Monday, February 20, 2017

A Learning Strategy: Changing Workforce Demographics

Organizations tend to plan short term based on cyclical budget demands, year to year strategic plans, and the response to changes in governing regulations and the economic landscape. Typically, its learning strategies are not synchronized with the demographic profile of its learner groups.  This near-sighted approach in developing learning plans does not benefit an organization effectively or its need to have its employees, special interest groups and contractors understand its goals and objectives. Yes…you read correctly, each of these groups is the target of a well-planned learning strategy. Each group of learners within a learning strategy's audience may have unique learning styles, age differences, gender biases and ethnic makeup. The demographic makeup of our workforce is changing and we need to change our learning models to accommodate the changing face of workers.

As a result of the broad impact a learning strategy can have on an organization, learning strategies are and will be increasingly important for organizations as the pace of change and updates in knowledge and technology quicken. Ensuring that an organization can filter down knowledge to each of these groups will have an ever increasing bearing on its fortunes. Organizations, need to consider long term learning planning demands by developing a multi-faceted strategy that responds to different cultural, ethnic, gender and task specific requirements of each unique learning group.  Check out the labour force demographic makeup trend charts below to follow the changing workforce in the United States between 1976 and 2006.  One can only assume that the pace of change has picked up in recent years and is more pronounced in Canada.

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 In Canada, as in most regions around the world today we are experiencing shifts in labour population age, ethnicity and gender. This inevitable shift in cultural norms among our workforce means that knowledge transfer, to be effective, has to consider this in the delivery of knowledge. The United States Department of Labor for example, in its report “Trends and Challenges for Work in the 21st Century” show steady change in workforce makeup. Seniors, women and ethnic workers make up an increasingly larger portion of the workforce. This study has based on trend data captured between 1976 and 2006.



 How does this change long term planning strategies? I think that eLearning strategies must see the bigger picture. eLearning must be integrated into a process that considers different kinds of learning styles unique to each group based on their demographic makeup. I think it’s reasonably obvious that when you are planning learning, you must consider reflecting the nature of the group in the images and voices that are portrayed, but more than that the very nature of learning can sometimes be impacted by the medium.


Some examples of this might include indigenous subject matter. Traditionally, Inuit and First Nations have a history of oral storytelling with a strong influence of imagery. Planning unique learning programs that respects and consider these issues in developing subject matter can be the difference between a successful program and failure. Another example might include delivering knowledge to a work population that is more ethnically oriented. Using images, offering language versions, reflecting the ethnic makeup in your imagery and offering scheduled live support and feedback may make the learning program much more effective.

 It is understandable that this kind of development cycle and the support it demands will affect budgets, but this is why a long term strategy works in an organizations benefit, as costs and planning can be amortized over a longer period as the programs are rolled out. Tracking the effectiveness of these programs and how they can impact the fortunes and bottom line of an organization can help build a case for the additional costs and resources required to develop and implement a long term learning strategy.

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Reality TV Killed Video

This was Reality TV ( back in the day) before slick marketing
created a whole new industry and killed  "good" video  production
Before we get into this …. I have something to share...something that may not be obvious to everyone; reality TV is marketing term developed by the television industry to capitalize on the idea of authenticity.  In “reality” (sorry for the pun), reality TV is the same old TV we have been watching since the invention of television, with slicker production packaging. 

“Reality TV” has been in the pipeline since the 40’s. A couple of supposedly unscripted television show come to mind, how about  Allen Funt's hidden camera show or  Candid Camera shows that were produced in the 40s and 50s., or Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom which aired from 1963 through 1988 with Marlin Perkins.

There are no television shows today that are shot without planning or a production crew in attendance guiding all the action. No one would spend the time and money to allow videotaping by setting up a scenario and allowing us to “just see what happens”. A friend recently told me he watches “Alone’ purportedly a reality TV show that pits man or woman against nature in a totally unscripted format. The show even claims “no television crew is present” in the making of this show. The reality is a cameraman is present not a crew; clever wording to be sure that gulls the viewer into the “willing suspension of disbelief”.

