Bridging the Skills Gap: The Need for Effective Learning
We are facing a future where a majority of the workforce faces skill gaps, yet not everyone has the opportunity to bridge them. According to the World Economic Forum (WEF; 2023), by 2027, 60% of the workforce will have an urgent need to reskill. Critically, however, the WEF reports only half of these workers have the training opportunities they need today. At Multiverse, we believe in education as a lever for business transformation, as opposed to being an added benefit to the workplace. As demand for new skills, particularly around big data and AI continues to surge, the notion of a single training session being sufficient is outdated. Instead, continuous educational initiatives that align with real-world demands are crucial. This arms employees with new skills that can directly improve job performance and facilitate, en masse, an adaptable and agile workforce. Consequently, understanding what makes learning effective to support these skills gaps and organisational needs is increasingly important.
A Dynamic System: The Zone of Optimal Learning Effectiveness
While complex, learning can be understood through its key components—cognitive, emotional, and environmental influences. In the workplace, this complexity is further intensified by the need to align diverse stakeholder priorities, ranging from individual career development to organisational performance metrics. It involves not only technical skills but also critical thinking, problem-solving, and the need to transfer learning to new situations—abilities that are not easily measured by conventional educational assessments. Workplace learning is therefore characterised by a complex ecosystem containing diverse stakeholders, interconnected elements, and dynamic interactions (Wang & Wang, 2018). At Multiverse, we have created the ZOLE framework—the Zone of Optimal Learning Effectiveness—to deliver a comprehensive and dynamic approach to building an effective learning experience that aligns educational initiatives with organisational goals and individual skills gaps. Recognising the complexities of workplace learning, we emphasise the critical need for alignment among three dynamic, dependent and interactive systems: the learner’s educational environment, the learner, and their workplace environment.
How ZOLE works in practice
Creating ZOLE involves a dynamic interplay among multiple factors:
- Multiverse (the educational environment): This refers to the curriculum, methodologies, resources, social context, and delivery methods used in Multiverse’s programs. Our environment is designed to be engaging, challenging, relevant, and practical, ensuring that learners can connect theoretical knowledge with practical application seamlessly. At Multiverse, we also have an emphasis on guided learning, where we provide a dynamic ecosystem of support using a blend of on-demand AI and human-centered support systems so that no learner is ever alone in their journey.
- The learner: This encompasses the individual attributes of learners, including their readiness to learn, cognitive abilities, motivation, prior knowledge, and specific skills gaps. We use a model of Learning Agility to understand the full spectrum of an individual's learning capabilities, focusing on their cognitive strategies, motivational drives, and actionable behaviours. This approach allows us to create personalised learning pathways that not only cater to each learner’s unique needs and skills gaps, but also optimise their ability to apply and benefit from their learning in the workplace to address organisational goals.
- The workplace environment: The workplace environment includes the culture, support systems, and opportunities within a learner’s organisation that facilitate continuous learning and the application of new knowledge, skills and behaviours. A supportive workplace culture that encourages learning and provides opportunities to apply these new skills is crucial for achieving learning effectiveness. Managers, in particular, play a pivotal role in creating opportunities for learners to apply new knowledge in both low- and high-stakes situations, while also offering essential and constructive feedback to support the learning process. At Multiverse, we also tailor our learning pathways to align with specific organisational goals and learner skills gaps, ensuring that our educational initiatives facilitate the seamless application of knowledge, skills and behaviours to support this learning process. This also sustains a feedback loop that continuously refines and enhances both learner engagement, performance and overall effectiveness within the workplace environment.
ZOLE encapsulates the dynamic nature of workplace learning—it's not a one-size-fits-all scenario. Instead, it’s a tailored approach that caters to the specific skills, needs and contexts of both the learner and the organisation. This concept illustrates that learning effectiveness is not a static achievement, but a constantly evolving state that occurs when three key factors—the learner, the educational environment, and the workplace environment—are aligned. By maximising this alignment, ZOLE ensures that educational experiences are impactful and create tangible, long-term organisational benefits.
ZOLE in action
At Multiverse we have 1,000+ employer partners across the UK and the US, where 93% of learners remain with their employer post their learning experience. The driver for these results is ZOLE. Imagine you are an Online Merchandiser working in the e-commerce team for a consumer products business. Your main responsibilities are to oversee online product presentation to optimise the shopping experience and drive sales. Both you and your employer see a big opportunity for the use of AI in your role and so you have enrolled on Multiverse’s AI for Business Value program. The programme begins by equipping you with foundational AI knowledge, its potential for business transformation, and methodologies for identifying real-world applications. You're immediately encouraged to apply this new understanding to your current role, identifying impactful AI solutions for your business. This involves collaboration with departmental stakeholders, ensuring that the ideas you develop are both practical and validated through feedback, embodying a seamless integration between educational learning and workplace application. Your Multiverse coach, an industry expert, also considers your specific needs. This personalised approach includes setting relevant objectives and goals, as well as celebrating your achievements, and fostering a feedback loop that aims to enhance your confidence and success within your organisation. Throughout the rest of the program, you'll further analyse business needs, implement AI solutions, and lead change, taking others through the change process and demonstrating its impact. Unlike traditional learning environments that may rely on hypothetical scenarios, Multiverse's approach is deeply rooted in the realities of your workplace and is driven by the Zone of Optimal Learning Effectiveness (ZOLE). This ensures the learning is not only relevant but also impactful, providing you with opportunities to apply AI innovations that significantly benefit your business and consumer experience. Ultimately, this enhances your career prospects and trajectory, exemplifying what effective workplace learning should achieve.
Final Thoughts
In today’s rapidly evolving world, the importance of learning effectiveness cannot be overstated. Understanding and optimising the processes that make learning impactful is crucial for individual and organisational success. By focusing on ZOLE, we enable a dynamic and adaptable learning ecosystem. This holistic approach ensures that our learning initiatives create impact.
For more information, please read:
- Di Battista, A., Grayling, S., Hasselaar, E., Leopold, T., Li, R., Rayner, M., & Zahidi, S. (2023, May). Future of jobs report 2023. In World Economic Forum, Geneva, Switzerland. https://www. weforum. org/reports/the-future-of-jobs-report-2023
- Wang, M., & Wang, M. (2018). Understanding Workplace e-Learning as a Complex Dynamic System. E-Learning in the Workplace: A Performance-Oriented Approach Beyond Technology, 75-84
