Worldwide, organizations are contending with ever-escalating expectations from multiple stakeholders: customers, employees, stockholders, and regulators, to name a few. For multinational enterprises, however, such expectations are exponentially more difficult to meet. Growth, operations, capital investment, and talent development and deployment are all essential market factors influenced by not only global objectives but also local conditions.
L&D leaders in these organizations face correspondingly unique challenges. They must strive to meet current talent development needs while anticipating future demands. They must also coordinate within a multinational structure to ensure that learning options are high quality, measurable, easily accessible, and aligned with the needs and interests of teams in different countries and, potentially, cultures.
Increasingly, L&D has incorporated e-learning technologies to expand its reach around the globe while supplementing the scope and variability of its portfolio. In 2024, the projected value of the worldwide online education market was $185 billion. By 2029, that value is estimated to increase to $279 billion.
However, not all e-learning is created equal, and technology alone should not be the deciding factor. E-learning choices, regardless of the subject matter and target audience, should be vetted using time-tested criteria that guide the design and selection of more traditional learning approaches.
To determine the effectiveness and adaptivity of a global e-learning program, L&D can assess its components along the following four-step framework:
- Align with and anticipate business needs.
- Embrace sound instructional design at every step.
- Ensure access.
- Deploy a consistent measurement strategy.
Here’s how it works.
Align with and anticipate business needs
The most successful L&D programs maintain a clear connection to the organization’s business needs and priorities, whether local or enterprise-wide. However, business needs run the gamut, from achieving revenue targets to balancing cost control with innovation and building a leadership pipeline. L&D is charged with identifying the essential knowledge and skills employees need to fulfill those objectives while also envisioning future needs and opportunities.
Consider one of today’s cutting-edge issues — AI in the workplace. L&D has the dual challenge of helping leaders strategize AI deployment while helping prepare the workforce to utilize it effectively. While the scope of that challenge may seem daunting, L&D can take the lead in building foundational knowledge.
For instance, in response to L&D leaders’ need for greater insight into AI, BigThink+ partnered with Ethan Mollick, a professor of management at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, to develop an expert class on that topic. The class threads Mollick’s insights with topics relevant to the L&D community looking to use AI in learning.
While this is a single example, it’s evident that one of the most significant benefits of e-learning for L&D is the relative ease of updating resources and content to better address the “just in time” needs of a complex, global organization.
Embrace instructional design at every step
Few, if any, L&D groups have an unlimited budget. Cost versus benefit is an ongoing calculation. On the benefit side of the equation, the extent to which learners put information and skills into practice is a key consideration. For individuals who devote time and attention to a learning activity, two questions are paramount:
- Why should I do this?
- How do I start doing this today?
If learners don’t see the potential benefits fairly quickly, both they and the organization have missed an opportunity.
Learning also becomes more engaging when the learner is “pulled’ into the experience, rather than allowed to remain a bystander. Because e-learning is often individually driven, techniques to actively engage the learner must be built in.
For example, learning guides can incorporate rigorous reflection questions to be answered before undertaking the content. At the conclusion, a series of “do now” prompts help set the stage for follow-up actions.
Both before and after actions are highly beneficial to the learning experience. In fact, the BT+ research team found that learners who responded to one or more prompts had a greater likelihood of re-engaging with learning on the platform.
Big Think+ reflection prompts engage learners by connecting lessons to real-world application.
Ensure access
E-learning has accelerated a shift toward making learning available to individuals when they want it, where they want it, and on their favorite devices. Without that flexibility built into the e-learning system, there is a significant risk of wasted learning opportunities and frustrated employees. That leaves L&D with the daunting task of understanding the varied work conditions, capabilities, and technical resources of its workforce.
For multinationals, this task is intensified. Learners may be at vastly different levels. They may speak different languages or approach learning from unique cultural lenses. Their devices may spread across the generational spectrum, from flip phones to smartphones and tablets. And their work locations could be an office, a home desk, or a seat on the train.
As L&D seeks continual insight into e-learning enablers and barriers, it must also seek out methods to proactively address these issues. Solutions might include offering content in multiple languages, designating access points tailored for learners at specific levels, and performing regular platform audits to flag accessibility problems. “Actual use” surveys can also help L&D understand the devices and methods learners are using to access educational content.
Deploy a consistent measurement strategy
Measuring the full impact of learning has long been an L&D challenge. One of the most commonly referenced models for learning evaluation was developed by Donald Kirkpatrick. Beyond learner reaction though, the information necessary to evaluate behavior change and organizational impact can be difficult to acquire and assess.
E-learning technology opens up new opportunities. Learning platforms can allow for more dynamic and comprehensive data accumulation that incorporates a broader array of evaluation subjects. There may also be the ability to access early alerts as well as summative data to enable expeditious analysis and action.
Ideally, an e-learning platform will help compile a more complete picture at the enterprise level for each of the different learner populations — such as the content being accessed, how long learners stay engaged, and what is being retained. Such discrete data enables both greater flexibility and more targeted decision-making on where, how, and when to deploy learning resources.
Final thoughts
The size and complexity of multinational organizations require their L&D professionals to possess an affinity for innovation, resilience, and comfort with ambiguity. While e-learning has greatly enhanced the ability to reach a diverse workforce across multiple countries, locations, and working conditions, it also brings its own management challenges. Technologies, learner needs, and business strategies are ever-evolving. Even in the best of circumstances, power outages, personnel changes, and new priorities can upend the best-laid plans.
L&D is well-served by an approach that incorporates flexibility and contingency plans, supported by trusted learning industry partners to help navigate the challenges along the way.
Try Big Think+ for your business
Engaging content on the skills that matter, taught by world-class experts.
