The APE EATS the CREAM- A Learning and Development model

The APE EATS the CREAM- A Learning and Development model

Radical Dynamism has brought a major shift in how people used to work a few decades back. There is a great emphasis on the ability to adapt, learn and upskill in the era of fast-changing technology. 

Changing nature of skills and work in the modern economy has led to a sharp rise in the demand for more productive and skilled workforce which is ready to compete and succeed in the 21st century. Several million dollars are spent each year by most of the companies to equip their workforce with the foundational set of skills that will allow them to successfully learn, adapt to ever-changing work demands.

Since, its a huge investment in terms of time, money and commitment, companies need to make sure that all learning and development efforts are a worthwhile investment. 

So, I propose APE EATS the CREAM model that summarizes  entire learning lifecycle to ensure more workers possess the skills to succeed in 21st-century jobs.

APE is Access, Process, and Express. It is crucial that the workers have an easy, quick, flexible and adaptive Access to the learning content which can be consumed and Processed  and equips a person to immediately Express(utilize or apply) at the workplace.

Access to the learning content(synchronous and Asynchronous)

Process the information
Express (use as skill, knowledge or ability)

EATS is Efficient, Able, Teamwork and Skilled

The learning content should be designed and developed that helps workers to be Efficient, Able(productive),T….. and Skilled so that the organizations they work for functions smoothly and productively.

Efficient

Able

Team Player

Skilled

CREAM is Comprehend, Retain, Engage, Apply and Motivate.

Workers develop the skills through training (formal or informal) or educational programs. Thus, in order to ensure that the workforce develops the skills they’ll need to compete in the 21st century, learning content must be easy to Comprehend (chunked, just in time, adaptive and to the point), help them Retain (assessments, feedback loops, spaced out learning events), Engage(visually appealing, relevant,gamified ) and Apply(experiential learning, use of AR/VR) at workplace and keep them Motivated to keep learning.

Comprehend

Retain

Engage

Apply

Motivate

Thus, companies need to modernize and improve the ways they train their workforce so that they can leverage the full range of learning environment and help workers to become more dynamic and adaptive.