Training and Development

Comment

Comment by Carol Davison on Tuesday

I agree with Jack.  The more emotional the experience, the more it changes our behavior.  TWO of my sisters put their faces through the windshield and needed extensive stitches.  HUGE EMOTIONAL experience.  I always wear my seatbelt-even when my friend push started my car.  "Speed limit 55"-not so emotional and limited conformity.  POLICE SIREN!-HUGE EMOTIONAL experience immediate conformity!    

Comment by Jack Shaw on Tuesday

Speaking as a public speaker and sometime actor, we need an audience to interact with even if it is unperceived by others in the form of biofeedback. You can make e-learning and distant learning more exciting with dynamic presenters. Whether it has the same effect is the question.

There is little direct feedback the presenter can notice in the audience and adjust his or her presentation for the audience in the moment of time it is occurring.

E-learning and distant learning, for the most part, are designed to reach more audiences or audiences that can't be reached by traditional methods. It's also cheaper. Some e-learners can learn with applications that involve the students interaction and learning my doing. It's not the same thing, but it can be effective. Some people do not learn best by this method or even stay attentive.

Unfortunately, it is the wave of the future with universities even teaching blended courses to cut down on class time and costs. In some classes it can be more effective, but how valid is it in a public speaking class or a class that needs lots of time in face-to-face discussions? There is a different between what people say online and how what they say (subtext included) in a face-to-face discussion; the same goes for class room training or coaching.

Finally, a more dynamic presenter can add to e-learning and distant learning modules, but it still loses something. And, keep in mind stage is different from television or computer screen in the way performance must be done by the trainer. Just like acting for the stage is different from acting for television or film; one is a distance medium and the other is filled with close-ups.

I would treat the e-learning and distant learning as a close-up performance because your audience is intimate mostly. You can assume otherwise, but I would say the same rules apply. By the way, if you are talking teleconferencing, remember that even radio announcers use mirrors to give them the feeling they are talking with a real audience instead of an imagined ones. It's hard to make numbers of people real, but that is one technique to make it easier, believe it or not. Ask any DJ whoever did a show in an empty studio. Should work for podcasts, too.

It bothers me a bit that we are losing our direct contact with our people through our wonderful technology, but hopefully, we can adapt as we go to get the feedback or make the best of what we do receive. My novel, hopefully, out this year deals with the subject of what happens when we stop talking face-to-face and rely only on the devices for acceptable communication. There's an interesting play where a couple are separated but write each other all the time. Letters are cleaned up, adapted versions to ensure the person receiving them gets exactly the message we want to send. The point of the play is that the subtext that is missing or words and feelings left out for the sake of brevity may be important, too, leaving unanswered questions and even miscommunication.

Comment by Jack Shaw on May 7, 2012 at 10:37am

My Cave Man Guide to Training & Development, with its nonsensical approach to the field, continues to do well. Sixty pages or so of sage advice looking at training & development from another point of view for ridiculously low price. My novel (under $4.00), In Makr's Shadow, is often funny, sometimes serious & poignant; & definitely an entertaining adventure & wit of what happens when Man no longer feels competent to run the world and allows an evolving intellect to take the reigns. Both books are available through major producers of e-books as well as the links listed.

Comment by Wendi Pomerance Brick on April 12, 2012 at 5:05pm

A few thoughts....

There are recommendations for annual training hours for both technical training (chainsaw safety) and professional development (customer service) training.  I've heard every employee should have between 2-4% of there time at work a year to ensure they are able to support a world-class organization. 

 

Most training topicsI don't find trivial, but many trainers are not trainers at all - they are lecturers and completely turn off students within a manner of the minutes, then no actual learning happens.  I have a friend who just sat through a week-long class and there was no interaction at all - straight lecture.  Could you imagine??

 

As any trainer worth their salt knows, most "learning" happens after the actual training class.  If you really want to affect change, the training should have before, during, and after training components to make trianing "stick."  If you are willing to put in the time and energy to create great training, couldn't we argue that we could elimate trivial trainings by design?

 

Comment by Jack Shaw on April 12, 2012 at 1:00pm

Training has tremendous value, but in the hands people who don't understand its value to the individual and company as a whole, it can be a disaster. Some training does seem trivial--maybe the company has to have it as a matter of awareness for all employees. Can't be helped. It's importance may not seem as important to us as the original, but it is still up to us to find some of that tremendous value to help the organization. It's what you make of it. I you think it is all trivial and treat all training the same, you aren't a trainer.

Comment by Steve Cottle on April 12, 2012 at 12:30pm

Andy asks whether government training is tremendous or trivial. I'm sure this group has some thoughts! http://www.govloop.com/forum/topics/is-government-training-tremendo...

Comment by Jack Shaw on January 27, 2012 at 5:02pm

Sometimes I think Management doesn't get that their people and training are inextricably linked together. Silly as that seems. Managers are quick to resent training--most often because that means change--or some backhanded "you must not be doing your job." I most definitely would like to see training, Federal or otherwise, be made personal. That's a big, general answer for a very complex, overly analyzed and defined problem to keep the analysts busy. Just ask the workers.

Comment by Sandy Evans Levine on January 27, 2012 at 12:27pm

http://gov.aol.com/2012/01/26/five-training-tips-for-2012/

 

Interesting article on management training tips - your thoughts?

Comment by Andrew Krzmarzick on January 13, 2012 at 11:20am

How do you train a multi-generational workforce? Great post here by this group's creator, Jack Shaw:

http://www.govloop.com/profiles/blogs/lean-mean-learning-machines-t...

Comment by GovLoop on January 3, 2012 at 11:07am

Why don't feds get training?  Share your thoughts - http://www.govloop.com/group/fcn/forum/topics/why-don-t-feds-get-tr...

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