The LEAN CLO

Mobile Learning: My Talk at ASTD Tech Knowledge

2012-01-24T10:08:00.000-08:00

Share | This Thursday I'll be speaking at ASTD Tech Knowledge in Las Vegas on how to enhance learning with the use of GPS and Augmented Reality on Mobile Devices. Might sound geeky, but it's simpler than you think and these are exciting and powerful tools for LEAN knowledge transfer. NOTE: If you're not attending ASTD this week, contact me to learn more or schedule this talk at your

Good Trainers are "Authentic" (gag me!)

2011-12-09T13:26:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder why corporate trainers garner so little respect and training budgets get immediately whacked when times are tough? A LinkedIn discussion makes it clear. Asked "What makes a good trainer?" (besides technical competence) here's a sampling of the answers given from over 50 trainers. Positive Patient Persuasive Confident Enthusiastic Friendly Authentic (gag) Clear Pleasant Persistent

WORLD SAFETY DAY TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE TRAINING -- Classrooms Don’t Prevent Occupational Accidents: Relationships Do

2011-04-28T00:01:00.000-07:00

Today is World Day for Safety and Health at Work, which promotes the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases. World Safety Day focuses international attention on occupational safety and health and on work-related injuries and fatalities worldwide. This year’s World Safety Day 2011 focuses on a systematic approach for reducing workplace incidents and accidents based on the The Deming

Fun Learning About Numbers

2011-02-16T14:31:00.000-08:00

Hats off to Mario Torres for sending me the link to Math Snacks, a New Mexico project to teach kids math in an entertaining way. Math Snacks follows several important lean learning principles I've written about, in particular 'Pull, Not Push' and 'Just in Time'. Be sure to check out 'Bad Date'... LMAO!! Share|

80% of Training Should Be Mentoring

2011-02-14T17:02:00.001-08:00

My latest upload to Slideshare...80% of Training Should Be MentoringView more videos from Maverick Institute.

The Power of Graphics in Learning

2011-02-14T11:34:00.000-08:00

Hats off to this NYT interactive graphic, perhaps the best tool ever to teach citizens about where federal money goes. Obama’s 2012 Budget Proposal: How It’s Spent - NYTimes.com It's abundantly clear where the bulk of spending lies and which direction it's headed. I'm a firm believer in the '10 Second Rule' meaning if a slide/graphic doesn't convey it message, without explanation, in 10

The "Fully Effective Employee"... A Mythical Creature

2010-08-25T10:21:00.000-07:00

The "fully effective employee" concept hurts new hire onboarding efforts and should be abandoned. I recently came across this (again) in Tom Stypulkoski's Workforce.com article, Cultivating Knowledge Transfer. He discusses the pending retirement/knowledge transfer crisis, getting new hires to a state of full effectiveness (FEE) and summarizes his thoughts in this graph. Supervisors and

Reduce Wasted Learning Motion 5 Minutes a Day

2010-08-18T21:29:00.000-07:00

Kudos to Jenny Hon at General Mills for displaying outstanding 'Lean Learning' thinking in this Sharepoint promo. Two minutes in she talks about how saving company employees 5 minutes a day searching for information really adds up. This is a great example of reducing wasted 'motion' in learning. By my calculations, with almost 30,000 employees worldwide, this saves General Mills 2,500 hours A

Companies Wonder How to Skill Up for Post-Recession Growth

2010-07-30T11:49:00.000-07:00

Interesting article courtesy of workforce.com... Workforce Staffing Could Hit Pre-Recession Levels in Two Years at Many Large U.S. Firms | workforce.com What caught my eye was the anxiety companies are feeling about skilling up their current employees and new hires, the "need for new methods." Combine this with a recent article from the NYT about companies keeping a tight lid on hiring to

'Perfection' is the Training Enemy

2010-06-16T07:29:00.000-07:00

My refrain to training professional is this."While you're preparing to train, people are trying to learn."It's better to deliver a 50% solution tomorrow than a 95% solution three months from now, especially since the learner is probably using a 25% solution they got off the internet this morning. The idea of delivering less than perfect information in a less than perfect way is anathema to most

A Gift for Grads...Start-Ups?

