Table of Contents
Introduction
As we slowly inch towards the second half of the decade, we find ourselves in a bizarre dilemma. On the one hand, educational institutes are pushing out tens of thousands of talented and capable students aspiring to succeed in their chosen careers but unable to find a position where they are a good fit. However, on the other hand, companies and organisations are unable to find suitable candidates for their many open spots, either choosing to not fill the space or hiring the closest match. It is as if both demand and supply are ample, just for different products and target markets. The cause of this is twofold – institutes follow an education system that does not prepare students for the corporate world while companies expect joiners to be ready for the post without any training. Docebo presents the interesting L&D theory of 70:20:10, introduced by Michael Lombardo, Robert Eichinger, and Morgan McCall. This model claims that 70% of learning comes through job experiences, 20% from social channels like friends and colleagues while 10% comes from formal training. With on-the-job, hands-on systems training finding high favour with most workers, it is time we modify our existing training systems to accommodate the needs of our employees. Many studies conducted have revealed a number of expected as well as unexpected trends and projections for 2025. This blog delves deeper into these findings about the future of training to help you improve your L&D department. Assima is a forerunner when it comes to adopting innovative new technologies in their DAP solutions.
Why are Learning Mechanisms Evolving
LinkedIn reports the words of Chief Economist Karin Kimbrough in her Data @ Work newsletter “The skill sets for jobs have changed by around 25% since 2015. By 2027, this number is expected to double.” Hence, it is but natural that learning techniques and preferences would also change to keep up with the times. In a workspace where hiring and performance are influenced by the skills you bring to the table, learning would inevitably take priority in one’s career. Of course, that is not the only precursor of 2025 training trends; there are quite a few other reasons for such evolving patterns too.
Busier Lifestyles Demanding Self-Paced Learning
People have undeniably grown busier. Nowadays, both partners in a marriage or relationship are usually working, taking care of the household as well as looking after their child/children, while living in a nuclear family setting. Giving a set period at a fixed time for learning and growing is often not feasible. Flexibility is the key here. People want to have the freedom to learn when and where they are comfortable and available. It encourages them to at least take one step towards their goal if that is all they can squeeze in that day.
Need for Soft Skills and All-Around Competence
Gone are the days when specialisation was admired in every career field and not just medicine, research and teaching. Nowadays, employees of all levels are expected to at least have a working knowledge of all the aspects of work that their niche is connected to. Moreover, much importance is being imparted to the development of soft skills, as these are essential for understanding and dealing with people while bringing innovation to the workplace. As a result, training for upskilling and reskilling purposes is becoming all the rage now.
Increasing Distractions and Decreasing Attention Spans
The current world is brutal when it comes to distractions. Most people carry at least two personal devices, all of which have numerous messaging and social networking applications active. Increasing use of open floor plans in offices has also resulted in cross-interactions that give rise to distractions previously absent. The general social environment has effected a decrease in the average attention span of humans over the years. They no longer feel engaged when spending long hours over a lesson sitting at the same place. Training mechanisms should be updated keeping this in mind.
Need for Inclusivity, Diversity and Accessibility
The 2020s have heard a rising voice for greater accessibility and inclusivity in the workspace, be it a WFO or WFH arrangement. It is only fair that we provide an equal, or rather, equitable, opportunity to all individuals and be more sensitive to their needs. As training procedures change, we must make an active choice to include accommodations for all categories and abilities of people who are looking to be employed in that field. Otherwise, we might miss out on a lot of talent who simply cannot apply to your job due to a lack of accessibility and acceptance.
Rise of Smart Technology Solutions
New technology is being introduced to the world almost every day. There is no escaping the fact that digitisation and technological advancements have made daily operations easier, faster and smoother. However, it is important to understand that just updating your machinery is not enough to develop your workspace. You must also encourage your employees to update their own skills so they may be able to operate these new digital solutions. On a happier note, there have been numerous innovations in training systems themselves, which can help employees keep up with these rapid changes.
Systems Training Trends and Innovations in the Limelight in 2025
It is easy to see just how much systems training has been affected by the digital epoch of 2020. Let us discuss some of the already observed as well as upcoming 2025 training trends that have created a buzz in the L&D community.
Immersive and Interactive Learning Experiences
Experiential learning is all the rage nowadays. It has already been proven that lessons taught through practical experience have a higher chance of being retained than those learned through conventional methods. Nowadays, a huge number of digital solutions exist that can help you learn interactively and accustom you to any circumstance you might encounter at work. VR (virtual reality), AR (augmented reality), MR (mixed reality), XR (extended reality), simulations and gamification are all ingenious ways to teach workers their tasks and responsibilities.
Personalised and Self-Paced Training Modules
If 2023 was the year of the emergence of AI as a powerful tool, 2025 is the year where we find out just how diverse the application of AI can be. This includes innovations in training solutions too. AI, especially generative AI tools, are a huge assistance in building courses quickly and relevantly. Many companies are using learning management systems (LMS) and detailed data analytics to create tailored courses for each of their employees. Others are taking it a step further by crafting self-adaptive courses in which the learning experience is personalised and modified to suit the current progress of each worker. Microlearning – Bite-Sized Learning Method
Gone are the days when learning something meant sitting with a thick manual and memorising each bit one by one. People across the world are getting into micro-learning nowadays. This is a format of training where the training material is made available to the person in micro-sized, or as popular terms dictate, bite-sized portions that can be gone through in a few minutes or even seconds. Such a method has two advantages – it allows people to squeeze in a lesson at any opportune moment in their busy schedules, and it makes complex concepts easier to learn and remember.
