possible risks related to COVID exposure and outbreak and how the virus has changed the way we connect with others. Be respectful of the needs and preferences of others when it comes to health and wellness protocols.

And yet … Hybrid is the new reality.

Reduced in-person attendance and a strong showing for the virtual option mirror what we’re seeing in work environments. It was almost as if two parallel events were happening at once. Virtual and on-site attendees were linked through hashtags, video feeds, and a conference app—allowing us to share the experience simultaneously. The technology that enabled the virtual experience also adds value to me as an in-person attendee. In the past, if there were two sessions I wanted to attend scheduled for the same time, the best I could do was divide and conquer with a colleague then share notes afterwards. With slide share and on-demand recorded sessions, I’ve been able to extend my conference experience by catching up on what I wasn’t able to attend live while in Orlando.

Implications for talent development: What are we doing to create effective hybrid learning experiences for those who travel and those who don’t? Is the experience equitable, and is that even a realistic goal? How are we using technology to elevate and enhance our learning experiences—yet, how can we be sure we aren’t leaning on it too heavily?

Inspiration abounds both inside and outside of our field.

Whether it’s flipping your script to overcome failure like Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx, or incorporating mindfulness practices like author and former monk, Jay Shetty, many transferable practices and behaviors were shared that can impact learners and talent development professionals. I certainly felt inspired and appreciated the reminder that professionally applicable insights exist in many areas of life and work that I hadn’t previously considered.

Implications for talent development: Can we sometimes be too insular, taking lessons only from those within our field? How can we continue learning from other fields? What can we do to translate lessons into actionable practices for ourselves and our learners?

Investing in yourself is critical.

As talent development professionals, we often give our all investing time and effort in others—but not so much in ourselves. It was uncomfortable to leave my day-to-day work behind for a few days, and coordinating work coverage, childcare, and home logistics was no easy feat. But I’m so happy to have had the time and space to learn, connect, and share. I returned to work a bit tired but reinvigorated and inspired. Now the challenge, just like many of our learning experiences, comes in ensuring we apply that motivation to our day-to-day work.

Implications for talent development: Have you filled your own cup lately? What have you done recently to develop, challenge, or educate yourself? How can we keep learning and motivation alive after inspiring experiences?

It’s important to have fun.

Plinko in the expo hall. Informal team dinners. Networking happy hours. Even a day trip to Universal Studios. No, I’m not trying to make anyone envious, but the fun side of ATD22 definitely added to the experience. On a personal level, seeing people outside the usual business setting helped us get to know each other better and deepened existing connections. I definitely worked hard and learned a lot while I was away, but the ability to decompress and build relationships in the process was a huge bonus.

Implications for talent development: Informal experiences matter. What fun can we build into our events and our day-to-day work environment? How can we infuse some lightness and connection into our learning experiences?

Take a moment to reflect.

When you invest the time and effort to take part in a conference or multiday learning experience, it’s so easy to fly home and immediately dive back into your normal routine, addressing your neglected inbox and playing catch-up. Heck, that’s what I did. But at some point (the sooner, the better), you have to make time to give thought to your experience: appreciate how out of the norm it was and what inspired you, and note which aspects you want to start incorporating into your own work moving forward. That simple practice of reflection will carry you through to the next big event—and make your work life better in the meantime.

About the Authors

Katy Bailey

Most of our personal and work lives take place in the cloud. The cloud is the global network of software and services that run on the Internet instead of locally on our computers. To make the cloud go, the business of producing and staffing data centers, the massive buildings of server farms and all the requisite facility specifications to keep it all running, has grown exponentially all around the world just to keep pace.

The rapid production of data centers for a variety of organizations has placed a significant strain on the ability to train, upskill, and provide career development for the people working in them.

Lean Organizations: Data Centers

Data centers are an excellent example, an archetype, of lean organizations. By definition, they are lean organizations. Data centers are designed to maximize output and reduce any waste, especially with many employees and processes operating. There are a variety of organizations that operate this way, but data centers are a great example of trying to be as efficient as possible.

