Evaluating and Tailoring Training to Employee Needs

For the most part, technical training offerings are developed by people with a technical background. They usually interact with product development groups to learn about the product. They also often interact with marketing teams and sometimes field folks in the roles for whom the products and services are being developed. All of this is very good and usually results in a quality learning product.

One area that I think needs to be employed more frequently is the use of evaluation techniques. While there is quite a bit of literature and research which addresses the different types of learning delivery, I think more research is needed about how different types of learning products work within your organization and within each function within your organization.

https://trainingindustry.com/articles/measurement-and-analytics/evaluating-the-effectiveness-of-training-a-learning-leader-challenge/?utm_content=cpdc

“People often focus on how to design a training program and how to deliver it ’but spend comparatively little effort on how to know that it had all the intended impacts,’ says Tom Whelan, Ph.D., director of corporate research at Training Industry, Inc. Regardless of how challenging proving the business impact of training may be, it is critical for the future of learning and work.”

There are now many different types of learning products in use. I think it would be worthwhile to find out how each type of learning product in use in your organization contributes to learning.

Adult Learning Principles: Increasing Employee Training Effectiveness

“If you want employees to learn and retain information in workplace trainings, focus less on the training itself and more on the needs of the employee.”

It may even be worthwhile to try out two or more types of learning products that address the same learning needs. Results for your organization may vary from other organizations within your company. It may even be that the type of delivery systems you use for one function within your organization may not be as effective for another. You may want to take a look at the demographics of each group. It may be that the make up of different groups might impact the type of learning products that they find most useful.

While rigorous research might provide ideal data about the effectiveness of different types of learning products it often isn’t likely to get funded. That does not mean that useful data can’t be collected. A short ten 10-question survey that gathers demographic information and reactions to different types of learning products can provide useful information to inform new development. However, it would likely be a good idea to exclude classroom training. For the most part unless your organization can and will offer classroom training, including it as an option in the survey won’t provide data that can be actionable.

As always I welcome your thoughts and comments.

A Learning Consultant Reviewer

Lately I’ve been wondering if we are developing learning products in the most efficient way. Are we maybe missing out on developing a better learning product? I’m not thinking about cost effectiveness or timeliness or any other factors yet. Just for right now I’m talking about the learning product itself.

Okay, first I need to share my bias. I believe that content developed by course developers should be reviewed by learning consultants like me, in addition to being reviewed by technical resources.

For many years my role in various learning organizations was to review learning materials and consult to course developers. I would have preferred to be involved from the very start, when the need for the learning product was first identified. But in most cases I was brought in to review and provide feedback to the almost complete product.

My role was to identify areas that needed to be enhanced, revised, developed further, and so on. Sometimes I recommended exercises so the learner could self-test the application of what was being taught. At other times I recommended revisions to the language used. Often, because we were working with international audiences, I needed to determine whether there might be a better way to present the material to different audiences. I also reviewed the instruction for several other factors. While this was my role, it isn’t as far as I know a role that many other people have filled currently or historically.

While I wish that I could say that large portions of my recommendations were implemented, in most cases they weren’t. In almost all cases it was simply too late to make any but the smallest non-technical revisions or additions or corrections.

Now, what if I was a partner to a team of course developers, and I reviewed each component as it was developed? If this were the case, I could not only recommend enhancements but often I could draft a version of my recommendations.

For example, if I believed a story or an exercise would allow for better absorption of the content, I would draft a version of what I was recommending. This is something I was actually able to do on occasion, but not as often as I would have liked.

I was never a subject matter expert (SME), nor did I know very much about the technical content being taught. But I did have the developing instructional materials as a basis to work from. I most often got things right enough so that the SME could revise or build on what I had developed. My products usually had holes in them where I just didn’t know enough. And sometimes those holes even let the course developer know that additions were needed. But, I’d write what I knew and then put a note for the SME to add content where needed. Sometimes I’d include an example from life.

Maybe the content was talking about how to solve a technical problem and the steps needed to resolve the problem. I might include an example of solving a problem like changing a light bulb and the steps and thought process needed to get there. This usually was enough for the SME to develop a better example if necessary.

At other times, I saw that detailed and complex content was being presented and I thought an exercise would help the learners to integrate and also verify that they understood what was being presented. Again, I developed questions based on the content. For example, I would turn a concept that was presented in the instruction into a question and try to develop the correct response along with incorrect responses for review and modification.

