Wanted: L&D Officer

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Here is a question I always get asked by L&D heads: 

I need to hire someone to assist me in Training/L&D. I’ve whittled down the applicants to a certain extent, but is there a process to choose the final candidate? Applicants can claim to know certain things when they actually don’t.

#1:  What are the main responsibilities and deliverables of the employee you are looking for? L&D includes many facets: conducting Needs Analysis, designing training programs, training delivery, evaluating learning courses, developing instructional materials, and/or coordinating and administering the learning programs. Be clear in your expectations.

#2: Based on the expected responsibilities and deliverables, what skills are required of the person? If designing programs is the focus, the ability to create a cohesive flow of instruction will be very important. Developing handouts will require conceptualization and written communications. A trainer should be able to present material clearly and build rapport with the audience.  Be realistic in your expectations and your priorities. If you expect too much, you may not find the right person. If you get to hire the person with all these, be prepared to pay a higher price. This is all right for as long as she is not overqualified for the job; otherwise you will lose her in the long run.

#3: Once you know the critical skills you are looking for, go over the CV for claims or indications of  these. Flag the items for clarification during the interview. For example, when you read “designed/delivered a Customer Service Program,” you may want to ask what the result of the program was based on participants’ feedback, and on the business itself.  Remember that you are not looking for people to do tasks; you are looking for people to contribute to results.

#4: Ask yourself how urgently you require these skills in the person. Some employers need the incoming employee to be competent from the outset, while others are willing to provide some training. 

#5: As part of, or after the, interview, test the applicant on the critical skills you require. If she claims to have evaluated training programs before, give her data from your existing courses, and let her explain how she will proceed. If the job is in the e-learning unit or courseware development department, let her prepare a mini course (even in PowerPoint if she is using a different software from yours).

If you have several applicants, you can rank them based on #2 (required skills). You can then go back to #4 (train or buy the skills).

Beware of a common mistake of L&D hiring managers: Some are not sure of what specific skills to look for (#2) so they cannot verify these in the applicants (#5).  

You cannot assess what you are not clear about.

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Putting the “e” in Learning

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e-Learning seems to be gaining ground. Not only are e-learning vendors increasing in number, budgets for e-learning courses are also on the rise. Some organizations are even creating e-learning teams or units specifically for the creation of e-courses. But there are concerns about this learning modality from those who have yet to implement it:  Should I go into e-learning?  For those who are already implementing it: what factors should I have considered?

To help answer these questions, let us compare e-learning to the more familiar face-to-face training.

Investment

e-learning involves a comparatively heavier upfront investment compared to the traditional face-to-face (f2f) training. The high fixed costs can be attributed to the amount of preparation time to gather the information, development of the appropriate material, and the infrastructure required for deployment.

          e-learning’s investment can be justified if:

• there is a big learning population 
• logistical cost of training (travel, lodging, food) is significant

Convenience

The challenge of f2f training is gathering the participants in one location, which involves finding a common time among them, as well as ensuring that there is no pressing requirement in the workplace. This situation also applies to internal Subject Matter Experts who are assigned to train in addition to performing their main jobs.

e-learning can address this issue if self-paced approach is used (Note that e-learning may require all participants to be online at the same time, called “synchronous” approach). 

Effectiveness

There are certain learning requirements that e-learning is suitable for. It is usually a recommended methodology for “know what” types of knowledge, and “know how” in using systems or applications. If the learning objective is requires analysis, judgment, and proposing solutions, the common e-learning approaches fall short of delivering these.

It is a misconception to use existing f2f training slides as self-paced e-learning material.  In the former, an instructor is present to elaborate on what may not be clear in the visuals. This is not true of the latter, where there is no immediate clarification available, thus, hampering the learning process.