They are critical for organizations to continue to grow and supply their user base with all the information they need access to. And they are growing at a tremendous pace. Some of our partner organizations are projected to bring on data centers around the world for the next several years. The global market for data centers in 2020 was estimated at $59.3 billion and projected to grow to $143.4 billion by 2027.

What Is Driving the Need for Structured Learning Solutions for Lean Organizations

Data centers rarely have their own learning and development programs. Many times, corporations have internal programs, but the skill sets, standard operating procedures, equipment, and regulations are so specific to the environment that a specific learning program is required. Being a lean organization complicates that need because they often do not have the capacity to develop one.

As advanced and structured as data centers are, they are moving so fast that the process of formalizing standard operating procedures, data, knowledge, safety, and more is developing at a glacial pace by comparison.

Instead, these types of organizations rely on tribal knowledge, and training is delivered from word of mouth and unstructured materials, papers, and ad-hoc coaching moments.

Develop a Strategic Vision

Data centers and many other types of lean organizations are hungry for structured learning solutions. Employees look for formalized career pathing, structured upskilling, ongoing education, and more to be effective on the job. These organizations are moving quickly, but the need is massive.

Lean organizations without structured learning need to take a step back and develop a strategic vision to map how people operate facilities effectively. Once developed, organizations can move into the tactical execution to achieve the strategic vision, following the structure.

Lean organizations do not have a lot of individuals with spare time and need solutions to reduce the burden, but to effectively deliver structured learning solutions, it is critical to have instructional design and technical subject matter expertise. Lean organizations need to either identify individuals with those two skill sets internally or look outside for a partner with those capabilities to help deliver that strategic vision.

Beyond Traditional Learning with XR for Lean Organizations

Traditional learning modalities, such as virtual instructor-led training, are places to begin, but there are ways to go beyond conventional training methods while achieving a lean mentality in learning and development.

Additionally, data centers are dangerous and expensive places to work with live dead tests, cumbersome and time-consuming processes of pulling equipment offline, and much more. Extended reality (XR) is a lean learning solution in this context. Employees can leverage XR technologies to go through certain tests, simulate safety risks such as a flash arc with expensive equipment, and more to understand missteps, practice procedures, and navigate facilities before stepping into the live environment.

XR allows teams to create an immersive, life-sized replica where instructors and fellow teammates can demonstrate, collaborate, and practice.

This is a lean learning solution because it reduces the time burden, the amount of equipment needed, and the logistics of flying and lodging people from around the world. XR can be deployed on a global scale, offer more thorough exercises and hands-on experience, and be practiced repeatedly compared to in-person training.

These technologies have far-reaching impact and help to maintain that lean organization as a one-time investment that becomes evergreen learning.

Curating the Strategic Vision

Employees desire immersive experiences, but the goal is to create a workforce that is highly skilled in a variety of ways. After developing specific skill sets related to procedures, efficient operation, and safety, employees will need a guide for career pathing. Lean organizations need employees to understand where they are headed in their careers, how they take the next step, and what future skills they will need, along with opportunities for ongoing education.

In this regard, organizations need to develop strategic and holistic, full-scale learning and development programs that require very specific knowledge. When keeping up with learning demand, cultivating career paths sometimes gets lost. Workforce and talent retention is critical, particularly for lean organizations.

About the Authors

bkorfhage

So you’ve finally done it—50% of your leadership are women and you have an LGBTQ+ CEO. You’ve finally crossed the finish line for diversity, equity and inclusion… right? In this article, Alice MacDonald examines why having representation across all levels alone won’t create long-term, sustainable change and shouldn’t be the end-goal of your DE&I efforts.

While certainly not undesirable, diverse representation isn’t really the goal of your DE&I efforts. In reality, representation can’t cancel issues and inequities that run unchecked through every other aspect of an organization. Racism can definitely still exist even if you have people of color in leadership positions. Your LGBTQ+ CEO doesn’t automatically negate deep-seated cisnormativity and heteronormativity in your policies and your culture.

