Chief Learning Officer - September 2007 - (Page 12)

letters to the editor Informal Learning Across Generations Good points in your article “Mobile Learning: The Next Step in Technology-Mediated Learning” (February 2007 Web-only feature). At our company, we are seeing a large increase in the use of informal learning. The big challenge that is starting to occur is providing credit for learning time. Large companies such as ours expect our skilled workers to remain current with technology trends. Our younger engineers love the new tools, and the more “seasoned” engineers prefer classrooms and personal conversations. A couple of interesting challenges we are working through: • The latest version of the information/learning. • Proper security access to the information/learning. • Credit for completing an external learning activity back into a learning management system. Bob Schaefer Raytheon Professional Services Learning: A Continuous Process Congratulations on your April issue. Rather than simply confirming many of the attitudes and opinions I already hold about enterprise education, it actually taught me a thing or two. Starting with the editor’s letter — who knew annual reports owe their financial reporting to accounting techniques developed more than half a century ago? — and on nearly every page thereafter, there were nuggets of new information, sound analysis and even controversial opinions worth considering. Please continue to use the pages of the magazine to teach, as well as tout, the learning profession. Although it’s great to pat ourselves on the back for being learning leaders, we won’t be of value much longer if we fail to do what we encourage the workforce to do — stretch ourselves, learn continuously and never think we know it all! Keep up the good work. Sid Lambert Peekskill, N.Y. The Learning-Talent Management Connection The CLO position seems to get more and more complex every day. Consider the impact of talent management on learning — more and more, it appears the learning function must not only consider but also collaborate with talent management professionals to provide the right type of learning to help employees perform well at work. Your recent article “Extra Value: Lessons from Fast Food” (April 2007) discusses the impact of recruiting practices, as well as the importance of employee contentment in conjunction with timely learning to influence employee engagement and reduce turnover. Further, the job title of one of the sources, John Kelley from White Castle, actually combines learning and human resources. Although the connection between the two is obvious and makes perfect sense, I think it’s important to acknowledge the strengths of each. The learning and HR camps must work together effectively, each bringing its own areas of expertise and singular considerations to the development table. But these two are in no way interchangeable. To share your comments, opinions, questions or suggestions with Chief Learning Officer editors, write to letters@clomedia.com. Letters may be edited prior to publication. Please include your full name and, if desired, company name and title, when writing to us. World-Changing Machine Although mentioned at the beginning of the article (“Running a Lean Learning Function,” April 2007) as a partial influence to lean learning, Sakichi Toyoda’s process isn’t just an influence but rather lean learning incarnate. Although Henry Ford made innumerable contributions to manufacturing, the idea to stop repairing poor-quality entities to focus on intense study of each development stage is Toyoda’s idea alone. The idea of lean manufacturing is simply a generic name for the Toyota Production System that other companies use when they wish to incorporate its methods. Although Toyota owes some influence and language to the writings of Henry Ford, the ideas behind it were imagined and more importantly implemented by Toyoda and his son, immortalized by the recently reissued book “The Machine That Changed the World” (1990). Because this is the definition of lean learning Brian Summerfield uses throughout his piece, it should be properly attributed and less ambiguous. Eddie Kim Tracy, Calif. September 2007 I www.clomedia.com I Chief Learning Officer 12 I’m glad Chief Learning Officer has begun to integrate the talent management piece of the learning and development puzzle, but at the same time, has maintained the integrity of learning professions particular strengths and contributions. Charles Campos Detroit, Mich. “Card Tricks” Don’t Work Perhaps he’s deliberately trying to be controversial, but I have to take issue with Jay Cross’ assertion in his recent column (“Card Tricks,” March 2007). In the opening paragraph, he states: “A simple stack of cards can have a greater impact on performance than a fancy multimedia pro- http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/mediatec/clo0407/index.php?startpage=46 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/mediatec/clo0407/index.php?startpage=46 http://www.clomedia.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Chief Learning Officer - September 2007

Editor's Letter Contents Letters to the Editor Strategies Selling up, Selling Down Take Five Imperatives Guest Editorial Learning Solutions Embarking on a Learning Journey Clo Profile Environment CIGNA Service Operations: Making Strategic Change Happen, and Making It Stick Tactics Black & Decker: On-Demand Learning Creation and Consumption Productivity The Army You Have Human Capital Holiday Inn Express: Delivering Critical Training Globally Case Study: Tegan Jones Business Intelligence Case Study: Lisa Rummler Advertisers' Index Editorial Resources In Conclusion

Chief Learning Officer - September 2007

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