This month’s spotlight is with Ben Gross, Director at Electric Circus and one of our new Industry Partners.
Ben found himself in the Learning and Development Industry “by luck” as he describes it. He started his career as a graphic designer, something he was incredibly passionate about. He found himself really interested in learning about the various projects he worked on, and sought out books, videos and talks to try to absorb as much as possible to build on his own knowledge.
This evolved as he moved into a HR focused role and started to recognise that the training that was on offer wasn’t really fit for purpose; “it wasn’t engaging and delighting staff,” which sparked the idea for Electric Circus. This idea of ensuring content is something that is enjoyable to complete is something that remains at the core of the business to this day. “Working with people, you want to create things that make [training] a bit easier”. This is also reflected internally where the company has set up a regular meeting to share ideas from something that’s been read or watched with all staff encouraged to discuss what they have learnt to further embed this value into their company culture.
Ben first discovered the Learning Network just last year through one of the Directors, Arash Mazinani. The community was particularly appealing to him with our focus on sharing practical ideas and tips and creating plenty of space to talk about learning, as well as seeing the passion of the community, creating space to continue to grow relationships and ideas alike.
This also aligns well with what he loves most about the industry; finding people who are curious and putting their knowledge and talents to good use, and that aren’t afraid to have challenging conversations in a friendly way. “It’s always interesting to share ideas and have conversations around training and see that people approach things from different perspectives, it’s fascinating.”
For those just starting out in their careers, Ben cautions that AI, whilst can be a useful tool, shouldn’t be relied on too much to be a shortcut. Whilst he doesn’t want to warn against using it at all, he recommends using it to shape initial ideas and wireframes that can be built on independently, “you still have to understand what it’s telling you.” Ultimately, it’s important to make sure you spend time building your critical thinking skills.
As a general tip, Ben suggests “apply design thinking to your stuff”. This can be hugely beneficial as it means you always end up starting with the problem you’re trying to solve rather than the solution you’re planning. You don’t have to be a designer, but it can help to map things out and visualise what you’re trying to achieve. It can be especially helpful when you’re trying to think through complicated projects and encourage you to really think about why you are creating something, rather than what you are creating.
As for the biggest challenges of Learning and Development over the next 12 months, whilst it might seem like the obvious answer, AI is going to continue to challenge the workforce and expedite the need to reskill workers as parts of their role become automated. This on balance is also a big opportunity as it will also mean that new jobs emerge, or evolve, just as the internet did for roles a few decades ago.
Having a blend of training approaches will also be crucial to this. With the evolution in technology it’s about understanding how your teams are choosing to learn, and how you support them to learn things quickly, but also in line with ensuring they have the correct information. The “Netflix” approach doesn’t work anymore, you end up paralysed with choice so end up not choosing anything, and this is where AI can be a really good tool to support training that users need in that moment, without them having to go digging around for it.
Ben concludes by sharing that the biggest opportunity is to get L&D a seat at the table in the boardroom to be part of the big conversations. The reskilling of the workforce is up there as being one of the most important focuses for businesses and without having the L&D team in the room, the risk of being left out increases. “I want to see the L&D Directors having a really powerful voice in the boardroom because, ultimately, I think it will make companies better.”
Thanks for sharing Ben.