November 8, 2023 • 38 mins
Description: Never before have there been five generations in the workforce. Each generation has its own quirks, styles, likes, dislikes, and ways to work, communicate, and even learn! In this podcast episode, we are going to focus on the newest generation joining us in the workplace—Generation Alpha!
Resources:
A Multi-Generational Workforce Is a Force for Good
Let's Connect:
Guest LinkedIn Profile - Amanda Mosteller
Host LinkedIn Profile - Sophie Boler
Transcript:
Transcripts are computer generated -- not 100% accurate word-for-word.
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:21:03 Unknown Hello everybody and welcome to 30 minute Thrive, your go to podcast for anything and everything HR, powered by MRA, the Management Association. Looking to stay on top of the ever changing world of HR? MRA has got you covered. We'll be the first to tell you what's hot and what's not. I'm your host, Sophie Boler and we are so glad you're here.
00:00:21:05 - 00:00:44:20 Unknown Now it's time to thrive. Well, welcome, everybody. We are so glad you're here and I hope you're ready to talk generations today, specifically on one that you may have never heard before. So never before. There have been five generations in the workforce and each generation, as you know, has their own quirks, styles, likes, dislikes, ways to work, communicate, and even learn.
00:00:44:22 - 00:01:11:06 Unknown So in this podcast episode, specifically, we're going to be focusing on the newest generation joining us in the workplace, and that is Generation Alpha. So it looks like Gen Alpha is the group of generation following generation Z. So Gen X’ers are born in the early 2010’s going through the early 2020s. So we know and are finding that each generation brings something really unique to the table.
00:01:11:08 - 00:01:47:13 Unknown So. Amanda Mosteller, MRA's director of talent Development, is joining me today to talk about Gen Alpha how you should really update your L&D strategy to include these Gen Alpha learners. Make sure to stay tuned throughout the episode and we'll tell you how you can win a podcast swag item at the end. Just exciting little note there. But Amanda, we know we now know who Gen Alphas are, but really my first question to you is why is it essential for organizations to now adapt their training and development strategies for this generation?
00:01:47:15 - 00:02:21:09 Unknown When I think about Gen Alpha, I have this case study across the hall and it's my kids. They were born in 2010. We all went through this interesting thing, maybe you've heard of it called a global pandemic. And that pandemic expedited lots of things for all generations. One of the things that expedited for Gen Alpha that is different than other generations is integrated learning in school.
00:02:21:09 - 00:02:21:24 Unknown So
00:02:21:24 - 00:02:40:10 Unknown I'm not talking about adult learning theory principles versus child learning theory principles. We're not going into Andrew versus pedagogy here, but what we are going to talk about is being used to what the source of knowledge plays a part in for for these kids. So
00:02:40:10 - 00:02:46:21 Unknown in most of Gen Alpha was fourth grade or younger when the pandemic hit.
00:02:46:23 - 00:03:11:04 Unknown Prior to that, teachers in the classroom did a lot of teaching to the whole group from the front, doing activities, walking around and helping. They weren't putting elementary school kids into these Google class type structures at such a young age. They were doing that more in high school and certainly in college.
00:03:11:04 - 00:03:21:13 Unknown But the pandemic launched an expedited ETD, putting kids at younger ages into these platforms to learn things.
00:03:21:15 - 00:03:49:18 Unknown What that has done is changed their expectation of what the knowledge expert in the room's function is and how they learn. So Gen Z would have started doing that in college, mostly older. Gen Z. It wasn't until college younger, Gen Z, maybe in high school, some certainly not in element
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello everybody and welcome to 30 minuteThrive, your go to podcast for anything
and everything HR, powered by MRA,the Management Association.
Looking to stay on top of the everchanging world of HR?
MRA has got you covered.
We'll be the first to tell you what's hotand what's not.
I'm your host, Sophie Bolerand we are so glad you're here.
(00:21):
Now it's time to thrive.
Well, welcome, everybody.
We are so glad you're hereand I hope you're ready to talk
generations today, specifically on onethat you may have never heard before.
So never before.
There have been five generationsin the workforce
and each generation, as you know,has their own quirks, styles, likes,
dislikes, ways to work, communicate,and even learn.
(00:44):
So in this podcast episode, specifically,we're going to be focusing on the newest
generation joining us in the workplace,and that is Generation Alpha.
So it looks like Gen Alpha is the groupof generation following generation Z.
So Gen X’ers are born in the early 2010’sgoing through the early 2020s.
(01:06):
So we knowand are finding that each generation
bringssomething really unique to the table. So.
Amanda Mosteller, MRA's director of talentDevelopment, is joining me today
to talk about Gen Alphahow you should really
update your L&D strategyto include these Gen Alpha learners.
Make sure to stay tunedthroughout the episode and we'll tell you
(01:27):
how you can wina podcast swag item at the end.
Just exciting little note there.
But Amanda,we know we now know who Gen Alphas are,
but really my first question to you iswhy is it essential for organizations to
now adapt their training and developmentstrategies for this generation?
(01:47):
When I think about Gen Alpha,I have this case study
across the hall and it's my kids.
They were born in 2010.
We all went through thisinteresting thing,
maybe you've heard ofit called a global pandemic.
And that pandemic expedited
lots of things for all generations.
(02:11):
One of the things that expedited forGen Alpha that is different
than other generations is integratedlearning in school.
So I'm not talking about adultlearning theory principles
versus child learning theory principles.
We're not going into Andrew
versus pedagogy here,but what we are going to talk about
(02:32):
is being usedto what the source of knowledge
plays a part in for for these kids.
So in most of Gen Alpha was fourth grade
or younger when the pandemic hit.
Prior to that, teachers in the classroom
did a lot of teaching to the whole group
(02:54):
from the front, doing activities,walking around and helping.
They weren't putting elementary schoolkids into these Google class
type structures at such a young age.
They were doing that more in high schooland certainly in college.
But the pandemic launchedan expedited ETD,
(03:15):
putting kids at younger agesinto these platforms to learn things.
What that has done is changedtheir expectation
of what the knowledge expert in the room's
function is and how they learn.
So Gen Z would have started doing
(03:36):
that in college, mostly older. Gen Z.
It wasn't until college younger, Gen
Z, maybe in high school,some certainly not in elementary school,
but now it's embedded in elementary schoolfrom like third and fourth grade on.
Because the schools put moneyinto these platforms.
They have licenses,they might as well use them. Right.
And so the reason it's importantfor us to think about
(03:59):
is because a lot of organizations
are still hanging on to e-learningor instructor led training,
possibly blended where we dosome e-learning, pre class and post class.
But that's as as diverseas we're getting in our strategy.
But Gen Z doesn't
(04:20):
is looking for something different and GenAlpha won't even understand it.
Let's say.
Why on earth are you doing it this way?
That's not what the source of truth does.
That's not their role in my learning.
So it's time nowbecause we have four years before
they'll be the oldest partof that generation.
(04:41):
To your point of the early 20 tens.
My kids are born in 2010 and dependingon which sociologist time range,
you look at 2010, somewherebetween there and 2012 is Gen Alpha.
So so they're halfway througheighth grade, everybody.
But it's, you know, four years
until they are eligiblefor full time work.
(05:02):
And so we have four years to reallylook at how we deliver
training now, recognizehow it might not even be meeting Gen Z
and really not diversified in our strategyto meet Gen Alpha.
So that's why now's the timeto be thinking about this.