2010-06-10T09:40:00.000-07:00

Thomas Friedman's June 9th opinion piece says that the best thing we can do to arrest the high unemployment rate among new college grads is dramatically improve tax and employment policies for start-ups. Vital, new companies will spring forth and employ our newest workforce entrants. A Gift for Grads: Start-Ups I say "YAHOO!" for improving the atmosphere for start-ups, but I'm not sure our new

3 Values US Course Designers Bring to Corporate America

2010-06-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Tom Stanton for passing this article along to me...Training careers take off in public and private sectorsI say article, but it's really an ad (disguised as content) for Walden University's online Bachelor of Science in Instructional Design and Technology degree program. For those of you playing 'Buzzword Bingo' this is a great find. In a nutshell, based on vague economic growth data on

Are We Demotivating Learners with Too Much Training?

2010-06-01T19:20:00.000-07:00

VERY interesting research (not necessarily new research) on tasks and motivation.To wit, people becomes less motivated to do a task over and over (even when compensated for it) if you 'undo' their work in front of them. I understand that. I mean I want to feel like I'm contributing something (even if it's just building Legos...you gotta hear the story).And this got me thinking about training and

Are You Training 'Just in Time'?

2010-05-13T09:35:00.000-07:00

Maverick Stampede Newsletter, May 2010 Over 2009 and into 2010, I've been giving talks to industry organizations and running workshops and one thing is abundantly clear. This recession forced businesses to dramatically downsize their training resources and new approaches are necessary. The frustrations I hear and the questions I get are consistent. To paraphrase... "Our organization's need for

Onboard New Hires Using Lean Principles

2010-05-05T05:36:00.000-07:00

Too often new hires are subjected to a fire hose of information. I talked to one new hire at a bank in Denver and learned that she spent her first 3 days at the company in a conference room watching video tapes about banking. A waste of time and that, quite frankly, should be illegal under some international convention.It's too much too soon. I asked her how much she remembered. "Well, the

Trying to Learn to Dance with the Stars

2010-03-30T08:45:00.000-07:00

Testy footage of Kate Gosselin and Tony Dovolani TRYING to work together in the studio. Learning is front and center the problem here as they both bring up over and over and over again. Monkey See Blog : NPR Kate knows she's not getting it (just watch their performance together in the second half for proof of that), but can't explain to him what she needs. Tony feels no need to change his method

6 Rules to Deliver Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em Webinars

2010-02-06T09:21:00.013-08:00

Can we all agree that a webinar is a completely different animal than a one hour meeting around a conference table? I just finished watching a webinar and, even though it was a recording (thank God!), wanted to bang my head on the table after 3 minutes. Where's the 'Fast Forward' button on this thing?! Loooooong introduction of the speaker. Boring story about how they got into this field and

I Need Your Help!

2010-01-24T14:35:00.015-08:00

Wow. This is the first post I've written since... August? Mea culpa. Time flies when your buried in a project you love. What've I been doing? Creating a new venture called OnBoard Yourself.OnBoard Yourself is an online community and elearning site that helps new hires (think recent college grads and interns) quickly bridge the gap between college and career.Hiring managers tell me "I don't have

You Can't Put the Learning Genie Back in the Classroom Bottle

2009-08-24T08:30:00.009-07:00

Lots of interest in the learning blogosphere (is that word still hip or am I waaay behind on this one?) about the Aug 19 NYT article 'Study Finds that Online Education Beats the Classroom' Here's the summary...Over the 12-year span, the report found 99 studies in which there were quantitative comparisons of online and classroom performance for the same courses. The analysis for the Department of

Proof that Talkers and Doers Don't Mix Well

2009-08-10T09:11:00.001-07:00

See more funny videos and TBT Videos at Today's Big Thing.

