With over
15 years of leading corporate training functions in Fortune 500 companies,
my niche has been transforming training departments into highly effective
strategic business partners. As wonderful as these accomplishments were and
are, what stands out was the continual ability to achieve these results on
a shoestring budget.
While attending training conferences and reading
training journals, it was easy to become excited about new learning
technologies, but hard to return back to reduced budgets. Confronted with
major technical and leadership training needs I was determined to find an
inexpensive solution without compromising quality. Two articles highlight
the discovery process (LMS on a Shoestring & eLearning on a
Shoestring), along with the solutions we uncovered (see White Papers).
But these were only tools that
allowed us to experiment with new delivery methods. The real discovery came
in learning how to blend programs using new learning technologies. Articles
are included outlining my initial approach to blending leadership and
technical training programs, ultimately moving to a just-in-time approach
to learning. The results were phenomenal pleasing both management and the
participants.
This site is also about
understanding training and how to manage a training department that is
tightly linked to your customer’s needs. Training is not often perceived as
a value-add activity, and it is the job of those leading training
organizations to prove otherwise by demonstrating business driven results. The
secret is in truly understanding your customer’s challenges and identifying
the specific competencies, that once developed, would help to overcome
these challenges. This is the essence of performance consulting.
In order to be effective in
leading today’s training functions, the following factors should be
considered:
1.
Business acumen.
Learn the language of your business and then translate training using their
vocabulary, not yours.
2.
Customer Focus.
Walk a mile in your customer’s shoes. Nothing gains more respect than truly
understanding our customer’s business.
3.
Establish Credibility, Earn Respect.
Focus on earning respect and gaining credibility over being liked. Be
willing to make the hard decisions.
4.
Remember the Basics.
The basic objectives of training have remained the same. The manner in
which training is delivered has changed.
5.
Performance Consultants.
It is all about performance today. Everyone involved in training needs to
understand and become a performance consultant.
6.
Passion.
Have a passion for what you do and demonstrate that passion.
7.
KISS.
Keep it simple and to the point. Fluff only supports other’s perceptions
that training is more fluff than substance.
8.
Continuous Improvement.
Never be complacent. Learn the concepts of lean and apply to training. Understand
training as a process. Be a role model.
9.
Build Relationships.
Get you and your team out from behind your desks. Spend time on the floor
with the employees, learning about their jobs.
10.
Be Proactive.
Never wait to be told what to do. By
then it is too late.
Over the past few years I have
been honored with national recognition for my accomplishments and true to
our profession is the desire to help others make similar and even better
achievements. Hence the true purpose of this web site. I have also included
papers and workshop materials that I have developed on the topics of
leadership development and personal growth, my true passion. Our goal,
simple put, is to influence others to achieve their full potential, which
is one of the most rewarding and fulfilling elements of education and
development roles. To be an effective teacher however, we must first apply
these learnings to ourselves first. Please be sure to visit the pages, “On
Leadership” and “On A Personal Note”. Thank you for visiting. I hope to
hear from you as well.
