Why Personalized Learning for Corporations is Hard to Scale (And How to Do It)

ByKari Clarkson

Corporations are increasingly recognizing the value of personalized learning to enhance employee skills and drive organizational success. However, scaling personalized learning across an organization isn’t an easy task.  

In this blog post, we’ll explore obstacles many corporations face when it comes to implementing personalized learning at scale, like: 

But we won’t leave you hanging. We’ll also provide strategies to overcome these hurdles, including: 

  • Creating a comprehensive skills inventory
  • Employing holistic upskilling tech
  • Utilizing a database of curated content
  • Fostering a culture of continuous learning
  • Implementing robust data analytics 

The Promise of Personalized Learning for Corporations 

Just because something might be tricky to implement, doesn’t mean it won’t be worth the effort—and trust us, personalized learning for corporations is worth it. This kind of learning tailors educational experiences to individual learners’ needs, preferences and goals.  

In corporate environments, personalized learning can lead to more engaged employees, improved skill acquisition and better alignment between learning outcomes and business objectives. 

Ready to deploy personalized learning pathways for your employees at scale? Check out our guide: Adopting a Skills-Based Corporate Learning Strategy.

Common Challenges and Solutions for Scaling Personalized Learning in Corporations 

Challenge #1: Diverse Workforce Needs 

Corporations of all sizes often have employees with vastly different skill levels, job roles and learning preferences. Not to mention individual goals—do they want to grow in the same job family, or gain skills in new areas? 

Creating personalized content that caters to these diverse needs can be overwhelming and resource-intensive for L&D teams. We’re talking manually going through jobs and their skills, connecting those to other jobs employees may be interested in and getting them to understand and actually use the data—phew.  

Solution: Create a Comprehensive Skill Inventory 

One way to get a handle on the diverse skills residing in your business is by creating a comprehensive skill inventory or taxonomy—essentially a database of skills that reside within your company that follows a consistent naming convention.  

This inventory serves as a foundation for creating targeted, personalized learning experiences. Employees get a better understanding of their own skills and can make easier connections to those they may need to upskill or how they can reskill to enter new roles. 

If creating a skills inventory sounds like a big task, you’re not wrong. While creating a taxonomy like this manually is possible, it can lead to human error and take a lot of time. Instead, an upskilling solution that includes an automated skill taxonomy is a worth investment that can save time and money in the long run. 

Challenge #2: Technology Infrastructure 

Implementing personalized learning for corporations at scale typically requires robust tech—like data analytics tools, content delivery platforms or a database of programs and courses. Research has found that 60% of companies surveyed didn’t have the tech ecosystem needed to tackle personalized learning at scale. 

If you’re dealing with a variety of tech from multiple suppliers, it can get messy when it comes to integrating these technologies seamlessly across your existing IT infrastructure. 

Solution: Implement Holistic Upskilling Tech 

Your organization should prioritize investments in one upskilling solution that provides all the features you need to successfully implement personalized learning at scale.  

The right platform can provide an automated skill taxonomy, the ability to map those skills to careers and fuel individualized learner paths, suggested learning that can help get them there, data and analytics to track effectiveness and adaptive learning and AI to keep your data fresh and relevant. 

Challenge #3: Content Development and Maintenance 

Developing and maintaining a wide range of educational content that suits the needs of your workforce’s diverse goals isn’t easy. On top of sourcing content, trying to keep it up-to-date and relevant can become increasingly complex. As your company’s needs or technology stack changes, the need to continually source and update new content can become a full-time job. 

Solution: Utilizing a Database of Curated Content 

Sometimes it’s easier to let somebody else do the heavy lifting—like when it comes to curating relevant content from top providers for company-wide use. Having a database of content that’s maintained and put together for your business saves time for your L&D team.  

Curated content can be a standalone investment, or a backbone feature of most upskilling solutions. The advantage of using an upskilling solution to gather your educational content is that you know it’s been vetted, kept constantly up-to-date.  

For some upskilling platforms—like the one powered by SkillsWave—this level of quality, curated content can easily be used to support personalized learning pathways for your staff.  

Request a demo today to learn more about SkillsWave can empower your employees with unique skills-focused learning pathways. 

Challenge #4: Organizational Culture and Resistance to Change 

Not all companies have adopted a culture of learning. If employees don’t have the right resources—like time and money—to pursue learning, you could be met with resistance. Leadership can also play a big role in supporting a learning culture in the workplace by embracing it themselves and leading by example. 

If your business does provide one-size-fits-all training but is shifting toward a more personalized approach, this can often require a cultural transformation. Resistance from employees, management or both to change can hinder the successful implementation of personalized learning initiatives. 

Solution: Foster a Culture of Continuous Learning 

To make the learning culture shift easier, focus on creating an environment that encourages and rewards ongoing learning and skill development.  

Fostering a culture that embraces continuous learning is essential for the successful implementation of personalized learning for corporations. Leaders should advocate for personalized approaches and demonstrate their value through pilot programs and success stories. They should also provide education-as-a-benefit to support their staff and lead by example by developing their own skills alongside their teams. 

Challenge #5: Data Management 

Personalized learning relies heavily on data to tailor content, track employee progress and monitor that progress in relation to overall business goals.  

A report from Deloitte revealed that organizations often face challenges in collecting, analyzing and utilizing employee data for learning purposes. Without robust data management systems, companies may miss opportunities to personalize learning experiences based on individual needs. 

Solution: Implement Robust Data Analytics 

Organizations need to invest in robust data management systems to effectively leverage data for personalized learning. Implementing solutions that collect and share employee learning data can provide valuable insights for tailoring learning experiences—like with an upskilling solution.  

By enhancing data management, organizations can use this information to create more relevant and impactful learning experiences that are proven by data and used to continuously improve personalized learning programs. 

Empowering Employees Through Scalable Personalized Learning 

Scaling personalized learning for corporations can be a challenge, but the potential benefits of employee engagement, skill development and organizational performance make it worthwhile.  

By setting clear goals, leveraging technology, engaging managers and fostering a culture of continuous learning, corporations can create personalized learning environments that adapt to individual needs while aligning with business objectives.  

It’s important to remember that personalized learning is not just about using technology more effectively, but about creating learning experiences that truly meet the needs of every employee. By combining innovative approaches with a commitment to continuous improvement, you can build learning ecosystems that empower your workforce and drive business success in an increasingly competitive landscape.