How Gen Z Will Learn

2009-07-30T07:16:00.005-07:00

Penelope Trunk's latest post, What Generation Z will be like at Work, inspired me to think about what how they'll learn, especially at work.These intensely self-directed, information junkies juiced up on neuro-enhancers will swamp most training departments efforts to teach them anything. By the time T&D's rolled out a course, Gen Z will have learned what they needed to already and moved on. Next

Medieval IT Helpdesk

2009-07-17T10:05:00.002-07:00

Think of your own great quote to capture this video's message...

Learning is All About Motivation

2009-07-08T07:45:00.003-07:00

Sure, you can ‘Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.’ But what if he doesn’t want to learn? Or doesn’t even know he needs to?Creating learning content is the least of our problems today. In my blog entry, Learn Like The Wind, I wrote about how I used the web to learn how to repair my roof after the wind blew some shingles off. If you had tried to get me to learn that before my

Flipping Over Windmills in Iowa

2009-06-25T16:03:00.006-07:00

Here's some video I shot with The Flip Mino HD while traveling I-80 from Omaha to Newton, Iowa. Sorry for the squinting; the western sun was intense.A video of my talk at the Newton Economic Development Corporation will be available soon.I LOVE this technotoy!

Getting Wet at Work

2009-06-22T06:59:00.008-07:00

Cleaning my office this weekend, I found this old picture and thought about the incident that made me get fully clothed into a safety shower at work.The short version...Telling wasn't enough. Showing dramatically was necessary.When I was a department manager, we had a chemical accident and the person who got spattered didn't use the safety shower like we'd trained on over and over. He

Tweet Joke Punchline

2009-06-16T08:46:00.006-07:00

Didn't get the joke, eh?Tweeted on 6/16/09..."Twitter should be more than just sending people links" and then this link is attached.

Stand and Deliver

2009-05-26T10:09:00.001-07:00

Okay, so the title's a bit hokey (and stolen from a movie about school), BUT still an interesting NYT article about physiology's impact on learning.Hey, I hated sitting in desks at school. Pure torture. I loved my science labs. Experiments were interesting in and of themselves, but in lab you could move around. Change position. Look around. Tap. Bang. Drum. Doodle. And if you nailed the lab, no

Learn Like The Wind

2009-05-13T06:26:00.007-07:00

Here in Boulder when the wind gusts, it's usually at about 90mph. No kidding.A couple of weeks ago, I was sitting in my living room reading when suddenly the house shook and there was the sound of deck of cards shuffled. Looking out the window, shingles everywhere. Damn. I went outside to survey the damage. Now what? I'd never fixed a roof before.First, check tomorrow's weather report...snow.

Never Stop Learning Or THIS Could Happen

2009-04-20T10:09:00.007-07:00

Here's a LOL video for today's economy. And a stark reminder to NEVER stop learning and growing.It's so easy to get complacent and think our years of experience and titles are going to carry us throughout our career. If this isn't a slap in the face for staying up on new trends and establishing a personal brand, then I don't know what is.

It's All About What Happens AFTERWARDS

2009-04-07T12:18:00.002-07:00

Just stumbled on an article I'd saved last December from the Wall Street Journal.'Lessons Learned' by Dr. Harry Martin at Cleveland State has some great research on how what's taught in training sessions actually gets put into practice in the organization. In a nut shell, what encourages people to change behavior?The most impressive stat to me was how much 'peer support' improved these efforts.

Align Learning with the Work Environment

2009-03-26T10:49:00.005-07:00

The fact is your work environment IS your learning environment. Live with it.You can't separate the two and, quite frankly, don't want to. Creating artificial environments dilutes learning and keeps it from sticking. As an extreme, think about the whole 'Ropes Course' thing.Hey, don't get me wrong, these events are a ton of fun. I've groped around blindfolded, fallen backwards into the arms of

My New Mantra is...