Going Beyond Investment

Almost all L&D practitioners have heard of the lament of slow uptake from those implementing e-learning.  Is there a way for this to be avoided?  For those who have decided from the foregoing considerations that e-learning would make sense for their organization, the next step is to think of how to make it work. This can include:

• How do you encourage the shift from f2f to online? Do not just hope that they will want to learn online; create ways for your learners to “need” the e-learning material.
• Going into e-learning can be done in varying degrees of intensity. Given your audience profile, will it be better to conduct e-learning on the preparatory knowledge only, or should you go into the discussions online as well?
• Consider what you mean by e-learning. Do you really want to put everything online and make these self-paced? (If so, think about how it will affect Effectiveness vs. Cost). Or is Blended Learning (combining different modalities) what you really aim for?

e-learning is part of the bigger picture in delivering cost-effective performance solutions. It is not THE picture. Focus on planning the learning followed by how the “e” can make it happen. Most e-learning initiatives fail because they put the “e” above the learning.

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Lessons From Training in Africa

One of the great things about what I do is the opportunity to travel and experience other cultures.

I have been traveling to Africa since 2009.  I still remember the first time I stepped off the plane in Khartoum, Sudan. It was going to be one great adventure. And it was…

Definitely not corporate…

I was shown to my “hotel”- a container fitted out with the necessities to look like a living quarters. I was lucky, I had one with a toilet (“ablution”) connected to it. Despite this convenience, it was different.

When I took my first UN flight, I suddenly missed the porters I always took for granted in airports. I had to pull and sometimes carry my 20 kg luggage around; starting from loading it on and off the bus, queuing up at the pared down but functional terminals, to heaving the luggage onto raised platforms for weighing.  This was one of the biggest motivations to lift some weights after I got back home.

Security Briefing…

I was welcomed and briefed. There were rules to abide by: curfews to follow, and places to steer clear of. A “go bag” of not more than 15 kg needed to be ready in case of emergency.  The next time I went, I made sure I had everything for my 2.5 weeks’ stay in a 15 kg suitcase.  This was a lesson in prioritization.

Chow time and bathroom breaks…

The camps/bases had cafeterias but these were not connected to the training room. During the breaks, I had to walk for at least 5 minutes (at times, more than 10 minutes, depending on the mission location) under the hot sun to get my sustenance.  I skipped lunch the first few times, but learned my lesson as time went by. I started bringing crackers or something similar for a light lunch, just to keep me going in the afternoon.  Then I could squeeze in a quick nap while waiting for the class to get back.

Now, as for the toilets: It also involved quite a trek to relieve myself. In some instances, there were rains, too, which added to the challenge. I remember asking myself “do I really, absolutely, have to go?” This required proper timing so that I could go when I really needed to, but not so desperately that I would have an “accident” due to the distance. And before you leave the toilet, you have to ask yourself whether you are absolutely done to save on an unnecessary trek back.

Point of View…

When eating in restaurants in the places I have been in Africa, the waiters would notice when I consistently did not finish my food. They asked with concern whether I did not like the way the dishes had been prepared. I politely told them that I found the quantity overwhelming. They would be shocked and relate to me that they would typically get complaints that the food is not enough, so they found it rather amusing for me to say the opposite.

While we are on this subject, I was ordering fried tilapia (a specialty of Entebbe, Uganda) and wanted to check how big it was. The response: “not big. It is just small, just enough for 1 person.” Holy smokes, when the fish was served, it almost filled the entire plate.

Attitude towards Time...

I was the only customer in a restaurant, but it took almost 30 minutes to get my order ready. The thing was, the wait staff did not even seem perturbed about the delay.  I was slightly annoyed until I understood better within the next few hours.

I booked a taxi and promised the driver that I would be quick; 25 minutes tops since I was only going to pick something up. Due to problems encountered, I was only able to make it back after almost 1.5 hours. There was no annoyance on the cab driver’s face. He simply said he was sorry I encountered problems. And no, he didn’t ask for additional payment but out of guilt, I gave him more.

