the future of training and development is about connecting people

8/6/2019 The Future of Training and Development is About Connecting People

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-future-of-training-and-development-is-about-connecting-people 1/11

The Future of Training and Development is AboutConnecting People (Interview)by GE N A TAYLOR on FEBRUARY 3, 2011

Carol Bond is the Senior Training Analyst for the specialty benefits division at

Principal Financial G roup. She oversees the training and development of leaders

and underwriters. On occasion she also works with sales and service personnel.

Carol previously managed an eLearning team and has worked in training

management and consulting for the past 17 years. She holds a Masters of Science

in E ducation-Adult Learning and Performance from Drake University. Carol is also a

member of the Principal Financial G roup¶s Development Council that drives the

development identification and governance at the organizational level. These

comments express the views of Carol Bond and are not representative of PrincipalFinancial G roup. She can be contacted at [email protected].

Q. Senior executives, project/training managers,instructional designers and programmers are all a part of training and development initiatives. From the perspectiveof a training analyst, what are some of the challenges you¶veseen these stakeholders face?

needs and preferences. Senior executives deal with resource constraints andkeeping costs low (doing more with less). Project/training managers face

challenges with resource constraints, scope creep, speed of delivery, and time

constraints (for example, availability of subject matter experts). Instructional

designers and programmers are sometimes challenged with the lack of support

from line management before, during, and after the training initiative. Similar to

project/training managers, they face challenges with scope creep, tight deadlines

and the speed of delivery in order to meet business needs or results.

Quite often, the project deadline or launch date is set before a thorough training

needs analysis and project plan has been completed. Therefore, this puts undo

pressure on the project/training managers, instructional designers and

programmers. Instructional designers have the added challenge of dealing with



The Future of Training &Development: New SocialLearning

By MATTHEW HARRINGTON | Published: SEPTEMBER 30, 2010

Massive transformations are taking place in our economy, our businesses and the way we communicate and filter information now more than ever before.The transformations may not be much of a surprise to most as Thomas Friedman warned us exhaustively

in The World Is Flat five years ago; however I·m not always sure we·re aware of the transformation that istaking place right within the very walls of our own organizations. The transformation I·m talking about haslittle to do with fiscal legislation or the current recession or even healthcare (all transformations that we areseeing and hearing about a lot these days). I·m talking about the transformation in how we learn, as adults,as employees, even as a community. Learning is the art of gathering information, processing thatinformation and then reflecting upon that information. Learning is under massive transformation as we enter a new ́ culture of sharing.µ For Training and Development Departments specifically, with the common mission to build and sustain thecompetency of the organization·s workforce, we tend to fall short of catching onto those ´culturaltransformation shifts.µ Usually, we are left in the dark and out of the loop. We get stuck in our veteran style

of learning with autocratic management and bureaucracy-driven tendencies for a ́ pulpit to pupilµ teachingstyle. Sometimes taking the path of least resistance, we shun the notion to find truly new and insightfulways to teach and learn. And yet, that·s our mission! ² to seek out and find new ways to capture theinnovation of our employees· minds and transform their thoughts and genius into a collective value for our organization. This new transformation into a culture of sharing or culture of ´new social learning,µ asBingham and Conner describe in their recently released, The New Social Learning, might be just the ticket.



Imagine with me, a Training and Development Department in the not-too-distant future with that vigor, thatability to capture ideas and accelerate our ability to create. It might look like this«

The trainer (facilitator) walks into the classroom. The usual set up is therewith tables, refreshments, and chairs. Most of the chairs have employee students waiting to learn the newfundamentals of Presentation Skills or perhaps they·re attending a Train-the-Trainer series (What they willcall Facilitate-the-Facilitator). However, some student students aren·t physically in their seats, they·re meremirages of themselves and are actually holographs staring back at the facilitator. Because this is a multi-global company, these holographic students are from India, Japan, or down the block at home nursing a sickchild.