2009-03-16T08:34:00.014-07:00

'All Learning is Personal'I've said this at least 100 times this past week. To myself, clients, prospects, my wife, my niece, friends, the mailman...basically anyone who'll listen to me for 10 seconds.I'm convinced this simple phrase needs to be the guiding principle of all training and development activities and technology decisions.What makes for effective learning? Motivation, leveraging

Natural Foods Store Uses ‘Organic’ Training Approach

2009-02-25T05:43:00.006-08:00

Whenever I’m in Portland, Oregon, my favorite place to shop is a natural foods chain called New Seasons Market. The produce is fresh. The selection is great. But what really sets them apart from every other grocery store is their top-notch customer service. At New Seasons, there’s always an employee nearby to cheerfully answer a question or help me find an item, whether they’re behind the

Quick Response from Saba

2009-02-16T12:41:00.007-08:00

Thanks to Bobby Yardani, AG Lambert and Alice Hawkins at Saba (CEO, VP Marketing and Sr. Dir. Customer Loyalty respectively) for calling or emailing me on Friday about my troubles connecting to their webcast. Great response. And AG included a link to the webcast I missed. Looking forward to seeing that later today.Nice to see a company take a customer's bad experience so seriously. Check them out

Eat Your Own Dog Food Saba

2009-02-12T10:08:00.008-08:00

If you're going to promote the ease, efficiency and effectiveness of training and learning through webcasts, webinars and other on-line methods, THEN MAKE THE PROCESS OF ACTUALLY LEARNING ON-LINE EASY, EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE!!I signed up for an event with Saba and the process is clearly centered around their Marketing and Sales data collection efforts, not my learning. I tried logging in and got

The Lean CLO doesn't waste people's 'MO'

2009-02-05T07:34:00.008-08:00

Great article by Bob Mosher, 'Do We Make Learning Easier or Harder?' in the January edition of Chief Learning Officer magazine.He writes about how learning assets reside in pockets around companies and are largely unknown to the entire community of learners. This causes redundancy as people recreate assets and wastes time as people try to find the right asset to help them.This is an excellent

NOW THAT'S TRAINING!

2009-01-15T18:57:00.007-08:00

Capt C.B. "Sully" Sullenberger clearly is "a seriously good aviator", but let's not forget that pilots undergo some serious training, certifications and drilling in the air and on simulators. And for just the situation that Capt Sullenberger and his crew faced today when they ditched their Airbus 320 in the Hudson River. Everyone survived.Most employees aren't flying aircraft, transplanting

At MIT, Large Lectures Going the Way of the Blackboard

2009-01-13T16:17:00.003-08:00

Thanks to Chris Hoffmann for sending me this NYT article about TEAL or technology-enhanced active learning at MIT. Exciting process and results, but the price tag...yikes! Not affordable by most schools. And, one wonders, how much of even this improved process is still waste?

Learn in the New Year!

2009-01-06T05:37:00.005-08:00

Happy 2009 Everyone! After a relaxing holiday I'm back at it.There's going to be A LOT to learn in the New Year. New regulations for the financial industry. New technologies for green energy. New procedures to deal with budget shortfalls. I look into your future and see lots and lots and lots of meetings. In that vein, here's some advice from Smooth Harold in Orem, UT on making this year's get

North Pole Knowledge Transfer Goes LEAN!

2008-12-19T09:44:00.010-08:00

Dear Maverick Pals, Santa here. Todd is busy with year-end things and asked me to write this post for him. Normally, I’d say “are you kidding?” but things are running so smoothly at the North Pole I actually have some free time. Why is it going so well? It’s simple. This year we retooled how we transfer and share knowledge and expertise.Back in the days of wooden trains and dolls, it was easy.

A Pound of Training Please

2008-12-15T13:33:00.009-08:00

Tamara Greenleaf, our VP Marketing, came into the office today exclaiming "You won't believe the on-boarding nightmare that happened at the grocery store yesterday!"She went to the deli counter where the manager took her order for a half-pound of sliced turkey, turned to an obvious new employee and proceeded to explain how to process it, in lengthy detail. When the manager turned back to her, she

Power Tool or Cool Toy?

