Author: eleanor

The business world has always been volatile, but with recent supply chain disruptions, geopolitical shifts, and the rapid acceleration of AI, change is no longer an event; it is the environment. In this context, the most vital strength a modern company can possess is not efficiency nor an impressive P&L statement but organizational resilience. In this blog, we’ll discuss how business leaders can build a resilient organization that not only withstands shocks but also adapts, learns, and emerges stronger.

For business leaders, this is a defining moment. Building a resilient organization is fundamentally about building resilient people, systems, and processes, and that requires a complete rethink of culture, learning, structure, and strategy.

What is Organizational Resilience, Really?

It’s easy to confuse resilience with ‘grit’ or ‘toughness.’ But resilience is the polar opposite of that. Unlike the massive oak tree that snaps as it stands rigid against the wind, resilience is the art of sustaining the wind and ‘bouncing back.’

A resilient organization is like a bamboo stalk in a hurricane. It bends with the wind, and when the storm passes, it springs back up, having grown stronger. In organizational terms, resilience means anticipating, preparing for, and adapting to change, whether incremental or sudden. It also involves the capacity for positive transformation after emerging from a crisis.

In other words, resilient organizations are bamboo organizations.

Why is it More Critical Than Ever?

On one hand, the cost of fragility is catastrophic; on the other hand, the cost of rigidity is astronomical. At times of unprecedented change, organizations cannot afford to fall into states of chaos, nor can they afford to pretend that all is the same.

Organizations need to strike a fine balance between staying organized and adapting quickly to change. Organizations that cannot adapt quickly face:

1. Decision Paralysis: In a crisis, fragile organizations make panic decisions; rigid organizations freeze. Both decision-making modes lead to negative outcomes in a crisis.
2. Market Obsolescence: Sporadic action may lead the organization to lose reliability among partners and customers. Strategic plans that lack agility, on the other hand, may simply lead the organization to irrelevance in its offerings and customer messaging.

This is why building resilient organizations is a must-do, not a nice-to-do.

How to Build a Resilient Organization

Building a resilient organization isn’t a single project; it’s a systematic rewiring of how you work, and it starts long before a crisis ever takes place. It’s the constant building of muscle that takes place long before any championship.

It requires focusing on four interconnected areas:

1. Cultural Resilience

You cannot mandate resilience in an organization; you must grow it from within your culture. A resilient culture is founded on:

• Psychological Safety

In resilient organizations, employees feel safe raising concerns, admitting mistakes, and proposing radical ideas without fear of retribution. This is the bedrock of adaptation.

• A Clear Purpose

When things get hard, employees must know why their work matters and why the organization exists. A shared sense of purpose is an incredibly powerful anchor, especially at times of crisis. This is supported by research by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), which indicates that having a purpose may build greater resilience after exposure to negative events.

• Employee Well-Being

Burned-out employees or employees suffering from anxiety cannot be resilient during times of uncertainty. Proactive, holistic well-being programs—addressing mental, physical, and financial health—are a prerequisite for building resilient organizations. When employees have support, it becomes easier to pull through hard times and emerge stronger.

2. Operational Agility

Recent McKinsey research indicates that organizations adopting flatter structures can achieve a five to ten-fold increase in the speed of decision-making and change implementation. Simply put, a rigid hierarchy can’t move fast enough in a crisis. To build a resilient organization, leaders must build organizations that are designed around:

• Flat Structures

To build a resilient organization, you need to move toward cross-functional, empowered teams that have the autonomy to make decisions quickly.

• Decentralized Decision-Making

To adapt quickly to change, you need to trust the people closest to the customer or the problem to solve it. This is how you respond in real-time.

3. Learning Capability

Although resilience may seem like a talent or a natural occurrence, it is actually a skill that must be learned. Not only do employees need to learn resilience, but they also need to build a ‘learning mindset’ to embrace change, learn from failure, and bounce back.

This requires moving from “knowing it all” to “learning it all.” This comes with a strategic shift in how learning happens in the organization.

• The Growth Mindset

Resilient organizations don’t fear failure—they harvest it for insights. Building this resilience requires a culture that champions a ‘growth mindset’ at every level. It’s about creating a space where experimentation is encouraged, and mistakes are viewed as lessons learned.

• Continuous Upskilling

Changing conditions mean changing skill requirements. A pillar of resilience is the ability to learn fast the skills that are in demand in the moment. Resilient organizations treat learning as a constant, a must-have, ongoing activity to stay up to date and relevant.

4. Strategic Resilience

At times of unprecedented change, sticking rigidly to a five-year or even annual plan could be counterproductive. Resilient organizations demonstrate the ability to make strategic shifts fast by maintaining:

• Realistic Optimism

Clarity is the foundation of a successful strategy. Resilient organizations do not engage in self-deceit. They do not drown in destructive pessimism, nor do they deceive themselves and their employees with unrealistic optimism. The golden rule is maintaining ‘realistic optimism.’ Resilient organizations plan for hope, founded in evidence and data.

• Scenario Planning

A resilient organization cements its realistic optimism with grounded pragmatism. Strategic teams in resilient organizations make scenario planning a standard business procedure. They constantly anticipate, plan, and prepare for all possible scenarios.

 

Are You Ready to Build Resilience in Your Organization?

The future does not belong to the strongest or the smartest. It belongs to the most adaptable.

Building a resilient organization is not an easy path. It requires leaders to let go of control, HR to redesign old systems, and employees to embrace the discomfort of constant learning. However, the alternative—fragility or rigidity—is far worse.

The investment you make today in a culture of psychological safety, strategic agility, flexible structures, and robust digital learning will not just help you survive; it will help your organization always bounce back stronger. The time to start building your bamboo organization is now.

 

 

As organizations face rapid AI adoption, shifting workforce demographics, and constant skills disruption, the expectations placed on Learning & Development teams have fundamentally changed. It is no longer about whether learning is important; CEOs in 2026 are asking a far more direct question: “How is L&D helping us compete, adapt, and grow—right now?”

The role of L&D is no longer about rolling out programs— it is increasingly seen as a strategic capability engine. Its role now lies in identifying the strategic skill gaps in the workforce and closing them effectively to enable organizations to be future-ready. And this role is expected to be dynamic, real-time, and ever-ready to constant change.