Africa is too diverse…

Following one approach for the entire Africa wouldn’t work. Just like here in Asia, while we are collectively called one continent, within our ranks are so many nuances that make each country uniqueness. I have only been to 6 countries in Africa. There is so much more to learn.

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Telltale Signs you need Instructional Design

After posting “Who Needs Instructional Design?” I received emails asking for specific indicators that knowledge of Instructional Design is recommended. Queries came from both career Training professionals and those rotated into L&D from other functional areas.

Since there are different roles in the Learning function, I will try to go over each one.

If you design training programs, the first thing to review is your objectives. Are they peppered with “to know,” “to understand,” “to appreciate”, and other verbs that cannot be demonstrated?

Do you measure learning only through pre- and post- test regardless of the objectives?

If you are a trainer, do you start planning your program by asking “what do I want to teach?”

Do you find yourself doing majority of the talking in the training while the participants mostly listen?

Do your instructional visuals (such as PowerPoint) resemble Word and Excel Documents on slides?

As a Training Evaluator, do you base your programs’ success on the results of the Smiley Sheets distributed after the training?

As an L&D professional, do you first analyze whether a training request is training or non-training-treatable? Do you know what to look for when evaluating a training vendor’s proposal?  Can you provide your training vendor the objectives you want them to create a learning intervention for?

If you answered Yes to the first 6 questions, and No to the last 3 questions, these are signs that you need Instructional Design knowledge to help you do your job better.

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Do I Need Instructional Design?

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This is the most common question asked by Learning & Development (L&D) professionals. To answer the question, there are 2 related questions one needs to ask: 1) What really is Instructional Design? and 2) What do you do in the L&D function?

I describe Instructional Design (ID) as the planning side of training. My daughters say it so abstract that I have been using a metaphor of building a house to be more easily understood.

You can build a house without a plan; but you could probably guess how that would turn out. You can also buy ready-made house plans but these would not specifically suit your personal requirements. To build a custom house, you would normally turn to an architect. She would bring us back to reality when we let our imaginations go wild, such as building a multi-storey home on a tiny property; or wanting the best features for the least amount of money. Your architect will help you priortize your goals, and tell you what is realistically possible given your resources (such as the size of your property, its terrain, your budget, your timeline). A blueprint is then drawn up to represent what you as a client decide on.

In training, the task of developing the blueprint in called Instructional Design (ID). To do this, you would have understood your client’s requirements, resources, and priorities (Training Needs Analysis). This is why I compare an Instructional designer’s job to that of an architect.

But constructing a house involves other parties as well. The architect will work with a contractor who will execute the plans. The contractor, in turn, will use appropriate tools or rent these from another company. The contractor is the trainer who is tasked with the delivery or implementation. The tools that are used are called courseware (i.e., PowerPoint slides, handouts, assessment materials) which may be developed by the trainer or outsourced from someone else.

At the end of the project, the client will decide how satisfied he is with the construction project. This would be based on how well the execution has adhered to the design, which in turn, is anchored on how well the architect understood the client’s requirements. In training, this is the Evaluation phase.

Training Needs Analysis, Instructional Design, Training Implementation, Courseware development, and Evaluation are collectively known as Instructional SYSTEMS design or ISD. These steps represent what I call the Training Value Chain.

We’ve explained what ID is in a simplified manner. Now let’s go to the question “What do you do in L&D?”

If your responsibility includes working with clients to articulate their requirements into a tangible, measurable output; partner with training vendors, or assess their proposals, then you would need ID (Design and an understanding of Analysis).  

If your job requires you to assess the effectiveness of training delivery and measure training impact, you need Evaluation knowledge. But Evaluation is based on the Design, just like a home owner will base their overall judgment on adherence to the plans.

If your work is focused on developing training materials, you will need an understanding of learning principles and the use of media in instruction. ID is not a requirement; an understanding of how courseware affects training effectiveness will suffice.

If you deliver training, you will need ID should you design your own training programs. Otherwise, a Train-the-Trainers Workshop that includes basic ID principles should serve your requirements.

