Focus Magazine - Spring 2016 - (Page 5)

FROM THE PRESIDENT Mary Myers Change is in the Air Change is a shared initiative. S tarting a new year is much like starting a new position, or a new project - it's a time of growth and change. Since taking over as president of the LTEN Board of Directors last month, I've already seen the signs that 2016 is going to be a year of growth and change for all of us. Take a moment and look around your organization, or your client companies, or corporate training as an industry. You'll see companies are changing, how people are learning in new ways, how technology is transforming from "how we do things" to "how we do things simpler." Change is nothing new to training, of course. In fact, our traditional role as trainers and leaders is as well-dressed facilitators of conversations about change. ink about it. Every time we engage an audience - whether it's one person or as many people as you can imagine - we are sharing information and helping learners naturally articulate in a thoughtful, meaningful way. As trainers we have come to appreciate how each of us can share a weakness against a person's strengths. With skill we can help individuals invest in themselves, find their own pace of learning and build the skill set for that learning agility. We are the key to a company's culture by providing an open and respectful learning environment where every person, culture and religion on earth is appreciated and valued. As an organization, LTEN must reflect and embrace that global audience. is global challenge will in turn challenge how we view training and its time-honored traditions. We must be more flexible, such as providing simulation training or interactive training to force people to think. Training people to take a test is no longer the answer. Instead, we must focus on creating experience- based learning from multiple channels: Peerto-peer, e-learning and m-learning, and, most importantly, application-style events. Of course all the change isn't on your shoulders. As your support network, LTEN will adapt, grow and change with your needs. But at the heart of things, LTEN will remain your resource for ideas, for networking, for partnerships and for development. For all of us, change is a shared initiative, a chance to elevate our industry, companies and careers. It all starts, as change always does, with need and desire. We do need to push the envelope and create bonds between trainers and between all organizations. We must want to challenge ourselves to think diﬀerently and we must learn how to learn again, especially given that 46 percent of our workforces in 2020 will be millennials. ese individuals want to collaborate, do not like structure, want flexibility and believe you can influence others through networks and communities. Our future generations are technology natives raised on smart phones and tablets the way many of us were raised on encyclopedias and blackboards. It'll be our mission to meet them where they live. It's a big mission, with big challenges, but as with everything training does, there are big benefits awaiting. And, of course, we have no other options. Ask yourself: What is the cost of ineﬀective training? You know the answers: Disengagement, failure, loss. Our mission may at times sound and seem daunting, but that challenge is part of what makes victory so sweet. As we journey together into 2016 and beyond, we'll see highs and lows, ups and downs, successes and lessons learned. e best part, though, is we'll go through all that together, and come out stronger. ■ Mary Myers is president of LTEN and director of training for Bayer Healthcare. Email Mary at mary.myers@bayer.com. FOCUS | SPRING 2016 | www.L-TEN.org 5 http://www.L-TEN.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Focus Magazine - Spring 2016

Focus Magazine - Spring 2016
From the President: Change is in the Air
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Guest Editor: 'Training Event' or 'Learning Experience'?
Directions: Engaging with Life Sciences Leaders
Front of the Room: 'It Can't Be Me, Right?'
Neuroscience: The Science of Imitation
Bristol-Myers Squibb: Launching a New Global Selling Model
Accelerating the Journey to Customer-Centricity
Cognitive Science: Creating More Effective Multimedia Learning
The Art of Sales Improvisation – Your Competitive Advantage
Developing Leaders Who Excel at Strategy Execution
Learning Technologies for Event-Based Training
Defending Your Sales Process
Virtual How: Market Access Training
Ad Index
Focus Contacts
5 Questions with Kevin Kruse

Focus Magazine - Spring 2016