Here are the top seven expectations that CEOs truly have of L&D teams in 2026—and how leading organizations are responding.

1. L&D That Is Directly Aligned to Business Strategy

CEOs in 2026 expect learning priorities to mirror business priorities. They expect L&D to understand the business as deeply as finance or operations. L&D teams that operate independently of business planning cycles risk becoming irrelevant. The most effective teams are embedded in strategic conversations
and use workforce data to anticipate capability needs before gaps appear.

This means, as an L&D leader, you need to provide:

• Learning roadmaps aligned to growth markets, digital transformation, and operational resilience
• Skills development tied to future revenue streams and critical roles
• Clear answers to: “Which skills will we need in the next 12–24 months—and are we building them
  now?”

2. A Shift from Training Programs to Skills Outcomes

Gone are the days when L&D effectiveness used to be measured in the number of courses launched, training hours delivered, or completion certificates. In 2026, CEOs care far less about these vanity metrics and more about visible capability improvement.

They expect learning to result in measurable skills impact—not just activity. L&D teams are now expected to answer questions like:

• Are our managers better decision-makers today than last year?
• Are we reducing time-to-productivity for critical roles?
• Do we have the internal skills to execute our strategy?

This shift requires accelerating the move towards skills frameworks and taxonomies, role-based and capability-based learning journeys, and continuous assessment of skills progression.

3. Data-Driven Proof of Value and ROI

Not only do CEOs expect real impact, but they also expect it to be measurable and data-based. In the age of AI and Big Data, CEOs are highly data-literate—and they expect the same from L&D.

Modern CEOs want dashboards that link learning to performance, retention, and mobility, evidence that learning investments reduce risk, improve productivity, or enable scale, and predictive insights into future skills gaps.

This should drive you, as an L&D leader, in 2026 to move beyond basic LMS reporting toward skills analytics, workforce intelligence, and business-aligned KPIs. In short, CEOs expect L&D to clearly explain what’s working, what’s not, and why.

4. Learning That Happens in the Flow of Work

Time is the most limited resource for leaders and employees alike. So, in 2026, CEOs expect learning to accelerate work—not interrupt it. They expect learning to be embedded into daily work, accessible at the moment of need, relevant, personalized, and concise.

L&D teams need to move away from long, disconnected training programs and replace them with continuous, contextual learning experiences.

The focus of L&D needs to be on:

• Learning experience platforms (LXPs)
• AI-driven recommendations
• Microlearning and performance support tools
• Integration with collaboration and productivity platforms

5. Stronger Leadership and Human Skills Development

As AI takes over routine tasks, CEOs are increasingly concerned about the human side of performance. They expect L&D to build the human skills that form the irreplaceable value of the workforce. 

They also expect L&D to build leaders at every level of the organization. They expect leadership development to start early, be data-informed, and be closely linked to succession planning. And they expect leadership development to be future-focused on building the skills of navigating uncertainty and leading transformation.

In 2026, as an L&D professional, you are expected to play a central role in developing:

• Adaptive leadership
• Critical thinking and decision-making
• Emotional intelligence and collaboration
• Change leadership and resilience

6. Agility and Speed in Skills Development

The recent Future of Jobs survey shows that employers expect 39% of workers’ core skills to change by 2030. With this rate of change, CEOs expect L&D to enable speed, not bureaucracy. Markets move fast—and CEOs expect L&D to move faster. This is especially critical in regions like the Middle East, where organizations balance ever-evolving nationalization goals, compliance needs, and digital transformation at scale.

In this context, L&D’s best way forward is to embrace the following:

• Rapid creation and deployment of learning solutions
• Agile content strategies (build, buy, curate)
• Faster response to regulatory, technological, or market changes

7. A Culture of Continuous Learning

In 2026, CEOs expect employees to be in the driver’s seat. Organizations that win are those where employees don’t wait to be trained; they continuously evolve. Therefore, CEOs don’t expect L&D to simply roll out learning programs—they expect them to build a learning culture.

They look to L&D to:

• Encourage self-directed learning
• Enable internal mobility and career growth
• Make learning part of performance conversations
• Support long-term workforce sustainability

 

Be Ready for The New Role of L&D in 2026

In 2026, the most successful L&D teams think less like training departments and more like capability architects, skills strategists, and business partners. L&D is no longer optional; it is a strategic differentiator. But are you ready for this more strategic role?

At XpertLearning, we provide you with state-of-the-art, AI-powered learning solutions that help you embrace and exceed the expectations of this new role of L&D. 

 

 

With the advantage that access to global supply chains, markets, and talent provides, it is clear that globalization in the business world is here to stay. In fact, a recent study shows that 89% of white-collar workers are now part of global teams. But interconnectedness does not always mean intercollaboration, and sometimes connecting across different cultures can give rise to more misunderstandings than results. So, how can organizations unleash the power of intercultural communication in their global teams?

In this article, we introduce you to cultural intelligence, what it is, how to develop it, and how the right learning solutions can help you maximize the benefits of intercultural teamwork.

What is Cultural Intelligence?

Cultural intelligence is the ability to decode other cultures and connect accordingly across cultures. It is important to distinguish that, unlike cultural information, cultural intelligence is not just knowledge that you acquire about other cultures. Instead, it is a continuous sensitivity, desire, and empathy to understand and communicate with other cultures.

 

How to Develop Cultural Intelligence?

Developing cultural intelligence is a constant effort. We recommend that you follow this 3-step framework to cultivate the intelligence needed to effectively navigate cross-cultural communication.

• Know

Step one in developing cultural intelligence is to cultivate the curiosity to learn about other cultures. Therefore, do not settle for assumptions or stereotypes. Research about other cultures, ask open questions to people of the cultures you are learning about, and seek feedback from your multi-cultural teams about your cross-cultural communication effectiveness.

• Want

Not everything is learned through formal means. To develop cultural intelligence, you must have the desire to truly understand other cultures. Stay open to social learning and learning by doing. Stay sensitive and keep an open eye to your multi-cultural team members’ tone, facial expressions, and behavior. You will learn a lot more through observation than through formal learning, especially since some cultures rely on high-context, implicit communication.