The facilitator begins by saying ́ Welcome to thismorning·s session, turn on your pads to page one.µ Each student, whether in the classroom or on thecomputer screen, turns on his/her digital reader to follow along with the instructor. Not only can thestudents follow along with their digital reader to the facilitator·s presentation, but the students can alsoaccess video, articles, podcasts and blogs to enhance their learning experience. The digital reader (thinkiPad) is connected to the web. An interesting thing begins to happen, as the training unfolds. The text andcontent on each of the digital readers begins to change. You see each student can begin to add his or her thoughts to the presentation, or post an interesting article or video with a wisp of the fingertips. The term¶trainers· has fallen by the wayside and has given way to the much more collaborative term, ¶facilitator· ² aname for someone who helps facilitate the thoughts and learning environment.

Won·t someone post wrong information or misleading information during the presentation? No, not really.You see the community of learners at this morning session keep a strict set of ¶collaborative learning·principles when they learn or are trying to capture new ideas. The learning community they are building,even in this morning session·s training, is only as legitimate as the ´correctnessµ of the added informationand each student holds true that value of having correct information (Wikipedia is a great example of thiscordial dance between content and correct information). If something wrong was posted, it will quickly betaken down from the digital reader because the community has forced positive peer pressure and review to



the subject . When providing venues where people can share peer-to-peer and be accountable, the best information naturally rises to the top .

P erhaps this is a Training Within Industry session this morning . At certain points throughout the training, when the students need to fully understand the Toyota P roduction S ystem , the facilitator instructs the students to enter their avatars (no, not J ames Cameron yet, but digital beings that represent people in Second Life software) and enter the 3Dimmersive environment .O nce in the environment via a headset and handset, the students are now partnering with employees over in a J apanese Toyota plant to learn firsthand what goes into the Toyota P roduction S ystem . There is no language barrier because the social learning software translates . There is no learning barrier because now students practice in the culture of reciprocal learning: learning from one another . The day·s events are all captured on the students· digital readers and saved on their personal wikipage (personal website), which at their discretion can become public or remain private . They can refer to them whenever they need to or build upon them as they mature their learning experience . Most importantly, they have the ability to share their thoughts, reactions, and innovation to the presentation .

New Social Learning , or the use of social networks and tools to encourage knowledge transfer and connect people in a way consistent with how we naturally interact, is a product of three converging workforce trends . These trends, happening right now, include the expanding opportunities for personal connection through new social media tools, emerging expectations from shifting workforce demographics, and increasing reach of customi zed technology . We are witnessing a dramatic increase in our collective thinking, collaboration, and capacity to grow ; we are witnessing a more collective, hybrid IQ. Where does training and development fit into this brave new world? Training describes an outside-in approach to providing known q uantifiable content, while learning, especially social learning, describes an inside-out process that originates with the learner·s desire to know . Ablurring of roles has occurred between the learner and the teacher . We are all prosumers (a mix of consumer and producer) now, with just as much ability to create, support, and publish our thoughts to theories as anyone else . The teacher and learners· roles have combined to create a continuous learning environment .

The Future of TrainingBy Becky Regan

Ads by Google

Electrician Courses Call 0800 298 4200. Full training & business / job support- Nationwide www.olci.info



Captivate DragDrop Widget Make Your eLearning M ore Engaging! Add Easy Drag andDrop Interactions www.Infosemantics.com.au

H uman Capital Management Improve outcomes using integrated workforcemanagement solutions. www.apihealthcare.com

Criticality of Training in Today's Organizations

Like every successful organization, your strategy needs to include recruiting and retaining the best quality

employee possible. In an expanding economy with a tightening job market, higher performing companies

recognize the challenge of retaining staff. With multiple generations present in today's workplaces,

providing customized and targeted training is key.

A convergence of multiple environmental, socioeconomic, and technological influences present you with

the challenge of retaining staff. You need to ramp up your training and development efforts. Training

plays a critical role in your employee's ability to actively contribute to operational, strategic and financial

goals for the company.

