We have been hearing for several years, even decades, that the digital transformation of the aviation industry and several technological innovations have been implemented, especially to improve the customer experience. More than 80 percent of the executives of the aviation acknowledge that digital transformation positively affects operations and brings gains in operational efficiencies, service as well as maintenance and customer relationships.
Since several months, the pandemic crisis that the aviation industry is living is unprecedented. Many organisations within the industry have been impacted and decisions had to be made to keep them afloat. All processes needed to be adapted with the « new normal », many operations and businesses have already implemented reduced working hours, staggered shifts, skeleton crews and remote working to allow for increased social distancing and changes in normal work volume/traffic.
The aviation industry has always been one of the top industries in terms of disruption and adoption and in the face of challenge and change. The industry thrives with change and the need for aviation professionals to remain flexible is more so now than ever before. The pandemic has disrupted aviation training, forced school closures nationwide and could mean even fewer workers are properly trained. Helping the teams and customers stay healthy, safe, and secure is what matters now. But in times of challenges, keeping your staff trained according to the new standards of the industry becomes crucial. And how can you continue to train your employees efficiently and safely? Well, technology can help solving that issue.
Adapt the training process? A new requirement!
Respecting the social distance when it comes to workforce training is bit tricky. The approach to train and educate people in the aviation industry has not change since many years and becomes more and more obsolete since the pandemic emerged. Gathering dozens of people in the same room requires now more logistics than it does before. Considering new ways of education and training by integrating technology such as training platforms and e-learning might be the right moment to do so.
Technology is evolving quickly, and the resulting challenges are numerous. Challenges include insufficient funding, shortages of experts and qualified instructors, insufficient specialized equipment, non-recognition of certificates between countries and a lack of harmonization of licensing requirements. The changing nature of training needs is also something that needs to be considered.
"Training needs are shifting. The inability to keep up with the pace of transformation will put specific skills and competence at risk of being obsolete. Consequently, the training models that are used to create and support
these skills will become irrelevant."
Martin Schreiber, Director of Operations at Wiseleap Solutions
Moreover, skills and education approaches that we can observe in the aviation industry will be significantly different than they are today in the next 20 years. The dynamics of education and the ways learners consume training are changing with the digital world. The workforce will evolve as well during this period, and organisations will have to take advantage of the benefits of digital learning platforms such as LMS when redefining their strategies to attract and retain the up-and-coming millennial workforce, also known as the “Digital Natives“.
The next workforce generation swears by technology…
Digital natives are today’s young people who were born into the digital era and are growing up exposed to the continuous flow of digital information. Digital natives are a generation or population growing up in the environment surrounded by digital technologies and for whom computers and the Internet are natural components of their lives. They do not need to familiarise themselves with the technology by comparing it to something else. On the contrary, they propose new ways of thinking about how technology can be effectively used.
They are also affecting the way organisations operate today due to their ease of use of technology at hand. And as technology evolves, new digital training platform emerges such as LMS. The training is designed to adapt to the needs and learning style of each individual learner so that they can achieve the highest level of learning possible, based on their unique intellectual capacity. Traditional training methods that are currently used and were used since a long time are not suitable anymore for the digital natives.
They grew up immersed in the technology and the ways they are learning become also different. Most of them are tech-savvy, multi-taskers, collaborative and team-oriented, they expect an organisation where they can increase their knowledge, all while using the technology. Train employees with the skills needed to stay modern and relevant in today’s fast-paced world is one the major challenges that aviation professionals need to tackle short-term.
An LMS? A good way to streamline the training process and engage employees
We all know that the aviation sector is one the most innovative in the world. Being at the forefront of technology is essential for this industry, which is always on the lookout for ways to streamline its various processes. And the employee training process is no exception to this rule. As mentioned earlier, integrating training platforms such as a Learning Management System (LMS) and e-learning become essential for many reasons.
First, the learning management system saves on infrastructural costs related to classroom training expenses, trainer fees and transport costs. More importantly, it is time saving, particularly when it comes to plan training sessions and running training events. In addition, employees have a constant access to the material. It can also be reused and updated to be included in existing modules, and learners receive auto-generated notifications for each content update. A higher return on investment is achieved due to cost savings, increased trainee engagement and more effective training deliverables.
Moreover, an LMS streamlines the employee experience and onboarding process, cutting time typically spent on tedious administrative tasks. Introduce new hires to all the resources needed to grow and prosper–both now and later. By using a learning management system for employees, organizations can quickly establish a learning culture while empowering continuous learning and development. That way, an LMS allows airlines, airports, and any aviation-related companies to grow their employees efficiently and safely, while providing them a platform where they can interact simply with the training contents, for an enriching learning experience.