Well, absolutely.
And I know you you kind of touched onsome of these points,
(05:22):
but I'm interested inknowing some of the key characteristics
and really preferences of Gen Gen Alphawhen it comes to learning and development.
Yeah, they're wanting more and more
for the knowledge expert to be their guide
to where to find the information
(05:43):
and to bounce ideas and discussion off of,
to make surethat they're understanding it,
but they're not looking for the instructor
or the facilitator, or for the learningstrategy to be a source of truth,
teaching it to them in an in-classroomor B in E learning
lengthy E learnings,overproduced E learnings,
(06:04):
and they check outthey're not looking for that.
What they're looking for is
and I'm going to age myself here,my generation might remember
and maybe remember Sophie, the ChooseYour Path books.
So you would read a bookand you would get to a page
and they would say, okay, you can chooseto walk into the scary woods
(06:25):
or turn around and go back.
If you choose to walk into the woods,turn to page 37.
If you choose to go back, turn to page 46,
and then you would go readif you essentially like,
made it to the next stage or somethinghorrible was usually it was a creepy book.
It was
You should it's somethingthat ends the story for you
and you have to go back and choosethe other way.
But younger Gen Zs and Gen Alpha,
(06:48):
they're looking for that kind of choosemy path in learning.
And I don't mean my career path.
I mean how I want to learn,how I want information delivered to me,
what helps for meand let me make those choices.
Let me control that.
And the knowledge experts are there.
Guide in how to find that information.
(07:11):
What might be helpful.
They might come back and say,you know, as I was watching this short,
short video or I was reading
that blog, youyou had the internal blog you have
and I want to talk to you about this
because I'm trying to understandthis concept and how it works in my role.
That's what they're looking for.
They want guidance.
They don't want to haveto rely on the person to come on Tuesday
(07:35):
from 8 to 4and tell them because they're that
they're in class now in school.
My kids, for example, are being shownwhere all the resources are to find
the information within like the first10 minutes of a new subject.
And then they might have three dayswhere they're meeting
all different kinds of thingsall on their own.
So all through 90 milliondifferent platforms
(07:56):
that I have to try and followto make sure they're doing their homework.
But that's what they're used to.
Theirtheir teachers are learning partners now.
They're not the single source of truth.
So that's what they're expecting
when they come into a learning strategy of you
go to these classes during the first weekand then after your first 30 days,
you go to these classes every Mondayand then you have these
(08:17):
E learnings to finishbetween it between 30 and 60 days.
And look how diverse we are
because we do some in classand some online
and they would be like certain articleabout that.
There are some thingI can go find that without having to
do either of those prior.
Well I know we talked about thatGen Z is similar to Gen Alpha
(08:39):
in a lot of ways,but what would make this new Generation
Alpha different from Gen Zand how they choose
or their contentand how that content is really delivered?
Yeah, a couple of key differences.
One is I mentioned it kind ofin the beginning of our chat for a Gen Z.
(09:00):
This the source of truth
being the guide and lots of resources
and we don't come to a roomfive days a week for this.
We do it in lots of ways.
That really kicked off for older Gen Zs.
We're talking college like thatjust didn't happen until college
(09:21):
for younger Gen Z sort of in high school.
And the difference,like I was mentioning in Gen
Alpha, we're talking elementary schoolnow you're doing this as they learn
how to learn, which I thinkis really important for us to recognize.
These are the shaping yearswhere they learn how to learn.
I'm teaching my kids how to study.
I am teaching them what deadlines mean.
(09:43):
You get homework done in a certain time.
A lot of a lot of our kids,depending on your districts and stuff,
but they don't possibly do homework
or not until they're kind of older.
So deadlines and turning thingsin on a certain time for my kids
over the past couple of yearshas been like that is in and of itself
(10:06):
something I'm teaching themthe importance of even that is negotiable.
At my son's school,there's a time that it's due
and then the teachers will say,Hey, it's missing,
and then he'll have like two weeks to goand go get that finished
and turned in and he gets full, quote,grades for it throwing me off.
But that's one one key difference isthis is happening
(10:27):
much younger than the other generations.
And for the other generations,it was just kind of nice
and part of being an adult. Now.
And for our for Gen Alpha, it'sshaping how they learn because this is
what's happening at thisstill early stages of their life.
The second key difference iseveryone talks about,
you know, tick tock or YouTube shortsor these types of things
(10:51):
less produced shortersnippets, much more authentic,
much easier to connect to the personfor Gen Alpha that is part of everyday
everything, including nowthey're not going to tick tock in school.
I don't think. I don't think not right.
I don't think teachers are saying that,but they have, you know, as his wife,
(11:14):
my son willthey'll be introducing a new history thing
and his teachers will have copiedand embedded
in their discussion boardsthese really short little like YouTube
shorts kind of videos of somebodywith their phone introducing a topic.
And they might have do cutaways
to different scenes from a movieor something very much like that.
(11:37):
Gen Z Whilethey are totally on the Tik-tok train
and Facebook is for old peopleand all of that jazz stuff
where the YouTube generationactually they're more younger,
millennials and Gen Zsare more into the YouTube source,
which while still my own video system,I'm still accepting of green screens,
(12:01):
still acceptingof that kind of sort of produce,
not overly produced,but that's kind of okay, younger Gen Z.
And certainly as you get into Gen
Alpha, as is, I try to show my sonreally neat produce created videos.
He completely checks out and walks away.
If I pull up something that someone didwith their phone, he's like, sucked in.
(12:21):
Yes. It's going to changehow we create that video content, I think.
And where organizationsinvest their learning strategy dollars
to create some on demand content,what does that need to look like?
Does it need to be as as fancifulas we make it?
I don't know that it does. Yeah. No,absolutely.
I feel like they they want the contentthat looks like a not an over over
(12:43):
sort of or overproduced,like you said, Tik tok like something
that they can relate toand they can relate to a Tik
Tok of someonewho just pulled out their phone
and started talking and showing themhow to do something, but they might not
necessarily be able to relate to someonewho is put together a whole production
with, like you said, along a longer videoshowing you how to do something.
(13:06):
So I totally understand that and get that.
Yeah. Yeah.
So you mentioned that organizationsdo need to start thinking about this now
and they have a few years now to startkind of rethinking their strategy.
So going after that,what is really a primary difference
in how an organization's developmentstrategy
(13:27):
currently would want to consider adjustingto integrate this next generation?
Learner What I love thatyou use the phrase integrate
because what I would never encouragean organization to do is pivot
that generation and completely excludethe fact that, as you said in our opener,
there are four other generationswork for us still here.
(13:50):
Just added one, right?
We're bringing in some new folksthat don't learn at all the way
I mean, the waythey're looking to learn in the way Gen X
is looking to learnand how we're used to it.
I should say it'snot even looking to learn.
It's what we're used to and thereforecomfortable with polar opposites.
Right?
But Gen X is still there.
Elder millennials like myself,we're still here, Baby boomers are still
(14:12):
there, and on boards at least, you know,
the traditionalist generation,my father that may even be on a board.
It would be terrifying,but he would be on board.
They're still around, right?
So how are we aWhat I have seen success in
and what I am encouraging organizationsto do is integrate strategies
(14:33):
that will include that next generationwhile not throwing the baby out
with the bathwater and getting rid
of your existing strategiesthat include the generations
that are still within our workforce,that what we need to do
and I was having a conversationa couple of weeks ago with a young lady
(14:54):
newer into the industry, newerinto the work career field, and she and
I were talking about this topic actually,and she said,
I just wish that organizationswould give options,
so I don't want to go to this leadersprogram.
