Training Industry Quarterly - Fall 2010 - (Page 7)

AT THE EDITOR’S DESK | BARBARA JORDAN CREATIVITY CAN BE YOUR BEST FRIEND AND/OR YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE. TRAINING DURING CRUNCH TIMES I t usually starts with the undeniable signs of change. Temperatures drop, kids (reluctantly) head back to school, and for no known reason, traffic seems to increase exponentially. For many professionals in the learning world, these changes mean one thing—it’s crunch time. Most organizations have periods of heavy activity, or “seasons,” all of which require learning support in order to ensure that overarching goals are met. In my experience, these times of impossible deadlines and frenetic juggling of deliverables is a learning professional’s finest hour. Teams tend to operate like a finetuned machine, in high gear, heading for the finish line. This is where you typically see people at their most creative, efficient and capable. These are the times where you look back and wonder how it all got done. Through the years working in a highly seasonal business, I’ve learned a lot about “crunch time.” Creativity can be your best friend and/or your worst nightmare. Learning professionals by nature are a curious and creative group, and knowing “when to say when” to good ideas is a crucial element in meeting deadlines. I’ve learned the hard way that my insatiable appetite to try out new and cool things can sometimes cause undue anxiety, and there is a need to phase in adoption. On the other hand, that same curiosity can work in your favor. The avalanche of new global, social media and mobile learning resources are a learning professional’s dream come true. As you will see in Don Duquette’s article on Mobile Learning, these applications are becoming more and more accessible as people begin to experiment with various ways to apply them. Creativ- This Month’s Guest Editor Barbara Jordan is vice president of Learning at Jackson Hewitt Tax Service. Her group is responsible for educating approximately 36,000 tax oﬃce staﬀ members working in more than 6,400 oﬃces. Jackson Hewitt is a highly seasonal business and achieves more than one million course completions each year. Barbara previously worked at UBS Financial Services and is currently a member of the Training Industry Editorial Advisory Board, as well as an active volunteer within her local school system studying 21st century learning. E-mail her at editor@trainingindustry.com. Know someone who’d make an outstanding guest editor? Interested in becoming one yourself? Contact us at editor@trainingindustry.com. ity is key in making sure these tools are used to support the performance of organizations. (Creativity is also one of the tools for Developing Global Leaders, as Dr. Tommy Weir discusses in his article.) Performance enhancement needs to loom large at all times when delivering learning materials. In his article, Reducing Scrap Learning Through Manager Engagement, John Mattox discusses improving learning to provide the results you desire. Enhancing learning performance through neurodevelopmental approaches is also discussed in Learning Design for Every Mind by Karen Voloshin and Julie Winkle Giulioni. A clear performance strategy at the onset of crunch time will help to keep projects on track and assist with evaluating results. Crunch time is a learning professional’s reality, and while it may drive us crazy at times, it also drives us to the mindset of continual improvement and incredible creative energy. 7 TrainingIndustry Quarterly, Fall 2010 / A Training Industry, Inc. ezine / www.trainingindustry.com/TIQ http://www.trainingindustry.com/TIQ

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Quarterly - Fall 2010

Training Industry Quarterly - Fall 2010
Microtek
From Where I Sit
Contents
Training Industry Top 20
At the Editor’s Desk
The Training Associates
Winning Organizations Through People
Altus
Learning Technologies
Knowledge Pool
Performance & Productivity
Kaplan It Learning
Learning Design for Every Mind
Rapid Intake
The New Era of Mobile Learning
Raytheon
The Essential Tension: Developing Leaders around the Globe
Adobe
Manager Engagement: Reducing Scrap Learning
Partnering For Performance Conference
CASEBOOK: American Bankers Association
FOCAL POINT: The Right Stuff: Engaging Learners
Closing Arguments
Delta College Corporate Services

Training Industry Quarterly - Fall 2010