The key was that I gave a direction to work with. If for example, the instruction was covering how to code in a new language. I might use an example of a new feature in a new car. I’d explain how the new model contained a new feature. Perhaps the car now made a sound when the driver changed lanes without having the turn signal on. I might give this example to a course developer writing a module on an upgrade to an existing product and ask that they include this type of example.

Having a trained consultant provide this kind of support to course developers would produce better learning products. Learners would in turn be better able to understand and use the product. This resource might not only improve the learning products, it might also lead to better sales, support, marketing or whatever roles for which the product was developed.

It’s an idea that, like I said above, still needs a lot of consideration regarding cost, timeliness, and other factors. But the rewards might far outweigh the price. What do you think?

Social Learning: Is it new or has it been around all along?

Creators of learning products have, for the most part, successfully transitioned from almost exclusively delivering learning through classroom events to multiple methods of delivering instruction. I am pleased to see that people are now investigating better ways to deliver the good aspects of classroom learning through other methods. Yes, we have heard the complaints about the classroom-less methods that we are currently using to deliver training. Today most learning professionals agree that learners learn most effectively when they actively participate and receive feedback. Newer learning products don’t always do this well. But integrating social learning into learning products is being recognized as a way to offer some of what is missing from some of today’s training offerings.

 

Altman, Ian. DEC 5, 2017. The Top 10 Business Trends That Will Drive Success In 2018. Retrieved from https://www.inc.com/ian-altman/the-top-5-business-trends-to-watch-in-2018.html

 

“Social learning is the process of learning through peer social interaction. The most common example of traditional social learning is the chance encounter at the workplace water cooler. Two or more people run into each other, share ideas, and walk away knowing a little more in the process; this is social learning.”

…

“The most successful online learning programs include a digital community where participants can share their experience, ask questions of each other, and engage in social learning that goes beyond the course curriculum.

 

As companies adopt more social learning, so too will they adopt tools that support mentoring and coaching that leverages the internal expertise organically.”

While I am very much a proponent of social learning, I need to add a word of caution. We need to find ways to validate what we learn from social learning. I believe we need to develop methods for testing what we have learned so that we can add this knowledge to what we can reliably use.

There are still many things that need to be explored and tested, as we move forward in developing better learning products. I believe social learning is a move in the right direction. However, we have always had social learning. What we perhaps now need to do is to find ways to ensure the information imparted is correct and up-to-date. We also need to be able to measure the effectiveness of what people learn through social learning methods.

Years ago, many companies would bring new hires into the company and put them through weeks-long extensive training programs so that they could learn about the product and services they were hired to support. As part of my role as a consultant I would speak to learners who had graduated from these programs to see how they were integrating into the organization. What I often heard was that it wasn’t until they were actually in a role that they understood how to apply what they had learned. This is an area where we likely need to improve how we measure the effectiveness of both our training events and also the effects of social learning. Perhaps we can encourage learners to develop questions that will help them integrate what is covered in the learning events. Once they have answers to the questions, the questions and validated responses can be added to existing FAQs or new FAQs can be developed to support these learning events.

Social learning is helping to bridge formal learning and peer-to-peer learning, which I believe will lead to better learning and better performance.

 

A To Do List for 2018

As we begin to look toward 2018, I recommend we look at both our successes and the areas that still need work. We need to look at how our learning products and processes have evolved and where we still need to improve in 2018.

Here are the areas I think we need to look at. Please respond to this blog with additional areas to add. We’ll take a closer look at successes next week and I will be blogging about these topics (and more!) as we venture into 2018.

What I Intend to Write About in 2018:

1. Explain new concepts, techniques, processes, or other new content
a. Why is it needed?
b. How does it integrate?
c. How does it do what it does?

2. Practice
a. Identifying effective exercises
b. Developing learn-by-doing practice items
c. Develop practice items that require learner interaction

3. Feedback
a. How to develop feedback that works
b. What type of feedback doesn’t work and why
c. Where and when to use feedback in different types of learning events

4. Examples
a. Real world applications of what has been taught
b. Use stories to help learning occur
c. Use the right example at the right time

5. Integrating new tools into learning events
a. How tools support learning
b. Why new or fun doesn’t necessarily mean effective
c. Learning which tools will work for an audience

6. Using new techniques to develop learning events
a. How to evaluate what is new for different learning needs
b. How to validate what is new for different learning needs
c. Using formative evaluation techniques

7. Team Learning
a. What is Team Learning?
b. When is Team Learning applicable?
c. When does Team Learning work?

8. Integrate vs. References
a. Learning for memorization
b. Learning to apply to new situations
c. Using references

9. Keeping it simple and short
a. Mini modules
b. Just the facts
c. Test, test, test to find what is missing

10. Switch It Up
a. Keeping the learners engaged
b. Learner participation
c. Get learner feedback

Surveys: A Short And Simple Approach, Part Two

My last blog talked about the steps I recommend taking before developing survey questions. In this blog, I am going to talk about tips and strategies for developing the survey questions.