• Adapt

Perhaps the hardest part, but there is no purpose in learning about other cultures if one is not willing to adapt to the different needs, styles, and expectations of others. What works in one culture does not necessarily work in another. Ask yourself, ‘Do my team members prefer direct or indirect communication? or ‘Is it better to start with ice-breaking or with the agenda?’. Adapting to the local norms can go a long way in making your multi-cultural leadership successful.

It is worth noting, however, that with today’s global teams, it is likely that you may have team members from very different cultures, possibly cultures that do things in opposite ways. Research shows that conducting open discussions to set team norms is an effective practice to deal with such cases, while ensuring the team norms offer the greatest possible flexibility and balance the opposite ways of doing things. This is important to bridge the cultural gap across the team. It is also important to establish fairness. Consider, for example, varying the team meeting time weekly to accommodate the different time zones.    

 

Learning Solutions that Develop Cultural Intelligence

It is clear that developing cultural intelligence cannot be a one-off activity. Therefore, it cannot be cultivated by attending targeted, episodic training. Instead, it takes education over time, experience, and exposure to yield the best results.

The best learning solutions bear this in mind and offer longer-term learning journeys to help your multi-cultural teams succeed. Here are a few features to look out for when selecting a cultural learning program for your team.

• The program starts with an assessment

Cultural intelligence can vary widely between individuals. Therefore, there is no one-size-fits-all. The best learning solutions start with assessing the employee’s current cultural intelligence level and designing a personalized learning journey accordingly.

• The program offers blended and mobile learning options

Since cultural intelligence development is a long-term journey, setting it in a blended format or enabling a mobile learning option makes it easier for learners to commit to the long haul. Blended learning enables employees to shift between self-paced and instructor-led learning, and mobile learning enables learners to develop their skills anytime, anywhere. This mix of learning options helps employees balance learning with their ever-demanding lifestyles.

• The program is industry or function-customized

Cultural intelligence is huge, so instead of navigating the ocean with a simple rowboat, start by targeting industry or function-specific language, scenarios, and situations. This helps achieve learning ROI faster, increases learners’ morale, and speeds up the process of learning retention and application.

• The program prioritizes practice and feedback

As clarified above, the biggest part of developing cultural intelligence is to be able to adapt one’s style to the global team’s culture. Therefore, the best programs not only give learners ample opportunities to practise in class, but they also stretch over time to give learners opportunities to practise in real life, receive feedback, and pivot accordingly.  

Improve Your Global Team’s Cultural Intelligence

Developing your global team’s cultural intelligence is not an impossible task; it’s not a walk in the park either. With the right learning solutions, you can help your multicultural team communicate and collaborate effectively with less friction and more noticeable results. 

 

 

 

We’ve all been there — spotting a shiny new certification and hitting “enroll” in a rush of enthusiasm. After all, LinkedIn reports a 44% rise in certification mentions in job postings. But the wrong program can cost you time, money, and energy without actually advancing your career. With the stakes being high, we list for you the top six mistakes to avoid when choosing a certification program for yourself or your organization to reap the benefits of your investment.

Mistake 1: Skipping the “Why”

Jumping into a certification without knowing why you need it is like starting a journey without a map. With the myriad of options out there, being clear about your purpose will help you choose the right program. Accreditations often offer paths into very specialized roles, which makes determining your purpose from the head start paramount.

Ask yourself:
Am I moving into a new industry?
Am I aiming for a vertical or lateral move?
Am I aiming for a promotion or a salary increase?
What specialization am I aiming for? Or do I prefer to be a generalist?
Is this a “must-have” or a “nice-to-have” skill for my role?

Creating a personal learning roadmap can help you ensure each certification pushes you closer to your career target. And if you’re a human resources professional making decisions for your organization, having a clear skills gap analysis and career growth plans for employees can help you make these decisions.

 

Mistake 2: Letting Price Drive Your Decision

The saying goes, ‘You get what you pay for.’ However, all that glitters is not gold. That’s why low price doesn’t always mean low quality, and high price doesn’t always mean high quality. Some affordable preparation programs, available on Skillsoft, edX, or LEORON, deliver excellent value, while some premium courses can be outdated or overly theoretical.

Whether you are an individual aiming at boosting your career or an HR professional choosing a program for your employees, using price as a proxy for quality is a misleading approach. Instead, judge on curriculum quality, application opportunity, reviews, and provider reputation.

Examine:
The module list and learning outcomes
The instructor’s credentials and industry experience
The inclusion of practical projects or real-world case studies
The provider’s reputation

Mistake 3: Ignoring Accreditation and Industry Recognition

Not all certifications carry equal weight with employers, and not all certifications have the same industry demand. A certification from one body could have less value than a similar certification from another body. A niche certification can be interesting but useless if employers aren’t asking for it.

So, before you jump into clicking ‘enroll’, search job boards, network with professionals, and see if the certification appears in job descriptions for your target roles. Once you determine a certification is in demand, look for respected accreditations, such as PMI, CompTIA, AWS, Microsoft, SHRM, or organizations with partnerships with industry bodies.

Before enrolling, check:
Is this accreditation in demand?
Is the provider recognized in your industry?
Do hiring managers value this credential?

Mistake 4: Underestimating the Time Commitment

Learning is a continuous journey. It does not start and end by clicking ‘enroll’. For employees to gain an ROI on their learning investment, they must commit time, effort, and focus to grasp and apply the learning material.

Unfortunately, when it comes to certifications, many learners overestimate their available time and energy, which can cause them frustration, low learning achievement, or even outright dropouts.

To avoid falling into this pitfall, review the course schedule and workload honestly. Ask yourself or your employees:
Is the course self-paced or time-bound?
Can you realistically fit it around work and personal commitments?
Is this a learning modality you can commit to?

Mistake 5: Chasing Certificates Over Skills

A certificate is just paper if you can’t apply the knowledge. This is why it is essential that you choose programs that give you opportunities for application. You must also dedicate some time post-certification to apply what you’ve learned in the workplace. Jumping from one certification to another with no real-life application results in lost ROI.

To avoid falling into this pitfall, choose programs with:
Hands-on assignments
Peer collaboration or mentorship
Real-world project work you can showcase
Real-world opportunities you can capitalize on post-certification

Mistake 6: Overlooking Requirements and Hidden Costs

The course fees aren’t always the only price you are going to pay. Some programs have fine print, such as prerequisites, course material, body of knowledge (BoK), separate exams, or renewal fees.