2008-12-04T10:52:00.010-08:00

As the creator of LEAN knowledge transfer, and as someone who helps companies decide what new learning technologies to adopt, I have a simple litmus test whenever someone shows me the latest and greatest training technology: Do the money, time and resources required actually deliver significant measurable improvements in business performance?In short, is it a power tool? Or a cool toy?Last night

A Great Thanksgiving Email

2008-12-01T09:05:00.021-08:00

A recent email I received (lightly edited to protect the innocent)... Todd, you've ruined me. I just sat through a class and all I could think about (thanks to you!) was how totally ineffective it was.The PowerPoint slides were worthless. The information could have been covered in less than 5 minutes, but really wasn't worth covering at all. An e-learning session would've at least been

Enjoy my latest 'LEAN Learning' Podcast

2008-11-10T12:10:00.007-08:00

The podcast from my latest talk in Chicago is up on our website. Check it out at LEAN Learning Podcast. Or go to our Maverick Institute homepage, follow the 'Resources' link in the header bar and scroll down to 'Podcasts'. It's right there. ENJOY! (and pass it on to a friend or colleague).

Generating Action in 140 Characters or Less

2008-11-10T08:35:00.009-08:00

Barack Obama can leverage the millions of people he enrolled during his campaign through continued text messaging.Before the election, his messages were about fund raising, the debates, staying focused, being hopeful, etc. As president, he can use this technology to keep citizens informed and involved on issues like energy, healthcare, climate change and national security.For example, sign up

5 Points on Tackling Today's Economy

2008-11-07T07:59:00.005-08:00

Tom Peters knows a little about business. He spoke Tuesday at the Fortune Magazine Growth Summit with many remarks about today's economy. His main points:Across the board spending cuts are stupid.This is not the time to cut training or advertising.This is the time to invest in your people.This is the time for internal excellence.Cut capital expenses by 20% and put that money into people.In

Social Media and Healthcare

2008-11-03T06:53:00.003-08:00

Nice article in the NYT Tech section on how social media are being used to bring together people with similar diseases or conditions.Social Networking for PatientsDefinitely not perfect by any means, but my adage in life is "Fall forward."

3 Ways to Make 'Lunch & Learn' Sessions Really Work

2008-10-23T08:16:00.011-07:00

Yep, times are lean these days. But that's no excuse to curtail learning at your company.Here's a great way to do no-cost learning that doesn't take employees away from their jobs: Implement a Lunch 'N Learn series.Having your experienced and talented employees run informal learning sessions over lunch is a great way to generate interest, dare I say even excitement. And, even better, you've

eLearning Can't Build Commitment

2008-10-14T06:20:00.014-07:00

A recent LinkedIn question about ethics training got me thinking about the real purpose of this instruction and how best to deliver it.The question's answers focused on using computer-based systems that required learners to choose between decisions given a scenario. And there was talk about minimum acceptable passing scores, annual refreshers and LMS tracking.First off, how can someone who scores

4 Tips to Avoid The Axe in Training

2008-10-10T08:15:00.011-07:00

The economic meltdown has the cost-cutting axe sharpened and out at most companies these days. And Training's turn on the chopping block comes right after 'Travel'. Pleas of "We need this." or "There's never a good time to do this." rarely spare programs, even important ones.Here are four ways to get necessary training off the hit list.1. Solve A Real Problem - Tie your training programs to

Love The Way You Pillage. Want a Job?

2008-09-29T20:39:00.013-07:00

A friend's 20something son recently got a job with a company that tests video games. His interview? Raiding a village in World of Warcraft. Unbeknownst to him, his future hiring manager and he played together and after several raids the guy was so impressed with his skills he offered him the job.MMORPGs ('massive multiplayer online role playing games' believe it or not) are starting to seep into

High-Impact Mentoring

2008-09-29T16:04:00.012-07:00

Today's companies don't have a dollar or a nanosecond to waste on ineffective, so-so knowledge transfer. Mentoring is one of the most important knowledge transfer activities you can do (especially when the economy and money are getting tight), so make sure you know the difference between how traditional mentoring programs are typically run versus how high-impact mentoring are

Learning to "Live" Regulated Banking

2008-09-22T09:38:00.010-07:00

As part of the unbelievable reshuffling on Wall Street, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley will become bank holding companies subject to stricter regulation. Far from the high-flying days as an independent investment bank, their employees will have to learn and adhere to federal regulations and requirements. The microscope is going to be on every Wall Street firm for the next 2 years and breaking

Check out New Maverick Content!