She's branding the organization.
(15:14):
So we're talking new hire,kind of get to know
the organization programwhere you've created this schedule.
And I go do all of these thingsat these times.
What I would love to do for meis have my resource person
that is like my guide and how I learn.
And then I could
we offer this information in this classon these days, if that's of interest,
(15:37):
we do have some short video optionsto go over the same information
and you can talk with your managerin between.
We have some great talking
point guides at the end of each videoand you could do it that way.
We also have these articles over hereif you want to read them
and kind of learn about our culturethat way and talk to your manager.
So why I referenced that ChooseYour Path book
(16:01):
when we first started chattingis because that's what started
blinking in my head while she was talkingis, my gosh,
we could deliver the same information
in a multitude of ways and to be inclusive
of all generations, let your learnerschoose their learning path.
Let them decide what makes sensefor how they like to get information
(16:23):
and who are their sources of truthto help them connect it all together.
We do need that,you know, administrative control
and understanding that you are learningthis stuff, that we are making
sure you're walking away with whatwe want you to walk away with.
But that the conceptthat it has to be built
by a learning strategist or built
(16:45):
and led by an instructor
to accomplishthat would be outdated thinking.
I think there are other waysthat we could provide it,
because what we are talking aboutmakes sense
for ABC Learner.
What others might be talking aboutmakes sense for deaf learner,
(17:06):
and we need to help learners through ZekeSo don't get rid of the content you have.
Take the time now to look at allthe content that you've identified
as an organization is importantfor us to develop our employees on or in.
How can I take this instructor LED classor this 30 minute e-learning
and distill it into something different?
(17:27):
Can we create blogs?
Do we have podcast recording approaches?
They're all internal.
They're in a bank,
a resource bank,and they can go in and click
on, you know, episodeone episode to episode three,
and they have a weekto listen to them all.
And that's how theythat would be great for them.
And then at the end of each podcastepisode, you say, okay,
so we encourage you between now,
(17:47):
when you listen to your next episodeto talk to your manager about
and then you put in those threetalking points and then they would go chat
with their manager and the manager knowswhat they are and just same
informationdelivered in a multitude of ways
and let the learner ownwhat makes the most sense for them.
That's what adapting to include
(18:10):
these other generations should look like.
Those are all great pointsand great ideas.
You think of God choose your pathor choose your pathway,
and I just immediatelythink of the tic tac sound.
Choose your fighter.
Like that just comes up in my head.
I know where that comes from, right?
Where is that wrong with your line?
(18:30):
And I can picture the sound in everything.
Mortal MortalKombat is a very, very, very.
There's a Gen Z statement for those.
Fantastic. I loved it.
But yes, that's what we're talking about.
Well, moving on here,the phrase authentic city
often comes up withwhen we hear about the next generation or
(18:51):
what does this really mean in terms
of content development and curation and.
So I was mentioning,
you know,they get disengaged with overly produced
stuff talking about what in the industry
we often call the happy path, where intraining class we talk about the perfect
(19:15):
this is the perfect scenarioand here's how you would do this
and then you would do thisand then they will respond this way
and then you would do thisand everybody's happy.
Conflict resolved.
And what folks are looking forin terms of authenticity is
tell me what it really looks like.How does it really go?
Can you not look perfectwhile you explain this to me?
And can you not be in frontof some green screen?
(19:37):
I don't mean our beautiful logobackgrounds.
I mean in these in these trainingsare like these green screened, amazing
modern corporate offices that, you know,they're not actually standing in
because, you know, very few officesactually look like that in the world.
And any all of those layers together
make the whole learning disingenuous.
(19:59):
And they tune outbecause this person has no concept
of what it's really likeor this person doesn't.
Yeah, doesn't speak my languageand I can't connect with them.
What they're looking for isand I call them selfie
selfie videos,like I could hold my phone up,
just do a chat, a five minute chat
(20:19):
or less on the six
behaviors, adaptive leadership behaviors,and then say, try this one
next time you want to be direct, trythis when you want to flex into coaching
and they that feels more real.
You standing there.
I'm a I'm a person.
I'm not in the most perfect settingand I'm having a quick conversation
(20:42):
with you about what it looks likeand and how it works.
And that feels more real.
I am a leadership coach, so it makesmore sense that I would talk about that.
It would make no sense if I made a videoabout marketing strategy.
I don't do that.
But having a marketing person pop onand say, Marketing hot tip of the week
(21:03):
and they know who they arebecause they're in their organization,
it just is a quick hitand it's one of them.
It's one of my team members.
It's a person I know
in a space that I feel likeif I walked up to their desk,
they would say it to me in that exactsame way.
And that's authenticity. Yes.
And I can relate to that.
Even being a younger, a younger employee,like that's
(21:26):
the type of learning that I want toor that I want to see so be prejudged.
So we get in therejust I mean, I'll just interview you.
You tell what you want. Exactly.
So tell me if I'm wrong.
Okay.
You know what? You are 100% on. Right on.
Well, we're we've been bringing up phonesa lot and Tic TAC and all this,
(21:47):
so we've got to bring up technologyat some point.
So how has really technologyshaped the way that Gen Alpha learns
and what role should other digital toolsplay in these modern training programs?
Yeah, I mean, GoogleClassroom is part of elementary school.
Google Classroom becomes they all thoseall of them have like an online platform.
(22:10):
All of the kids have Chromebooksinstead of books.
But all of the kids most of the kidsschools have that by junior high.
My son had that by seventh grade,but up through sixth grade, a lot of stuff
was done on these interactive whiteboardsin the room or something like that.
Now, I know every district is different.
I know every private school versus publicschool and all of it can look different.
(22:33):
My son goes to public school.
I can all look different.
But all of the districtsare using these platforms
for where the content is held.
So he'll go to a platformand then there's I kid
you not 12 different apps
that he would be clicking in and out ofto get his classwork done.
(22:58):
His math class alone has three appsthat he uses.
The only class that feels even remotely
like how I used tolearn is his social studies class.
And that'sbecause they only have one app they use.
I didn't have any apps, but like that'show he expects to go find content
and he finds it on his ownwith the teacher being the guide.
(23:20):
If Here's the things
I want you to accomplish today,here's some resources to do it.
His English teacher is teaching themhow to use
chat gpg coming into an organization
when he gets into full time workthat doesn't even use
any type of technology like thatin any way
would feel very weird to himbecause he's been really will
at that point have been using itfor five years in school, you know,
(23:43):
so they're looking for a source.
They're looking for.
I always say you just have a pondand the teacher tells you what
to fish for and you go fish for it,which makes no sense to him.
And he tells me he doesn't fish,
but the point being,that's how it's being done.
Right?
And we have these technologies in our or
in our organizations right now.
(24:04):
So many organizationshave some sort of collaborative tool
they use, whether it's teams,whether it is WebEx teams,
there's Microsoftteams, there's WebEx teams,
whether it is even Google Slack or GoogleHangouts.
Right.
Some free version of a toolto collaborate.
Organizations are doing that.
(24:25):
It used to be colleges used Blackboard.
Right.
And that was again pre me I didn't useI did the Dewey Decimal system
and I went to librarybut there was blackboard
and that was kind of itand it was in college.