1. Beyond Diversity

This isn’t to say that diverse representation isn’t a useful stepping stone. Equitable opportunities within an organization are ethically vital, and a diversity of perspectives may help you more easily recognize where you have issues and where non-inclusive practices have gone unnoticed. Figures above you in the organization can also be inspirational and can reassure you that you too could climb the ladder.

However, to treat this representation as more than a positive step can do more harm than good. Yes, diversity targets are important, but identity is more complex than such targets account for. Organizations can fall into the trap of giving themselves a ‘gold star’ for their efforts, after which that one moment of effort becomes a distracting façade. Inequality goes uninvestigated because the attitude becomes “we’re good on this already, didn’t we solve that?”

In fact, if your people are still looking exclusively at gains in senior-level diversity in this way, it’s more a sign of all the work still left to do than it is a sign of advanced progress. It’s arguably a symptom of a space where some are elevated while the majority are struggling—by definition, inequality. DE&I work should operate to disrupt systems that create norms and advantages over others.

2. Beyond Categories

And then, there’s intersectionality—the elephant in the room of all discussions about workplace diversity data. Say you’re a bit more advanced than just being able to point to your LGBTQ+ CEO. Perhaps you’ve got a thriving LGBTQ+ network that’s really active and pushing for policy changes in your workplace. That may still only be the beginning—are queer women specifically well represented? What about LGBTQ+ people of color?

The complexity of identity is too often forgotten when diversity goals become focused on too rigidly. These goals simply cannot account for our multifaceted natures—so other aspects of your DE&I effort must fill the void. Intersectional lived experiences should be factored into your DE&I training and conversations. This will help you raise the complexity of identity as a talking point, and help keep your people focused on individual needs.

McKinsey’s ‘Women in the Workplace 2021’ report found that while women’s representation increased across all levels of the corporate pipeline in 2020 (despite the pandemic), women of color specifically continue to lose ground at every step along it. The research also noted that, although three-quarters of white employees consider themselves allies to women of color, less than half can back that claim up with basic actions such as advocating for new opportunities for this group, or speaking out against bias shown towards them.

3. Beyond Business

In practice, limiting your focus to single ‘identity strands’ such as “increasing women in our leadership” leaves anyone who falls between groups at risk of falling through the cracks. It is therefore essential that you take as wide a view as possible when considering diversity, and that you bring inclusion and allyship into the conversation.

Going forward, anyone drawing up DE&I training plans needs to ask themselves: why am I doing this? And if the answer is “to help us reach the diverse representation targets in our leadership” rather than “to drive inclusivity in general throughout all levels of our organization”, more work may be needed. Representation can only succeed when it’s part of a much broader movement championing social change. It must go deeper than just the numbers, to consider procurement, supply chains, culture, and corporate social responsibility.

If that sounds like a never-ending DE&I workload, you’re not wrong—but that’s exactly the point. Creating true workplace equity is as large and pressing a task as creating a more equitable society. We have a long way to go to create both, and both really need to go hand in hand.

A version of this article was previously published in trainingjournal.com.

About the Authors

Alice MacDonald

You may have already heard that SAP is requiring all customers to move to the Identity Authentication Service (IAS) by the end of 2022. But why is this so important and how will it affect you?

One point of access

First off, SAP will be discontinuing the Single Sign-On (SSO) function in SAP’s SuccessFactors Platform so you will need alternative log-in access, which is where IAS comes in. This is a good thing because IAS will now act as the “one stop shop” for access to all of your SAP products. Customers can now connect the sign-on process for their users instead of setting up SSO for each product. It will make for a much better day-to-day experience.

Although SAP has not given a definitive date for when they will force current SSO customers to move to IAS, we encourage everyone to consider doing this sooner rather than later to avoid any last-minute rush.