Now, having set up this premise, what does Realty TV have to do with modern video production for web sites, social media, corporate videos and events?  Well, I am glad you asked! Planning is everything, when producing videos. Scripting, storyboards, locations scouts, design, prepared on-camera talent, lighting and most recently a firm grasp of how to use new technology are essential to producing great video whether they are 10 seconds long or 10 minutes. Even someone shooting raw video has to plan, practice and prepare.

Reality TV has added a few tools to the video production tool chest in recent years but it still takes a lot of planning and creativity to allow a planned video to look authentic and un-rehearsed.  Just because you have a camera doesn’t mean you can produce great video.  Customers, especially corporate clients have been increasingly expecting the costs of production to be reduced as the proliferation of cameras and camera technology (such as drones) has increased.

While advances in video technology has reduced the cost of producing video there continues to be a significant cost for experienced , creative talent.  The cost of producing a “corporate” 10 minute video in the 80’s might have reached $ 100,000 using professional crews and talent. Today that same video might only cost $10,000 (but nobody is making 10 minute corporate videos today).  The problem is that organizations are trying to produce shorter videos today for next to nothing. In doing so they are eliminating the very thing that makes videos motivate people to buy their product or create a positive feeling about their brand. Powerful, well thought out video production that leverages creative talent and new technologies still has a cost; unfortunately, finding the right production partner to produce your video with the right blend of creative talent and technology is difficult to figure out when anybody can own a camera or a drone.  


Monday, February 6, 2017

Building an eLearning Strategy

Develop strategies that deal
with contractors, unionized
workers and salaried staff.
Over the past several years, eLearning has gradually been integrated into the knowledge transfer process of industry and government.  Unfortunately, the creation of most eLearning is usually based on a mix of existing internal programs originally developed as print, web and video; or they simply buy an available eLearning program from the open marketplace. Organizations simply take an existing program and, more often than not with some minor alterations, upload the content to an Learning Management System (LMS) with short term planning goals and budgetary restraints. In many cases they spend more time and money on selecting an LMS than they do on the actual content. Understanding how to build responsive and effective content is important when you consider asking employees to do some if not most of their training on personal time.

Additional resources, pre-testing, test quizzes; access to mentoring, cohort knowledge sharing, program feedback and a commitment to link outcomes to performance are all issues that typically are not addressed. These eLearning considerations and learning program strategies affect the learner’s ability to change behaviors or to incorporate knowledge into their practices and planning processes.

To be fair, budgets, union bargaining, lack of long term strategies, lack of experience and unsupported eLearning implementation provide some context for explaining why organizations simply choose the path of least resistance. For example an organization might upload PDFs with text and images; or existing PowerPoint presentations; or even use an interactive web site. There are many solutions out there that can meet "budgeted" learning demands of an organization but getting results requires more serious planning before eLearning content gets produced and implemented, even when content already exists. Don’t get me wrong, content that exists is important and a valuable asset that can be leveraged to reduce overall development costs and support comprehension.

The best way to address these and other considerations in eLearning planning and implementation is to develop a two pronged strategy before you ever consider content. First develop a long term plan (3 years) that seeks to integrate unionized employees (where applicable), contractors, regular hourly employees and salaried staff into the eLearning program incrementally.  Three years to integrate unionized staff is ambitious, when you consider the need to address concerns by their bargaining unit. And second, create incentives in the program to reward performance. This can be measured through peer review and annual performance reviews that track and document the comprehension and application of knowledge in day to day tasks.   These two considerations are challenging to implement, because they require all levels of management and employees or even contractors to be invested in the process.  

Once you have that plan documented and supported, next comes the production of content that is linked to comprehension and changes in behavior. Laying the planning foundation ensures you have the tools to more effectively implement eLearning within your organization.  Without it, we are simply spending a lot of money to provide yet another way for learners to forget or ignore what they have learned.