<Rant> To answer the question suggested by the title I offer another question – “Who gives a rip?” – as long as the end-game drives sustained workforce capability. The correct ratio is only correct if the end-game is reached. (more…)
Recently, I learned that it takes approximately 30 square miles of ocean for a loaded oil tanker to reverse course 180 degrees. That seems like a lot of ocean, but then, that’s a lot of boat to turn around – and a lot of momentum related to the existing course direction. It’s funny how momentum proves to be the primary challenge and source of resistance when standing in the way to a change in direction. While 30 square miles represents useless trivia, the significance and parallels represented by factors of…
Choosing to use “disruption” twice in the same statement, especially regarding the discipline of embedded performance Support [EPS] is not just a tactic to form a snappy title. The reason is bigger than that. Does adopting EPS as a discipline really have to be disruptive? Any good consultant would answer a question like that with two simple words, “It depends!” Why? Because there is more than one disruption going on when choosing to pursue the EPS discipline. (more…)
When we are chasing sustainable business system implementation there are a number of activities organizations pursue. The traditional stand-by includes training for end-users…and I own several of those t-shirts…most reminders of a failure. Not a failure of rendering a quality training product from the teams I led, but a failure that manifests post-deployment – adoption – optimization – sustained capability – take your pick of those three in any combination. (more…)
This title sounds like an impending trashing of the traditions of ADDIE, but I believe it simply places entrenched methodology in a more current and responsive context. While it seems that many are trashing old school ADDIE, I would argue that ADDIE is alive and well; in fact, is at the core of any effort to design and deliver a training solution. Agile design is catching a great deal of attention at all the conferences I've spoken at in 2013 but when you get right down to it, what we…
Do you ever get the feeling that the Training side of our organizations is delivering a message nobody on the Operations side of the business is hearing? What comes to mind is an old Gary Larson cartoon where a pet owner is speaking to his pet dog and saying, “Blah blah blah, blah-ba-ba-blah sit, blah blah treat blah blah bah…etc.” The dog was only hearing what really mattered to him. Could it be our Training message is more HR-speak than business-impact-relevant? (more…)
At the recent Masie Learning 2013 conference in Orlando, I was sitting at the bar two nights in a row nursing the business end of a decent cabernet. On the second night I found myself sitting next to the same guy, Murray Christensen. Earlier that morning at the General Session, Conrad Gottfredson made a point of introducing us with the instructions to both of us “Get to know this guy!” So I did. After a prompting like that I’m thinking this guy could quite possibly be another Performer Support fanatic.…
It’s Sunday morning, and I’m in Orlando at the front end of the Learning 2013 conference once again. Elliott Masie and his Consortium have a knack for putting on a good conference every November for learning and development professionals, and I anticipate this year's conference being no exception. As with earlier conferences that I’ve spoken at this year, there is once again a lot of buzz around the concept of AGILE. AGILE what? That is a key question to ask because from what I’m seeing, not all AGILE instructional design…