In all cases, whether you’re choosing the program for yourself or your employees, ensure you ask for all relevant information to be budget-ready for the program you are going to undertake.

Before you commit, find out:

• Are there eligibility requirements?
• Is the exam included in the fee or paid separately?
• Will you need to recertify later?

 

Are you ready to take your next certification program?

Certifications can unlock promotions, higher salaries, better performance, and higher organizational impact — but only if chosen wisely. If you are ready to move forward, contact us at [email protected] and we will help you invest in certification programs that deliver real, lasting value.

 

 

Technological and ethical challenges can pose great risks to organizations. Failure to meet regulatory, ethical, or technological compliance requirements may lead organizations to the loss of profits, talent, customers, and reputation. This is why almost every successful organization has a compliance learning program to ensure all its employees know what the right thing to do is at all times.

In this article, we take you through the main components of a compliance program and how you can build one for successful results.

The Components of a Compliance Program

Compliance requirements are often too numerous to be bundled up in a single course, so often a compliance program will be composed of several courses that can be taken at different times to help employees learn about compliance requirements without being overwhelmed.

Here are the main components that a compliance program is usually structured around.

1. Code of Conduct

An organization’s code of conduct is a set of rules, policies, and principles that define how employees are expected to behave in the organization. It underlines what is considered acceptable behavior and what is not. This is essential, as it helps in getting all employees on the same page and holding everyone accountable to the same standards.

The code of conduct is usually presented in the form of a short booklet for reading. In fact, 86% of Fortune Global 200 companies utilize a code of conduct. However, you’ll often find that you’ll need to make a training program out of it to make the information more digestible for the employees.

For the code of conduct to be effective, it needs to cover the following topics:

• Business Ethics
• Conflict of Interest
• Anti-Bribery and Corruption Policy
• Gifts, Gratuities, and Entertainment
• Anti-Money Laundering Policy
• Anti-Harassment, Anti-Bullying & Anti-Discrimination

It is also common practice to request employees to sign a declaration form at the end of such programs to confirm understanding of the policies and declare the non-existence of a conflict of interest.

2. Health & Safety

The health and safety of employees at work is paramount for the success and sustainability of any organization. Every job family comes with its own health and safety hazards. These health and safety risks can cause avoidable accidents, injuries, decreased health, and, possibly even, loss of life. These risks can badly affect an organization’s reputation and employee morale.

Moreover, health and safety training has now moved beyond merely physical safety and into psychological safety. To succeed, organizations need not only include physical health and safety courses in their compliance programs, but also wellbeing and psychological safety.

A comprehensive health and safety program usually covers the following topics:

• Ergonomics
• Slips, Trips, and Falls Prevention
• Risk Assessment & Management
• Fire Prevention & Fighting
• First Aid & Emergency Response
• Manual Handling
• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
• Electrical & Chemical Safety
• Workplace Accident Reporting and Investigation
• Well-being & Psychological Safety

It is important to note that although some health and safety requirements are generic, others are business-specific, job-specific, or even country-specific. For the best safeguarding, you need to be on top of the regulatory updates in your country and domain to always have the most updated health and safety program in your organization.

3. Data Privacy & Information Security

The rapid innovation in information technology has presented organizations with great opportunities, but it has likewise presented them with great risk. In fact, the annual average cost of cybercrime is predicted to hit more than $23 trillion in 2027, up from $8.4 trillion in 2022. In most of these cases, employees are the first and best line of defense. This is why empowering employees with training on data privacy and information security is essential to safeguard against these risks.

A thorough data privacy and information security program would usually cover the following topics:

• Data Laws & Regulations
• Data Protection Principles
• Individual Data Rights
• Data Handling Best Practices
• Common Cyber Threats & Attacks
• Password Security
• Email & Communication Security
• Device Security
• Network & Cloud Security
• Physical Security of Information
• Incident Reporting Procedures

With data privacy and information security, training is not enough. It must be cemented with actual organizational policy that governs and enforces the best data and information security practices.

4. Environmental Safety & Sustainability

Organizations and economies are now focusing on the triple bottom line, which structures success around the 3 Ps: Profit, People, and Planet. To help steer your employees in this direction, it is common practice to include an environmental safety and sustainability course in your compliance program. Also, there is an increasingly growing number of sustainability regulations now worldwide that organizations need to adhere to.

Environmental safety and sustainability programs usually cover the following topics:

• Environmental Laws, Regulations & Standards such as ISO 14001
• Waste Management
• Pollution Prevention & Control
• Chemical Management & Handling
• Energy Efficiency & Conservation
• Water Conservation
• Environmental Incident Reporting
• Sustainable Development
• Resource Efficiency & Circular Economy
• Supply Chain Sustainability
• Carbon Footprint & Climate Action
• Biodiversity & Ecosystem Protection

Some of these topics are generic; others are business-specific or function-specific, so you need to mix and match to create the right program for your organization.

How to Build a Successful Compliance Program

Most large organizations have compliance programs, but a recent study shows that one in three major corporations has an ineffective program. If you’re one of these organizations or are simply building a compliance program for the first time, these tips can help you. 

• Determine your compliance objectives

As we have clarified earlier, compliance objectives and, thereby, the exact components of any compliance program differ based on the organization’s industry, functions, and country of operations. This is why it is important to first identify the specific laws, regulations, and standards that apply to your organization before deciding on your compliance program’s objectives and structure.

• Blend between off-the-shelf and custom content

With some compliance topics, you may find courses that are readily available and that meet your goals. With other topics, especially those that are specific to your industry or organization, you may need to custom-make the content to meet your needs. Although this may be a time investment upfront, it will save you a lot of time, money, and effort in the long run and will achieve greater compliance effectiveness.

Here’s a sample of learning material that XpertLearning has custom-created for a UAE school. You can see from the video that this kind of material may not be easily available off the shelf since it is very specific to a school environment. This is where custom content comes in handy.

• Start with onboarding and reinforce compliance

Organizations often include their compliance program within the onboarding program for new hires. This is best practice since it ensures employee alignment and compliance from day one. However, one of the biggest mistakes that organizations make is to assume that this is all that is needed. Compliance is not a hit-and-run; organizations need to reinforce it regularly for best results.