Through training, an employee learns the company's vision and strategies. He also learns how he can

add skills, knowledge and abilities to his resume in order to assume different and growing roles within

your organization. The employee understands that he's an integral part of the whole. He sees just how

critical his participation is in achieving business objectives and goals.

An employee needs consistent and repetitive messages over time about your company's core values and

expectations for individual and team-based performance. Then, synergies of compounded performance

develop to enhance your organization's overall productivity and achievement. The employee buys into thevision. He begins to actively participate in his own self-development. His loyalty to the company

increases. In this model of a high performing organization, your challenge becomes building a training

organization within the human resource function that will stimulate, inform and help to retain your

employees.

H ow Training Is Changing



The evolution of technology and daily use of computers in the workplace has already impacted how

employees receive training. Many e-learning providers are responding to workplace needs or legal

mandates to provide specific training to employees. In 2006, in the state of California, AB 1825 went into

effect, mandating that sexual harassment prevention training must be conducted for supervisors at least

once every two years. Many law firms and e-training providers have jumped on the bandwagon to

develop "interactive" e-learning programs that can satisfy a portion of the mandated new training

requirement. Employees can use self-paced, technology-based training to learn course content, ask "on-

line editors" questions, and take a test at the end of the section to show what they learned. Programs like

this can also track participants and generate hard copy reports to demonstrate a company's compliance

with the mandated training.

The Department of Homeland Security is uses new simulation and modeling software to conduct

homeland security training in a cost-effective manner. Trainees use reality based simulations to learn

critical information. New recruits learn their success and failures before they experience them firsthand in

live combat. Wired magazine's article, "The War Room" describes how f/x artists, research scientists,

Pentagon experts, and videogame developers came together to create the Institute for Creative

Technologies (ICT), a research and development group at the University of Southern California. ICT's

virtual training uses an old forum to teach soldiers how to best navigate difficult combat situations

involving tiers of decisions for reacting: storytelling.

The New Training Paradigm

Professors from Indiana and Warwick universities (Kim et al.) titled, "Surveying the Future of the

Workplace: E-Learning: The Rise of Blending, Interactivity, and Authentic Learning." Companies

answered 49 questions related to e-learning. Their responses were overwhelmingly optimistic, indicating

they support and embrace e-learning or blended learning. Blended learning is a marriage of traditional,

face-to-face lectures and and online training. Today's conventional wisdom on workplace training says

that blended learning presents alternative venues for companies to train employees. It reinforces key

messages and reaches people with different learning styles through a variety of learning opportunities.

Companies were asked what technology-based applications and instructional methods would be used in

the future. They indicated " ...authentic cases and scenario learning, simulations or gaming, virtual team

collaboration and problem solving, and problem-based learning would be more widely used in the coming

decade." (Kim et al.) Distributed learning environments can be represented by virtual communities,

blogging, instant messaging, and computer-supported group collaboration and problem solving (Bonk &

Graham). Predictions of "environments that simultaneously facilitate both distributed environments and



face-to-face interactions are on the horizon requiring that e-training facilitators assume broader and

varied roles."

E-learning facilitators "wear four pairs of shoes," according to e-learning experts Ed Hootstein and Zane

Berge. They assume the roles of instructor, social director, program manager and technical assistant. E-learning facilitators can create examples for situational and authentic learning in addition to traditional

instruction through a variety of e-technology applications. These include e-mail, groupware, audio and

video conferencing. "The vast array of electronic tolls available for analysis, design, planning, problem

solving, and giving presentations enable learners to perform sophisticated and complex tasks and solve

problems in creative ways." (Hootstein)

The ultimate goal in developing technology based training according to Berge is "to make the technology

transparent." Because of advancements over time in the availability and economy of technology in today's

workplace, the e-learning facilitator can focus on the content and delivery of the materials to teach keylearnings.

