Feature
Crazy or courageous?
Harry Bundred of ITOL says that for L&D to have a thriving future, trainers need to take risks
I
t was the celebrated US president Harry S. Truman who said: “The future is not built on fear but on courage and imagination.” Our foreseeable future is still one of volatility and uncertainty,
accompanied by increasing complexity and ambiguity. This presents many and varied challenges for the learning and development (L&D) profession; as a wise man once said: “It’s certainly crazy out there!” Our response to the new world can seem equally complex. Currently, I’m led to believe my learning interventions need to be ‘gamifi ed’, ‘personalised’, ‘socialised’, ‘disruptive’, ‘customised’, ‘immersive’, ‘curative’ and, of course, they need to be based on neuroscience using the 70:20:10 principles. I mustn’t forget it needs to tick the ‘microlearning’ box as well. Let me make it clear: I have no issues with any of the above. It’s just that they seem to sidestep the one element that consistently makes the difference between success and failure in learning events: the trainer. We trainers have, of course, taken on a multitude of new titles for our role – I guess we don’t think trainer is sexy enough. However, whatever name we give to what we do, training is still the organisation of an event or activity aimed at improving the learner’s performance or to help them attain a required standard of knowledge, skill, attitude or behaviour, and that requires somebody to professionally facilitate it. First and foremost, training is a profession that must be populated with professionals! A couple of years ago The Institute of
Training & Occupational Learning carried out a survey of the L&D profession. It threw up some interesting facts:
• 56 per cent of the profession have no formal L&D qualifi cations
• 28 per cent of those who consider themselves qualifi ed point to their attendance at in-company Train the Trainer courses
• 63 per cent undertook less than two days of continuing professional development
• 27 per cent have no membership of any professional body.
If the L&D profession is to have a future in this volatile commercial environment, and if L&D practitioners are to have any credibility within their organisation, then now is the time to be courageous. We need courage to be a professional.
What does that mean? I guess if you had to describe a professional you would include the following: • Expert in the fi eld in which they are practising
• Excellent practical skills in relation to their profession
• High quality of work • High standard of ethics • Self-motivated and reasonable work morale • Maintains good relationships with other colleagues
• Commitment to their profession and fellow professionals.
We need to be courageous in holding ourselves and our colleagues accountable to the highest standards of professionalism, whether that be in skills, expertise or ethics. The World of Learning Conference and Exhibition might be a good opportunity to take a few quiet moments and ask ourselves some questions
like: when did I last check out any credible research taking place in my fi eld? What skills have I taken for granted? In what areas am I not as sharp as I used to be? What steps are in place for me to quality check my work? Do I cut corners?
In unstable times we need courage to hold on to durable and enduring principles of professionalism. If you are not already a member of a professional body, then maybe now is the time to look for a stable professional Institute that provides the support you need as you deal with your own professional challenges. n
Author
Harry Bundred ITOL
itol.org
70 |
learningmagazine.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72