Compliance can be reinforced with learning in the flow of work initiatives, on-the-job training, organization-wide communication campaigns, microlearning snippets, and refresher training. It would also go a long way if you could incentivize compliance by connecting it with your organization’s rewards and recognition program or employees’ KPIs.

• Measure and improve as you go

You cannot manage what you cannot measure. This is why you need to have some metrics in place. Common compliance measures are compliance program maturity scores, reduction in violations or fines, policy acknowledgment rates, phishing test click rates, number or severity of compliance incidents, and repeat incident rates. 

As you measure your progress against the metrics, you can learn what works for your organization and what does not, and make plans for the improvement of your compliance program accordingly.

Build Your Compliance Program with the Right Partners

Building a successful compliance program is not easy, but it does not have to be hard work! With the right partners, you can create a blend of off-the-shelf and custom-created content for your organization’s compliance program. Contact us at [email protected] to learn more about how we can help you build the right compliance program for your organization.

 

 

Despite the rise of digital learning solutions globally, most learning solutions are generic, targeting behavioral, technical, and leadership skills that are needed across the board but lack specificity to particular functions or disciplines. In this article, we help you overcome this issue and succeed in creating well-tailored learning solutions for your banking and finance function.

A Comprehensive Learning Solution

A common misconception is that creating an appropriate learning solution simply involves selecting the right content. But content is not enough! Modern employees expect a well-structured and engaging learning experience that helps them achieve their career objectives. In other words, if content is king, experience is its realm.

Therefore, developing a well-tailored journey for your banking and finance professionals must involve several elements, such as the learning management system, the learning content, and the learning experience. Let’s have a breakdown of these. 

 

 

1. The Learning Management System

A Learning Management System (LMS) is a software system that helps you deliver and distribute your learning content. Although it’s mainstream for organizations today to have an LMS, 50% of L&D professionals do not believe that their learning systems are fit for their workforce.

To ensure you don’t fall into this trap and, instead, select the best LMS for the training needs of your banking and finance team, these are the questions you need to ask.

• Does the LMS support in-house as well as externally developed content? 

This is important, as banking and finance is a field where some content is mainstream and some would rely on proprietary organizational information. With the mainstream content, you’d be better off simply purchasing it off the shelf; with the proprietary, you’ll need to develop it in-house.

• Does the LMS support personalized learning journeys?

This is important for banking and finance because, although it sounds like one discipline, the roles inside the field are, in fact, quite diverse. Banking and finance professionals’ specializations vary from general accounting to tax accounting, private equity, investment banking, etc. In addition to that, financial regulations and accounting standards also differ per country. Personalization ensures the right content is pushed to the right audience, and with AI, this can be done with minimal cost and effort.

• Does the LMS support customization?

Customization is key to any LMS that will support banking and finance professionals, as you would need to customize the system to your unique global organizational needs. You may also need to integrate it seamlessly with your other organizational HR, talent management, or ERP systems.

• What is the level of data security of the LMS?

Since the LMS will be hosting a lot of organizational proprietary content, it must maintain high levels of information security. Hosting decisions need to be considered, with in-country hosting being the more secure option. Also, an LMS that supports the ability to customize access authority levels gives more security to your organizational data.

Our learning management system supports all of these requirements. Click here to explore it. 

2. The Learning Content

Content, of course, is king. But what is the learning content that banking and finance professionals need to have in a comprehensive learning journey?

• Off-the-Shelf Functional Content

Off-the-shelf functional content is simply content specific to banking and finance that is the same across all industries and organizations. This content does not require customization. 

However, it is crucial to select a trusted provider. A trusted provider would include courses accredited by international bodies such as the CFA Institute, the CAIA Association, or the IMA, created or validated by subject matter experts, and tailored to the different banking and finance roles. Some of the most common role-based learning journeys can be:

• The Asset Manager
• The Corporate Banker
• The Equity Trader
• The Investment Banker
• The Risk Manager
• The Wealth Manager
• The Sustainability Manager
• The Fintech Manager

 

It is crucial to note that as risk and compliance challenges continue to emerge, regulations continue to evolve, and technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and Blockchain continue to influence banking and finance, you need to prioritize courses that address these specific emerging learning needs.

If you’re interested in getting access to top-tier, up-to-date, off-the-shelf banking and finance content, you can explore our banking and finance library.

• Custom Content

As clarified earlier, when it comes to banking and finance, you are inevitably going to have organizational proprietary information. That is information specific to your organization or industry. It is usually information about the market structure, customer profiles, organizational processes, or policies, all of which are specific to your organization.

With this type of content, off-the-shelf solutions will not help. You will need to create your own content, which can still be delivered and distributed using your LMS. If you have an in-house content development team, you’re good to go. If not, you may need to find a good provider that can create custom content for you. This will be content customized to your needs. 

Custom content can vary in type, from self-paced sliders to whiteboard videos, animated videos, gamified experiences, system simulations, and scenario-based exercises. System and scenario-based simulations are especially helpful for banking and finance professionals since they enable learning in low-stakes environments, especially in matters related to risk and compliance.

If you’re interested in exploring custom content solutions, our dedicated custom content team at XpertLearning can help you.

• Financial Terminology

Research shows that 42% of workers state that poor communication affects cross-functional collaboration. The banking and finance world is no stranger to that. Although numbers and financial concepts are the same worldwide, financial terminology differs from one language to another. 

In a world that is increasingly going global, it helps to have all your employees speak the same financial language. This is where business language learning solutions, especially those that focus on financial terminology, come into play. They help cement your banking and finance learning journey by ensuring global multi-cultural alignment across your organization.

Our business language learning solutions offer specific solutions for banking and finance professionals. Click here to explore our solutions.

 

3. The Learning Experience

Trusted content and an excellent LMS together make up a big part of the equation. Add to it a great learning experience, and you have the perfect learning journey for your banking and finance professionals.

There are two factors to consider here:

• Learning Effectiveness

One of the biggest learning challenges for banking and finance professionals is their busy schedules. To effectively address this issue, you must look for a learning platform that supports on-demand content access, with mobile learning support and microlearning capability. This helps learners get the learning they need when they can.