Now we're talking just how I get
my assignments work done in sixth grade.
So we have these capabilitiesin our organizations right now.
(24:49):
We don't think of using them.
Not every organization, I should say.
I have some of our members that do,but not every organization thinks about
how do we use this
as part of our learning strategy and notjust as part of our collaboration tool.
That's where I think we can.
You can do this utilizing a lot of tools
that you have at your disposal,and you should utilize all of them.
(25:12):
Because remember, I'm talking
about creating a learning path,not pivoting, integrating.
And I would say going off of that.
Then follow up question to that is,do you have
or have you seen any organizationsthat have already started
to kind of to where they're more integrate
their training and development programsfor general hire already?
(25:38):
Yeah, Yeah, we do.We have a couple of members.
It's interesting they're inthe one is in the of Rackspace
so they started doing thisnot for Gen Alpha
but because a lot of their teammembers are in their vans and on the road.
So they're notyou can't do a atria system e-learning
because we don't give them computersand yes we all have mobile learning.
(26:00):
But if you look at mobile learningand an L.M.
learning management
system, platforms that are mobile enabled,it's the same video on a smaller screen.
That's the only difference.
It is a completely redone for your phone.
It's still a videoand you still might have quiz questions
that pop up in betweenand you just are doing it
(26:22):
on a smaller screenso it's not actually redone for mobile.
So it wasn't really working for them.
So they started creating these thingsbecause they did
have certain pieces of contentthat were hands on.
And so you have to cometo the warehouse to do it,
but we offer it a multitude of timesbecause of schedules.
(26:44):
So I might have an installationscheduled that day.
And we can't stop all installationsas a business.
We aren't going to do that. That's silly.
So well offered and multiple timesto fit your schedule.
So people were starting to choosetheir own path already based on that.
That works for me.
And then they all had teams
and so they started creating teamschannels for content.
(27:06):
There are two new create a channel.
Here's a lot of waysthis can benefit a learning strategy.
One, it's a it's a mobile.
You can install teams on your phone, right
When you have a channel that you belongto, let's say new employee channel
or emerging leaderschannel or customer service channel.
And it's not us talking
with the members, it's learninghow to be great at our customer services.
(27:29):
We're at their homesand we're doing these installations.
What happens is
they get added to the channel becauseeither say they want to or everybody does.
For the first year, whichevertheir strategy is, the channel has a chat.
So they would have ongoing discussionsall the time in the moment,
coaching with the the guide there, but
they also have their cohort of learnersof other people.
(27:51):
So they've just dealt with this situation,you know, not knowing if I did it right.
What's your opinion and the groupschatting about it then another tab
for the channels, those filesand they would have procedures.
F.A. Qs, all kinds of sourcesof information there for them.
They also could have videos in that file
(28:11):
and they, there's a lot of different appsyou can add on to any team's channel.
So they would haveall these different things,
including a scheduler,so that if they did have in-person classes
coming up on this topicand it was something that you feel like
you needed more helpin, you could go to the scheduler,
click it, it linked to the LMS to registerso you can track.
(28:35):
Like I said, you still goingto have some sort of tracking system
to the stuff and people that wanted to goto the in-person class and they,
they would have the multiple sessionsand they would click it
and they would come,but you didn't have to.
And some people the way thethe soapies, some videos
and the chat function worked for themand they didn't do it for that generation.
But I told them,I said, Well, you're in luck.
(28:56):
You're already set up thumbs up.
My early start.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, and, and they did a lot of theirthey would reach into the chat
channel and say,hey, we're looking to update our videos.
Anybody want to come?
So to that authenticity point, they werejust shooting them with their own.
I don't know if it was their phonesprobably a little bit fancier,
(29:17):
but their own like handheld videoswith volunteers of team members.
So so people are showing up.
We're not producing.
We knocked around an hourand then within like a half hour
it was up and in thein the team's channel on that subject.
So using teamsnot just for a collaborative tool,
but as a development piece of the strategyand they just did it beautifully.
(29:42):
I was like, You're good. High five here.
that's a great it'sa great example of a good success story.
So yeah, I do also want to reiteratethe point I know we talked about, but
that there are are also other generationsin the workplace simultaneously.
So can you just kind of reiteratethe point or talk about how
(30:05):
this strategic adjustment or integration,what that really means for
for those learnersof different generations? Yes.
And you used the pivotal word again,integration, right?
Don't throw out what you already have.
Just use it.
You already have a strategy
that is identified important informationthat you as an organization, agree.
(30:27):
You should invest your time and energyinto developing your people on.
Because whatever learning strategyyou have that involves a person
coordinating it, peoplespending time outside of their daily
work to learn it means you as anorganization have determined it's worth
the time investment and possibly dependingon what it is, the financial investment.
(30:50):
So don't get rid of any of that.
It's saying how can we also deliver that
in potentially more of a chooseyour own path kind of way?
Can we take that information?
And what are the exercisesthat for someone that doesn't need to
or want to go to a learningfor workshop approach we can take out
and still give them that information.
(31:11):
It's more of like a like an articlekind of thing to read.
And then instead of exercises,
we finish it with those talking pointsthat you go chat with your manager about.
Don't expect people to read itand retain it.
You have to kind of let them inand they need to let the manager know.
They read this,they want to talk about these points,
but how I integrate it into my job role,the threat that
(31:32):
other people might go to the classon the same content,
but it's taking what already exists
because it's been determined as important
and then spending some energyin providing it in some different ways
so that as other generationsand other learner preferences,
you also might find you.
I don't want to assume that there aren't,you know,
(31:55):
my mom as she's a boomer, she's a boomerlike the first year, the baby boomer.
But she and I talk about it andshe's like, man, there was a lot of stuff.
I would sit through glass and think,this could have been
like a quick walk by my cube and tell meand I would have been fine.
She's a math mathematicianand engineer woman,
so most things she felt could have beenhandled through a quick conversation.
(32:18):
But so you might be surprisedas to who you see take advantage of more
of that self-guided, not even justself-paced, self-guided learning strategy.
No, that's a good pointTo just mention that
some gen zers or gen alphasmay not all take the same approach or.
They're all the same way.
So that's a good point to bring up.
(32:41):
But kind of wrapping up here,do I know we talked about a lot today,
but do you have three main takeawaysthat our listeners
can kind of walk away with in terms of
how they can really start integrating
learning and development strategiesfor Gen Alpha learners?
Absolutely.
(33:02):
Stop throwing so much money intoproduction for any of your video stuff.
You don't have to sow moreauthentic content that feels more real.
So embracethe fact that you might be talking
about the happy pathand spend time talking about reality.
Diverse. Don't get rid of what you have.
(33:24):
Diversify how someone can accessthe information shared and what you have.
And the third one, and this is going to bethe hardest for any organization
potentially it was the hardest for me,
and I like to think I'm pretty progressivelearning
views Embrace empowering the learner.
I'll say that online again.
(33:45):
Embrace empowering the learnerso who knows how it.
So if you would like information sharedbest, I don't know if you knows that
so too that diversifyingthen let go features.
Here's the things I need you to know.
I need you 30, 60, 90 to know it.
Here'sthe different ways you can learn it.
Let's sit down and myself as the learningleader, person or whatever.
(34:09):
Right? The trainer assigned to you.
You're your Sherpathrough your learning guide.
As we sit down, let's map it out.
What makes the most sense for you?
And you might be like parents.
It's kind of hard.
