The challenges of scaling Agile training globally - with AgilityPro

Changing the way hundreds, or even thousands, of employees work does not happen by chance. When enterprises embark on an Agile transformation, they face the immense challenge of ensuring that employees across different regions, cultures, and time zones are not only aligned in their objectives but also equipped with the same understanding and tools. For this to happen, everyone must speak the same language, follow the same principles, and operate in harmony under a unified approach. This requires high-quality, consistent training across the board.

Yet, achieving this at a global scale is easier said than done.

One of the biggest hurdles for large businesses is the inconsistency in training delivery across different locations. Often, companies rely on internal learning and development (L&D) departments to organise training for their employees. However, these departments may not always understand the intricacies of Agile, Scrum, and SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework), or the core components of what makes a transformation successful. Furthermore, when the task is handed over to local teams to find training providers, there is a risk of fragmented approaches. The quality and content of the training can vary significantly from one region to another, leading to inconsistent adoption of Agile practices.

This inconsistency can undermine the entire transformation effort.

Adding to this complexity is the challenge of commissioning the training. Internal L&D teams may find themselves juggling different providers across geographies, each offering slightly different versions of the same curriculum. This piecemeal approach adds administrative overhead, delays, and confusion, all while slowing down the overall transformation.

Moreover, with the rise of remote work and distributed teams, delivering effective training has become even more challenging. Employees are no longer confined to a single office space, but scattered across various locations. This requires innovative approaches to training, such as virtual classrooms, online learning platforms, and digital collaboration tools. The traditional face-to-face model, while valuable, is no longer enough to meet the needs of today’s global workforce.

AgilityPro recognises that businesses need flexible, scalable training solutions that adapt to this new reality.

What sets AgilityPro apart is its ability to provide exactly what global enterprises need. The company specialises in delivering consistent, high-quality training at scale. Whether it’s Agile, Scrum, or SAFe, their trainers are not just educators—they are practitioners who have hands-on experience in the field, and will also happily cross oceans if the need arises.

AgilityPro’s trainers bring real-world examples to the table, which not only helps in engaging the audience but also provides practical insights that employees can immediately apply in their roles. This ability to inspire and educate employees is key to ensuring that the enterprise transformation succeeds.

When businesses work with AgilityPro, they are not just getting a one-size-fits-all training solution. They are engaging with experts who understand the nuances of global training delivery. AgilityPro takes the burden off internal L&D teams by providing a unified approach that works across geographies, ensuring that employees, no matter where they are, receive the same high-quality training experience. This results in a more coherent and aligned transformation effort, increasing the chances of long-term success.

In an era where remote work is the norm and teams are more distributed than ever, AgilityPro offers a way to bring everyone together—speaking the same language, following the same principles, and driving the same outcomes across the globe.

Five Challenges Learning and Development Departments face in Commissioning Training

In today's fast-paced business environment, Learning and Development (L&D) departments face numerous challenges when it comes to commissioning training. These challenges can significantly impact the effectiveness of training programs and the overall development of employees. Let's explore some of the key issues:

1. Budget Constraints

One of the primary challenges is budget availability. L&D departments often have limited funds to allocate for training, making it difficult to provide comprehensive programs that meet the needs of all employees. Balancing cost with quality is a constant struggle.

2. Suitability of Training Partners

Finding the right training partners is crucial. The suitability of these partners can vary widely, and selecting the wrong one can lead to ineffective training. It's essential to evaluate potential partners thoroughly to ensure they align with the organisation's goals and culture, and also have the gravitas and real-world experience to be credible with learners. You don't just want a "supplier" you have to 'manage', you want a Partner you can rely on to be honest and competent, and deliver on quality.

3. Time-Consuming Quotation Processes

The process of obtaining quotations from different training companies for each course can be incredibly time-consuming. This often involves speaking to multiple representatives within a single company for various aspects of the purchase and delivery process, leading to inefficiencies and delays. Course prices can vary wildly from provider to provider for what looks like the same thing, so how do you know which one is the right one to buy?

4. Employee Attendance

Getting employees to attend training sessions is another significant challenge. Busy schedules, lack of interest, and conflicting priorities can result in low attendance rates, undermining the effectiveness of the training programs.

