Living in Learning

SEPTEMBER 11, 2012

We began to blend training with some on-line content. We decided that the problem was based upon not being able to get to the “next level” of training. We decided that the problem was based upon not being able to get to the “next level” of training. It was good stuff. It was sexy. We were deploying learning.

Performance Support 209

Performance Support Blended Learning Performance Support 209

Living in Learning

JULY 2, 2018

This is a true story about changing the paradigm in the head and heart of someone who believed training was the best solution to drive performance. This person is my wife, a long-term medical professional with many years of training, both delivering and receiving, during her career; a tough audience to be sure.

Performance Support 100

Performance Support Support Performance Training 100

Living in Learning

AUGUST 5, 2015

After drinking the performance consulting Kool-Aid it struck me that the L&D focus was incomplete…and it still is…despite myriad Training innovations like MOOCs, micro-learning, mobile learning, virtual learning, and any other exotic blend you can name. No matter how we dressed it up, no matter how much lipstick, it was still Training.

Blended Learning 100

Blended Learning Micro-Learning Training Train 100

Living in Learning

MARCH 8, 2011

As I reflect on this title, I can imagine some rather extreme images springing forth in the minds of long-time training purists. In my no-longer-humble-opinion, if training does not step up…make that…step out.to the edges of the learning ecosystem, training budgets will continue to shrink and those resumes will need updated anyway.

Training 214

Training Train Instructional Design Budget 214

Living in Learning

OCTOBER 13, 2015

Sustained capability…or “competency” if HR-speak is more your style…does not manifest during training regardless of flavor or innovative gyrations we employ. Sustainable workforce performance at the point-of-work is where we need to focus, and point-of-work is not part of, nor within the scope of the training paradigm.

Training 100

Training Train Performance Support Innovation 100

Living in Learning

DECEMBER 16, 2011

Having been a Sales Trainer, Sales Training Manager, and Director Sale Training in a couple of previous lives, I nearly jumped out of my chair when I read a blog post by a new networking contact, David Brock. First-hand experience and many many road miles confirm how wasteful product training can be.

Productivity 133

Productivity Product Training Train 133

Living in Learning

OCTOBER 27, 2011

Reflecting on this choice of title, I can imagine some rather extreme images springing forth in the minds of long-time sales training purists. I say this with confidence because the topic of facilitating learning at the edges of the ecosystem has freaked out both platform trainers and instructional design professionals before.

Sales 150

Sales Training Train Instructional Design 150

Living in Learning

JANUARY 30, 2014

Training was never intended to accomplish that kind of support. We are faced with supporting Performers in the context of their work.

Agile 160

Agile Performance Support Training Train 160

Living in Learning

FEBRUARY 10, 2011

I've just returned from several days at Training 2011, and I am impressed by an urgency of things to come that are going to test the limits of traditional training. Enabling readiness is going to take "different" measures, and I'm not convinced training [as a discipline] is ready for the perfect storm that's coming.

Guide 172

Guide Training Train Technology 172

Living in Learning

DECEMBER 16, 2011

Having been a Sales Trainer, Sales Training Manager, and Director Sale Training in a couple of previous lives, I nearly jumped out of my chair when I read a blog post by a new networking contact, David Brock. First-hand experience and many many road miles confirm how wasteful product training can be.

Productivity 113

Productivity Product Training Train 113

Living in Learning

FEBRUARY 4, 2015

They don’t want a training graduate who knows that they need to use a shovel to dig a hole…they want somebody coming out of training who can dig a freaking hole…and more perfect the hole, the better. I have never met ANYONE on the operational side of the business who is satisfied with “potential”.

Agile 100

Agile Training Train Business 100

Living in Learning

DECEMBER 16, 2011

Having been a Sales Trainer, Sales Training Manager, and Director Sale Training in a couple of previous lives, I nearly jumped out of my chair when I read a blog post by a new networking contact, David Brock. First-hand experience and many many road miles confirm how wasteful product training can be.

