Posts From: Industry News

Greetings from a dying technology. OK I better explain that one. But first, let’s talk about the eight-track tape. People like me – a man of a certain age is a polite way to put it – will no doubt remember that before there was the MP3 there was the compact disc. Before that was the cassette tape. Albums were in there somewhere as well.

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There’s a rather pessimistic old saying that I’m sure you’ve heard: “Whatever can go wrong will go wrong.” Hopefully things aren’t quite that bad in your environment, but it’s easy to understand the sentiment. To put it more poetically, “the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”

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I’ve been reading reports again, and I’m ready to make a prediction. You’re sitting there right now thinking about change. How to manage it, how to cope with it, how to create it.

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Let’s be clear: The training industry is full of hard-working people whose basic job is to make other hard-working people excel, succeed and contribute. It may be a stretch to call it a calling, but we’re still in an industry with its collective eye on a very appealing prize: Success and advancement.

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Innovation may seem like a new buzzword, but it’s a concept as old as the discovery of fire … it’s a process to more efficiently and effectively reach a desired outcome. In upcoming webinars, in books, in articles and at water coolers all around the world, business and training leaders are taking innovative approaches to managing innovation. So here’s a hard question, at least for many people: When’s the last time you were innovative?

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One of the most frequently asked questions of training analysts is ‘how big is the training market?’ The truth of the matter is no one really knows for sure, although we are able to make good rational estimates based on sound research and economic analysis. Why is the data hard to get to? Because corporations (buyers of services) are weary of reporting actual expenditures for training. And in some cases, many large companies don’t accurately know how much they spend on training as expenses get buried in non-training related line items.

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It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas – or whatever winter holiday you celebrate – most places around the world. The most obvious signs? Bright lights, cold weather and analysts rolling out their forecasts on what 2012 will bring for the training industry, the annual flood of valuable information to help you make educated decisions as we move forward. It’s an exciting time and the food for thought will be flowing freely.

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As the popular book (and new movie) Moneyball shows, baseball is a game of numbers with scientifically determined pathways to success. The same is true for training, even if the computations are more difficult and the stakes more important. Can training be managed with the same statistical exactness? We need a Brad Pitt to show us the way.

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It’s always a loss when someone dies, and the more that person contributed to the fabric of society, the deeper the loss is felt. When Apple founder and resident genius Steve Jobs died Wednesday, he left behind a company, a community, a worldwide legacy that will not be forgotten. But he left a lot more than that too.

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Anytime learning leaders gather you can be sure there will be an open exchange of ideas and a frank discussion of problems and solutions. You can also expect, especially these days, to hear about how technology impacts education. At the recent CLO & Talent Management Forum, the talk this year was about perceptions, participation, coaching, content and tools, ranging from learning portals and communities of practice to invisible gorillas and Cookie Doodle. Training is a rich tapestry.

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