STEP CHANGE is what we have left as an option when all the innovation that got us to where we are today has run its course. Sustained capability is the ultimate outcome we seek, and sustained capability is at the heart of a Performance Paradigm.
Category: Continuous Learning
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AGILE Is As AGILE Does
As with earlier conferences that I’ve spoken at this year, there is once again a lot of buzz around the concept of AGILE. AGILE what? That is a key question to ask because from what I’m seeing, not all AGILE approaches are scoped equally when it comes to learning and performance solutions.
MOOCs came from an academic birthright, and they are structured to accomplish the transfer of knowledge in some very innovative “flipped classroom” approaches that are less structured and open to participants to discover and learn through multiple forms of content delivery, media and venues. Perfect. This will work in the corporate world as well. My question is why stop there? Let’s flip the whole dynamic learning and support ecosystem, not just the classroom.
Implementing Embedded Performer Support [EPS] can be as daunting a task as eating an entire elephant. Not sure I’d ever want to eat an elephant, but if I did, it would be one bite at a time versus scarfing down the whole thing. One bite at a time rings true for implementing EPS as well. Keep in mind that EPS is not a technology [though technology may well be part of the effort]; EPS is a discipline.
Manfred Mann and the Animals wrote a song in the 60’s about a house in New Orleans. That house was a house of evil and “was the ruin of many a poor boy”. There are many houses in New Orleans that nobody sings about. They stand empty and decaying. As they come down, like the house at 2521 Delachaise, a new house is built expanding the presence of rebirth.
In my current role, I work in a virtual environment that is strategically located between corn and soy beans in the rolling hills of southeastern Indiana. Driving narrow, rural country roads to breakfast at the local truck stop this morning, I encountered numerous other pick-up trucks. Yes, I drive one too, but no rifle rack, nor is there a confederate flag in the back window. You might be asking yourself what any of this has to do with performer support. Answer: Plenty
Knowing what to do…and being equipped [supported] to effectively do what needs done… are the equivalent of comparing great training to the effective application of learning. We train the former…and we support the performer on the latter. This distinction becomes a liability when we treat performer support as an add-on to training or as an after-the-fact development cycle rather than including it as part of our core design discipline.
We were eating lunch on a Wednesday when the elevator music was disrupted with an urgent announcement, “This is a code yellow alert – Repeat – This is a code yellow alert!” My colleagues all went to the laminated cards that hung around our necks The appropriate response needed to be timely; needed to trigger agility, and needed to be acted upon flawlessly. Or, as in my example…some knucklehead just spilled something that could kill us all…so run like hell…NOW! That was perfect EPS.
Last week [October 25th] I had the distinct privilege of sitting in on the Tin Can API break-out session that was presented by Aaron Silvers of ADL. I’m not sure of his exact title, but his role was in a leadership capacity on the Tin Can API project. His business card says “the Beard”…and while that was accurate, I still don’t know his real title. Given ADL was also the birth mother of SCORM, I walked in and sat down with a preconception or two that this was SCORM in a new dress. Wow, was I wrong!
Have you ever explained something to someone who is either hearing it for the first time or is still trying to get their head wrapped around the concept? You know how they will nod slowly in seeming agreement while looking off into the ether and saying dreamily, “Yeah…” really, really slowly?” That far-off look is confirmation that they are indeed interested and yet remain clueless for the most part. The room was full of those folks in the Tin Can break out session where I heard this new sound bite. I must confess now knowing enough to be dangerous and yet confident in the implications to the point of being way too excited to sit down.