Training and development: Technology means wisdom is shared on demand

FT.com

November 6, 2013 12:01 am



By Jane Bird


Decision support: helping ambulance staff with triage in an emergency is one application for on-demand learning

How many people does it take to give a lecture? It used to be one, the speaker, but with the arrival of social networks, lectures have become multi-dimensional experiences in which the audience, as well as listening, are simultaneously tweeting, sending texts and looking things up on the internet.

Their behaviour might seem rude but it means they are getting more out of the occasion, says Tamsin Treasure-Jones, senior strategist of technology-enhanced learning at Leeds University. “They are participating in discussions on Twitter, making comments in 140-character phrases and sending links to resources they had created earlier.”
Although you cannot say much in a tweet, it means there is lots of turn-taking, so one person does not dominate the discussion, Ms Treasure-Jones says. She is studying the process as part of Learning Layers, an EU-funded research project investigating how technology can support informal learning in the workplace.

When organisations are under cost pressures, training and development are among the first activities to get squeezed. Small and medium-sized businesses particularly struggle to release staff to attend courses.

Enabling people to share knowledge is one way technology can help. “This doesn’t necessarily need a tutor to have created a learning package,” says Ms Treasure-Jones. “It’s more about who’s around you. At present, we tend to ask people nearby, but an online professional network can help get more diverse expert opinion.”

Some people have rich, supportive professional networks, but others do not know where to start, says Ms Treasure-Jones. “We are looking at how to use technology to help fill in the gaps in their knowledge without overloading them.”

A lot of information is shared by email, but this is not very effective, says Ms Treasure-Jones. People use it too often, so that recipients are constantly fielding email rather than focusing on what matters.

“Technology can support professional development by connecting people in discussions to share knowledge and resources. But not everyone has these skills and sometimes technology makes it worse,” she says.

David Mallon, vice-president of research at US-based Bersin by Deloitte, an HR and talent management consultancy, says video can help share knowledge and is growing fast, because the barriers to entry are so low. “It is easy to create high-quality video. You don’t need a high-class camera,” he says.

He adds: “Software companies such as SuccessFactors are embedding technology in their learning management systems that lets employees capture video with smartphones and create an ever growing library of good examples.”

Sales departments have been quick to seize the opportunity, says Mr Mallon. “It’s very hard for sales managers to coach trainees, because they don’t see them visiting the customer. But with video they can create content or demonstrate how they want it done.” Similarly, restaurant managers can show staff how to welcome customers or talk about new items on the menu.

A big problem with conventional training is that people easily forget what they have learnt unless they can quickly put it into practice. Technology can help by delivering training on the job.

Managers want their training five minutes before they have to hold a difficult conversation with a member of staff, or in the car park before they see an awkward client, says Stephen Walsh, a director at Kineo, a UK-based elearning company.

Mr Mallon agrees: “One of the most exciting developments has been the change from training being something that happens away from the workplace to being available at the moment it is needed.”

In healthcare, this on-demand learning can be used for decision support, for example, helping ambulance staff with triage in an emergency. In manufacturing, it can be used to show machine operators how to work equipment before it is activated.

Mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets are increasingly being used to provide training when and where it is needed, says Mr Walsh. “People use their mobile devices for email and accessing their organisation’s intranet, so they expect learning there too.”

Researchers are experimenting with showing people how to use equipment in real time by projecting images on to head-mounted displays. “An aircraft technician might have a diagram for the engine to see how to take it apart,” Mr Mallon says.

Training on mobile devices also enables people to use “dead” time on trains, between meetings, in airports. Such courses can be in small bite-sized chunks, of perhaps 15 minutes.

Another technology being applied to learning and development is data analytics. It can flag up potential problems with an individual’s performance and forecast whether somebody will make a good plant manager or supervisor, says Mr Mallon.

It can even predict what a factory’s safety record would be like if a particular person were in charge, and suggest what training would help. Such assessments should not be taken too literally, but they can help identify who needs training, especially for new recruits, says Mr Mallon, if less so at the leadership level.

Clare Roberts, HR expert at PA Consulting, says that for leaders, personal coaching and mentoring is more useful than technology.

Human coaches help you think, ask you questions, and listen to what you say, Ms Roberts says. “It’s very personal, I don’t see how it could be done by technology.”