This author is billed as the founder of ‘Skill-Pill Learning’, a company name which immediately made me want to challenge everything he writes. But, having overcome my prejudice, I found the article to be thought provoking, covering the key issues that learning professionals should be addressing as the world of technology and social behaviour change the way we deliver learning.
It is
true that the author falls into the trap of being too black and white, and of
expressing choices as ‘either/or’ when there is no need to do so. It is only at the end that he admits that it
is a reframing rather than a complete overhaul of learning strategy that is
required in most cases. This is however
an acceptable approach because it makes those who are emotionally attached to
the old ways think more seriously about the continuing relevance of what they
do.
The
article’s main argument is that the normal approach of learning professionals
is the ‘push’ style which provides employees with learning opportunities when
it suits the organisation; these are however forgotten and/or irrelevant by the
time the learner has to apply them. The
author suggests only 10% learning retention, even lower than I had heard before
and a frightening statistic. He ignores
the fact that many tailored programmes can be modular and include continuous reinforcement
but the point is well made.
It is
however easier to make the point than to solve the problem. The author’s view is that the development of
improved technology and trends towards social media provide the opportunity -
and the necessity - to move to a new ‘pull’ approach whereby learners access
and select the information they need at the time they are to apply it. The example provided is the training of sales
people in product understanding; they will have forgotten the content of the
course they attended on induction and need a new learning process when they
start selling that product some time later.
This was when I first questioned the author’s black and white approach;
surely you can have both, one to provide a foundation and another to ‘top-up’
at the appropriate time.
The
author then moves on to ask a series of powerful questions that we should all be
asking as we try to adapt to the new environment. He rather cleverly expresses the questions as
new and old; for example the old question has been - how do we blend learning?;
the new question is - ‘how do we enable?
The argument is that employees are no longer the passive players they
used to be; they are now more technologically skilled and more able to access
multiple learning sources. Therefore
they want and need to be take responsibility for their own learning.
This
latter point is really the nub of the whole issue and I would like to have seen
the author take it further because a lot depends on the motivation of the
learner and the culture within which they operate. If the culture does not support an employee
giving time to self-generated learning - for instance a line manager who
doesn’t regard such time as ‘real work’ - the opportunities are not going
to be taken and there will not even be 10% learning retention. And our own
experience with a range of companies is that learning cultures vary enormously
and in those which are least developed, structured ‘push’ learning can be the
most effective way to deliver in the short term.
The
other powerful question asked by the author is how can we 'socialise' the
material? The modern trend with social
media requires two new competences; the ability to convert material into short
‘bite-sized’ learning opportunities and
creating the means by which these can easily be shared and discussed on-line
with peers. MTP is already going down
this route with tailored Interactive Video Podcasts for a number of our more
far-sighted clients and our experience indicates that the author may be
underestimating the investment required to shorten complex content into concise
summaries. We do however share his view
that this ability to shorten without losing learning value will be a key skill
for learning professionals going forward.
The
other ‘new’ question is 'how do we tag learning'?
The point is made that the new technology creates problems that we have
not had to cope with before - the sheer volume of material on websites, both
internal and external, makes it difficult for employees to manage their own
learning. Therefore learning professionals
need to become skilled at developing new ways of accessing and selecting
material, based on business issues and employee challenges. The sales person starting on the road must be
able to find easy access to all the material needed - from product knowledge to
selling skills to company values - at the right time. Learning retention is then much more likely
as it is at the time of application.
A
helpful illustration of the modern approach is provided by a description of
what happens at Talk Talk, an example that made me want more of the
same. The ‘straightforward’ approach
described by their Head of Talent Management is to ‘populate our offices with
QR codes and augmented reality triggers …. employees simply hover their mobile
over the AR or QR enabled posters and training material instantly streams via
their mobile device’.
I had to
go to my more technologically expert and innovative colleagues at MTP to find
out more about the meaning and implications of this description and for
learning professionals who need similar advice, this article should be seen as
a wake-up call. The world may not be as
black and white as the author suggests and many of the old approaches may still
have value. But times they are a
changing!
No comments:
Post a Comment