I think that one,I would like to go to a class on.
I'm pretty good at that.
And this is embracingadult learning theory.
This is my whole careerand we hire experts
and then we train them how to do it.
(34:30):
Steve Jobs is like that is so ridiculous.
And I agree with the man.
If you're a marketing expert,I'm not going to train you on like
how to market and social.
Come take our social media marketing.
Sophie Who's donesocial media marketing for forever?
I'm not going to do that.
So you might be like,I just want to read your policies on that.
I'm good.
You know,let me sit you down with the options.
(34:53):
Let you choose.
A it's a great, great ending point hereand some great action steps
that our listenerscan start implementing today
then, or at least thinking about it,you know?
Yeah,
well, you just heard from every subjectmatter expert on educating general flow.
But to our listenerswe also want to hear from you.
(35:13):
So we're curious to knowwhat you're doing to kind of revamp or
I guess, revamp your training programsfor the next generation.
And so we are giving outone of our new podcast merch swag items.
So we're encouraging youto send in your comments
on this question for a chanceto win that podcast Souvenir you'll want.
(35:33):
I have one and I want it.
I want one. So can I comment?
I'll give you a one.
But otherwise,thank you so much for tuning in today.
Thank you, Amanda,for all that great information.
As always.
Don't forget to check out the resourcesin the show notes below
on MRA membershipand Resources on this specific episode.
So I hope you have a great dayand we will see you next week.
(35:58):
And that wraps up our contentfor this episode.
Be sure to reference the show noteswhere you can sign them to connect
for more podcasts
updates, check out other MRA episodeson your favorite podcast platform.
And as always, make sure to follow MRA's30 minutes THRIVE
so you don't miss out.Thanks for tuning in
and we'll see you next Wednesdayto carry on the conversation.
Hello everybody and welcome to 30 minuteThrive, your go to podcast for anything
and everything HR, powered by MRA,the Management Association.
Looking to stay on top of the everchanging world of HR?
MRA has got you covered.
We'll be the first to tell you what's hotand what's not.
I'm your host, Sophie Bolerand we are so glad you're here.
(00:21):
Now it's time to thrive.
Well, welcome, everybody.
We are so glad you're hereand I hope you're ready to talk
generations today, specifically on onethat you may have never heard before.
So never before.
There have been five generationsin the workforce
and each generation, as you know,has their own quirks, styles, likes,
dislikes, ways to work, communicate,and even learn.
(00:44):
So in this podcast episode, specifically,we're going to be focusing on the newest
generation joining us in the workplace,and that is Generation Alpha.
So it looks like Gen Alpha is the groupof generation following generation Z.
So Gen X’ers are born in the early 2010’sgoing through the early 2020s.
(01:06):
So we knowand are finding that each generation
bringssomething really unique to the table. So.
Amanda Mosteller, MRA's director of talentDevelopment, is joining me today
to talk about Gen Alphahow you should really
update your L&D strategyto include these Gen Alpha learners.
Make sure to stay tunedthroughout the episode and we'll tell you
(01:27):
how you can wina podcast swag item at the end.
Just exciting little note there.
But Amanda,we know we now know who Gen Alphas are,
but really my first question to you iswhy is it essential for organizations to
now adapt their training and developmentstrategies for this generation?
(01:47):
When I think about Gen Alpha,I have this case study
across the hall and it's my kids.
They were born in 2010.
We all went through thisinteresting thing,
maybe you've heard ofit called a global pandemic.
And that pandemic expedited
lots of things for all generations.
(02:11):
One of the things that expedited forGen Alpha that is different
than other generations is integratedlearning in school.
So I'm not talking about adultlearning theory principles
versus child learning theory principles.
We're not going into Andrew
versus pedagogy here,but what we are going to talk about
(02:32):
is being usedto what the source of knowledge
plays a part in for for these kids.
So in most of Gen Alpha was fourth grade
or younger when the pandemic hit.
Prior to that, teachers in the classroom
did a lot of teaching to the whole group
(02:54):
from the front, doing activities,walking around and helping.
They weren't putting elementary schoolkids into these Google class
type structures at such a young age.
They were doing that more in high schooland certainly in college.
But the pandemic launchedan expedited ETD,
(03:15):
putting kids at younger agesinto these platforms to learn things.
What that has done is changedtheir expectation
of what the knowledge expert in the room's
function is and how they learn.
So Gen Z would have started doing
(03:36):
that in college, mostly older. Gen Z.
It wasn't until college younger, Gen
Z, maybe in high school,some certainly not in elementary school,
but now it's embedded in elementary schoolfrom like third and fourth grade on.
Because the schools put moneyinto these platforms.
They have licenses,they might as well use them. Right.
And so the reason it's importantfor us to think about
(03:59):
is because a lot of organizations
are still hanging on to e-learningor instructor led training,
possibly blended where we dosome e-learning, pre class and post class.
But that's as as diverseas we're getting in our strategy.
But Gen Z doesn't
(04:20):
is looking for something different and GenAlpha won't even understand it.
Let's say.
Why on earth are you doing it this way?
That's not what the source of truth does.
That's not their role in my learning.
So it's time nowbecause we have four years before
they'll be the oldest partof that generation.
(04:41):
To your point of the early 20 tens.
My kids are born in 2010 and dependingon which sociologist time range,
you look at 2010, somewherebetween there and 2012 is Gen Alpha.
So so they're halfway througheighth grade, everybody.
But it's, you know, four years
until they are eligiblefor full time work.
(05:02):
And so we have four years to reallylook at how we deliver
training now, recognizehow it might not even be meeting Gen Z
and really not diversified in our strategyto meet Gen Alpha.
So that's why now's the timeto be thinking about this.
Well, absolutely.
And I know you you kind of touched onsome of these points,
(05:22):
but I'm interested inknowing some of the key characteristics
and really preferences of Gen Gen Alphawhen it comes to learning and development.
Yeah, they're wanting more and more
for the knowledge expert to be their guide
to where to find the information
(05:43):
and to bounce ideas and discussion off of,
to make surethat they're understanding it,
but they're not looking for the instructor
or the facilitator, or for the learningstrategy to be a source of truth,
teaching it to them in an in-classroomor B in E learning
lengthy E learnings,overproduced E learnings,
(06:04):
and they check outthey're not looking for that.
What they're looking for is
and I'm going to age myself here,my generation might remember
and maybe remember Sophie, the ChooseYour Path books.
So you would read a bookand you would get to a page
and they would say, okay, you can chooseto walk into the scary woods
(06:25):
or turn around and go back.
If you choose to walk into the woods,turn to page 37.
If you choose to go back, turn to page 46,
and then you would go readif you essentially like,
made it to the next stage or somethinghorrible was usually it was a creepy book.
It was
You should it's somethingthat ends the story for you
and you have to go back and choosethe other way.
But younger Gen Zs and Gen Alpha,
(06:48):
they're looking for that kind of choosemy path in learning.
And I don't mean my career path.
I mean how I want to learn,how I want information delivered to me,
what helps for meand let me make those choices.
Let me control that.
And the knowledge experts are there.
Guide in how to find that information.
(07:11):
What might be helpful.
They might come back and say,you know, as I was watching this short,
short video or I was reading
that blog, youyou had the internal blog you have
and I want to talk to you about this
because I'm trying to understandthis concept and how it works in my role.
That's what they're looking for.
They want guidance.
