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Blended Learning offers a holistic approach to talent development that meets these demands.

As we look to the future and prepare for working in the global market place, it is important to take notice how the face of the globally mobile workplace has changed. PwC’s Talent Mobility 2020 underscores the shift in mobility expected by 2020: with this shift comes a variety of workplace challenges.

If we take a snapshot of the global workplace today, we find a demographic shift from homogeneous cultures to a disparate combination of cultures. Imagine the scene today in 2016; a Dutch company has a manufacturing operation in Guangzhou, China. Expats are sent from the offshore offices in Malaysia, Germany Brazil, USA, Russia, and Italy to expand operational and development segments in emerging markets. At the corporate office in Amsterdam, established in the 19^th century, the employee composition is now 50% Dutch. The remaining 50% are from other EU countries as well as Japan, USA, Canada, The Philippines, China, and Turkey. 2020 globalization is here!

It is no longer adequate to train expats to leave their home culture and work in a host culture when both countries are no longer homogeneous. In addition to expats, local team managers and international business travelers benefit from training on the cultural and work style differences that these demographic shifts are creating. So how do we enable our colleagues to excel and achieve desired outcomes in this challenging, culturally diverse work environment?

Research tells us that instructor-led training is ideal when:

• It is important to change behaviors.
• The content covers multiple areas of development and skills proficiency.
• The desired learning seeks to involve the five senses in higher-level developmental learning.
• The desired outcomes are: improved focus, skills practice, increased adaptability, and face-to-face dialogue.
• A safe place where trust and confidentiality is vital so that feedback can occur.

And eLearning is ideal when:

• It is necessary to broadcast a common training across a large population of users.
• The outcome is to improve compliance-based courses, such as software and technical skill-building courses.
• There is a need to revisit a topic.
• Pre-work is a desired option.

Current corporate training practice tends to either provide e-learning as a stand-alone program that is under-utilized, or an event based in-person training that does not provide the sustainability required. The optimal learning environment for preparing employees to work in complex heterogeneous cultures requires a blended approach.

Research indicates optimal adult learning occurs when:

1. An employee can electronically access the learning content and review in advance.
2. A one to two day instructor led training occurs where the pre-content is reviewed; new content is delivered and application of the content is practiced.
3. Post training follow-up is provided via e-learning resources and personalized coaching to further fine-tune new behaviors and skills until they become habits in both old and new contexts.

This blended learning process is the new face of global mobility training. Blended Learning is a long-term investment to ensure sustainable skills in the global workforce. A culturally agile workforce is able to communicate and collaborate; it leverages heterogeneous cultural values for improved outcomes in the workplace.