Training Industry Magazine - Winter 2014 - (Page 11)

PERFORMANCE AND PRODUCTIVITY FA C I L I TAT I N G CHANGE - CHARLES JENNINGS Training has been a basic human activity since the dawn of time. In prehistoric cultures, adults prepared children for survival and work by training and coaching to develop skills. But, as the demands of work and skills became more complex, teaching and learning became more systematized. Instructional practices became refined and the curriculum evolved. We have the 18th century Prussians to thank for both the modern classroom (which the Pietists instituted in the 1770s) and for the curriculum. "monitorial education" model that emerged from the Pietists' work. where structured training can add value and where it can't. But, change is certainly starting to happen. Training is no longer seen as the only panacea for skills development and performance improvement. In today's world of rapid change and increasing complexity, the pressure to learn, unlearn and relearn in a continuous way throughout our working lives is becoming more intense. Traditional training models simply can't accommodate this need. Over the years, I have found the model in Figure 1 useful to determine when training is appropriate and when other support is better. FROM COURSES TO RESOURCES The philosopher Johan Gottleib Fichte, who was instrumental in developing the structured Prussian education system, said, "if you want to influence the student, you must do more than merely talk to him; you must fashion him in such a way that he simply cannot will otherwise than what you wish him to will." The only answer to this dilemma is to think of learning and development not as a series of training events, but as a process that is part of every worker's daily activities. In order to facilitate this change, we need to think resources rather than courses. The Pietists and Fichte saw structured training as a way to instill loyalty and prepare young men for the military and the bureaucracy. Although life has moved on since those times, many aspects of training have not. Many of today's classroom-based activities can still be identified as first generation children of the The rising awareness of the power of experiential and social learning, and the adoption of various flexible, context-driven learning approaches, reflect this change. Of course, this is not to say we should discard training entirely. Training has an important role to play. However, we need to be clear Structured development and training activities work well where there is a need for high-level concept development - such as when a person starts a new job and needs to understand the associated core principles and expectations. Onboarding programs should be designed around the left-side of this model. However, the content of many training initiatives lies on the right of this diagram. The challenge is that we learn task-based work best in the context of the workflow and not in away-from-work training. Using experiential and social learning approaches and providing performance support in the workflow are far more efficient and effective ways to develop high performance at task level. Charles Jennings is a director of the 702010 Forum, Duntroon Associates and the Internet Time Alliance. Email Charles. FIGURE 1 TRAINING INDUSTRY MAGAZINE - WINTER2014 I WWW.TRAININGINDUSTRY.COM/MAGAZINE 11 http://www.trainingindustry.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Magazine - Winter 2014

Tracking Trends
Table of Contents
Guest Editor: Meeting Today's Learning Consumers Where They Are
Facilitating Change
How Smart Leaders Squash Employee Entitlement
The Reskilling of Design
Responsive Design and Learning Solutions
Women, Leadership and Emotional Intelligence
Key Trends for 2014: Shifting to Business-Centric Learning
The Promise of Badges for Learning and Development
The Business Leader's Bottom Line: Aligning Learning with Organizational Needs
Raising the Bar: The Impact of Sales Training on Effective Customer Engagement
The Language of Measurement: When to Assess, Evalutate and Test
Casebook: Combined Insurance: Ensuring Efficient Sales Training via Mobile Learning
The Challenge of Workplace Re-entry After Training
The Learning Shift: From Event to Process
What's Online
Company News

Training Industry Magazine - Winter 2014