They don't want to haveto rely on the person to come on Tuesday
(07:35):
from 8 to 4and tell them because they're that
they're in class now in school.
My kids, for example, are being shownwhere all the resources are to find
the information within like the first10 minutes of a new subject.
And then they might have three dayswhere they're meeting
all different kinds of thingsall on their own.
So all through 90 milliondifferent platforms
(07:56):
that I have to try and followto make sure they're doing their homework.
But that's what they're used to.
Theirtheir teachers are learning partners now.
They're not the single source of truth.
So that's what they're expecting
when they come into a learning strategy of you
go to these classes during the first weekand then after your first 30 days,
you go to these classes every Mondayand then you have these
(08:17):
E learnings to finishbetween it between 30 and 60 days.
And look how diverse we are
because we do some in classand some online
and they would be like certain articleabout that.
There are some thingI can go find that without having to
do either of those prior.
Well I know we talked about thatGen Z is similar to Gen Alpha
(08:39):
in a lot of ways,but what would make this new Generation
Alpha different from Gen Zand how they choose
or their contentand how that content is really delivered?
Yeah, a couple of key differences.
One is I mentioned it kind ofin the beginning of our chat for a Gen Z.
(09:00):
This the source of truth
being the guide and lots of resources
and we don't come to a roomfive days a week for this.
We do it in lots of ways.
That really kicked off for older Gen Zs.
We're talking college like thatjust didn't happen until college
(09:21):
for younger Gen Z sort of in high school.
And the difference,like I was mentioning in Gen
Alpha, we're talking elementary schoolnow you're doing this as they learn
how to learn, which I thinkis really important for us to recognize.
These are the shaping yearswhere they learn how to learn.
I'm teaching my kids how to study.
I am teaching them what deadlines mean.
(09:43):
You get homework done in a certain time.
A lot of a lot of our kids,depending on your districts and stuff,
but they don't possibly do homework
or not until they're kind of older.
So deadlines and turning thingsin on a certain time for my kids
over the past couple of yearshas been like that is in and of itself
(10:06):
something I'm teaching themthe importance of even that is negotiable.
At my son's school,there's a time that it's due
and then the teachers will say,Hey, it's missing,
and then he'll have like two weeks to goand go get that finished
and turned in and he gets full, quote,grades for it throwing me off.
But that's one one key difference isthis is happening
(10:27):
much younger than the other generations.
And for the other generations,it was just kind of nice
and part of being an adult. Now.
And for our for Gen Alpha, it'sshaping how they learn because this is
what's happening at thisstill early stages of their life.
The second key difference iseveryone talks about,
you know, tick tock or YouTube shortsor these types of things
(10:51):
less produced shortersnippets, much more authentic,
much easier to connect to the personfor Gen Alpha that is part of everyday
everything, including nowthey're not going to tick tock in school.
I don't think. I don't think not right.
I don't think teachers are saying that,but they have, you know, as his wife,
(11:14):
my son willthey'll be introducing a new history thing
and his teachers will have copiedand embedded
in their discussion boardsthese really short little like YouTube
shorts kind of videos of somebodywith their phone introducing a topic.
And they might have do cutaways
to different scenes from a movieor something very much like that.
(11:37):
Gen Z Whilethey are totally on the Tik-tok train
and Facebook is for old peopleand all of that jazz stuff
where the YouTube generationactually they're more younger,
millennials and Gen Zsare more into the YouTube source,
which while still my own video system,I'm still accepting of green screens,
(12:01):
still acceptingof that kind of sort of produce,
not overly produced,but that's kind of okay, younger Gen Z.
And certainly as you get into Gen
Alpha, as is, I try to show my sonreally neat produce created videos.
He completely checks out and walks away.
If I pull up something that someone didwith their phone, he's like, sucked in.
(12:21):
Yes. It's going to changehow we create that video content, I think.
And where organizationsinvest their learning strategy dollars
to create some on demand content,what does that need to look like?
Does it need to be as as fancifulas we make it?
I don't know that it does. Yeah. No,absolutely.
I feel like they they want the contentthat looks like a not an over over
(12:43):
sort of or overproduced,like you said, Tik tok like something
that they can relate toand they can relate to a Tik
Tok of someonewho just pulled out their phone
and started talking and showing themhow to do something, but they might not
necessarily be able to relate to someonewho is put together a whole production
with, like you said, along a longer videoshowing you how to do something.
(13:06):
So I totally understand that and get that.
Yeah. Yeah.
So you mentioned that organizationsdo need to start thinking about this now
and they have a few years now to startkind of rethinking their strategy.
So going after that,what is really a primary difference
in how an organization's developmentstrategy
(13:27):
currently would want to consider adjustingto integrate this next generation?
Learner What I love thatyou use the phrase integrate
because what I would never encouragean organization to do is pivot
that generation and completely excludethe fact that, as you said in our opener,
there are four other generationswork for us still here.
(13:50):
Just added one, right?
We're bringing in some new folksthat don't learn at all the way
I mean, the waythey're looking to learn in the way Gen X
is looking to learnand how we're used to it.
I should say it'snot even looking to learn.
It's what we're used to and thereforecomfortable with polar opposites.
Right?
But Gen X is still there.
Elder millennials like myself,we're still here, Baby boomers are still
(14:12):
there, and on boards at least, you know,
the traditionalist generation,my father that may even be on a board.
It would be terrifying,but he would be on board.
They're still around, right?
So how are we aWhat I have seen success in
and what I am encouraging organizationsto do is integrate strategies
(14:33):
that will include that next generationwhile not throwing the baby out
with the bathwater and getting rid
of your existing strategiesthat include the generations
that are still within our workforce,that what we need to do
and I was having a conversationa couple of weeks ago with a young lady
(14:54):
newer into the industry, newerinto the work career field, and she and
I were talking about this topic actually,and she said,
I just wish that organizationswould give options,
so I don't want to go to this leadersprogram.
She's branding the organization.
(15:14):
So we're talking new hire,kind of get to know
the organization programwhere you've created this schedule.
And I go do all of these thingsat these times.
What I would love to do for meis have my resource person
that is like my guide and how I learn.
And then I could
we offer this information in this classon these days, if that's of interest,
(15:37):
we do have some short video optionsto go over the same information
and you can talk with your managerin between.
We have some great talking
point guides at the end of each videoand you could do it that way.
We also have these articles over hereif you want to read them
and kind of learn about our culturethat way and talk to your manager.
So why I referenced that ChooseYour Path book
(16:01):
when we first started chattingis because that's what started
blinking in my head while she was talkingis, my gosh,
we could deliver the same information
in a multitude of ways and to be inclusive
of all generations, let your learnerschoose their learning path.
Let them decide what makes sensefor how they like to get information
(16:23):
and who are their sources of truthto help them connect it all together.
We do need that,you know, administrative control
and understanding that you are learningthis stuff, that we are making
sure you're walking away with whatwe want you to walk away with.
But that the conceptthat it has to be built
by a learning strategist or built
(16:45):
and led by an instructor
to accomplishthat would be outdated thinking.
I think there are other waysthat we could provide it,
because what we are talking aboutmakes sense
for ABC Learner.
What others might be talking aboutmakes sense for deaf learner,
(17:06):
and we need to help learners through ZekeSo don't get rid of the content you have.
Take the time now to look at allthe content that you've identified
as an organization is importantfor us to develop our employees on or in.
How can I take this instructor LED classor this 30 minute e-learning
and distill it into something different?