Internal vs. external learners

Customers who are already using the integrated external learner solution can continue to use the solution. Those who want to start offering Learning to users that are not employees have two alternatives in place with the integrated external user feature:

1. SAP SuccessFactors Learning customers can create users as internal users in the SAP SuccessFactors Platform and use Platform authentication.
   • Recommended for users with a worker relationship, such as contingent workers.
   • Mobile, theming and Jam integration is available.
2. SAP SuccessFactors Learning customers can create users as Learning only users in Learning and not in the SAP SuccessFactors Platform.
   • Recommended for non-workers such as customers, distributors or partners.
   • Does not currently support mobile, theming or Jam integration. 
   • Authentication for external Learning only users is currently native to Learning, but will be migrating to the SAP Cloud Platform Identity Authentication Service.

SAP’s IAS is REQUIRED for Stories in People Analytics

While it is true that IAS is not required for all SAP products just yet, it is required to implement Stories which allows customers to build dynamic analytic reports and dashboards. So, before you embark on an implementation of Stories, you must have IAS enabled.

It is a five-step process to implement and enable IAS

The process of migrating to IAS requires tasks to be performed in the SAP SuccessFactors Admin Center, the Identity Provisioning Service Administration Console, and in the Identity Authentication Service Administration Console. These steps are as follows:

1. Initiate IAS upgrade in Upgrade Center (UC)
2. Set up corporate identity provider (IDP) in IAS
3. Configure log-in options, user groups, and password policies in IAS
4. Configure Identify Provisioning Service (IPS) settings and setup sync jobs
5. Enable IAS in UC

Timing is critical for SAP IAS

As I mentioned before, SAP is requiring all customers to move to IAS before the end of the year. It is best to start now to ensure that your users’ experiences are not impacted. New implementations are no longer being supported by SAP.

Our team at GP Strategies can help you decide the right path when enabling IAS for all your SAP products. Get in touch!

About the Authors

Kevin Slepecki

In the early parts of 2020, companies around the world had to rapidly shift their training plans away from in-person delivery, and some had to abandon plans altogether. Whether part of an existing plan that needed to be escalated or a brand-new plan, the learning industry grappled with enthusiastic and skeptical questions about the efficacy of 100% virtual learning. Can the virtual learning experience be engaging? Are people going to tune in and tune out? And in hindsight, what have those teams learned?

From both learners and developers alike, a majority of the stories are positive. Many companies and learning teams were surprised by the ways training could be delivered, by the way skills could be practiced, and by how technology could facilitate some of those practices.

As companies begin the return to in-person training, business and learning leaders need to incorporate lessons learned from virtual programs of the past two years.

In-Person Training vs. Virtual: The Battle of Benefit

As in-person training programs begin to reappear, the question most companies are asking themselves is how it compares to virtual training?

In-person training usually requires bringing a group physically together and pulling them offline, often multiple days at a time, and that system has worked well. These types of programs have since been separated into segmented virtual sessions, offered in smaller chunks of time, and can be less disruptive to the business environment and day-to-day needs.

Even though this approach has benefits for busy work schedules, shortening attention spans, and logistics budgeting, there is still an important need for in-person training. When learning new concepts and processes, there seems to be something magical about bringing people together to share the same physical time and space.

And people still crave in-person experiences. In some of our evaluations at GP Strategies, we’ve received feedback that various virtual learning programs were excellent, but the participants also wished they were offered in-person sessions. Learners still crave the informal learning experiences and connections that come with in-person training.

There are priceless moments of learning instructional designers can’t plan for, such as when participants are sharing a cup of coffee or heading to a meal after hours. The connections made can translate to coaching and mentoring moments or building a professional in-house network for future troubleshooting and ideation.

In short, virtual training does certain things very well, and in-person training does too. It’s now time for learning teams to examine the benefits of both and develop criteria for the right blend and when to use them.