Moreover, for any learning experience to be effective, it must follow science-based learning principles and deliver content that is relevant to learners. A platform that enables the use of interactive techniques and drives personalized content recommendations can go a long way in enhancing learning effectiveness. 

Our platform provides banking and finance content streaming in a Netflix-style experience, which enhances learning effectiveness. You can explore it here.

• Learning Engagement

A great learning experience is not only useful but also fun. In fact, research shows that the adoption of game-based learning in workplaces has a compound annual growth rate of 53.4%.

Therefore, learning platforms that support higher interactivity with embedded exercises and knowledge checks keep learners engaged. Also, learning platforms that support gamification elements, such as leaderboards, progress levels, and badges, make the learning experience more fun for learners, yielding higher learner commitment and completion rates.

Build a Comprehensive Learning Solution for your Banking and Finance Team

If you’re interested in building a comprehensive learning solution for your banking and finance team that addresses all their needs and combines the three elements—great content, a great LMS, and a great experience—contact us at [email protected], and one of our experts will be happy to find the best solution for you.

 

 

 

In today’s knowledge-based economy, organizations are becoming increasingly vested in their employee development and workforce upskilling. This trend has correlated with an increase in learning management systems (LMS) adoption in organizations worldwide to make it possible for organizations to deliver learning at scale. In fact, the LMS market is expected to grow from $28.58 billion in 2025 to $70.83 billion in 2030 at a CAGR of 19.9%.

While this is good news, learning how to make the most out of these investments is key. It is crucial to be able to purchase the right LMS for you, tailor it appropriately to make it your own, and host it in the right environment. In this post, we’ll help you with the latter two. To learn about how to choose the right LMS, explore our article about the top 5 mistakes to avoid in LMS purchasing.

What is LMS customization?

Although almost all learning management systems do the same basic function, namely providing a platform to host, deliver, and track your online courses, they differ greatly in how seamless and enjoyable the experience they offer can be. LMS customization is one of those distinctive features that separates the good from the great in the world of LMS.

Not all LMSs are customizable. And those that are customizable differ greatly in the degree of customization they allow. This is why it is important that before you make any LMS purchase decision, you are aware of your customization requirements and what the different LMS platforms can offer.

The Different Faces of Customization

To help you create a shortlist of what facets of customization you may want to consider, we have compiled a list of the top areas of customization that LMSs usually offer.

1. Organizational Branding

Probably one of the most common and most obvious areas of customization, branding customization allows you to adjust the look and feel of the LMS to your organizational brand. That would include using your organization’s logo, typography, colors, and visual elements. It may even involve generating your custom domain for more brand identity consistency.

2. Multiple Instance Support

The larger an organization, the more likely it is to have separate divisions, lines of business, countries of operations, etc. Each division may have unique branding and customization requirements, each called an ‘instance’ or ‘tenant’. A great LMS would enable multiple instances for any organization, enabling you to cater to the needs of your different divisions.

3. Localization

In an increasingly globalized world, organizations commonly employ multilingual, multicultural teams working across different time zones. A great LMS enables customization to match the languages and time zones of your employees wherever they are in the world. This customization may be administrator-led or learner-managed.

4. Content Customization

Some learning management systems feature only their learning content, others rely solely on organizations adding their content, and the remainder enable both. However, a great LMS enables you to get the best of both worlds, where your learners can have immediate access to a wide library of LMS-provided courses and can at the same time access customized, in-house-developed courses on the LMS.

5. Learner Experience Personalization

Learning management systems are, first and foremost, solutions to enable an enjoyable and engaging learning experience for learners. LMSs that support learner experience personalization go beyond simply customizing content and further into customizing the experience itself. This includes features such as adding adaptive learning paths based on interactions and performance, gamification such as certificates, leaderboards, badges, and collaborative activities such as forums, discussion boards, and many more enhancements that transform the learning experience.

6. Role Customization

Learning needs vary across functions and levels within an organization. And a great LMS addresses this by enabling tailored content and learning experiences for each employee or role. However, this customization may be based on function, level, geography, language, or interests. It may even be AI-powered, enabling real-time customization. A comprehensive LMS will allow you to tailor your own roles to the needs of your organization.

7. Third-Party Integration

As an organization, you probably already have your own existing third-party tools and technology. A state-of-the-art LMS enables third-party integration via a variety of methods such as APIs, plugins, and LTI. It also integrates with other HR tools such as an attendance system, HRIS, performance management module, etc.; enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems; or collaboration tools such as Microsoft Teams or Google Meet. This third-party integration allows you to move data across systems seamlessly. It also enables you to schedule online learning sessions and encourage learning collaboration within the LMS using your standard organizational tools.

8. Multi-Device

Mobile learning has become an essential element in every LMS offering. The report shows that the global smartphone penetration rate reached 71% in 2024. LMS customization supports a seamless mobile viewing experience and synchronization between a learner’s desktop and mobile experiences. A great LMS will also allow for offline learning to ensure learning can be undertaken at any place or time.

9. Reporting & Analytics

A favorite among all learning admins! A great LMS not only offers you standard training reports but also enables you to custom-create your own reports to meet your unique and evolving needs. Through powerful data visualization, a great LMS allows you to custom-create dashboards for instant, real-time access to insights that lead to informed decision-making.

Hosting: The X Factor of Customization

Hosting is a key decision when purchasing your LMS. But where your system resides could be based on your country’s data sovereignty mandate, organization strategy, resource support availability, or preference.

What is LMS Hosting?

In general, there are three different hosting environments you can choose from:

1. On-Premise Hosting

On-premise hosting simply means that you have the server within your own data center or server room on-site. This will mean you purchase the servers yourself and configure the server software ready for deployment. Responsibility for penetration testing, disaster recovery, backup rotation, and security belong to the organization.

2. Cloud Hosting (SaaS)

Cloud hosting is the opposite of on-premise hosting. The cloud application is referred to as SaaS (Software as a Service) and is based on a subscription model, wherein the infrastructure, security, and application will be managed by the vendor. This option comes with minimal upfront costs and faster deployment time.

Organizations with a cloud-first strategy often choose this option. It allows the responsibility for the system application, server security, and monitoring to be outsourced and gives the internal IT teams more time to spend on critical business tasks. A limitation on this option, however, is only to choose the vendor cloud application, which may or may not suit your organization’s data governance strategy.