5. Catering to All Performance Levels

Many training programs tend to focus on the top 10% or bottom 10% of performers within an organisation. This leaves the competent middle largely to their own devices or with generic solutions like LinkedIn Learning. It's crucial to have offerings that cater to all performance levels to ensure comprehensive development.

Introducing AgilityPro: Your Trusted Training Partner

At AgilityPro, we understand these challenges and are committed to providing solutions that address them effectively. Here's how we can help:

1. Tailored Training Solutions

We work closely with your L&D team to understand your specific needs and budget constraints. Our goal is to provide tailored training solutions that deliver maximum value without compromising on quality, and fit in with your overall vision.

2. Expert Trainers

Our group of expert trainers deliver to the highest standards. Each has a substantial depth of real-world experience in their field, as well as significant expertise in training delivery. Each one has undertaken their own learning journey to their relevant specialist training certification (e.g. CST, RST, SPCT) which typically takes several years and many hundreds of hours of work, and has spent years training since then.

3. Streamlined Quotation Process

We simplify the quotation process by acting as a proactive single point of contact who will frame up all the options you need, and can take the burden of designing and pricing training plans from you. This reduces the time and effort required to obtain quotations and manage the purchase and delivery process, allowing your team to focus on more strategic tasks. Moreover, we specifically choose to be more efficiently priced than our competitors, so you can know that you are getting value for money.

4. Boosting Employee Attendance

We can support you in scheduling, managing and promoting the training sessions in your enterprise, to maximise employee engagement and attendance. We can directly engage with your employees and work with them to make training receipt a priority, even in busy schedules.

5. Comprehensive Training Offerings

AgilityPro offers training programs that cater to all performance levels within your organisation. Whether it's the top performers, the competent middle, or those needing additional support, we have solutions that ensure everyone benefits from professional development.

Specialised Training Programmes

AgilityPro delivers a wide range of Agile and Scaled Agile Certified Training Courses as well as Leadership and Coaching certifications. Several of these courses can be white-labelled to fit into your own internal Learning programmes as required. Our courses are designed to equip your people with the skills and knowledge needed to excel in today's dynamic business environment, and our engagement methods are designed to help you in making it happen.

Building a Trusted Partnership

At AgilityPro, we don't just see ourselves as a training supplier. We aim to build a trusted partnership with your L&D team. By working together, we can advise on the best training offerings and learning pathways, support the administration of scheduling and delivering courses, and ultimately help solve your training challenges.

Why not book a 30 minute chat with us about how we can help you - click here: https://calendly.com/matt-hosking-rktl/30min

Overcoming Learning & Development challenges in agile enterprises: combining adaptive learning programmes and in-person training.

 

In the rapidly evolving business landscape, many enterprises are adopting more agile ways of working to stay competitive. This shift, while beneficial, presents unique challenges for Learning and Development (L&D) functions. This article explores these challenges and how our training company can help navigate them.

Three main challenges:

1. Keeping Pace with Change

Agile enterprises are characterised by their ability to adapt quickly. For L&D, this means constantly updating training programs to reflect new technologies, methodologies, and business strategies. The pace of change can be overwhelming

2. Aligning Training with Agile Principles

Traditional training methods often conflict with agile principles. Agile emphasises collaboration, cross-functional teams, and iterative progress, which can be at odds with rigid, top-down training structures.

3. Measuring Impact

In an agile environment, where change is constant, measuring the impact of training programs is complex. Traditional metrics may not capture the full picture of learning effectiveness, so how can L&D demonstrate that it is adding value to both the employees and the wider business as a whole?

Let’s delve deeper into these challenges:

Rapid Technological Advancements

In the digital age, new technologies are emerging at an unprecedented rate. L&D functions must not only keep abreast of these advancements, but also develop or procure training programs to upskill employees in these new technologies. For example, the rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning has necessitated a new set of skills in the workforce.

A Cultural Shift

Agile transformation often requires a significant cultural shift within the organisation. L&D functions play a crucial role in facilitating this shift, which can involve changing mindsets, attitudes, and behaviors. This is a complex and ongoing challenge that requires a deep understanding of organisational dynamics and human behavior.