Balancing Cost and Value

The cost for virtual training can be lower than in-person training in many cases, but it’s important to consider the concept of cost and value. In-person training can incur costs associated with bringing people together, from the logistics of travel to lodging, food, and time away from their duties. But it can be argued there is a value of bringing people together.

As an example, one of GP’s customers had teams that had never met each other in person because they were all hired within the past two years. GP delivered a cohort-based learning program over a few months. Bringing them together helped to amplify their learning experiences and build interpersonal connections. It also built rapport, relationships, and positive experiences within the company culture that continued throughout their learning experience.

It’s also important to understand that each company is different. Some companies and industries are more on-site-based than others, and in those situations, a fully digital or virtual solution may end up costing more because the technological capabilities don’t exist.

What Learners Need

Instructional designers need to keep the learner at the heart of every program and module. At the moment, learner needs and preferences differ greatly. The learning industry is entering an era of great capabilities and opportunities, but people have been impacted in vastly different ways. Instructional designers and business leaders need to understand that not all learners and not all people are ready to return to in-person experiences. They may not be comfortable, they may not be able to, or they may have a situation going on both in and outside of work which may impact their willingness or ability to participate in an in-person training experience.

Learning and business leaders need to be mindful of these situations and think about ways to be more inclusive in those experiences. When designing training experiences and bringing people together, it’s critical to be as safe and practical as possible in the classroom. This may include distancing, minimizing the use of shared materials such as whiteboard markers, and being considerate.

Leaders also need to consider ideas for virtual participants to be included in those experiences, such as having one or more cameras on the facilitator and in turn having the facilitator be mindful of those cameras.

Facilitating Hybrid Learning Experiences

Learning leaders need to examine their facilitator pool because it has most likely changed in the last two years. Like participants, facilitators are at different points in their journey in their comfort level and their willingness and ability to travel and come back from their pivot to virtual training delivery.

Virtual facilitation and in-person facilitation are similar in some ways, but also require distinct skillsets. Some facilitators were adept at making the shift to virtual learning while others are leaping at the opportunity to go back to in-person learning. It’s up to the organization to recognize that and structure their facilitator pool around those mindsets.

Planning for In-Person Training Events

When planning for in-person training events, there is local variability when it comes to COVID-19. Rates of infection are different, and the rules and regulations have varying requirements. Learning leaders must be aware of those differences in where people are coming from and going. If the venue is off-site, there may be additional rules as well. Also, airlines may have an increased number of delays and cancellations.

These protocols and other variables add an extra layer of logistics for training coordinators. Learning leaders need to build an agile and flexible mindset into training events.

A Transitional Period for In-Person Training

The learning industry is in a transitional period and one that will fluctuate. Learning leaders need to cultivate an experience that is inclusive and build flexibility into learning programs for a large variety of mindsets, comfort levels, and logistical challenges. Creating a safe work environment with built-in flexibility for both participants and facilitators is crucial for success during the transition.

About the Authors

Katy Bailey

The perfect DE&I strategy doesn’t happen overnight. While the best strategies account for the needs of an organization’s culture and people, there are well-defined areas that need your attention. We believe there are four key strategies that are essential to DE&I success—here’s what you should know to get started on each of them.

If we were tasked to boil the complexities of DE&I program success down to just four basic ingredients, we would pick the following key strategies:

1. Leading inclusively
2. Knowing your diversity numbers and measuring progress
3. Incorporating equity
4. Cultivating a culturally-aware climate

In this article, we’ll discuss what is meant by each, the kind of work they involve, and key issues your organization may have to contend with.

1. Leading Inclusively

When we talk about inclusive leadership, it’s important to recognize that the strategic agenda of any organization is ultimately the responsibility of leadership at every level, top to bottom. Authentic leaders set a goal to deeply embed inclusion not only as a personal leadership skill, but also more broadly throughout their organization. This is because true inclusivity cannot be achieved by individuals in isolation. At best, a lone inclusive leader without support and resources can only establish a safe point of contact in a hostile environment.

This isn’t sustainable in the long term.

