If you’re new to WeLearn – welcome to the fam! We’re glad you’re here. We want to get to know you, but also want you to understand what we’re all about. So let’s begin!
Most brands have a “cocktail napkin” story e.g. they were at their fave restaurant, wrote their brilliant idea on their cocktail napkin and it skyrocketed them into business ownership! Our cocktail napkin story is a bit different and relates to our one of our favorite activities, T.V. watching. One thing you must-know about the WeLearn team is we love us some shows. Stranger Things, Westworld, Game of Thrones, The Wire…you name it and we’ve probably watched it! To give you the full story on how and why WeLearn was born, we are going to use one of our favorite pastime, television-ing, to bring our story to life.
If you’re a child of the 60s or 70s, growing up, you had very few choices when it came to quality television. There were three major channels and some of the shows were top-knotch…thinking Newhart, Mash, The Dukes of Hazzard. However, some of the shows were not to great…Joanie loves Chachi, we are looking at you! On top of that, if the two of those “things worth watching” were on at the same time, you were forced to make a choice….and you never knew what you were missing. Think of this as in-person seminars at a conference. At many conferences sessions run simultaneously and you have to blindly pick what you think is going to give you the most value from a seminar title. We don’t know about you, but this gives us a serious case of FOMO!
Ok let’s get back on your TV journey! When cable hit the market it was a big game changer. Now you had more channels (a mind-blowing 32 channels), but you still had to choose one channel at a time. Further—what drove parents’ crazy—is that kids would watch the same cycle of music videos over and over or watch the same movie on HBO 27 times in a row. We got “more” and some of it was good—but we were still very limited in our selections. We like to equate this to the original online learning platforms – all self-guided, not a ton of choices, difficult to navigate and get what you need/want.
BUT TODAY…TODAY we live in magical times where on-demand content and ‘streaming’ options have changed everything we know about television-ing. Now we are not required to be ‘in the right place at the right time’ to catch a great show and there is never FOMO of missing a new great show. Additionally providers like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu are releasing incredible new shows that would never have been considered by traditional outlets that create fiercely loyal viewers. Can you believe Stranger Things was passed on 15 times before Netflix picked it up? They also have expanded our reach allowing us to view content from around the globe I otherwise wouldn’t have even known existed. And as if it can’t get even better—Netflix and Amazon accounts recommend shows that best match your tastes and lets you know which are most worth my attention by showing me awards they have won and other accolades. TV has evolved leaps and bounds since it first came on the market and we are passionate organizational learning should do the same!
Learning has expanded beyond our small list of traditional channels. Your learners and your talent pool extends far beyond what you used to be able access. While this gives us more to sort through, it also opens up possibilities for engaging current and potential employees in a way that resonates with them. It’s really not a problem for the crew from the “Big Bang Theory” to solve…it’s just common sense that learning and technology need to meet your learner where they already are with content tailored to fit their needs!
Drop us a line and let us know what TV show we need to add to our binge-watch list! Also, we’d love to know, how do you currently engage your workforce in organizational learning?
