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Telling ain’t training and training ain’t learning
I’m a firm believer in the notion that ‘telling ain’t training.’ Because it just isn’t. That said, training isn’t a one-off event but an ongoing process of learning and development. So, you can’t deliver a training session, have it recorded, and expect the trainees to go back to the recording. Sure, having a reference point…
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Skin in the game
In my estimate, 90 percent of the employees attending a training program are sponsored by their employers. (It’s probably more, but I would rather be conservative than quote something that’s not true.) And almost 50% of these attendees are on programs that may not benefit them directly — neither professional nor personally. Yet, they’re okay…
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Could the training and development industry be broken too?
For the longest time the intelligentsia has highlighted the shortcomings of the traditional educational system. Beliefs range from “there’s a long way to go until we get there” to “it’s broken.” Thankfully, the academia isn’t short of committed educators who’re working their butts off to bridge the gap. I’m hopeful that we will get ‘there,’…
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Why workshops aren’t an answer to skills development
The golden age for learning and development (L&D) professionals was perhaps the 90s, the 2000s and perhaps the early 2010s. The industry has done pretty well for itself (multi-billion dollar!) and so have the trainers and facilitators (multi-millionaires). And the best of them may have delivered tens of thousands of workshops over these years. I…
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Training vs Development
I try my best to read almost all of my emails. Except spam, of course! But then I must admit, I did learn a great deal of copywriting by reading all that spam. I’m not kidding! This morning I received one of Tony Iannarino‘s weekly newsletter and found this gem: Training is part of a…
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Getting more focused with limited formats
I’ve always been big on teaching and training people. It’s some thing I was born to do. I believe focused training interventions are the fastest way to up-skill teams and fast track their performance. Of course, subsequent coaching and hyper-concentrated follow-up sessions are greatly effective to make the learning permanent but not every stakeholder is…
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You don’t get to decide the hike, dummy!
If you’re employed somewhere, you need to pick up tangible skills that are valuable for both your existing and the next employer. Emphasis on “tangible” because that’s the part almost everyone misses but still would like to have a 30% hike. Which is annoying because: They’ve no freaking clue how the market and employer’s demands…
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I teach because I learn
Whoever said you’ve got to be a subject matter expert to teach or train anything wasn’t thinking clearly. In my opinion, training or teaching anyone requires you to have curiosity than mastery. Heck, if you are a “master” you know that “the more you know, the more you know you don’t know.” I’m not a…
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Accelerating skills-development sessions at the workplace
Confession — I know the headline’s a little lame. It had to be that way… “learning and development” (L&D) is considered “lame” by executives. Particularly the “cost-conscious” ones who would be happy to throw the L&D under a bus during lean times. Sure, they may be valid reasons to do that, but isn’t that always…