After thirty plus years in corporate training and cross-industry learning leadership roles, I can say with confidence that the velocity of change has been greater in the world of business operations than it has in the world of training. So…is this an indictment of the training profession? Absolutely not! It is a shot across the bow to forewarn that our job as professionals in the corporate learning space just got bigger than traditions we cling to like flotation devices in a water landing.
Author: Gary G. Wise - Author - Grief Coach
Unsupervised, unfiltered, and occasionally undisciplined Writer of Things that thrill readers with engaging stories created by a seasoned storyteller.
Is innovation a methodology or is it the result of our efforts? One could successfully argue both sides of this question. With either position, there exists one consistent byproduct – Change. Regardless of definition, if we overlook creation of a sustained capability as our desired result, does it really matter how we define it?
Sounds downright subversive, maybe even a wee bit scandalous does it not? Very likely, this title may imply behavior that is a little risky too. Personally, I think it is high time we view risk as a catalyst, not a restrainer…and that could be “too much caffeine” doing the talking. Seriously, it is time to act on the risks that threaten training as we know it. Please do not confuse passionate posturing of an idea with a radical rant, though what you read in this post has earmarks of both. So hang on…
Read details of a live interview on the topic “Change Leadership: When Change Management Is Not Enough”. Gary will lead a breakout session on this topic in IQPC’s Talent Management Summit held September 27-29 in Las Vegas.
Social Learning is so simple a caveman can do it…but not if he has to facilitate a virtual classroom event. We are way beyond campfires and cavemen with social learning when we inject a plethora of technology into the mix. Call it Confusion 2.0. I’ve promoted the concept of reaching learning readiness in the context of effective learning when technology is involved. Never has this been more true than with getting the most out of Social Learning. This is true because it is not an event, and for the most part, those of us in L&D roles are pre-disposed to build events. Social Learning changes that paradigm whether we’re at readiness or not.
Sunday morning I stumbled over a post in one of the community groups I follow on LinkedIn. The question put to the community asked about the use of performance support. The author referenced hearing a lot of buzz lately about performance support, but there was not much evidence of success stories short of application to computer systems training. I had to agree, and I believe there is a purely business reason for that – it is called protecting competitive business advantage.
Competency. Urgency to perform flawlessly. Business risk. Sustainability. Pick whichever one of these strikes your fancy, but they all speak to what we hope effective training will deliver – avoid – and/or create in our workforce – meaningful and legitimate outcomes all. Unfortunately, we cannot realize these outcomes from the classroom or because of on-line training; rather they manifest downstream from our training efforts – in the work context. Are we spending our time, resources, and energy in the right place? I am not convinced we are, and as a result, human performance will not be widely sustainable.
I like the concept of “re-thinking” training organizations based in HR, and I say this from personal work history primarily based in the training space over the last thirty plus years. The blended perspective I have comes from working both inside and outside of HR in training organizations. I found them to have a very different focus.
Certainly, this title may sound like blasphemy to some of us in the training business. On the other hand, it may be even more of a shock to those who depend upon those of us in the training business to drive improved performance in the organization. Following is a deceptively simple formula and an amusing story that illustrates why a successful training solution may render a false promise of improved performance:
Why are so many LMS owners not happy with their systems – that there seems to be a “disconnect” between what they envisioned they would own after GoLive and what they actually wound up owning. Why is there such a love-hate relationship with technology? Why does someone else always have the better system? Truth is, “better” is a relative term.