ISD (the training value chain) consists of different specializations for various L&D professionals. Choose what best fits the work that you do. That is, don’t decide based on the content (or the program title); focus on the program’s objective which summarizes what it promises to deliver.

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My Learning Journey

I discovered my love of learning later in life. I did alright in school but did not particularly excel nor care about academic achievements. Even as I was applying for my college degree, I chose what took my fancy; and even then, moved from one course to another. My only consideration then was that my job would allow me to travel.

My first jobs applied what I learned in school: sales and marketing in the tourism field. I liked the planning part and setting up sales agencies. My sales were also adequate but I detested going on sales calls; each call took all the internal conditioning I could muster. I liked to travel but I forgot to qualify that being a guest and being a service provider are two very different things!  What I really enjoyed was orienting new sales executives and explaining the sales process.

This went on until the opportunity to move to a Training position came along.  Thankfully, the organization I was working for believed in developing its employees in other functions. Although I supposedly headed the Training section, not knowing any better, most of the work I did was coordination. I “progressed” into asking the different member companies for the training programs they wanted to have. I improved by changing that from “what they wanted” to “what they needed.”  Ha! Real progress I thought. Except I did not attempt to validate any of these; I simply proceeded to take and process the orders. I felt something was missing in the way training was conducted but I couldn’t really put my finger on it. The training function seemed so established already that I could only do incremental improvements.

Despite these bumps in the journey, I fell in love with HR in general and Training in particular, so much so that during cross-functional meetings, each situation for me was an HR issue.  I knew I needed to do something when one colleague asked me once “Can you tell what you think that has nothing to do with HR?” Organizing and attending the in-house Management Development Program (MDP) was my first step, but I couldn’t resist the challenge of a post-graduate degree.

So I quit my job, applied for a loan and went back to school for a masteral degree in management. This is when I realized that learning could be so much fun. I found myself understanding the big picture, and how the different functions contributed to it. Slowly, I was pulled away from my HR-centric view and started asking different types of questions.  I didn’t do this on my own; my professors and classmates at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) helped in my transformation.

My corporate job after my masteral degree involved looking at the different business opportunities, and new economy strategies of existing businesses. While it allowed me to utilize my more holistic management know-how, I truly missed my Training work. To keep my connection to the discipline, I enrolled in Instructional Technology courses.  It started to dawn on me that this was the missing link I was looking for- the essence of why learning was needed, and how it could make a difference and be justified.

Despite persistent cajoling from friends that I was turning into a professional student, I pursued my second master’s degree in Instructional and Performance Technology at Boise State University. Although it meant further belt-tightening, juggling multiple priorities, and being uncertain of whether it was worth studying what others felt was already an established practice, I felt it answered the fundamental question of what my chosen vocation was all about.

This degree and my decision to leave the corporate world and join the Academe (AIM) were 2 life changing decisions for me. These experiences further strengthened my interest in Learning & Development (that was how Training was starting to be called then). 

In 2003, backed by AIM’s encouragement of its faculty members to engage in external work to enrich our teaching, I put up a training and consulting company.  I refined the knowledge I gained in my studies to make them more applicable to the organizations I worked with; continued to network with fellow practitioners/former classmates to plan new ways of approaching old problems. I continued to expand the work that I did, helped clients, and also learned in the process.

Since that time, I have had what I would call different adventures:  designing, delivering and evaluating training programs, developing curricula in various industries, coaching subject matter experts-turned- trainers, developing training materials, and setting up corporate universities. What started out as “play” has turned out to be one of my most meaningful pursuits. 

In my almost 20 year-journey as a learning practitioner, there were numerous instances in which I had to do a lot or research to get the answers I needed. With L&D becoming an important discipline in today’s talent economy, I hope to be able to contribute by sharing some knowledge and experiences to those new to the field; and more importantly, to help others realize what fun this line of work is!

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