In the current constantly evolving economic scenario, with multi-generational workforce, changing workforce requirements, changing organisational priorities and strategy, it is imperative that learning and development keep pace with the changes to be able to ensure an optimally skilled, motivated and aligned workforce. There are two kinds of learning programmes that can be chosen from:

  • Off-the-shelf courses (generic): Off-the-shelf courses are ready to use.
  • Bespoke (also known as custom) courses: Bespoke or custom courses, as the name suggests, are specifically designed or tailor-made to meet the specific learning needs of an organization/department.

Off-the-shelf courses can be deployed quickly, whereas bespoke courses will need longer time to develop and deploy. It is important to understand that today’s workforce no longer responds to traditional training methods and if they do not find the interventions relevant, it is a wasted cost.While bespoke courses, curated and contextualised to organisational and participant needs, might seem more time consuming and expensive, are custom made to meet the needs of the participant group and can truly help move the needle.

How Does Bespoke Learning Fare Against Off-the-shelf Courses? 

Off-the-shelf courses are quicker to deploy, but have certain inherent shortcomings. Often a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to learning doesn’t work, and something more authentic is needed to get better results. Bespoke learning provides an opportunity for L&D leaders to really innovate and inspire learners by offering a more personalised learning solution. They let you tell stories through the eyes of your people, use your work environments, and test competence through engaging, real-life scenarios. The advantages accrued out of bespoke approach are listed as below:

  1. The courses are developed as per your needs. They feature your scenarios, problems and imagery and this helps learners relate and connect better to the learning piece.
  2. The content is specific to you and your learners. It is presented in a form that will engage them and ensures the required learning mandate is met.
  3. The learning experience is customized to your culture and factors for your learners’ preferences, and is tailor-made to meet your learning and business mandates.
  4. The Assessment strategy is customized and aligns effectively to your learning and business mandates.
  5. You can also decide on supplementing your primary learning with Performance Support interventions that can lead to better application of the learning on the job. This will have a significant impact on the ROI of the learning.

We at Marching Sheep believe and specialize in conceptualizing, creating and delivering Bespoke Learning Interventions which are well aligned with the overall mandate, culture and goals of an organization, leading to a holistic & effective learning experience for the employees and enhanced performance & growth for the organization.

It’s all about putting the right things at the right place; the results will happen!