Corporate Training Magazine

Delivering the Results
Vol 1 Issue 1 - Sept 2005

By Kevin S. Liskowich

After a grueling four-hour flight from Victoria to Toronto with 60 co-workers, Bob slaps on a name tag, grabs a two-inch-thick course manual and sinks into a sea of 300 people in the overcrowded auditorium to listen to a very well-rehearsed "talking head" conduct an all-day seminar.

Even a decade ago, we were mesmerized by the "bigness" of training. There was a certain glamour in information overload, in that we were supposed to think it was okay to be talked at, talked over and simply taxed-out by seminar's end. The focus was clearly on what the instructor wanted to cover, not necessarily what the participants needed to learn. And many employers held the belief that the main purpose of a training program was nothing more than a perky holiday from work.

In hindsight, many of these canned programs didn't do enough to bridge the gap from classroom to workplace. Typically, a course that wound up by Friday would translate into a training hangover by the following Monday with little retained knowledge. How times have changed.

Today's training environment has shifted the focus back onto the learner. Class sizes have been reduced, and there is increased interaction for learners with instructors and fellow participants. Training is being customized to maximize the effectiveness for the organization, including case studies from their own industry and exercises related to their specific job functions.

The information overload of lengthy, intensive conferences and seminars is being replaced with ongoing programs. These offer shortened individual sessions over a longer period of time. The advantage is that participants have the ability to transfer their new-found knowledge directly into the workplace.

For example, a program that involves one half-day session per month over the course of a year allows employees to assimilate the learning from each session into their daily practices and creates a knowledge foundation that future instruction can build upon.

Module-based Learning
An offshoot of the shift towards customized training is the use of module-based programs or "workshoplets". By identifying the specific skills required by individuals, modules can be selected based on the targeted learning requirements of participants. This, rather than having to attend a full-blown workshop where much of the information is either already known or not directly relevant to participants at that time. Through this training style, the participants receive only the information necessary. When further instruction is required, they can simply take the appropriate workshoplet for additional learning.

e-Learning
While there will always be a role for the face-to-face component of training, e-learning is here to stay. Technology is becoming seamless in the overall learning strategy and will continue to facilitate and enhance the learning on either side of traditional face-to-face instruction.

The reasons for the upswing in e-learning are clear. The technology provides flexible access to learning from anywhere at anytime, and participants can adapt the learning to suit their own needs, It also makes training more efficient by enabling the learner to immediately access the knowledge and instruction they need when they need it.

However, corporations are realizing that e-learning is not always a stand-alone initiative. Many organizations now see e-learning as a piece of a larger blended learning process, and practitioners are looking closely at how it can be combined with traditional instructor-led initiatives to achieve maximum results in the overall learning strategy.

On-The-Job Training
The 2005 Training and Development survey conducted by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development revealed that the need to "learn from real work" continues to be a driving force for companies. Ninety-four percent of survey respondents reported they use on-the-job training and 52% expect this usage to increase.

Andrew Mayo of CIPD reported, "We see a steady growth in the versatility and scope of technology-based learning as the opportunities of the information age continue to enlarge. But alongside this is the need for people to learn from and with others, in various forms. The future lies with ever more creative combinations of both approaches."

The Changing World of Training
Part II: Delivering the Results
Part III: Legislating Change