“Those who say it can not be done should get out of the way of those who are doing it.”
Who said that? Was it George Bernard Shaw? Elbert Hubbard? Or is it one of those mysterious “old Chinese proverbs”…?
Regardless, in my experience it applies to the scaling of training across organisations, and I was honoured to discuss it with Michelle Ockers on her podcast.
It’s about that time again when I look back on my blogging year and choose a theme that connects the breadth of topics that I managed to cover.
This time I’ve borrowed “Think different” from Apple’s advertising campaign at the turn of the millennium. While the adverbial in this phrase omits the “‑ly” suffix in the American fashion, I chose it because it encapsulates the spirit of blogging – which is to add something fresh, independent, and above all, personal.
Sometimes my views are contrarian, sometimes they’re counter-contrarian. Sometimes they raise eyebrows, they’re misinterpreted, or they upset people who disagree with me.
Regardless, my objective is to share my ideas, my experiences, and my insights. That’s why I don’t use AI to write my posts. I’m not against anyone using it as a tool for writing; it’s just that my posts, on this blog, come from the heart.
Steve Jobs said it best: “Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
While I consider myself neither crazy nor genius, I do hope that somewhere, somehow, I can change the world, one bite at a time…
❤
I hope you get a chance to rest and recharge, and I look forward to reconnecting with you in the new year!
Way back in the pre-pandemic era, I proposed a solution to fix our senseless compliance training – or to be more accurate, its management – yet it remains broken.
The central premise of my argument was that it’s inefficient to repeat the same mandatory training when you change jobs within the same regulatory framework, so a centralised system to recognise your prior learning could save your new employer and the broader economy some serious coin.
My proposed solution was based on open badges, and these days I’d imagine that blockchain could power it.
At the time, I pitched my solution to a number of Australia’s financial regulators… but in vain. Either I received no reply, or they countered by saying that it’s not the role of the regulator to train a company’s employees.
Sigh. I had taken pains to clarify that that’s not the idea. Instead, the regulator would accredit the training to authorise the issuing of their badge.
Nevermind. Perhaps the private sector can fill the void of governmental inaction. From the get-go I should have ignored the regulatory route in favour of a corporate alliance model along the lines of Oneworld in the airline industry.
Under this paradigm, I see an opportunity for a group of like-minded companies – such as banks – to formally agree among themselves to recognise each other’s training on particular topics. If an employee completes such training at Alliance Member A, it will be recognised by Alliance Member B; thus he or she won’t need to repeat it under the employ of Alliance Member B until the usual expiration date.
Of course there will be peculiarities relating to Alliance Member B that the new recruit will need to be made aware of, but the point is the bulk of the content has already been covered.
I also see an opportunity for a trusted third party – perhaps a top-tier consulting firm, university or professional association – to independently accredit the training and manage the digital infrastructure on behalf of the alliance members.
And finally, while compliance sparked my initial idea, it needn’t be restricted to mandatory training. Any universal subject matter could be included in the agreement.
Ice breaker questions – some of us love them, the rest of us loathe them.
They typically bear no relevance to the topic at hand, and if it’s even mildly personal, I’m too busy scrambling for something interesting to say instead of listening to what my colleagues are saying.
But I can see why trainers use them: they metaphorically break the ice.
We’ve all learned the hard way that regardless of whether our session is onsite or virtual, the attendees who don’t say anything in the beginning won’t have said anything at the end. By getting everyone talking from the get-go, we break down the fear barrier and promote their active participation.
So I propose an alternative. Instead of dispensing with the ice breaker altogether, change the nature of the ask…
What do you want to get out of this session?
This question achieves the best of both worlds: it gets the attendees talking and it gets their heads in the game.
More specifically…
I’m forever surprised when seasoned professionals struggle to join the dots between generic subject matter and their own roles.
Generic content isn’t inherently useless; it just needs to connect to the real world. Answering the question makes that connection.
The folks who struggle to join the dots might never do so on their own.
Hearing the answers voiced by their peers, particularly those in similar roles, helps the penny drop.
Training is an investment in time and effort on the part of the attendees, so naturally they seek a worthwhile return.
By identifying what they expect from the session, the trainer can tweak the coverage accordingly.
Until technology advances to the point at which we can offer Neo-style uploads directly to the brain, the learning process will remain a journey.
By identifying any expectations among the attendees that are beyond the scope of the session, the trainer can reinforce the message that it’s one step closer to mastery.
We’ve all been there.
The organisation invests an obscene amount of money in a course library, and after much fanfare and an initial spike of excitement, activity steadily dwindles until the platform resembles a ghost town vacated by all but the most enthusiastic of fans.
Similar problems with learner engagement beset other forms of digital training too; whether it’s the famously low completions rates of MOOCs, or the constant chasing up of laggards who are yet to complete their compliance modules.
So when David Swaddle called out for tips to help fight what he described as “zombie digital learning”, I was all too willing to share the Top 3 pieces of advice that I’ve formulated on my quest to transform conventional digital training into blended learning experiences.
Here they are…
Everyone’s too busy and they don’t have enough time to devote to their own learning and development. This has been the case ever since I started my career in this field and probably will remain so long after I retire.
So make time.
Add reminders into your participants’ calendars; schedule learning blocks; benchmark progress by declaring where they should be up by now; and host a complementary social networking group to keep the flame alive.
Digital content can be generic by design, because it’s intended to scale up far and wide. However our audience may struggle to join the dots between what they see on screen and what they do on the job.
By supplementing the generic content with customised content, we can explain the implications of the former in the organisational context.
And by facilitating live interactive sessions that explore that context further, we reinforce it.
Whether it’s a fair reputation or not, digital training is notorious for being a tick & flick exercise that fails to change behaviour in the real world.
So we need to ensure that the knowledge and skills that are developed via the learning experience are transferred by the employee to their day-to-day role.
By weaving an application activity into the instructional design – and by assessing the evidence of that application – we make it happen.
These are by no means the only ways to evolve your digital training.
However I hope that by implementing my three tips, you’ll supercharge it.
E-Learning Provocateur 