Begin the process of building your survey questions by developing a list of the information that you will need about your end goal. For example, if you want information that will inform decision making about offering a new product, you would like information about the participant’s interest in that product. How much they are willing to spend for it, how the new product or service will fit into their current environment, and so on.

Think about something you might like to purchase and ask yourself what information you would like to have before making that purchase. Now classify the information into categories. For example, cost, how the acquisition will fit into the current environment, what changes would be required, problems that might be encountered, and so on. Use these categories to develop your question topics so that you include all the information you will need for decision-making.

Questions should be constructed in simple English and in short sentences. Sentences should be constructed so that a non-native English speaker will not have a problem understanding the question. This is true even if you are only surveying native English speakers. Doing this helps to ensure your survey participants will all understand the questions.

Each question should address one single factor that you need answered. For example, if you want information about interest in a product and acceptable costs, ask a question for each item. Always ask questions that will provide information that helps you make a decision about your desired end result. This will allow the survey taker to consider only one factor in responding to each question.

I recommend that you ask no more than 10 questions on the survey. Your goal should be to have every participant answer each question. When there are too many questions, or the questions are too complex, participants will often skip some of the questions.

https://blogs.constantcontact.com/how-to-write-survey/
Dave Charest | Jul 28, 2017
How to Write Good Survey Questions

There are many sources of information about how to craft good survey questions. This one provides an overview of how to write survey questions. These guidelines will allow you to develop a quick and simple survey. However, if you want or need more direction, an on-line search will identify additional guidelines.

A quick and simple survey, like a more robust one, needs to be piloted. A pilot is a test run of the survey under controlled circumstances. This will help to ensure that all your questions communicate what you want the survey taker to understand.

Using 1 to 3 people, one at a time, sit with the individual and ask them to read each question. Tell the participant that you want to know what they are thinking as they work through the questions and the answer options. Watch them to see if they seem confused or if they need to read the question more than once to understand what is being asked. Make any needed revisions as a result of your pilot.

http://www.jgme.org/doi/full/10.4300/JGME-D-17-00375.1?code=gmed-site
Gail M. Sullivan and Anthony R. Artino Jr (2017) How to Create a Bad Survey Instrument. Journal of Graduate Medical Education: August 2017, Vol. 9, No. 4, pp. 411-415.

Gail M. Sullivan and Anthony R. Artino Jr provide an excellent list of what not to do when creating a survey. While this blog is addressing quick and simple techniques for obtaining information for quick decision-making, their article is well worth reviewing. You may be able to apply some of their recommendations for your quick and simple surveys. Quick and simple does not mean bad. But it does mean that you will only be using a sub-set of survey techniques. For example, in a quick and simple survey, I recommend that all of your questions be multiple-choice items. This will allow you to more quickly analyze the responses received. You can follow up with more complex questions if need be.

In summary, if you have to make an important decision, it can be very helpful to your decision making to construct a simple, short survey to obtain information about how receptive your target population might be to your concept.

Less is More

As a course developer you want to cover each topic and overall module content sufficiently to provide learners with enough information for the job or real life situations. But, what should you include and what should you exclude? You want the learner to be able to perform the work, but you shouldn’t try to teach them everything there is to know about the topic. You want to ensure they learn what they need to know to do the work but not get lost in a forest of information. So how do you decide what to teach them and how much of each topic to cover?

Recommended steps:
1. Write objective statements
2. Develop questions which will test the learners’ ability to perform the objectives
3. List what learners will need to be able to do
4. List what they will need to know for successful performance of the objectives
5. Outline steps that need to be taken to do the work
6. Map each step to “need to know” statements
7. Identify any problems someone might encounter while completing each step
8. Add the steps that need to be taken to address identified problems to the outline of steps needed to do the work
9. Add examples that show how it is done

Add whatever words are needed to communicate these ideas but don’t add anything new at this stage. This is you minimalist unit of instruction.