2008-09-15T15:55:00.004-07:00

Today we revamped the Maverick Institute web site with even more exciting knowledge transfer content. Check it out! Note: if the site looks the same to you, be sure to hit your browser's "refresh" button. Let us know what you think.

US Oilfield Deaths Rise Sharply

2008-09-11T09:42:00.006-07:00

Sad news in the paper today...US Oilfield Deaths Rise Sharply. With the boom in oil prices, and high pay for oil jobs, more and more inexperienced workers are entering the field. "A lot of the rig crews are made up of people who were working at WalMart yesterday. Literally." And many of these new folks speak English as a second language.Even with mandatory training programs and regulation, the

Novel Documentation

2008-09-03T08:14:00.008-07:00

Hats off to Google for taking a creative approach to explaining how their new browser, Chrome, was developed and works. A comic book.Hey, half the knowledge transfer battle is building receptivity. And, if you're a reader (and that's a big IF btw), a comic-style approach may be just the thing for you.Of course, this approach works because it's novel. If everything were done this way, then big

Show Me The Money?

2008-08-19T08:52:00.008-07:00

At a recent 'Knowledge Revolution' brown bag luncheon, someone asked me if companies should pay their mentors extra for performing this work. The short answer is "ABSOLUTELY NOT!"You want to create cultures where people freely and enthusiastically share what they know and take a personal interest in seeing people learn and apply that knowledge. Paying people to do this creates a hoarding

Designing Software with Hammer and Nails?

2008-08-18T08:25:00.013-07:00

Thanks to Mike Butts for passing along this article from the NYT today...Digital Designers Rediscover Their Hands.The premise, in short, is that 'getting your hands dirty' influences and expands your abilities even in abstract areas like digital design and software creation. So big companies like Adobe and Intel are putting their employees through workshops where they create "wacky motion things"

Ready to Learn?

2008-08-07T13:07:00.013-07:00

You're reading this because you want to. So, I have a very good chance of getting my point across. If your boss told you to read this by the end of the day and didn't tell you why, you'd be a lot less receptive. And that's my point.Receptivity is a key to learning and retention. We're spammed with information daily. Hourly. No wait! By the minute. And most of the time we're not ready to deal with

Globalization Lurches, but KT Needs Keep On Truckin'

2008-08-03T19:16:00.006-07:00

Rising energy costs, particularly oil, are starting to impact globalization. Companies are scurrying to find cheaper, i.e., closer, suppliers at least as regards transportation costs. Read the full story in the NYT atShipping Costs Start to Crimp Globalization. Here's a cool pic I found of a container ship. Now, that's trouble!No matter where companies go... from the US to China, from China to

Semantics Ain't Gonna Solve This Problem

2008-07-25T13:51:00.005-07:00

I just had lunch with a friend and she was telling me how the Documentation Dept where she works is trying to get people to describe processes with the same clear language..."screw the plate down", not "attach plate using screws"...in an effort to improve manufacturing quality performance.This is a fool's errand. Getting people to be consistent this way is going to require Herculean efforts. BUT

Time for a Learning Revolution!

2008-07-10T10:56:00.004-07:00

Okay. Sit down. Because I'm about to tell you something that sounds crazy.Here it is: Knowledge transfer today is like building Chevrolets 20 years ago.In 1988 I worked at a GM assembly plant. The "car math" back then was this: If you wanted to get 100 good cars to market, you had to--first--build the 100 cars.Forty of these cars didn't work when they rolled off the line, so dozens of mechanics

Could You Pass Your Sophomore Chemistry Final Today?

2008-07-09T10:54:00.003-07:00

Not a chance!We have the wrong perspective on learning...that it's all about pushing knowledge into somebody. Like we can actually physically insert it into their brains.And why not given how we were all taught? Sit down, shut up and listen for the most part. K - 12 was a very potent experience that we repeat despite its ineffectiveness.Learning should be mostly 'pull' not "push." And to do that