3. Managed Hosting

Managed hosting is a type of cloud hands-off hosting where the supplier becomes responsible for handling the setup and support of the servers and applications. There is often more flexibility in where the system is hosted. And this allows data sovereignty requirements—e.g., PDPL specific to a country—to be met more readily. It also helps organizations to enjoy the benefits of cloud hosting while having greater control over data residence and still eliminating the need for in-house support.

Custom Fit Your LMS to Your Needs

A fully customizable LMS can go a long way in creating a great learning experience for your employees. This will enable you to upskill your workforce with ease.

If you’re interested in exploring options, discover more here  LMS.

 

 

 

So much has been said about the importance of learning in organizations, but what is often missed is the effect of the forgetting curve on slowly stripping away learning achievement. Moreover, what guarantees that the retained learning is actually transferred onto the job post-training?  Enter coaching! Hailed as one of the best techniques to encourage learning retention, implementation, and reinforcement after any training intervention, coaching is a simple yet powerful way to ensure that learning sticks and creates organizational impact.

What is Coaching?

Coaching is a learning technique based on a collaborative relationship between a coach (usually a manager, a peer, or an accredited professional) and a coachee (the employee). It focuses on providing personalized feedback and self-reflection to help employees set their individual development goals, overcome barriers to achievement, and work towards their goals with the coach’s guidance.

The ROI of Coaching

Coaching provides powerful ingredients that traditional training often misses out on, namely, personalization and follow-up.

While traditional training, still essential, provides employees with knowledge regarding vital behavioral, professional, and leadership skills, coaching helps reinforce this learning on the job. Coaching recognizes that at the heart of learning implementation are barriers that differ from one individual to the other and sets out with the employee on a journey to identify these barriers and overcome them.

Moreover, whilst training engagements may last from 1 day to 3-4 weeks, coaching engagements usually last for 3 to 6 months, providing the necessary follow-up to ensure learning implementation, accountability, and reinforcement.

In fact, the numbers don’t lie. Research shows that organizations with a strong coaching culture witness a 52%+ increase in belonging, 30%+ increase in authenticity, and 27%+ increase in work-life balance compared to those without a coaching culture. Moreover, a study on executive coaching’s effect revealed an average ROI of 5.7 times the initial investment, or a return of over $100,000. Along the same lines, our coaching solutions lead to 20%+ behavioral change, 14%+ career advancement, and 90%+ goal achievement post-coaching interventions. These are just some of the reasons why a coaching solution is an excellent investment.

Types of Coaching

 But before you start rolling out organization-wide coaching solutions, take a look first at the different types of coaching and which is the best for you.

1. Post-Training Coaching

This form of coaching primarily targets learning reinforcement and transfer to the job. It is considered supplementary to training. It is especially useful when rolling out new systems, processes, or culture initiatives. It’s also useful after leadership programs to ensure leaders get the personalized feedback and follow-up they need to implement learning.

2. Professional & Leadership Development

 This form of coaching is independent of any training programs. It simply aims to identify employees’ and leaders’ next career goals, the barriers to these goals, and the action plan necessary for goal achievement. Afterward, the coaching journey focuses on providing guidance and support to the employee or leader as they capitalize on their strengths, address their weaknesses, overcome their barriers, and work on their action plans. Very often, this type of coaching intervention utilizes assessments and benchmarks to help identify coachees’ strengths and weaknesses and focus the coaching conversations.

How Coaching Works

Coaching interventions are generally weekly meetings between the coach and the coachee for a period of 3-6 months. The first meeting is usually a meet & greet, followed by a goal-setting meeting. The following meetings are usually progress check-in meetings. Along the coaching journey, the coach may assign the coachee assessments, questionnaires, or activities to help them achieve their goals.

That being said, coaching can be conducted by internal or external coaches.

1. Internal Coaching

Internal coaching happens when the organization assigns an employee inside the organization. This coach can be accredited or not. In most cases, the coach is simply a manager or a more experienced co-worker. The organization is also responsible for providing the necessary training for these employees playing ‘coach.’

There are many coaching models that organizations can adopt and train their internal coaches on. One of the most common models is the GROW model.

The acronym stands for:

• G – Goal Setting: In this stage, the coach helps the coachee set SMART goals.
• R – Reality Check: In this stage, the coach helps the coachee discover where they are from their goal achievement and the barriers and weaknesses that stand in their way.
• O – Options: In this stage, the coach works with the coachee to identify the different options the coachee has to bridge the gap between their goals and reality.
• W – Will: In this stage, the coach works with the coachee on setting an action plan for goal achievement with clear timelines and progress check-ins.

It is important to realize in all of these engagements that coaching is a collaborative relationship. The coach’s role should not be to instruct or teach, but rather to facilitate employee self-discovery and learning.

2. External Coaching

This type of coaching involves contracting an external freelance coach or coaching company to lead the coaching engagements. Although a safer, more effective approach than internal coaching, it is more costly.

Make sure you appoint an accredited, internationally certified external coach. Here are the top accredited coaching bodies:

• The International Coaching Federation (ICF)
• The Association for Coaching (AC)
• The European Mentoring & Coaching Council (EMCC)
• The International Association of Coaching (IAC)

 

It is important to note that coaches usually have specializations, such as career, executive, leadership, business, life, or relationship coaching. Their individual life and career experiences also play a role in how helpful they can be in a particular coaching situation. So you need to pay special care to the process of coach-coachee matching to ensure optimal results.

Coaching Modalities

Coaching used to be face-to-face, but virtual coaching sessions are now widely available. Moreover, artificial intelligence is totally revving up the game with AI-powered coaches. To learn more about these state-of-the-art coaches, check out Caisy AI coaching simulator.

Moreover, coaching is also conducted one-on-one or in groups, depending on the specific skill set you are addressing.

Are you ready to embrace coaching as an integral part of L&D?

Coaching can help you maximize your L&D ROI. If you’re ready to embrace coaching as part of your L&D strategy, we can help you with a solution.

 

 

Research shows that 75% of employees say they don’t receive feedback frequently enough to improve their work performance. Statistics like that have created a feedback fever in organizations, all on the premise that more feedback equals more performance. But are organizational feedback loops really serving their purpose? And are performance management systems really aiding organizations in improving employee and organizational performance? 

