Training Industry Quarterly - Winter 2011 - (Page 23)

[TACTICS] From Ugly Babies to Presentation Hell: 7 Solutions for Workforce Training B Y K A R E N E . G A R D N E R fter a 25-plus year career SOME OF THE in government service, the BIGGEST BATTLES last 10 of which was spent ARE FOUGHT OVER training and educating the next MAKING TRAINING generation of FBI agents, I thought HANDS-ON, I understood the world of trainJUST-IN-TIME ing and development pretty well. AND FUN. But my first 90 days in Corporate America provided a slightly differ- ten down. And the conversation ent context for some important les- to extract that wonderful content sons learned: can be quite painful for both parties. They are the embodiment of Those ‘Pesky’ Subject-Matter the difference between novice and Experts (SMEs) expert thinking. They skip steps, You have to learn to love them, solution jump and forget how they because you can’t develop training learned this wonderful content. without them. Government agency They immediately see solutions to or Corporate America, they walk complicated problems. They have around with wonderful training to feel they are in control, and as content in their head—but not writ- an instructional designer working A with the expert, often they’ve done a pretty good job of slinging some content together. I call it the 80 percent solution—or the “ugly baby.” They put time and effort into creating training, usually in their spare time, and then the training gurus come along and criticize their wonderful content. Our job as designers is to make their content as good as it can be. I always reassure them that if they trust me, together we’ll take it from 80 percent to 100 percent. Abandon Principles of Adult Learning at Your Own Peril We all have strong preferences about what makes learning engaging: fun, relevant, experiential, hands-on and not spoon-fed. 23 TrainingIndustry Quarterly, Winter 2011 / 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 - Winter 2011

Training Industry Quarterly - Winter 2011
Element K
From Where I Sit: Your 2011 Action Plan
Table of Contents
Ad Index
Training Industry Top 20
At the Editor's Desk: Becoming Enablers
Raytheon Professional Services
Performance & Productivity: The Power of Conversations
Altus
Learning Technologies: Paving Cow Paths for Dinosaurs?
KnowledgePool
Technical Training: Talent Management & Technical Training
Partnering for Performance Conference
Learning 2020: Thinking about the Future of Learning
Cornerstone On Demand
Cover Report: Proving Training's Value: Linking Training to Business Outcomes
The Training Associates
Tactics Feature: 7 Solutions for Workforce Training
Harvard Business Publishing
Strategies Feature: Onboarding: A Driving Force for Employee Engagement
Hemsley Fraser
Solutions Feature: Making Informal Learning Real
Training Industry Quarterly
MicroTek
CaseBook: Habitat for Humanity: Training Under Construction
Tracking Trends: The Big Shift
Closing Arguments: Focusing on the Future
Delta College Corporate Services

Training Industry Quarterly - Winter 2011