Despite this, inclusive leaders still hold the collective power to create change in their organization. They can set the direction and encourage a collaborative environment that promotes belonging and respect.

The qualities we believe you should look for and develop in your C-suite should be sought at every level of management. Particularly, your leaders must be intentional in their focus on promoting transparency in the organization from a structural viewpoint. They’re the ones who can provide access to processes and procedures to achieve this, and they must be motivated by the idea of doing so. Furthermore, all leaders must be committed to advancing accountability through incorporating behavioral viewpoints that encourage an open and growth-oriented mindset in the organization.

If these values are held just by the CEO and members of the board, they won’t be upheld in the day-to-day business of the organization. Conversely, even with many people managers committed to inclusive practices, apathetic or actively non-inclusive leadership higher up in the organization will greatly reduce those managers’ abilities to create and enforce inclusive practices.

2. Knowing Your Diversity Numbers and Measuring Progress

Data from performance reviews and employee surveys helps organizations build the business case for incorporating DE&I throughout. It’s also necessary for enabling ever-essential accountability. Transparency and trust also start with the collection of this data.

There’s no doubt that data should be collected and measured. But organizations need to be strategic about the data they collect and how to work with it once they have their hands on it. Broadly speaking, we recommend that data be collected and reported on at multiple levels of the organization. Furthermore, it should capture the intersectional identities of your workforce, and not just high-level groups such as women or people of color.

Critically, your measurement also needs to be tied to a wider context. Benchmarking provides the guideposts you need and can help you make sure you’re on the right track with respect to all aspects of your talent lifecycle—hires, promotions, and separations. Used to reveal gaps and areas of opportunity, benchmarking can help you rethink your hiring and promotion process to keep you competitive, and to sustain your own progress.

How you report on this data is the next challenge: your reporting must offer all the points of information that stakeholders need to see, inclusive of benchmarking while still being easily digestible by busy people who need to make the right decisions. Our past research has shown that organizations that are advanced in their DE&I practices are 20-25% more likely to report their diversity metrics to senior leaders.

3. Incorporating Equity

Companies define equity in many ways, and they also vary greatly in terms of how they implement equitable policies such as pay transparency and equity, flexible benefits, and hybrid/remote work.

It’s important to consider all of these different dimensions of equity, as well as other, sometimes overlooked equity issues. For example, organizations must consider how career development and advancement opportunities are communicated to employees, as this can often be inequitable.

Overall, organizations should be asking themselves whether the benefits they offer are truly available to employees at all levels of the organization. And when considering the structures through an equitable lens, have they built an authentic environment where the stated values and beliefs are truly incorporated into the daily operations of the business?

4. Cultivating a Culturally-Aware Climate

Fostering and sustaining a culturally-aware environment can itself be viewed as a four-part task:

• Firstly, there’s representation. Do people see diversity in the organization?
• The second is support. Do people have support and feel valued?
• Thirdly, there’s programming and implementation. Do people understand how your policies and procedures promote DE&I, and what those policies are?
• Finally, there’s group dynamics. Do people treat each other with respect and fairness?

A good starting point for any organization is to honestly assess where it currently stands on each of these points. This is best achieved via employee engagement surveys—the data generated from this feedback will help you pinpoint where your gaps are in policies, procedures, and programs.

However you go about collecting this kind of information, it’s important to not lose sight of the fact that a culturally competent organization should embrace critical, sometimes difficult conversations and listen to the lived experiences of its employees. Without these conversations, it can be difficult to build trust in your organization.

Versions of this article originally appeared on Affirmity.com.

About the Authors

GP Strategies Corporation

GP Strategies is a global performance improvement solutions provider of sales and technical training, e-Learning solutions, management consulting and engineering services. GP Strategies' solutions improve the effectiveness of organizations by delivering innovative and superior training, consulting and business improvement services, customized to meet the specific needs of its clients. Clients include Fortune 500 companies, manufacturing, process and energy industries, and other commercial and government customers.