In this article, we’ll help you get an overview of the correct performance management process, best practices, and how state-of-the-art talent management systems can help you optimize your performance management.

What is Performance Management?

Performance management is a continuous process by which organizations align all their employees with the organizational strategic objectives to ensure that all employee efforts converge to achieve these objectives. The strategic objectives are accordingly used as a basis to set individual employee goals and assess individual performance.

The Process of Performance Management

The traditional performance management process is usually done on an annual, semi-annual, or quarterly basis. The shorter the timeframe, the better. However, select the timeframe based on the cadence of environmental change within which your organization works. The faster the pace of change in an organization’s environment, the more suitable a shorter timeframe would be. Here are the steps of the process from beginning to end.

1. Set organizational objectives

It is important for senior management to set the organizational objectives in order to kick-start the process. Avoid the temptation of having individual functions set separate functional and operational objectives without waiting for the overarching organizational objectives. This is like putting the cart before the horse. 

Remember, at this phase, to select the goal-setting frequency more suitable to your organizational environment. You could set quarterly, semi-annual, or annual organizational objectives.

2. Cascade the organizational objectives

Once the organizational objectives are set, ensure you cascade them to all functions so that functions can engage in their departmental goal-setting with the big picture in mind. It is important in this phase that departments pay special attention to how their departmental objectives link to the organizational goals. 

Moreover, try not to fall prey to a top-down goal-setting approach. It is best practice to look at goal-setting as a brainstorming activity. Encourage managers to have team-wide brainstorming sessions where employees can share their ideas regarding how their department can best contribute to the organizational goals and use the results of these sessions as the basis of departmental and individual goal setting.

3. Ensure individual buy-in

Ensure as you assign individual goals that all goals are SMART, aka specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. Moreover, once individual goals are set, take the time to ensure individual employees understand what is expected of them and gain their commitment to their individual goals. Talent management systems can make this process a piece of cake with their automated notifications and report generation.

4. Conduct frequent performance check-ins

One of the worst mistakes a manager can make is to set objectives at the beginning of the performance management cycle, keep them lying there, and only revisit them at the end of the cycle. In fact, research by Gallup points out that the team members of managers who provide weekly feedback instead of annual are 5.2 times more likely to strongly agree that they receive meaningful feedback.

For optimal results, it is better to schedule weekly check-ins both on a team level and an individual level. In team meetings, it is better to review the team’s progress toward the departmental goals; in individual meetings, it is better to take the opportunity to have a two-way feedback conversation with individual team members.

 5. Conduct the all-too-dreaded performance appraisal

At the end of every performance management cycle, it is standard practice that managers conduct appraisal meetings with their individual employees to evaluate their cycle performance. However, managers and employees alike shouldn’t simply view the appraisal as an evaluation but rather a feedback conversation about the employee’s performance.

It is also important to not only focus on the ‘what’ but also on the ‘how’ of individual performance. In other words, managers need to evaluate their employees’ performance, not only on what goals have been achieved but also on their behavior as they were working towards the goal achievement.

When it comes to performance appraisals, there is a rule of thumb: the employee should never be surprised! If the employee hears any feedback for the first time in the appraisal meeting, it simply means the manager did not conduct check-ins with sufficient frequency or clarity. Bearing this rule of thumb in mind removes all the dread from the performance appraisal meeting.

 

The Award-Winning Talent Management Platforms that we offer

Talent management platforms come with a myriad of modules, all designed to help your organization with its talent management processes. Performance management is one of the standard modules in almost all of the world’s top platforms.

1. Cornerstone OnDemand

With more than 25 years in the business, Cornerstone OnDemand boasts a comprehensive AI-based talent management platform known as Cornerstone Galaxy. Cornerstone Galaxy is formed of three main modules: Cornerstone Learn, Cornerstone Elevate, and Cornerstone Transform.

With Cornerstone’s performance management module, part of Cornerstone Elevate, you can help your employees stay aligned with personal and organizational goals and drive their continuous growth throughout the year. Powered with feedback and check-in tools, Cornerstone’s performance management module can help you set goals, coach employees, receive feedback, guide development, and give recognition. 

Moreover, the module goes beyond performance management and seamlessly links performance and skills data with internal learning opportunities to enable employee-driven, manager-supported growth. 

Here are the top benefits of Cornerstone’s performance management module. It helps you:

• Align your people to organizational strategy goals.
• Gain a global view of your workforce.
• Assess employee capabilities to build critical competencies for your organization.
• Manage complex succession plans.
• Conduct more frequent or continuous appraisals.
• Design a sustainable compliance process.
• Automate the performance review process.
• Create objective-based development plans.
• Crowdsource feedback and gamify the experience with badges.

 

2. Totara

Established in 2011, Totara is also one of the world’s top talent management platforms. Also comprising three modules, Totara Perform, Totara Engage, and Totara Learn, the platform gives you the all-in-one solution to your talent management needs. 

Totara Perform, in particular, frees your organization from rigid processes, giving you the ability to set your own course and tailor practices that suit your unique work environment. Powered by a flexible approach, it enables you to select both traditional and continuous performance management processes. It also has built-in tools to help you build a coach-mentor culture with check-ins, reviews, and fast feedback.

Even more, Totara Perform helps you identify and close skill gaps across the entire workforce. With its insights, you can prescribe actions and content that align with the goals of your people and organization. When coupled with Totara Learn, it helps you connect competency management to critical learning requirements.

With Totara Perform, you can enjoy:

• A performance review workflow builder
• Continuous performance management tools
• Open-source and flexible frameworks which allows the application to be extended and customized to meet your organizations’ specific needs if additional functionality is required 
• Frequent and flexible performance check-in tools
• Traditional and modern performance management workflows
• Skills and development tracking
• A 360-degree feedback tool
• Intuitive detailed reports
• Flexible hosting options – on-premise or in-country managed hosted using AWS and STC. 

 

How XpertLearning Can Boost Your Performance Management

Performance management is a key pillar in any organization’s journey towards success. Do it right, and you reap a lot of benefits! Do it with high-tech AI-powered talent management platforms, and you reap the benefits in no time and with minimal effort. Reach out to us at [email protected] if you’re looking for more insights on implementing or optimizing performance management at your organization.