(17:27):
Can we create blogs?
Do we have podcast recording approaches?
They're all internal.
They're in a bank,
a resource bank,and they can go in and click
on, you know, episodeone episode to episode three,
and they have a weekto listen to them all.
And that's how theythat would be great for them.
And then at the end of each podcastepisode, you say, okay,
so we encourage you between now,
(17:47):
when you listen to your next episodeto talk to your manager about
and then you put in those threetalking points and then they would go chat
with their manager and the manager knowswhat they are and just same
informationdelivered in a multitude of ways
and let the learner ownwhat makes the most sense for them.
That's what adapting to include
(18:10):
these other generations should look like.
Those are all great pointsand great ideas.
You think of God choose your pathor choose your pathway,
and I just immediatelythink of the tic tac sound.
Choose your fighter.
Like that just comes up in my head.
I know where that comes from, right?
Where is that wrong with your line?
(18:30):
And I can picture the sound in everything.
Mortal MortalKombat is a very, very, very.
There's a Gen Z statement for those.
Fantastic. I loved it.
But yes, that's what we're talking about.
Well, moving on here,the phrase authentic city
often comes up withwhen we hear about the next generation or
(18:51):
what does this really mean in terms
of content development and curation and.
So I was mentioning,
you know,they get disengaged with overly produced
stuff talking about what in the industry
we often call the happy path, where intraining class we talk about the perfect
(19:15):
this is the perfect scenarioand here's how you would do this
and then you would do thisand then they will respond this way
and then you would do thisand everybody's happy.
Conflict resolved.
And what folks are looking forin terms of authenticity is
tell me what it really looks like.How does it really go?
Can you not look perfectwhile you explain this to me?
And can you not be in frontof some green screen?
(19:37):
I don't mean our beautiful logobackgrounds.
I mean in these in these trainingsare like these green screened, amazing
modern corporate offices that, you know,they're not actually standing in
because, you know, very few officesactually look like that in the world.
And any all of those layers together
make the whole learning disingenuous.
(19:59):
And they tune outbecause this person has no concept
of what it's really likeor this person doesn't.
Yeah, doesn't speak my languageand I can't connect with them.
What they're looking for isand I call them selfie
selfie videos,like I could hold my phone up,
just do a chat, a five minute chat
(20:19):
or less on the six
behaviors, adaptive leadership behaviors,and then say, try this one
next time you want to be direct, trythis when you want to flex into coaching
and they that feels more real.
You standing there.
I'm a I'm a person.
I'm not in the most perfect settingand I'm having a quick conversation
(20:42):
with you about what it looks likeand and how it works.
And that feels more real.
I am a leadership coach, so it makesmore sense that I would talk about that.
It would make no sense if I made a videoabout marketing strategy.
I don't do that.
But having a marketing person pop onand say, Marketing hot tip of the week
(21:03):
and they know who they arebecause they're in their organization,
it just is a quick hitand it's one of them.
It's one of my team members.
It's a person I know
in a space that I feel likeif I walked up to their desk,
they would say it to me in that exactsame way.
And that's authenticity. Yes.
And I can relate to that.
Even being a younger, a younger employee,like that's
(21:26):
the type of learning that I want toor that I want to see so be prejudged.
So we get in therejust I mean, I'll just interview you.
You tell what you want. Exactly.
So tell me if I'm wrong.
Okay.
You know what? You are 100% on. Right on.
Well, we're we've been bringing up phonesa lot and Tic TAC and all this,
(21:47):
so we've got to bring up technologyat some point.
So how has really technologyshaped the way that Gen Alpha learns
and what role should other digital toolsplay in these modern training programs?
Yeah, I mean, GoogleClassroom is part of elementary school.
Google Classroom becomes they all thoseall of them have like an online platform.
(22:10):
All of the kids have Chromebooksinstead of books.
But all of the kids most of the kidsschools have that by junior high.
My son had that by seventh grade,but up through sixth grade, a lot of stuff
was done on these interactive whiteboardsin the room or something like that.
Now, I know every district is different.
I know every private school versus publicschool and all of it can look different.
(22:33):
My son goes to public school.
I can all look different.
But all of the districtsare using these platforms
for where the content is held.
So he'll go to a platformand then there's I kid
you not 12 different apps
that he would be clicking in and out ofto get his classwork done.
(22:58):
His math class alone has three appsthat he uses.
The only class that feels even remotely
like how I used tolearn is his social studies class.
And that'sbecause they only have one app they use.
I didn't have any apps, but like that'show he expects to go find content
and he finds it on his ownwith the teacher being the guide.
(23:20):
If Here's the things
I want you to accomplish today,here's some resources to do it.
His English teacher is teaching themhow to use
chat gpg coming into an organization
when he gets into full time workthat doesn't even use
any type of technology like thatin any way
would feel very weird to himbecause he's been really will
at that point have been using itfor five years in school, you know,
(23:43):
so they're looking for a source.
They're looking for.
I always say you just have a pondand the teacher tells you what
to fish for and you go fish for it,which makes no sense to him.
And he tells me he doesn't fish,
but the point being,that's how it's being done.
Right?
And we have these technologies in our or
in our organizations right now.
(24:04):
So many organizationshave some sort of collaborative tool
they use, whether it's teams,whether it is WebEx teams,
there's Microsoftteams, there's WebEx teams,
whether it is even Google Slack or GoogleHangouts.
Right.
Some free version of a toolto collaborate.
Organizations are doing that.
(24:25):
It used to be colleges used Blackboard.
Right.
And that was again pre me I didn't useI did the Dewey Decimal system
and I went to librarybut there was blackboard
and that was kind of itand it was in college.
Now we're talking just how I get
my assignments work done in sixth grade.
So we have these capabilitiesin our organizations right now.
(24:49):
We don't think of using them.
Not every organization, I should say.
I have some of our members that do,but not every organization thinks about
how do we use this
as part of our learning strategy and notjust as part of our collaboration tool.
That's where I think we can.
You can do this utilizing a lot of tools
that you have at your disposal,and you should utilize all of them.
(25:12):
Because remember, I'm talking
about creating a learning path,not pivoting, integrating.
And I would say going off of that.
Then follow up question to that is,do you have
or have you seen any organizationsthat have already started
to kind of to where they're more integrate
their training and development programsfor general hire already?
(25:38):
Yeah, Yeah, we do.We have a couple of members.
It's interesting they're inthe one is in the of Rackspace
so they started doing thisnot for Gen Alpha
but because a lot of their teammembers are in their vans and on the road.
So they're notyou can't do a atria system e-learning
because we don't give them computersand yes we all have mobile learning.
(26:00):
But if you look at mobile learningand an L.M.
learning management
system, platforms that are mobile enabled,it's the same video on a smaller screen.
That's the only difference.
It is a completely redone for your phone.
It's still a videoand you still might have quiz questions
that pop up in betweenand you just are doing it
(26:22):
on a smaller screenso it's not actually redone for mobile.
So it wasn't really working for them.
So they started creating these thingsbecause they did
have certain pieces of contentthat were hands on.
And so you have to cometo the warehouse to do it,
but we offer it a multitude of timesbecause of schedules.
(26:44):
So I might have an installationscheduled that day.
And we can't stop all installationsas a business.
We aren't going to do that. That's silly.
So well offered and multiple timesto fit your schedule.
So people were starting to choosetheir own path already based on that.
