Deutsche Bank Innovation Insights forum

‍Deutsche Bank’s Global Head of Learning, Catherine Cape and Hardskills co-founder Shoba Purushothaman discussed how learning strategies can build an engaged, happy and confident workforce that’s future proofed at Deutsche Bank’s Innovation Insights forum.

‍"The number 1 reason people leave their jobs used to be because of their manager. Now, the main reason is because there are no growth opportunities, there’s no learning,” Catherine Cape, Deutsche Bank‍

Why do you think employees are valuing employers who provide learning opportunities?

Cape: The war for talent today revolves around what a company offers an employee in terms of a clear purpose, growth and career potential. Growth opportunities are fueled by upskilling and by being able to constantly renew your skills, expand your capabilities.

Previously, learning was prescriptive and had no flexibility. Today learning is vital for transformation to be successful. It also helps an organisation signal care about employee engagement and development.  

What challenges does this present for organisations?

Cape: The definition of learning has expanded, and the training landscape is exciting with lots of activity in multiple formats. At first we thought this meant throwing open as much choice as possible. That’s changing now as employees are becoming discerning about what’s offered to them, and how it is offered.  

This means organisations need to offer high quality options that truly are effective. It means they need to become a lot more inclusive and opt for scalable learning that is accessible by any employee, wherever they are. It means they need to offer learning that is relatable, and relevant to an individual.

The access we have with technology is incredible, but it can be dangerous and overwhelming for an employee to navigate all of this without guidance. People see the value in using technology to learn, but they need the right kind of motivation to seize the opportunity. There is fatigue with collaboration tools and so learning strategies have to look for other ways to offer the level of interactivity and engagement that used to be hallmarks of live, in-person instruction.

Who should be responsible for the employees learning? The individual, their team, or the employer?

Cape: Everyone needs to do their bit! Developing your team is core to a manager’s task. As a Learning Lead, it’s important that I provide our managers and teams with options that can meet the need to future proof skills at an individual level, so Deutsche Bank transforms at an organisational level for the new era in our industry.

But individual employees have a responsibility too, they need to be open to learn and be ready for new ways of doing things.

Ultimately, learning is self-driven. As a Learning Lead, what I need to do is to make sure I offer quality, accessible and relevant learning content in formats that our workforce can access, engage with and develop a learning mindset.   

What’s next for Deutsche Bank in terms of Learning?

Cape: Learning lies in the power of reflection, and we’re looking at ways to enable this across our employee base. We are also looking at ways to personalise learning, maybe by leveraging AI more and by encouraging more open conversations about development and growing between manager and employee.