Chief Learning Officer - August 2008 - (Page 45)

ronment. Podcasts can be created using any Mac or PC computer with a recent version of either Windows or Mac OS X. Since most computers these days come with some form of microphone, there is no other hardware required. Helping your stakeholders create their own minipodcast will help them gain conﬁdence that the organization has the ability to implement this “new” skill. Reinforcement The last stage or building block that must be achieved for the successful implementation of podcasting is the reinforcement that the organization can sustain this new approach. Unfortunately, this building block only can be accomplished via the sustained success of podcasting as a delivery option. The chances of this success can be greatly improved through proper planning. Any trainer who has suffered the horror of delivering a course that he or she did not plan and prepare for understands what happens when you don’t plan. Before recording, organize the content for the show or class the same way that you would organize any training session. Ensure that you use Gagne’s nine elements of instruction. Make notes, prepare your interviews and try to improvise as little as possible. The best podcasts sound spontaneous because of the preparation that went into making them. Remember, podcasts are essentially mini-lectures. We all know how challenging it is to make lectures engaging. So be short and simple. Too many podcasts try to ﬁll an hour with whatever it takes to ﬁll that time. Listeners are likely to embrace a podcast if it is short. This does not mean that one-hour podcasts won’t work. But you may want to begin with shorter podcasts — 10 to 20 minutes — to attract listeners who might be turned off by the idea of devoting one hour of their lives to an unknown program. If listeners like the shortcasts, then they’ll stick around for the longcasts. Summary While the technical mechanics of creating a podcast are easy, it’s more difﬁcult to help stakeholders see the vision, understand the value proposition, buy in to the concept of podcasting as a training option and take ownership in the process. Therefore, addressing the people component of podcast implementation is most important and largely a matter of change management. If you can build awareness around the change, infuse a desire for it, disperse the knowledge of how to do it, develop the ability to change and to reinforce it, the implementation of podcasting as a training option ultimately will be successful. CLO Kaliym A. Islam is vice president of Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. (DTCC) Learning. He can be reached at editor@clomedia.com. IN PRACTICE UNIVERSITY OF TOYOTA: A SUCCESS STORY IN PODCAST IMPLEMENTATION T he University of Toyota faced an interesting dilemma. For years, its e-Showroom Web site was a state-of-theart portal for educating and training Toyota salespeople and managers at various dealership locations. Since its creation, e-Showroom provided users with learning content on the beneﬁts, features and latest innovations for all Toyota vehicles. This learning Web site traditionally played a central role in driving vehicle sales. The leadership of the university, however, understood that for e-Showroom to maintain its coveted position, new functionality needed to be added. After assessing the changing demographics of dealership employees and researching the beneﬁts of Web 2.0 technology, the vice president believed that one piece of functionality it needed was podcasting. There were problems: Some members of the leadership team were cool to the idea of podcasting, and others did not know enough about the technology to make a decision. To assist his team through the process of what he saw as a necessary change, the vice president sponsored a workshop for all designers and managers of the eShowroom Web site. The goal was to brainstorm ways the Web site could be enhanced, discuss new tools and features that could be added and share ideas on how to increase Web site usage and provide content that would keep users more engaged. This daylong workshop was a case study in the change management required to implement podcasting. To ensure he was not perceived as forcing the concept of podcasting on his leadership team and to allow himself to remain open-minded and engaged, the vice president secured a management consulting ﬁrm to facilitate the session. Haig Barrett Inc., in collaboration with the leadership team, set an agenda that included team exercises and presentations from Web 2.0 and podcasting experts. The day began with group exercises and the sharing of industry trends and demographic information. Many attendees were unaware of some of the information that was presented. Learning about these factors helped create awareness that new functionality, speciﬁcally podcasting, needed to be added to the e-Showroom. After the presentation of data, there was a sharing of “pain points” from each manager. This created a desire amongst the participants to support and participate in this change. The demonstrations and presentations by the various experts provided attendees with knowledge of how to change. There was even a hands-on demonstration that enforced the feeling that participants had the skills and ability to create podcasts. By the end of the day, none of the attendees were “cool” to the concept of implementing podcasts. The entire leadership team was on board with the change. CLO – Kaliym A. Islam 45

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Chief Learning Officer - August 2008

Chief Learning Officer - August 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Connections Business Impact Trends Best Practices Effectiveness High-Octane Leadership Development Leadership and Personality CLO Profile Discussion Groups: Harvesting Value from Real-World Experiences Kimpton 2.0: Discussion on the Web Learning Olympics: Development Through Competition Bypassing the Obstacles to Change Listen Up: A How-To-Guide for Podcasting University of Toyota: A Success Story in Podcast Implementation What Stinks About Webinars? Webinars for Learning Professionals Case Study Business Intelligence Advertisers' Index Editorial Resources In Conclusion

Chief Learning Officer - August 2008

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