Ray Jimenez has a wonderful short piece addressing these concepts.

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs130/1011065179978/archive/1122903861032.html
Cut the Crap!!!
Ray Jimenez, PhD

As Ray Jimenez says “Simplifying your content is a conscious design choice. It means getting into the shoes of your learners and including only what you have thoroughly assessed and determined they really need. What’s not necessary is dropped and what is retained are only the stuff that matters.”

Now look at the questions you wrote for the objectives. Do they cover everything you have outlined? Is there anything that needs to be added to either the questions or the outline based on this review? If yes, add what is needed. What you have now produced is your draft lesson. If possible find one to three members of your target population to pilot the lesson. If you don’t have members of your target population available to field test the training, find someone who doesn’t know the topic and ask them to work through the instruction. Sit with the field test participants as they work. Ask them to identify anything that isn’t clear or if they have any questions. Consider what they say and make revisions that you believe are necessary. Unless you believe something really should be revised immediately, collect and compare all field test comments before making any revisions, and then only make revisions that are critical for understanding the objectives.

This may seem a bit involved but like anything else, a good foundation will prevent or decrease problems down the line. Later on in the process it will likely be more difficult to make revisions.

And following my own advice from this mini lesson, here is where I will stop and ask for feedback. Please provide feedback, questions and comments.

Thank you!

Why Survey?

Several years ago a company I was working for asked for help finding out why sales reps weren’t selling a new product. The marketing materials were done and out. The product was a great fit and the competition had yet to release a comparable product. And yet the reps weren’t talking to their customers about the new product.

We put together a quick survey and asked reps attending a quarterly meeting to complete the survey. The responses showed that reps weren’t presenting the product to their customers because they weren’t comfortable with their knowledge about the new offering. Somewhere in the management chain the decision had been made that training didn’t need to be developed, as the product was easy to understand. We realized that it was important to get input from the reps in the field to understand why they were not presenting the new product to customers.

I believed then, and still do now, that what was needed was a quick survey of field sales reps about presenting the new offering to their customers. I understand that most sales reps – for all sorts of reasons – wouldn’t be willing to take the time to complete a survey during their typical workday no matter how short it was. We decided to present a short (10 items) survey to sales reps attending meetings within the next month. Our thinking was that we didn’t need a large response as long as we were pulling responses from all the geographies.

This was a bit of an experiment but we wanted to see if reps would complete the survey. We told the reps that responses were voluntary. We presented the survey as the first page of the meeting agenda and invited them to complete it. We made it clear that it was voluntary. We received a sufficient number of responses to identify that reps wanted to know more before speaking about the product to their customers. More importantly, we were able to identify what specifically they wanted to learn. The survey didn’t take us long to develop and it didn’t take the respondents long to complete. In a very short period of time, we were able to develop a short learning event.

I’m writing this blog today because I want to talk to the value of developing a survey before developing certain learning events. It likely wouldn’t be effective to have surveys for every learning product. But, just as we need to identify the objectives of a learning offering, I believe that, rather than only identifying what we expect them to know, we also need to understand what knowledge learners bring with them.

This is especially necessary for learning events that need to connect the new learning to specific knowledge. For example we don’t often combine sales techniques or marketing messages or business benefits in technical training. But, I think that in some cases, developing a survey that combines more areas might lead to a lot of additional information. For example better sales, customer satisfaction and better feedback about what else customers need could result from this type of survey process.

Learning organizations have effectively developed and delivered learning materials for new products, new versions of existing products, and new or revised services. However, whether it be because of time, money or lack of interest, learning organizations rarely survey the learner population and their managers as to what the needs are, what they will consume, and why.

A quick survey distributed electronically with about 10 questions can often provide both revenue and decreased expenses because the responses to these surveys will allow the learning organization to better meet the learner needs.

The key question is how to get responses to the surveys. In person events usually result in a sufficient number of responses, but it is best to incentivize responses by providing something of value. The something of value that a learning organization can provide is often information that is germane to the population. Perhaps it is a small discount on the next offering they register for within the next X months. Or it might be a tool or a document that would be of interest to people taking that training.

I believe surveys really can help your business, but only if the needed end result is identified before the survey is developed and distributed. It is important to know which learners are likely to take the training and also to have an identified end result. That is to say, what specifically are you looking to learn before you develop the survey?