Reusing Training Materials Through DAPs
Every company has a distinct platform or format for presenting their training materials to their employees. This can be a cumbersome exercise when introducing a new technology, thus requiring the need to create courses from scratch on that platform. L&D experts are completely bypassing that step in this fast-driven age by introducing digital adoption platforms that can take existing training materials and repurpose them in their preferred formats to be provided to their employees. This saves a lot of time and money for the organisation.
Assima's DAP solutions are the perfect choice for enterprises dealing in any industry having any requirement.
UGC and Globally Connected Knowledgebases
It is a known fact that people in the same boat will relate to each other’s problems better. This has given rise to the popularity of user-generated content (UGC) and peer-to-peer training. Connected knowledgebases and Q&A forums where participants can contribute to and suggest solutions to each other based on their own experiences have shown markedly higher levels of training success than one-way learning experiences. Such a globalised and interactive mode of learning also brings up more creative solutions to common and rare issues alike.
Adaptive Learning at the Point of Need
One of the biggest issues that training trends of 2024 have brought to light is the fact that the point of learning and the point of application of the things learned has been too disjointed for too long. Itis a well-known fact that when students are taught theory and practical side by side, they develop a greater understanding of the subject material. The same applies to employees learning a new system. Justin 2025, just-in-time training resolves to provide the lesson to the learner at the exact point where they are applying it, which improves retention and application abilities exponentially. It also allows for the lesson to be adapted according to how the person is faring at the moment.
Focus on Continuous Learning and Feedback
According to LinkedIn Learning, 74% of employees want continuous learning opportunities to keep their skills up to date. Gone are the days when employees were satisfied with monthly or quarterly training. Millennials and GenZ workers are quite focused on constant learning and skills development as they believe it not only helps them stay ahead of the times but also become better potential candidates for both vertical and horizontal growth. Hence, they prefer to train using software that feeds them small chunks of new materials at regular and frequent intervals rather than an entire lesson or module after long or infrequent periods. On-The-Go Access to Learning Materials
Mobile learning has become a major part of all training systems. It is extremely important to allow employees to be able to access their learning modules from any secure device and network no matter where they are so that learning does not stop with the workday. This is especially helpful for those with busy schedules or who have to move around constantly as part of their job. Moreover, with remote work becoming more and more popular, on-the-go learning can be a blessing for both your company and your workers.
Upskilling and Reskilling over Specialisation
While specialisation is highly appreciated in fields requiring niche knowledge, for most employees, being able to handle every aspect of a situation and even stepping up from their usual role to handle a bigger responsibility can be a godsend when the next round of promotions comes along. You want people in your team to have a working knowledge of all the things going on around them so that even if a person is absent on a particular day, another person can take care of things for the time being. Moreover, upskilling and reskilling prepare one to take on new roles and responsibilities without going through rigorous training when a new opportunity presents itself.
Learning - Team Effort, Not Individual Responsibility
Classroom learning is not always a feasible option to implement in an office filled with working people, all of whom simply want to finish their working hours for the day. Yet, it is a vital factor when it comes to learning. Group training helps with the exchange and exploration of new ideas, interactive learning sessions and encouragement to think out of the box through inspiration. While this can be challenging to implement with just digital collaboration tools and individual systems, the outcome would be truly satisfying. Simply organising group discussions, gamified multi-participant tests, cross-team collaborations during learning and such other events can increase participation and enthusiasm manifold.
To Conclude
It is clear that 2024, till now, has been the year of flexibility, collaboration and immersive experiences when it comes to training. We are yet to see where the future systems training wave leads us to in 2025. Till then, the aim of Assima is to make training an enjoyable and fruitful experience for every employee. We can help you completely turn the tide of how your employees perceive your L&D efforts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Let’s Answer Some of Your Questions.
Trends come and go too fast for most organisations to be able to amend their operations to them in time. The best course of action is to analyse these trends and then analyse your company. Try to find out which innovations will benefit your company in the most suitable way and implement those first, slowly moving on to the rest.
DAPs and LMSs are the most logical first steps to transitioning from traditional to modern learning systems. These take care of most of the requirements of the digital age and will prepare the stage for you to incorporate the rest.
In all probability, your employees are learning new skills and training themselves through other channels that they find more engaging and suitable for their needs. Survey your employees to know more and try to adopt the winning factors of those channels to your in-house training platform.
You do not have to spend a huge amount of money to keep up with the systems training trends of the year. You can start small, like providing the content in diverse formats or making it available through smartphones. There are many low-cost resources available that can help you bring major changes without putting a dent in your coffer.
For people who did not grow up with technology, it can be hard to adapt to the digitally driven age. However, the best way to make them more comfortable is to introduce these changes one at a time, and possibly in small increments. Keep taking their feedback and ensuring that you actually incorporate them when making changes.