Productivity 100

Productivity Product Training Train 100

Living in Learning

MAY 23, 2011

The one business unit in particular that carries mission-critical responsibility to be in a state of readiness is the Training organization. It goes without saying that readiness is a desired state for the entirety of the organization’s workforce despite the diversity of work unit contributions.

Diversity Training 160

Diversity Training Training Train Performance Support 160

Living in Learning

OCTOBER 27, 2011

Reflecting on this choice of title, I can imagine some rather extreme images springing forth in the minds of long-time sales training purists. I say this with confidence because the topic of facilitating learning at the edges of the ecosystem has freaked out both platform trainers and instructional design professionals before.

Sales 100

Sales Training Train Instructional Design 100

Living in Learning

JUNE 28, 2012

I fear the L&D function.or Training.if you choose by another name, are locked into a paralysis of tradition. Tradition yields comfort and familiarity. Comfort and familiarity yield resistance to change…and in some cases even recognition that there could actually be a “change” that offers a viable alternative.

Effectiveness 164

Effectiveness Alternatives Training Train 164

Living in Learning

MARCH 3, 2011

My unwavering position on this says that Training [the department] should have a role…make that a KEY role…in either preventing the collision, or instead, choosing to enable it as a seamless integration. Frankly, I do not see either happening except in a very few circumstances. For the life of me, I cannot understand this disconnect.

Business 140

Business Training Train Performance Support 140

Living in Learning

JANUARY 13, 2011

What are you doing in your training organization to keep pace? Velocity of work demand is rapidly increasing. The need to perform flawlessly is converging with the need to learn just-in-time. Traditions we hold dear are no longer able to keep pace.

Change 140

Change Games Business Training 140

Living in Learning

JANUARY 12, 2011

If training is food we depend on for delivering knowledge and skills, are we eating the right meals? For many of us, we attempt to shed extra pounds that slow us down, to fit into the clothes we received as holiday gifts, and ultimately, to avoid adverse impacts to our health.

Training 140

Training Train Knowledge Business 140

Living in Learning

NOVEMBER 4, 2010

How many process decisions by managers prevent creation of material waste while taking an on-line training course? How many impactful customer complaints are resolved in training role-plays or simulations?"

Roles 145

Roles Simulations Social Networks LinkedIn 145

Living in Learning

JULY 23, 2018

The continuity of learning and task-level execution are mission-critical in a military work environment. Is mission criticality in our corporate environment any less important? Granted the outcomes are less lethal, but are they less mission-critical?

Performance Support 177

Performance Support Performance Support Environment 177

Living in Learning

MARCH 16, 2017

We…L&D…are in a predicament because we don’t actively seek out predicaments. We cannot see them looking through the “wrong end of the telescope”. We don’t design solutions for predicaments…to be more precise…performance predicaments. And that, my friends, IS a predicament!

Performance Support 113

Performance Support Performance Training Train 113

Living in Learning

OCTOBER 23, 2016

I just finished reading an amazing book, “Chase the Lion”, by Mark Batterson, where the focus is largely examining change…personal change to be exact. But the same principles he addresses are very relevant for shifting thinking in an organization.

Change 100

Change Training Train Personal 100

Living in Learning

OCTOBER 3, 2010

I managed to garner a hands-down vote of idiocy [a solid #3 on the scale above] from my corporate training colleagues when I dreamed up the concept of Free-Range Education and the accompanying acronym FREd. I am not convinced the acronym will ever catch on, but the learning context is one we cannot ignore.

Free 113

Free Education Integrate Forum 113

Living in Learning

JULY 31, 2009

Too many pundits have been pontificating that there is a shift underway – a shift from formal training to informal learning. Instead, an expanded focus raises our scope beyond what expectations training can reasonably sustain. Training (formal learning) will always be with us. I beg to differ. It is NOT a shift.

Blended Learning 100

Blended Learning Training Train Instructional Design 100

Living in Learning

NOVEMBER 7, 2013

STEP CHANGE is what we have left as an option when all the innovation that got us to where we are today has run its course. Sustained capability is the ultimate outcome we seek, and sustained capability is at the heart of a Performance Paradigm.