Authentic, or experiential learning has also come into vogue. We draw upon our knowledge and life

experiences to learn and understand, and personal behavior can be changed as a result. This learning is

based upon "consciousness, experience, and reflection." (Grimmett) It's about making a connection,

bringing home the example at hand to resonate with the participant in a meaningful way to change a

person's perception and belief system.

Next Steps and Summary

Major corporations such as Sun Microsystems, Cisco, Oracle, IBM, and Microsoft already use blended,

authentic learning in their training systems (Bonk & Graham). This emergence of blended learning

provides the next generation of training application and delivery systems. It teaches employees key

lessons in a variety of ways. It provides a greater opportunity for learning through technology, face-to face

situations and authentic learning experiences.

E-learning will need to be evaluated to determine " ...online learners' achievement and satisfaction,

followed by clearer reward systems and incentives for e-learning completion, and training that helpslearners self-regulate their learning." (Kim et al.). These thoughts reflect the next steps for companies to

develop to encourage employee's participation in blended learning programs. Even so, blended learning

using authentic situations now represents an opportunity for companies to build their own training and

development function and take advantage of the myriad of resources that are available through this new

and evolving training paradigm.



7KH )XWXUH RI 7UDLQLQJ 'HYHORSPHQW-DQXDU\

3RVWHG E\ VDOO\ER\G LQ /HDUQLQJ 0DQDJHPHQW

7DJV %RE 3LNH

WUDFNEDFN

This week I had the opportunity to hear Bob Pike speak in a group of less than one hundred. The form of

the event was a fire-side chat and the topic was Top 10 Questions Trainers Ask. Instead of making it

a presentation the Trainer s Trainer made it an open discussion. He gave each group a chance to

come up with a couple of burning questions and then answered most of them.

O ne question was Where do you see the Training Industry in 20 years? His answer, or rather the

discussion, directly addressed one of my pet peeves in business today. He answered the question by

saying that we need to change our name to Performance Improvement or we might not exist as a

profession in 20 years. He continued by mentioning the top three issues of training 20 years ago.

+RZ GR \RX JHW PDQDJHU EX\ LQ" +RZ GR \RX HQVXUH UHWHQWLRQ" , WKLQN WKH ODVW RQH ZDV +RZ GR \RX GHDO ZLWK GLIILFXOW SDUWLFLSDQWV"

Sound familiar? O f course, these are still the three big questions today.

Then he went on to explain that many people involved in T&D come into the field as a job assignment

perhaps they are a high potential employee needing to learn more about the company and T&D is a

good place for that.They are in the position for a few years, learn what they need to manage the

position, then move on to something else. The key point here is that in most T&D positions, we aresimply reinventing the wheel and not just once, but over and over.

This reinforces my complaint that the people running training should be training professionals. The

difficulty here is that the training department is a good place to a) get an overview of the focus areas of

the department/division/company and b) to meet and work with the employees and managers in the

field. So what is the solution to using this great opportunity to develop future operations managers and

executives?

Being a technical trainer has potential, but not as great as running the department. However, at one

employer I worked for, they had a perfect position. This position had the responsibility of explaining the

training programs to employees within an assigned region, of ensuring that employees worked through

these programs and of working with HR and Management to help these employees advance into new

roles. These people had to understand the training program, make presentations, meet with employees

and management all of the elements they should get out of the assignment for their personal growth,

while enabling training management to focus on growing employees and improving performance.



O f course, the company still used the Training Management positions as growth positions as

well. Whoever invented this role had a great idea however they did not get the message on to HR and

upper management. Maybe they were not Training Professionals themselves, and that possibility was

not part of their thinking. S till it is something to think of for the future.

Every action has consequences. We know the consequences, and okay, the advantages, of using the

training function as an executive training ground what would be the consequences of using training

leadership positions to grow the profession? I, for one, would love to find out!

the future of training and development is about connecting people

Documents