In this AI-driven era, where skill shortages persist across sectors and skilled professionals are in high demand, corporations must invest in upskilling and reskilling their employees to ensure peak performance.
Research indicates that 92% of employees believe workplace training directly impacts job engagement, and 59% feel it improves their overall performance. Even the newest members of the workforce, Gen Z professionals, are actively seeking career growth. Strengthening your internal L&D strategies is, therefore, a more effective way to retain employees and optimize performance.
So, how can you make workplace learning more effective? One standout method is the cohort model, a collaborative, interactive approach to learning. Unlike self-paced courses that often struggle with low completion rates, cohort-based learning fosters engagement and accountability among participants.
In this article, we’ll explore key techniques to maximize the concept of “learning together in the workplace” and how to leverage the cohort model in corporate training. But first, let’s define the cohort model and why your organization should consider it.
The Cohort Model: A Collaborative Approach to Learning
In corporate training, a cohort model is an instructional approach where employees learn new skills with a group of colleagues, partners, or other stakeholders. Learners progress by engaging with materials collaboratively, engaging in open discussions led by an instructor or facilitator, sharing insights, providing feedback, brainstorming ideas, and completing projects as a group.
Whether through group coaching, open discussions, presentations, or peer reviews, the core of the cohort model is fostering collaborative learning among employees. It’s built on the idea that learning alongside others enhances the experience and drives higher performance.
The Cohort Model vs. Traditional Training Methods
With this definition in mind, let’s look at how a cohort model compares to traditional learning approaches.
| Aspect | Traditional Methods | Cohort Model |
| Learning Approach | Instructor-led, with limited interaction or collaboration | Learning in a group, guided by an instructor with active collaboration |
| Communication Style | One-way communication dominated by the instructor | Two-way discussions in live sessions and moderated channels |
| Feedback Process | Instructor-provided feedback, often after key milestones | Continuous feedback from peers and instructor throughout the course |
| Learner Support | Minimal; occasional mentoring or coaching from the instructor | Integrated support with regular mentoring and coaching sessions |
While traditional models encourage independent learning, the cohort model emphasizes group-based learning, fostering participation through live, facilitated sessions.
4 Benefits of the Cohort Model in Corporate Training
Delivering training programs through the cohort model offers a range of powerful benefits that can transform how your employees learn and grow within your organization.
1. Builds Essential Soft Skills
The cohort model builds critical soft skills among your employees such as leadership, problem-solving, teamwork, communication, and creativity. Employees hone these skills in real-world scenarios when they work together, equipping them with the knowledge and skills needed in your organization.
2. Fosters Strong Peer Relationships
By creating a safe and supportive learning environment where employees can openly share their ideas, thoughts, and feedback, they can foster strong peer relationships outside and inside the workplace.
3. Makes Learning More Enjoyable and Social
The cohort model enables L&D managers to add fun to training programs, making learning more interactive and engaging. These sessions foster a social learning environment where employees can thrive, enhancing both their professional growth and personal development.
4. Improves Completion Rates
By creating a collaborative and interactive learning environment, employees are more motivated to complete the program along with their peers which leads to a transformative learning experience. Rest assured, your efforts in designing the curriculum will be fully maximized!
Challenges of the Cohort Model
While the cohort model is highly effective, it comes with certain limitations that organizations need to be aware of. The most significant challenge is scalability. Large organizations may find it difficult to implement the cohort model effectively without careful planning and strategy. Fortunately, modern learning management systems (LMSs) built for corporate environments can help by ensuring the learning remains relevant and impactful, even at scale.
Another common challenge lies in managing diverse learning paces and styles among groups. In a cohort setting, employees may have various levels of experience, skill or preferred learning methods, which can create disparities in engagement and progress. Solutions like personalized learning platforms and AI-driven tools can help mitigate these challenges by tailoring content to the individual learner.
With these challenges in mind, let’s explore some high-level techniques for designing training programs that effectively address the limitations of the cohort model.
5 Strategies for Successfully Implementing the Cohort Model
If you’re ready to incorporate the cohort model, here are high-level techniques to optimize your training programs:
1. Leverage AI to accelerate content creation and community engagement.
Generative AI streamlines your curriculum design and improves learner interactions. These tools can generate course materials and assessments, summarize and transcribe videos, and moderate discussions.
Community managers no longer need to worry about burnout from managing an overwhelming task list. AI tools can assist in responding to members’ questions and generating replies and posts to encourage continuous engagement. Additionally, the AI community assistant identifies sections to improve with suggestions, and learning operators can train the AI model with their employees’ data and existing training content.
2. Blend cohort and self-paced elements.
A blended approach can yield grand results by allowing employees to learn at their own pace while still benefiting from group dynamics. When designing your curriculum, ensure that you include a mix of live sessions, group activities, interactive discussions, self-paced lessons and opportunities for self-reflection. This structure combines the benefits of live, synchronous learning with the flexibility of asynchronous discussions and self-directed tasks
3. Create mini-communities with subgroups.
Group employees into smaller cohorts based on things like shared interests, roles, locations, skills or learning preferences. These smaller groups allow for more intimate discussions and collaboration, which can deepen the learning experience.
Once created, you can set up events and group assignments using a modern LMS with group and subgroup functionalities. It will help you automate the grouping process during the employee onboarding, saving time and energy.
4. Gamify the learning experience.
Adding gamification elements to your training programs can foster strong bonds among employees and ignite healthy competition. Features such as challenges, quizzes and leaderboards can transform the learning experience from a routine task into something enjoyable and engaging. The friendly competition generated by engagement ratings and leaderboards can drive motivation and participation.
5. Incorporate coaching and/or mentoring.
Modern leadership call for a coach rather than a manager. Enhance the impact of your cohort model by integrating coaches and mentors into the plan. Pair associates with their leaders for shadowing opportunities to ensure that your program develops not only hard skills but also the essential soft skills that are crucial in today’s workplace.
Final Note
While the cohort model requires careful planning, modern learning platforms and AI tools can streamline the process. By applying these techniques, your corporate training programs can deliver significant performance improvements.
