Get Out of the Training Business

The admonition above is the title of a provocative article by Jay Cross published this month in the online version of Chief Learning Officer magazine. (Click the link to read the article.) His basic argument is that the industrial age is over and as a result:

"Training is obsolete because it deals with a past that won't be repeated. Learning will be redefined as problem-solving, achieving fit with one's environment and having the connections to deal with novel situations."

That may not be news to most of us, but what I find interesting is how clearly he lays out the ramifications.

"Next week, we will close the training department. We are shifting our focus from training to performance. Any remaining training staff will become mentors, coaches and facilitators who work on improving core business processes, strengthening relationships with customers and cutting costs

"I'm changing my title from VP of training to VP of core capabilities. My assistants will become the director of sales readiness and the director of competitive advantage, respectively. The measure of our contributions will be results, not training measures. We're scrapping the LMS posthaste. Wherever possible, we're replacing proprietary software with open source."

The article is only two pages, but Cross packs a lot of provocative material into it. I encourage you to read it and to post your comments here on our blog.

Exciting New Technologies Explained in Plain English

I just came across a series of short video clips that explain a number of practical tools that will be of interest to members of our chapter. The site is called The CommonCraft Show (click link to visit) and the topics include: social media and networking, podcasting, twitter, blogs, wikis, and RSS feeds. Here is a link directly to the 4-minute explanation of how to set up an RSS feed so that you can be automatically notified when new postings are made to this blog.

How are you using Facebook or LinkedIn?

Sunny greetings - 

In preparation for our chapter webinar meeting on February 21, please let us know how you are using the Facebook and/or LinkedIn social networks. 

Just below this post is the "how to" leave your comment. 

Many thanks for your input. 

How to Use Our Chapter Blog

This is a friendly reminder about our chapter blog for member communications. We will publish new information to you on a more continual, topic-by-topic basis compared to a newsletter. More importantly, the blog allows you, our chapter members, to respond to the articles we post with comments, questions and suggestions. Helpful "how to" information is below.

Viewing the Blog: You can view our blog by coming to this web page. We suggest that you add this to your bookmarks or list of favorite sites. You can also find our blog by going to our website (wocastd.org) by selecting the "Blog" link under the "Member Area" menu. When you arrive on our blog page, you will see the most recent article at the top of the page and as you scroll down you will previously posted articles.

Submitting Your Comments: At the bottom of each article (including this one!) is a link to the "Comments" area. To post a comment, simply click on the "Comments" link and type in your thoughts. Please note that beneath the comment input area you will see three options for attributing your comment: 1) Sign-in using Blogger/Google, 2) Nickname, and 3) Anonymous. Unless you happen to have a Blogger/Google account, we recommend that you click the radio button next to "Nickname" and enter your full name. This will simply attach your name at the end of your comment. Naturally, if you prefer to remain anonymous you may click that option.

Keeping Track of New Blog Postings: There are two ways to keep up with new posts on our blog: 1) you can visit the blog periodically with your web browser to see what's new or 2) you can subscribe to the blog and get new postings "pushed" to your PC. We recommend the latter since it is easier and you only have to look at the blog when there is really something new to see. When you subscribe to the blog, your computer will periodically check online for updates to subscribed feeds, even when your browser (e.g., Internet Explorer) is not running.

To Subscribe to the Blog: At the bottom of this blog page you will see a link labeled "Subscribe to: Posts (Atom). Click on this link and follow the instructions. This will cause you to be added as a subscriber to our "feed." From that point on, whenever you open Internet Explorer (IE) and there is a new posting on our blog, the Feeds button on your IE toolbar will change color, letting you know that a new posting or comment is available. Click the Feeds button, and then click the feed you want to see, in this case "TD in Western Ohio." (You can unsubscribe from our blog at any time by clicking on Favorites >> Feeds and deleting the entry labeled "T&D In Western Ohio.")

Windows Vista Users: If you have a Vista PC, you can set up a "Feeds" gadget on your desktop that will automatically monitor feeds from our blog (and any others you may be interested in) and display new postings.