Mini MOOCs: Right Sizing Online Training

MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) are a part of today’s training toolbox for some universities and businesses. The concept of this type of learning event is to provide instruction to a massive worldwide audience. While the use of MOOCs to provide needed learning is a good concept, to date MOOCs have had only a mixed reception. Most MOOCs offer instruction through several types of delivery methods including readings, recorded lectures, videos, gaming and many other delivery techniques.

Many of the people who sign-up for a MOOC don’t complete all of the content offered. This may be because of boredom. Or perhaps they only needed to learn about some of the topics covered in the course and weren’t interested in the rest of the content. Or it might be that most MOOCs don’t provide effective methods for interacting with instructors and other learners. Furthermore, satisfactory methods for testing and feedback are still a work in progress.

Feedback and scoring of tests usually comes from individual MOOC participants grading each other’s work. Even when a participant receives scores from many other students most learners don’t find this satisfactory feedback. There is also the problem of worldwide audiences not sharing a common language. Whatever the reason for not completing the learning event the stats show that many people who start a MOOC do not complete it.

“MOOCs are not single, long-haul flights, but rather they are more like train journeys where some people want to get to the end of the line but most people get on and off along the way.”
https://www.class-central.com/report/moocs-course-completion-wrong-measure/
MOOCs: Course Completion is the Wrong Measure of Course Success
by Donald Clark . Published on April 11, 2016

At this point in time MOOCs are showing limited success. The use of MOOCs is still not where some of the developers had hoped it would be, but they are still being developed and used. There are still people and organizations that believe MOOCs offer a delivery method, which is needed in our ever-growing globalized learning environments.

“In the future, MOOCs have the potential to completely transform education. However, as of right now, don’t expect to see universities shutting down as a result, as some experts have begun projecting. Despite the recent rapid rise in MOOCs, this format continues to be an evolving model, and one that isn’t quite established yet.”

What’s Wrong with MOOCs and Why Aren’t They Working?

The tech edvocate
WHAT’S WRONG WITH MOOCS AND WHY AREN’T THEY WORKING?
BY MATTHEW LYNCH JUNE 12, 2016

So while MOOCs continue to evolve and offer learning events to meet many different needs I believe we have an opportunity to look at how the “MOOC concept” can be applied in other ways. One way might be to develop very short units of instruction or in other words Mini Open Online Courses (mini MOOCs). I believe if we use the MOOC processes for units of instruction that cover a single – or very few – topics, we may find that the mini MOOC is an effective delivery method.

Multiple mini MOOCs could be linked together to provide a learning experience that can be tailored for each individual. These mini MOOCs can be thought of like a large lunch buffet. The mini MOOC concept would allow learners to pick and choose what they want or need to meet their individual learning needs. The mini MOOCs with very few topics would be like a college curriculum and be applicable to multiple degree or certification programs.

Short modules addressing just a few topics have been shown to be very successful. I propose that we look at whether this instructional methodology can be applied to the MOOC concept. Perhaps this can best be described as an offshoot of the MOOC concept. Most MOOCs present multiple lessons on an overarching subject. They also include several different types of learning activities. There are self-paced, group, team etc. types of learning experiences contained in most MOOCs. It is likely that the developers want the learners to have the option to experience a wide variety of learning methods and also allowing learners to choose learning techniques that work for them. These mini MOOCs can follow the MOOC methodology of making each mini MOOC available 24x7x365.

“… from our ongoing research on adult learners that while they do still prioritize degrees, there is growing interest in shorter-form online programs.”
http://www.eduventures.com/2017/05/seismography-101-understanding-shockwaves-purdue-kaplan-deal/
Seismography 101: Understanding the Shockwaves from the Purdue – Kaplan Deal
By Howard Lurie, Principal Analyst. Published May 2017

Much like instructional guides developed for instructors, guides for the learner can be developed which present different ways to group lessons together to gain the needed learning. Each mini MOOC would present just a few topics along with practice and feedback. Once a learner completes a mini MOOC it would be important for the learner to apply their learning to their work or find other ways of practicing what they learned. It might be that the mini MOOC developers create exercises or games for the learners to use once they complete the mini MOOC. This will allow learners to incorporate the new learning into their knowledge base. Testing also would need to be delivered and scored effectively. I have some recommendations for testing that can be applied to MOOCs and mini MOOCs as well as more traditional learning events, which I will present in future blogs.

