T-Shaped Professionals: Further education in depth and breadth with LXP
Monja Eberlein has been a strategist for the Haufe Academy's Learning Experience Platform since 2022. Prior to that, as a project manager and consultant, she supported more than 30 industrial companies from a wide range of industries, from SMEs to corporations, in implementing their digital transformation projects. Her core topics are learning technology, digital learning, and information and knowledge management.
In this interview, Monja Eberlein talks about agile learning with LXP and becoming T-Shaped Professionals.
Monja, first things first: What are T-Shaped Professionals and why are they actually interesting for companies?
Monja Eberlein: Okay, let's start with the “what”: The “T” is in T-Shaped because it represents the skill set that the corresponding talents have. T-Shaped Professionals are people who have a balanced mix of in-depth expert knowledge in one or more topics (vertical axis in T), but at the same time also about a wide range of know-how in other knowledge domains (horizontal axis in T). They are generalists and specialists rolled into one.
But your question is much more exciting as to why this is interesting for companies: Most companies today do not know what challenges they will face tomorrow and what skills they will need within their organization in the future.
T-Shaped professionals can use a keys be because they are relatively easy On new, unforeseeable challenges in the short term and changed task profiles be able to adjust. In this way, they can help their company to continue to be successful even under changing conditions.
You will also encounter the topic of “T-Shaped” in your role as a strategist for the Learning Experience Platform. What benefits do you see in an LXP for companies that want to develop more T-Shaped Professionals?
Monja Eberlein: The biggest advantage is probably in the DNA of the solution: Learning experience platforms were developed to give employees the opportunity to As smooth as possible and to learn, embedded in their everyday working life, in a way that suits their situational knowledge needs and individual interests — without complicated approval processes. Employees can therefore decide for themselves which content they are interested in, which topics they only briefly get a taste of and where they want to expand their knowledge more deeply.
But that alone doesn't mean that learners actually work on their T-Shaped skills, does it? What makes LXP different from other tools?
Monja Eberlein: No, that's true. More specifically: As a platform, the LXP bundles all learning offerings in one organization in one place. It offers learners a wide range of formats — from small micronuggets, to more comprehensive e-learning offerings or e-books, to entire learning journeys. Both synchronous and asychronous. At the same time, LXP encourages its users to post and share their own content. So-called user-generated content.
In the LXP developed by us, the learning process is also carried out by a Recommender algorithm supports. Based on the specified areas of interest and individual usage behavior, the recommender suggests personalized learning content. The individual learning journey therefore does not end after microcontent on the topic of “creativity” or a learning journey on “AI prompting.” It goes straight on.
Another exciting thing about the recommender is that users are also shown newly added or particularly popular content. Regardless of the areas of interest mentioned above. In this way, employees see which topics in the company are currently topical are. They are motivated to think outside their box, to get a taste of unknown topics and to discover new domains of knowledge for themselves. In short: continue your education across the board.
So far, we've talked a lot about the individual learner. If we now change our perspective: What are the benefits of LXP for personnel development when it comes to developing T-Shaped Professionals?
Monja Eberlein: Of course, making learners more personal responsibility also relieves personnel development from an operational point of view. The resulting capacities can be used to address strategic issues.
I recently had a conversation with the L&D manager at a mechanical engineering company. She told me that you in particular the statistical data help the platform Future topics for your company and on issues of Budget distribution, e.g. when purchasing learning content, to take into account the actual use and specific knowledge needs of employees.
However, I became really alert when she said afterwards that with the LXP she had finally found a way for her organization a tangible professional career to point out.
Like that?
Monja Eberlein: If someone steps up the career ladder hierarchically, this is a tangible career step that is also immediately visible in the curriculum vitae. In the case of a professional career, this is usually more difficult because of the visibility and the offer of specific career steps.
The contact function in LXP is the key here. With this feature, employees can make their expertise in a subject area visible.
The company in question makes full use of this potential and manages the development of professional competencies and the development of know-how in a very targeted manner: The company has defined for itself a set of specialist topics that are already decisive for the company's success today — their core competencies. They also have Future fields identified where they want to actively build up know-how.
What followed is a small stroke of genius: They have internal job postings per “Technical experts” and “knowledge scout” switched on. Employees can apply for this additional role regardless of their current position. In the future, your task will be to pass on your existing expertise, research new knowledge about your area of expertise for the organization and then share this know-how with the organization via LXP. About the LXP contact feature The experts and knowledge scouts are also available to other colleagues as contact persons for the respective subject matter.
Employees are thus opened up to a concrete professional development perspective, which is visible — sometimes even in the curriculum vitae. And The company also wins: Company-relevant know-how is retained and new knowledge is actively built up.
Finally, a fundamental question: What is the ideal learning culture in an organization in which employees can learn T-Shaped?
Monja Eberlein: I am convinced that an open and adventurous learning culture saves time in the long term. Our customers generally have a similar view: They give their employees free time to study and encourage them to make full use of it. Companies offer fixed learning days and support learning in the “moment of need,” i.e. during working hours, when there is a specific need. By the way, this is not an issue at all at Haufe Academy: Our employment contracts state in black and white that learning is part of our work.
Ultimately, a successful learning culture always — and in the T-Shaped context in particular — depends on Trust in employees ab: Do I think they are mature enough to decide for themselves which skills and know-how they need and when? Do I trust that my teams act for the company — in their daily work and in daily learning?
Be a pioneer today for tomorrow. Companies achieve this when they use LXP to train their employees to become T-Shaped Professionals. Learning is integrated into everyday working life. Employees thus contribute to the company's success — and to its future — every day. Set the course now and remain versatile — with the Haufe Academy LXP and your T-Shaped Professionals.
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