Learning and Development (L&D) programming is essential to a company on both an organizational and individual level. These programs empower employees with new skills to allow them to succeed at their role, which in turn creates success on a team level. Since L&D programs yield such great results, it's crucial that these programs are successful each time.

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L&D teams may feel the pressure to continue creating new and engaging workshops and events every time, but you aren't alone if you feel this way. To help with these challenges, we have gathered a list of the main ingredients for the L&D recipe for success!

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By following these guidelines, it will help make your L&D programming as successful and engaging as possible EVERY time.

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1. Create Interest

• There are many relevant issues found in the workplace that every employee wants to avoid. These issues mayinclude discrimination, insufficient training, low motivation, poor ergonomics, etc. 
• A great way to create interest for your L&D events and workshops amongst your employees, is by focusing on topics that are most relevant for employees. Some of these topics may involve resolving the issues above. Aligning the company’s values and goals on a personal, departmental, and organizational level will show employees that you are offering a safe and comfortable work environment, while also improving their professional development.
• By focusing on the interests of employees, it will prove to be meaningful to them, so they are more likely to attend as they feel these programs were created with them in mind. Another important piece is to involve all parties and levels of the team to ensure employees are excited to participate and are notified about the upcoming programs.

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Some L&D program ideas and topics that you may decide to create are:

• Improving your work from home setup to increase productivity (Ergonomics)
• Workshops on how to use new online tools for remote work
• Workshop on improving productivity and work-life balance
• Anti-discrimination and anti-harassment training
• Leadership training
• Game nights/trivia to let employees relax and develop closer relationships

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2. Utilize Tools

• An important element to have, in order to successfully carryout your L&D programming, is using efficient tools and resources for your team (& attendees).
• With the Pandemic taking place, there has been an increase in the usage of a variety of online applications. These tools help businesses virtually communicate with one and other, gather or provide necessary information, track metrics and stay up to date with the latest trends.

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Here is a list of tools that we have found helped many businesses successfully carryout their L&D programming:

• LinkedIn Learning - Stay up to date with the latest learning trends and events. Plus LinkedIn Learning offers great materials and topics.
• Trello - Keep your team and yourself updated with your work as Trello can be used as a notebook that is shared amongst employees.
• Teamflow - Use this application as a virtual office that allows employees to stay connected in real-time.
• Epoch - Streamline all of your L&D events and programming in one place for employees to easily discover and find the programs that interest them. Plus gather and analyze feedback from attendees in real-time.

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3. Clear Objective

• All L&D events should have clear objectives set during the planning process. Making these objectives crystal clear for planners and attendees can be extremely effective.
• Your event attendees should understand the measurement of success and personal milestones for the given L&D program (e.g. ). By setting clear objectives, attendees are provided with a clear understanding of the event’s purpose. By understanding the event objective, attendees are also able to track their personal progress.
• Stating these goals and making them straightforward for your audience also has many benefits as it increases their learning motivation and showcases their milestones throughout the event process.

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4. Remote-Friendly Delivery

• Before the Pandemic, training and educating employees was likely much easier as everything was taught and demonstrated live, in-person. Now that we have transitioned into a virtual/hybrid workplace, it is important to understand how to teach, provide information, and give an accessible presentation to all employees through online resources as well. 
• This can be accomplished by creating a central hub with information and resources about the past and upcoming L&D programs, that all employees can reference. Step-by-step instructions for remote attendees are also beneficial to have beforehand so they can ensure they are all set up (e.g. Zoom links, calendar invites, agenda, etc).

• Being able to deliver your L&D programs in-person and/or virtually will ensure that all employees can attend and gain value from the session. Being both prepared and flexible is key to success.

5. Gather Feedback

• Collecting feedback from attendees can be extremely beneficial when planning future L&D events. Direct input provides you with knowledge of what attendees enjoyed and disliked, which gives you the opportunity to improve.
• Receiving feedback assists in evaluation, provides a unique point of view of how others view your programming and also ensures that future programming will be stronger and even more effective. Gathering feedback is an important step in paving your road to success!
• Receiving positive feedback also helps to empower you and your L&D team to recognize that your programs are making an impact.