Instructional Design 140

Instructional Design Change ADDIE Agile 140

Living in Learning

SEPTEMBER 4, 2009

In an earlier post, I introduced the concept of a Learning Continuum defined by three phases: • Prepare – to create readiness in our learners prior to formal training. Deploy – delivery of formal training in a variety of blends. Reinforce – post-training implementation intended to sustain capability. Refer to Figure 3.0

Blended Learning 100

Blended Learning Performance Support Training Train 100

Living in Learning

OCTOBER 14, 2017

It’s Saturday morning, and am fully caffeinated…sitting on the deck and nursing on the business end of a fairly decent cigar. It’s odd moments like these that a craving to rip out a blog post gets flung upon me. Out of the blue a question landed on my brain and I thought was significant enough […].

Brain 100

Brain Training Train Blogging 100

Living in Learning

JANUARY 26, 2011

When do you abandon a vision? How many times can you run into a wall before deciding to stop trying to get over, under, or around it? Have you ever reached a level of frustration that caused you to ask yourself questions like these?

Change 157

Change Innovation Training Train 157

Living in Learning

JUNE 26, 2009

Don’t you wish leadership could understand and value the contribution that your training department makes? Here’s the opinion part – If we have not yet shifted learning opportunities closer to the actual point of work, then we deserve every penny of decreased funding that is slashed out of our training budgets. Why can’t they see it?

Budget 100

Budget Blended Learning Social Networks Instructional Design 100

Living in Learning

DECEMBER 21, 2009

Certainly, this title may sound like blasphemy to some of us in the training business. On the other hand, it may be even more of a shock to those who depend upon those of us in the training business to drive performance in the organization. Value of Training = Performance Concept – Tactical Application.

Performance Support 100

Performance Support Performance Training Train 100

Living in Learning

AUGUST 6, 2009

Can a training organization be like a river? This short post looks at critical need for training organizations to be in the mainstream current or prepare for treatment reserved for flotsam stuck and swirling in the eddies. The eddy, in particular, is a phenomenon that is all too prevalent in training organizations today.

Blended Learning 100

Blended Learning Diversity Training Social Networks Training 100

Living in Learning

AUGUST 8, 2009

Several of the professional groups I have joined through LinkedIn yield consistent discussion themes that register concern for the future of training. The concern comes from a cross-section of trainers, designers, training managers, and vendors. So…what is the next big thing in the world of training? Training is not going away.

Diversity Training 100

Diversity Training Compliance Training Instructional Design Sun 100

Living in Learning

JANUARY 14, 2010

I like the concept of “re-thinking” training organizations based in HR, and I say this from personal work history primarily based in the training space over the last thirty plus years. The blended perspective I have comes from working both inside and outside of HR in training organizations.

Blended Learning 100

Blended Learning Organization Training Train 100

Living in Learning

OCTOBER 22, 2017

There is a myth involved…perpetuated by a long-held belief that training drives performance. In truth, training only drives potential; performance does not manifest until business results are generated by the workforce in a different area of the ecosystem called the Point-of-Work.

Performance 232

Performance Business Training Train 232

Living in Learning

OCTOBER 10, 2009

For this to happen, that bear experienced formal learning and acquired some significant skills training; the very same skills you and I learned in our youth. If their classroom doubled as their workspace too, our training effort could stop there. Training complete! We stop the training as soon as they can ride in a circle.

Simulations 100

Simulations Social Networks Training Train 100

Living in Learning

OCTOBER 10, 2021

This is a call-to-action to see beyond the prevailing myth that Training Drives Performance to the accepting the reality of Potential as the only provable training outcome until our Performers graduate to their respective Points-of-Work where they actually generate measurable value and business outcomes.

Agile 130

Agile Solution Performance Business 130

Living in Learning

FEBRUARY 16, 2022

Can the Training team accomplish this? I would wager their resources are spread so thin already developing training courses their engagement is not on the table. I believe that if we desire performance optimization it should be at the most granular level – the individual worker. Too granular! Too dynamic! Too immediate!

Analytics 130

Analytics Resources Performance Teams 130