Diverse Learning Needs

In agile enterprises, teams are often cross-functional and composed of individuals with diverse skills and backgrounds. This diversity can lead to varied learning needs and preferences. L&D functions must be able to provide personalised learning experiences to cater to these diverse needs.

Remote and Distributed Teams

With the rise of remote work and distributed teams, L&D face the challenge of delivering effective training to employees who are not co-located. This requires innovative approaches to training delivery, such as virtual classrooms, online learning platforms, and digital collaboration tools.

The potential skills Gap

As organisations adopt more agile and generative ways of working, they often encounter a skills gap among their existing employees. L&D functions are tasked with identifying these gaps and developing training programs to bridge them. This requires a keen understanding of the skills needed in an agile environment and the ability to anticipate future skill requirements.

These challenges are complex and multifaceted, but they also present opportunities for L&D functions to play a strategic role in their organisation’s evolution or agile transformation. With the right strategies and approaches, L&D can turn these challenges into catalysts for learning and growth. Our training company is here to support you in this journey and we offer tailored adaptive solutions to address these challenges and help your organisation thrive in the new agile era.

Adaptive Learning Programs

Adaptive Learning Programs are designed to adjust to the learner’s needs in real-time. Here’s how they work:

1. Personalised Learning Paths

Each learner is unique, with their own set of skills, knowledge, and learning pace. Adaptive learning programs take these factors into account to create personalised learning paths. For example, a learner who is already familiar with a topic can skip ahead to more advanced content, while a beginner might need to start with the basics.

2. Real-Time Feedback

Adaptive learning programs provide very fast feedback, allowing learners to understand their mistakes and correct them on the spot. This real-time feedback mechanism helps reinforce learning and improve retention.

3. Data-Driven Insights

These programs collect data on learner performance and use it to provide insights. These insights can help identify gaps in knowledge, suggest areas for improvement, and even predict future performance.

4. Flexible Learning

Adaptive learning programs are flexible. They allow learners to learn at their own pace, potentially anytime, anywhere. This flexibility makes learning more convenient and less stressful, thereby improving the overall learning experience.

5. Signposting formal in-person training needs

Adaptive learning, with its data-driven approach, provides valuable insights into a learner’s progress, strengths, and areas of improvement. These insights can be used to identify when a learner might benefit from in-person, expert-led training. In-person led training effectively forms an intrinsic part of adaptive learning in a very synergistic way. For instance, if the adaptive learning platform identifies a consistent struggle with a particular topic or skill, it could suggest a formal training session on that topic either for an individual or for a full cohort.

Pulling it all together

Adaptive learning provides the flexibility and personalisation, while in-person led training provides the depth and interactivity. Together, they create a comprehensive learning experience that caters to the diverse needs of learners in a progressive organisation.

In-person led training clearly offers a more structured and interactive learning experience than the self-service of some adaptive learning patterns. It provides opportunities for learners to ask questions, engage in discussions, and receive immediate feedback from experts. This can be particularly beneficial for complex topics that require a deeper level of understanding, or for skills that require hands-on practice.

Adaptive learning programs with their personalised learning pathways enable both simple and structured concepts, and general information to be delivered effectively via self-learning, with empirical data gathering underneath to help measure effectiveness.

In conclusion, adaptive learning and expert-led formal training are two sides of the same coin, each bringing unique benefits to the table. Adaptive learning allows for personalised, flexible education, catering to individual learning styles and paces. It empowers learners to take ownership of their development, fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement.

However, the importance of in-person, expert-led training cannot be overstated. These formal training courses provide a structured learning environment, where learners can benefit from the expertise and real-world experiences of industry professionals. They offer opportunities for immediate feedback, hands-on practice, and interactive discussions that are difficult to replicate in a purely digital format.

The journey towards becoming an agile enterprise is filled with challenges, particularly for Learning and Development functions. However, with AgilityPro as your partner, these challenges become opportunities for growth and learning. Our learning programs and expert-led training courses are designed to address your unique needs and help you navigate the complexities of the new agile landscape.

We invite you to experience the AgilityPro difference and see how we can empower your L&D function to thrive in our new digital world. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us to learn more about how we can tailor our offerings to fit your needs.