The Components of Good Course Development

I want to take a walk down memory lane and I invite you to join me. Let’s go back to when the development of instruction was done without electronic authoring tools. Back in those days there were several areas of focus, there was the psychology of learning, there was the development of media to enhance the understanding and integration of learning, there was learning research, and a few other areas that fell under the overarching title of Instructional Design.

Today while universities do offer programs in all of these areas and more, corporations tend to hire people to do what is labeled as instructional design. Most often the job description talks to the ability to use e-learning authoring and image creation tools such as Articulate and Captivate. In and of themselves these are important to the presentation of learning materials. However, what I believe is often missing in these job descriptions and the work that the e-learning developers do, is the application of the principles of learning design and development. Well-designed learning materials include presentation of information, examples, practice exercises, repetition, and feedback. It also helps to test the materials out with a few members of the target population to learn how well the learning materials perform. Changes can be integrated as needed before the materials are released.

For the most part, corporate course developers start with a technical background and then they gain the knowledge of how to use course development tools later. However, we also must focus on training course developers in how to develop content that makes learning happen. Today most corporate training departments are promoting the development of mini modules of learning, usually covering one to three concepts. While this is really a great breakthrough and will lead to better training and learning, I believe that understanding how people learn must still be factored into what corporate course developers need in order to develop good, quality instruction.

I believe that the development of a learning event should consider all of these components and perhaps more. Learning is complex and using the systems approach of considering all factors that impact it will lead to better outcomes.
• Technical or other information, concepts, and so forth
• Systems approach to design of learning
• Learning theory
• Learning design
• Current and emerging technologies for development and delivery
• Presentation design (for example, Articulate, Captivate)

While this may look like an overwhelming list of areas needed for the development of good instruction, I believe it isn’t any more (or less) extensive than any other field of endeavor.

I hope you will weigh in with comments and let me and others know your thinking. Let’s help make learning happen.

Delivering What’s New

Knowledge workers now more than ever need to come up-to-speed quickly. New products, procedures, tools, and services have short shelf lives and people need to be ready to integrate what is new into their repertoire.

New products come and go end-of-life within a very short period of time. But sales needs to know enough about the new offering, the competition, and what is likely to come next. Support needs to be ready and able to meet customer needs. Customers need to understand how the new offering affects what is currently in place. They all also need to understand the competitive offerings.

How do all these roles learn what they need to know? How much time and money should be devoted to this learning? How many members of a team need to come up-to-speed? What is the best way to disseminate the new knowledge to a dispersed worldwide team? These are all questions a corporation faces today.

There are multiple methodologies for delivering new knowledge, but it is the end result that is the measurement. Can people perform their new responsibilities? What do learners need to learn to competently perform their new responsibilities? These are questions that learning organizations need to answer.

Learning organizations need to find ways to deliver information, tools, strategies, techniques etc. that quickly prepare the learner to integrate new competencies to successfully carry out their job responsibilities.

As Caroline Beaton says in her Forbes post of JAN 23, 2017
Why Knowledge Workers Are Bad At Making Decisions

“Technology and accessible information have made knowledge work’s ubiquitous decision-making possible. But, at the same time, they may have made good decisions harder to make.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinebeaton/2017/01/23/why-knowledge-workers-are-bad-at-making-decisions/#32e2bcfe1e15

Trainers need to facilitate communication between all roles that are impacted by the new learning. The bottom line is start communication with the rest of your corporate community and your learners. You will likely find areas where you can help each other in this time of rapid change.

One technique to make this happen is for the training team to publish regular, but infrequent, bulletins about what the training organization is doing. It might be a single screen with hot links for those who want to learn more. The linked information, if any, should also be limited. For example, publish a post about a learning event that was implemented and how it helped the learner’s organization. As much as possible tie in what is being done in the learning organization to corporate and organizational goals.

Share information with your business sponsors, such as very quick summaries of information that will help the organization. Perhaps describing the success of similar techniques elsewhere. Ask for input and feedback. Tell them how you have heard what they have said and what you are implementing to take advantage of their feedback. Ask for the best ways of interfacing with them. Ask for successes that their teams had after training. Ask for ways to improve and then tell them when you take action on their input. If necessary explain that you have many suggestions and can’t act on all of them but have selected a few that will be applicable to a wide audience.

Not everything learning organizations do needs to change, but we do need to keep learning, keep up on research, and set up communication strategies that will help the corporation as a whole. Learning developers know that things are changing rapidly and they need to take advantage of those changes that are right for the organization. But they also need to maintain the existing strategies, techniques, etc. that are working for the learners and the organization.