UPCEA Updates

There’s no denying that the landscape of leadership and workforce development has evolved significantly over the past several years. As time progresses, it becomes apparent that technology has an increasingly present role in enhancing the quality and scope of higher education programs.

If your institution is seeking practical ways to improve leadership development and educational outcomes with technology, there are some key benefits to consider. 

These innovations can make education more accessible worldwide, improve engagement, and offer personalized learning. All of this leads to better outcomes for learners.

Of course, using technology leadership and education initiatives isn’t always easy—which is why having a plan for leveraging the right types of technology is a must.

Using Technology for Leadership Development

These days, technology and leadership development truly go hand in hand. There are many different platforms and innovations that are completely transforming the future of leadership and workforce. The key is for educational institutions wanting to enhance leadership and technology workforce development to create actionable and measurable plans for implementing the right technologies into their training.

With a better understanding of the technologies currently available for leadership development purposes, your teams can plan accordingly.

Online Learning Platforms

Leaders can build on their skills using any number of the online learning platforms currently available. Many of these platforms offer micro-credentialing with specialized courses and assessments, which can help leaders obtain designations in specific leadership skills.

Meanwhile, online learning and training platforms for leaders offer several benefits when compared to more traditional, in-person training programs. First, they are more flexible and versatile because they can be taken entirely online. This makes them more accessible to a vast variety of learners. Likewise, these learning platforms can be easily scaled and are often more cost-effective for organizations than in-person alternatives.

Looking for the right online learning platform for your training needs? UPCEA offers a wide range of professional development courses and certificates to help your leaders build upon their skills and specialize their knowledge.

Leadership Simulations

In addition to online learning opportunities, leadership simulations can be highly valuable to educational institutions and technology workforce development.

 Simulations offer immersive and realistic leadership experiences that leaders (and aspiring leaders) may not otherwise have the opportunity to experience. With features like virtual reality and augmented reality, these simulations can be extremely realistic and effective. These platforms can be used to develop important leadership skills, from building empathy and trust to practicing crisis leadership and active listening.

Gamification

For training purposes, gamification can be particularly useful across a wide range of applications. Specifically, gamification refers to the incorporation of gaming into training programs as a means of enhancing experiences and improving recall.

Gamification has been used in leadership development for many years, drawing upon points systems, badges, leaderboards, and other gaming components to encourage healthy competition and motivate learners. This can also be an excellent way to expand the range of learning pathways while making training more fun and interactive.

UPCEA incorporates exciting gamification components into its online professional development courses and certificates by offering badges for completion of each one. These badges can subsequently help instill a sense of accomplishment and healthy competition.

AI-Powered Coaching Tools

More institutions are turning to technology in the form of AI-powered coaching tools to carry out their leadership development programs. These tools can process and assess huge amounts of data while using analytics to truly personalize every aspect of leadership development and training based on an individual’s strengths and weaknesses.

In turn, this makes it possible to identify patterns and trends to generate useful, real-time feedback. This feedback can be delivered in a variety of ways to accommodate the learner’s needs and preferences, ranging from emails to notifications. Simultaneously, coaching plans can be completely tailored to the specific needs of the learner and the organization as a whole while remaining more cost-effective than traditional leadership coaching.

Finally, 360-degree feedback platforms offered by AI-powered coaching tools encourage self-reflection and continuous improvement, perpetuating the learning cycle and creating better leaders over time.

Technology’s Impact on Workforce Development

We continue to see the growing impact of technology on workforce and leadership development, with emerging technologies and other tools shaping the way tomorrow’s leaders build upon their skills and knowledge.

Emerging Technologies

Aside from the many technologies already available on the market for leadership training and digital workforce development, there are even more technologies and innovations in the works. These promising technologies (such as AI and machine learning) are already being used across a diversity of other industries—but their potential applications for leadership and workforce training are only recently being realized.

These emerging technologies promise to provide more personalized training, which can improve overall learning outcomes while maximizing engagement and the user experience. AI and machine learning platforms, for example, can process large amounts of data and input to conduct skills gap analysis and even career development plans for future leaders.

With this being said, the promise of these emerging technologies also creates some potential challenges and ethical considerations to overcome. Some worry about biased algorithms, privacy concerns, and even the potential for economic displacement for humans who have been handling these training roles for years.

Only time will tell what emerging technologies like AI and machine learning means for the world of leadership development in the coming years, but if these challenges can be overcome, the future does look promising.

Social Media and Collaboration Tools

With billions of people using social media across the globe, it only makes sense that it could be a useful application in leadership and digital workforce training. Social media inherently facilitates knowledge sharing and peer-to-peer learning through “share” features and the ability to comment and engage in real-time conversations with others across the country and world.

In the interim, dedicated team collaboration tools (such as Slack and Microsoft Teams) take on a similar role of empowering real-time communication with additional project management features for leaders. These kinds of tools make it easier than ever for leaders to manage teams, assign tasks, and keep projects on track. Many of these platforms also incorporate features like video chat, group chat, and file sharing to encourage collaboration and foster discussion.

All of this helps to build a stronger culture of learning and collaboration within an organization, which is key to improving overall technology workforce development and embracing a growth mindset. Institutions that are not already using collaboration tools to better manage and train teams may need to consider incorporating these kinds of tools into their training and digital workforce.

Digital Workforce and the Future

Now is the time for institutions to look at recent trends and future forecasts in the digital workforce as well as consider their impact on leadership and the workforce. The rise of a digital workforce in recent years has changed the types of skills organizations consider “in demand.” This applies not just to leaders and managers but also everyday employees.

The good news? Technology can also prepare employees for the future of work through automation, the emergence of new remote work opportunities, and new skill demands. As the digital workforce continues to rise, leaders and other workers will need to constantly adapt to remain relevant and competitive in their respective fields.

Organizations wanting to maximize their leadership and workforce, should be prepared to incorporate reskilling initiatives into their existing training. This way, leaders can ensure their skills remain relevant and useful in the changing digital landscape. At the same time, offering these initiatives can help improve overall engagement, retention, and job satisfaction.

Start Using Technology to Your Advantage Today

There are numerous ways in which technology can be used to enhance leadership and workforce development within your institution. The key (and challenge) is choosing the right technology solutions to align with your organization’s specific needs and goals. This requires a great deal of research on your part as your organization adopts new technologies to create a more effective and future-proof workforce.

Looking for a reliable resource that can help you stay up to date on the latest trends in leadership development? UPCEA is here to help with cutting-edge research, professional networking and mentorship opportunities, special events, and much more. Our members range from educational leaders and instructional designers to program directors, administrators, deans, and everything in between.

Learn more about the many benefits of becoming a UPCEA member today, including the several different membership types available to suit your specific needs. 

 

Sources

https://upcea.edu/professional-development-certificates/

https://upcea.edu/membership/

https://www.talespin.com/blog-post/virtual-reality-leadership-training-use-cases