That works for me.
And then they all had teams
and so they started creating teamschannels for content.
(27:06):
There are two new create a channel.
Here's a lot of waysthis can benefit a learning strategy.
One, it's a it's a mobile.
You can install teams on your phone, right
When you have a channel that you belongto, let's say new employee channel
or emerging leaderschannel or customer service channel.
And it's not us talking
with the members, it's learninghow to be great at our customer services.
(27:29):
We're at their homesand we're doing these installations.
What happens is
they get added to the channel becauseeither say they want to or everybody does.
For the first year, whichevertheir strategy is, the channel has a chat.
So they would have ongoing discussionsall the time in the moment,
coaching with the the guide there, but
they also have their cohort of learnersof other people.
(27:51):
So they've just dealt with this situation,you know, not knowing if I did it right.
What's your opinion and the groupschatting about it then another tab
for the channels, those filesand they would have procedures.
F.A. Qs, all kinds of sourcesof information there for them.
They also could have videos in that file
(28:11):
and they, there's a lot of different appsyou can add on to any team's channel.
So they would haveall these different things,
including a scheduler,so that if they did have in-person classes
coming up on this topicand it was something that you feel like
you needed more helpin, you could go to the scheduler,
click it, it linked to the LMS to registerso you can track.
(28:35):
Like I said, you still goingto have some sort of tracking system
to the stuff and people that wanted to goto the in-person class and they,
they would have the multiple sessionsand they would click it
and they would come,but you didn't have to.
And some people the way thethe soapies, some videos
and the chat function worked for themand they didn't do it for that generation.
But I told them,I said, Well, you're in luck.
(28:56):
You're already set up thumbs up.
My early start.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, and, and they did a lot of theirthey would reach into the chat
channel and say,hey, we're looking to update our videos.
Anybody want to come?
So to that authenticity point, they werejust shooting them with their own.
I don't know if it was their phonesprobably a little bit fancier,
(29:17):
but their own like handheld videoswith volunteers of team members.
So so people are showing up.
We're not producing.
We knocked around an hourand then within like a half hour
it was up and in thein the team's channel on that subject.
So using teamsnot just for a collaborative tool,
but as a development piece of the strategyand they just did it beautifully.
(29:42):
I was like, You're good. High five here.
that's a great it'sa great example of a good success story.
So yeah, I do also want to reiteratethe point I know we talked about, but
that there are are also other generationsin the workplace simultaneously.
So can you just kind of reiteratethe point or talk about how
(30:05):
this strategic adjustment or integration,what that really means for
for those learnersof different generations? Yes.
And you used the pivotal word again,integration, right?
Don't throw out what you already have.
Just use it.
You already have a strategy
that is identified important informationthat you as an organization, agree.
(30:27):
You should invest your time and energyinto developing your people on.
Because whatever learning strategyyou have that involves a person
coordinating it, peoplespending time outside of their daily
work to learn it means you as anorganization have determined it's worth
the time investment and possibly dependingon what it is, the financial investment.
(30:50):
So don't get rid of any of that.
It's saying how can we also deliver that
in potentially more of a chooseyour own path kind of way?
Can we take that information?
And what are the exercisesthat for someone that doesn't need to
or want to go to a learningfor workshop approach we can take out
and still give them that information.
(31:11):
It's more of like a like an articlekind of thing to read.
And then instead of exercises,
we finish it with those talking pointsthat you go chat with your manager about.
Don't expect people to read itand retain it.
You have to kind of let them inand they need to let the manager know.
They read this,they want to talk about these points,
but how I integrate it into my job role,the threat that
(31:32):
other people might go to the classon the same content,
but it's taking what already exists
because it's been determined as important
and then spending some energyin providing it in some different ways
so that as other generationsand other learner preferences,
you also might find you.
I don't want to assume that there aren't,you know,
(31:55):
my mom as she's a boomer, she's a boomerlike the first year, the baby boomer.
But she and I talk about it andshe's like, man, there was a lot of stuff.
I would sit through glass and think,this could have been
like a quick walk by my cube and tell meand I would have been fine.
She's a math mathematicianand engineer woman,
so most things she felt could have beenhandled through a quick conversation.
(32:18):
But so you might be surprisedas to who you see take advantage of more
of that self-guided, not even justself-paced, self-guided learning strategy.
No, that's a good pointTo just mention that
some gen zers or gen alphasmay not all take the same approach or.
They're all the same way.
So that's a good point to bring up.
(32:41):
But kind of wrapping up here,do I know we talked about a lot today,
but do you have three main takeawaysthat our listeners
can kind of walk away with in terms of
how they can really start integrating
learning and development strategiesfor Gen Alpha learners?
Absolutely.
(33:02):
Stop throwing so much money intoproduction for any of your video stuff.
You don't have to sow moreauthentic content that feels more real.
So embracethe fact that you might be talking
about the happy pathand spend time talking about reality.
Diverse. Don't get rid of what you have.
(33:24):
Diversify how someone can accessthe information shared and what you have.
And the third one, and this is going to bethe hardest for any organization
potentially it was the hardest for me,
and I like to think I'm pretty progressivelearning
views Embrace empowering the learner.
I'll say that online again.
(33:45):
Embrace empowering the learnerso who knows how it.
So if you would like information sharedbest, I don't know if you knows that
so too that diversifyingthen let go features.
Here's the things I need you to know.
I need you 30, 60, 90 to know it.
Here'sthe different ways you can learn it.
Let's sit down and myself as the learningleader, person or whatever.
(34:09):
Right? The trainer assigned to you.
You're your Sherpathrough your learning guide.
As we sit down, let's map it out.
What makes the most sense for you?
And you might be like parents.
It's kind of hard.
I think that one,I would like to go to a class on.
I'm pretty good at that.
And this is embracingadult learning theory.
This is my whole careerand we hire experts
and then we train them how to do it.
(34:30):
Steve Jobs is like that is so ridiculous.
And I agree with the man.
If you're a marketing expert,I'm not going to train you on like
how to market and social.
Come take our social media marketing.
Sophie Who's donesocial media marketing for forever?
I'm not going to do that.
So you might be like,I just want to read your policies on that.
I'm good.
You know,let me sit you down with the options.
(34:53):
Let you choose.
A it's a great, great ending point hereand some great action steps
that our listenerscan start implementing today
then, or at least thinking about it,you know?
Yeah,
well, you just heard from every subjectmatter expert on educating general flow.
But to our listenerswe also want to hear from you.
(35:13):
So we're curious to knowwhat you're doing to kind of revamp or
I guess, revamp your training programsfor the next generation.
And so we are giving outone of our new podcast merch swag items.
So we're encouraging youto send in your comments
on this question for a chanceto win that podcast Souvenir you'll want.
(35:33):
I have one and I want it.
I want one. So can I comment?
I'll give you a one.
But otherwise,thank you so much for tuning in today.
Thank you, Amanda,for all that great information.
As always.
Don't forget to check out the resourcesin the show notes below
on MRA membershipand Resources on this specific episode.
So I hope you have a great dayand we will see you next week.
(35:58):
And that wraps up our contentfor this episode.
Be sure to reference the show noteswhere you can sign them to connect
for more podcasts
updates, check out other MRA episodeson your favorite podcast platform.
And as always, make sure to follow MRA's30 minutes THRIVE
so you don't miss out.Thanks for tuning in
and we'll see you next Wednesdayto carry on the conversation.
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