Training Industry Magazine - Fall 2015 - (Page 9)

THE PENDULUMS SWING A comedian recently joked, "Those who don't study history are doomed to repeat it. Those who do study history are doomed to helplessly standby watching others repeat it." Given the low satisfaction and low engagement statistics in business today, it seems to be increasingly common for each one of us to feel helpless. Yet, as learning professionals, we're skilled at behavior change and systemic improvement. Today is the beginning of an opportunity for us to swing the pendulum from disengagement to discretionary joy. CONVERSATION MAY BE THE MOST OVERLOOKED TECHNOLOGY IN TODAY'S CONNECTED WORLD. In this issue of Training Industry Magazine, you'll find articles discussing various training delivery methods such as simulations, e-learning, instructor-led, serious games and how to incorporate humor into delivery. These resources are not only intended to help you serve the needs of your customers, but to also start a conversation. Conversation tends to be an overlooked technology, even in today's digital world. In fact, conversation may be the most overlooked technology in today's connected and co-created world. For example, consider a recent customer of a large company that builds and repairs ships. The customer had a large ship that was broken. The request was to fix an estimated 1,000 problems in six weeks. For comparison, it can take years to fix 400 problems. Against all odds, an agreement was reached and the contractor needed a level of productivity never seen before. Within the agreement and external regulations, the contractor empowered its employees to "go anywhere on the ship" and "fix or document any problems." Social technology was used as an enabler of the culture and process change. As a result, over 1,200 problems were solved at an unprecedented rate of four weeks. The customer and the employees were overjoyed. The improvement was attributed to the conversations happening in real-time at a collective-organization level in addition to a traditional, small group level. In addition to collaborative culture and process improvements, we are experiencing other significant shifts. Data and analytics are becoming omnipresent. The amount of automation is slowly increasing; 3D printing will potentially thrust automation to a new level. The skills that are required of today's knowledge workers are markedly different from just a few years ago. The application of these shifts could potentially cause us to rethink what it means to deliver training. We're heading toward a more rapid oscillation between individual learning and collective learning, as well as synchronous and asynchronous learning. Whether or not MOOCs become widely accepted, other approaches to learning may prove valuable and impactful. New approaches might include expertise location, communities of practice, organizational network analysis, talent markets, knowledge markets or even the T R A I N I N G I N DUSTR Y MA GAZ INE - FALL201 5 I WWW.TRAININGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE - JOHN HOVELL, PMP, CKM GUEST EDITOR conversational leadership concept of "working out loud." Ideally, these new approaches will help eradicate today's common challenges of finding time, writing progress reports, keeping people in the loop and scheduling meetings. Larry Prusak taught us that "the most common constraints have moved from land, labor and capital; now the most common constraints are time, attention and priority." Managing those constraints, and applying learning within those constraints, may be considerably different than our current approaches. While most of our organizational pendulums continue to swing from decentralized to centralized, and from strategic to tactical, it is becoming more possible to connect and have conversations at hyper speed. The pendulums may swing back and forth over the long term, but these new plateaus of co-creation and productivity will only continue to increase. Consider embracing that change, and sharing your conversations so that the world becomes a better place, even faster than expected. THIS ISSUE'S GUEST EDITOR John Hovell is the head of organizational development at BAE Systems. As a leader in the convergence of knowledge management and business strategy, John is a practitioner, speaker and author in organizational development, knowledge management strategy and methods. Email John. 9 http://www.trainingindustry.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Magazine - Fall 2015

Delivery: Is This Where Technology Changes the Game?
Table of Contents
Guest Editor: The Pendulums Swing
Access Trumps Knowledge: Changes for Training Delivery
Hardwired to Learn
Using a Blended Approach When Crafting a Training Delivery Strategy
Planning, Developing and Implementing Serious Games
Let's Get Serious about Live, Instructor-led Training
Just What Employees Ordered: Personalized Adaptive Learning
Training with Pictures, Not Bullet Points
Anti-Social Learning?
Using Microlearning and Information Design to Elevate Soft Skills Training
How Improvisation Can Drive Employee Engagement
Accelerating Expertise with Simulations
Technology and Trends Driving the China Training Market
Helping Buyers of Training Services Become More Savvy
Are Bad Communication Habits Holding You Back?
Measuring the ROI of Social Media within Your Organization
Closing Deals
Company News
What's Online
Training Talk

Training Industry Magazine - Fall 2015