Ask&Answered: Ericsson's Helen Sigalas on how to inculcate self-driven learning

- With input from Jerene Ang.

At HR Tech Interactive 2019, Singapore, many great questions posed to the speakers were left unanswered. We've heard your feedback on wanting more time for Q&A and have taken some of the top voted unanswered questions online.

In this inaugural feature of our new column, Helen Sigalas, Director & Head of Learning, Ericsson Southeast Asia, Oceania and India, takes on five of the delegates' burning questions.

Q What is your experience with global learning solutions to include Asia content, and how do you make content available in China without VPN?

Response from my colleague in China: "In China, we are able to access most of the information via Degreed. However, we are not able to access the content from external sources that are banned by China (e.g. Google, Facebook). As far as we are concerned for Degreed, we have tried to add some articles in Chinese onto the platform and this is working well."

Q How to you manage the culture change from L&D directed training to growth mindset/self-directed learning?

Traditionally, Ericsson has always had a very good learning culture. But it is still a big shift for us to inculcate self-driven learning. Our new Degreed platform has certainly helped - we have aggressively promoted the platform and the ease of using it to find the learning you need.

The other thing we are doing is to slowly change the mindset that 'learning' and 'training' are actually the same thing. Learning does not only take place while  sitting in a classroom. Simple things like reading an HBR article or watching a related YouTube video are also considered learning. We have a monthly Learning Newsletter where we highlight useful bite-sized topics for learning.

Q What is the percentage of face-to-face, virtual and blended programs at Ericsson today?

About 10% is face-to-face, while another 10% of programs at Ericsson is virtual.

Q How do you curate content/courses into Degreed to ensure they are relevant to your people?

We create 'groups' and curate the content according to the demographics within the groups.

Q How will technology change the learning arena? what changes will we expect 5-10 years down the road?

I would like to see technology make it easier for our colleagues to learn, access learning, and also to embrace a learning culture.

Personally, I am convinced that immersive learning is the way to go. We have recently created a 360 VR program which puts you in the same room with the instructor. I have sat through the training myself and I found it fabulous. It would certainly make virtual training much easier for both the trainers and the trainees.

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Many more questions were answered on site at Human Resources Online’s conference, HR Tech Interactive 2019, Singapore. To know more and attend such events, please visit: http://www.humanresourcesonline.net/events/.

Read our post-event write up for HR Tech Interactive 2019, Singapore: 4 steps to ensure your workforce is ready for IR 4.0

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Photo / Helen Sigalas, Director & Head of Learning, Ericsson Southeast Asia, Oceania and India, on stage at HR Tech Interactive 2019, Singapore