I spoke at the Global Learning Summit in Singapore last week where I listed the trends that I see emerging around the world that will have wide-ranging effects on corporate learning. I was controversial and tried to offer a different slant on what is emerging as best practice in learning.
Most corporate learning remains traditional, formal, and follows patterns laid down decades ago by firms such as GE and IBM. While it is hard to fault the content of these programs, as they are usually generic and seem to make sense; there is also little evidence that they make a huge difference to profits, success, or productivity. It is much easier to show that a quality program or a process improvement initiative have more impact than a learning program.
Formal classes and training programs are still the mainstay of corporate learning functions. Instructional designers and professional presenters spend thousands of hours designing training that should, in theory, transfer the needed skills to leaners as fast as possible. Unfortunately there is little evidence that these classes work very well.
ROI is the holy grail of training professionals. They desperately try to prove that these programs make a difference. They crunch numbers, run surveys and connect multiple variables to outcomes that may or may not be of any interest to a CEO. CEOs that support learning have a built-in faith that it works and that it is needed for their success. They do not need any ROI studies. If they don’t believe this, no amount of ROI proof is likely to change their minds. I have been there and tried it myself.
Training and learning departments have always been looked upon as optional because they champion formal learning. Classrooms are the worst possible place to transfer skills or knowledge and every CEO who downsized a training function knows this instinctively. Therefore, training functions are downsized or eliminated during recessions. This last recession has been true to form with many organizations trimming learning back deeply and early.
So what is needed is a fresh look at things – a new approach.
If you look around any corporation, there are learning elements that do endure, often thrive, and seem immune to significant cuts. These are what smart training professionals should be focusing their time and energy on. By supporting these and aligning the right people to the right process, training could find itself in renaissance.
Here are four that I think are particularly important. There may be more and I would love to hear what your ideas are.
1. Apprenticeships
Apprenticeships are powerful and old. They were the mainstay of the 18th century and are making a comeback today in organizations that understand how learning takes place. They directly couple a learner with an expert, and place an expectation on both of producing performance. Thousands of skills are learned this way already, despite classroom time and theory which is mostly forgotten within hours or days.
Almost all manual skills including running machinery, operating vehicles, handling chemicals, working in laboratories, or even learning to be a physician are acquired through apprenticeships. Psychiatrists, priests, and Army generals learn most of what they know by practicing under the eyes of an expert who guides them, tweaks performance, and provides instant performance appraisal.
Many corporate skills including management and leadership are best learned this way. In fact, almost everything can have an apprenticeship element.
2. Informal learning
We learn the vast majority of what we know informally- without apprenticeships, textbooks, or teachers. We figure things out our own way, we ask questions, we find resources to tap into such as Wikipedia or the Internet itself, and we try and fail until we succeed.
Jay Cross at the Internet Time Alliance is the guru of preaching informal learning and his blogs and writings explain and amplify the concepts nicely.
Eager learners reach out to others, often called crowdsourcing these days, to learn what they need to know. They also tap into their social networks such as Facebook or LinkedIn for advice, guidance and practical information.
3. Online learning
The Internet has opened new dimensions to learning and made accessing information and facts easy. It has also made it possible to catalogue all sorts of things: videos, movies, books, reports, letter, memos, drawings, and so forth which can be tapped to provide the information and learning needed to achieve a goal.
Independent learners naturally gravitate toward the Internet and Google is said to be the biggest teacher of them all. Google is an “all knowing being” who can provide magical answers. Of course, even Google results need to have experience and wisdom applied, but the results do fill many learning needs.
4. Mentoring
Mentoring is an informal apprenticeship, and because of that is significantly different. With apprenticeship comes an element of performance mastery: each party is expected to play a role in building capability and performance. Mentoring is much less formal, and implies a casual exchange of ideas, loose guidance and even friendship.
Mentors are transmitters of wisdom and experience often gained by years of practice or just living. There is nothing formal in a mentoring relationship.
So these four learning elements, often not even thought of as training at all, are the enduring parts of transferring knowledge, experience and wisdom. They don’t cost much. They don’t need a large building or a bureaucracy for support.
Wise training professionals will grasp this and work to make sure that these elements are others are all part of what happens under the learning umbrella.
Recent Comments