How to train for a Half Marathon in a Learning Consultants World!

16:57:00 Learning Boffins 0 Comments


So I am starting Spring with the longest run I have done in 2 years. On April 3rd I will be running Reading Half Marathon and because I thought ‘it would be fun’ I have also entered Vienna Half Marathon the following week (at least that one is in a beautiful Capital city).

But it got me thinking about how I have been getting to this point. I know what I need in terms of my training. I know that it’s likely that I can do the mileage because I am a frequent runner of distances of 6-10 miles, but psychologically in prep for both of these I needed to break that 10 mile barrier so I could settle nerves. Plus I knew that my running gait had shifted and as result was in need of a new pair of trainers, that I run well when I don’t consume too much caffeine and my weakness is hills,. Once I got the new trainers, minimised the caffeine, and scheduled in hill training and run over 10 miles I knew I could relax (a little).
So here I am a few days before the first half and have done all of those areas key training areas and I am now well into the best part of a running programme, I’m sure runners will agree, tapering.

It got me thinking about my approach to this and how this actually relates to learning (sorry but we are consultants!). Understanding my training needs from the beginning and early on allowed me to focus on specifics that suit me to give a better performance rather than just do a general programme. If I had followed a generic programme I would have ‘sheep-dipped’ and would have focused on parts of my running that probably didn’t need to change or wasn’t a weakness of mine. But because early on I understood exactly what I need as an individual to give a better performance I created a bespoke approach to tackling what’s ahead.  
In terms of the learning relationship we know instances when learning has been rolled out without actually understanding what learners will need to improve performance, it is merely just assumed at times. Could you say for each piece of learning rolled out a thorough training needs analysis has been conducted? Sheep-dipping learners can be costly and largely inefficient. Talk to us about training needs analysis in learning if you want to know more. 

And as for me I will let you know whether my TNA for running was accurate or not next week…
Sophie Cannon
Strategic Market Analyst

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Formula 1 Team Principle = Strategic Learning Consultant

14:22:00 Learning Boffins 1 Comments


I was talking with a friend of mine the other day that I have not seen since before Christmas.  It was great to catch up and of particular interest to him was my new job as a Strategic Learning Consultant.  I proceeded to tell him what my role was and who I worked with but I could tell it was falling on deaf ears.  However it was at this moment I had an epiphany relating to how I could help him understand my world.

We both share a love of Formula 1 and already that evening we had engaged in number of conversations relating to the upcoming season.  It dawned on me that my new job was just like that of the Team Principle in an F1 team or alternatively assistant to the Team Principle.  Now for those of you who do not follow F1 I will briefly explain the role played by the Team Principle.  F1 is a team based sport.  However, F1 is unique in the fact that, within a team there are two sub teams, one for each driver.  Each sub team may have 30-40 members that have roles ranging from mechanic, pit stop crew, PR, catering, dieticians, physio therapists, managers, etc.  And this is not including the army of designers and engineers back at the factory.  It is the Team Principles job to manage all these individuals to achieve not only the goals of the broader team but also that of their sub team.  Frankly it’s an extremely difficult job fraught with complexity, politics and the balancing of often rather large egos.  And all this is before you devise and implement a strategy in an attempt to win a race.  Essentially the team principle is balancing a lot of plates.

So the question is how does this relate to what I do?  The balancing of plates is something every Head of L&D must do.  This may be establishing the learning demand for the upcoming year, implementing a new LMS or even organising their curriculum.

The “Learning Consultant” part of my job title relates to my ability to help L&D functions make the best, most informed decisions in relation to all the plates they have in the air.  In many cases this will include understanding the impact that a change will have on the other plates that are still spinning.  An example of this may be providing insight on the benefits of implementing an LMS and then beyond that understanding the types of MI that can be generated as result of using the system.  In the F1 world this would be the same as understanding the effect of putting different tyres on the car may improve the handling of the car.


The “Strategic” in my job title refers to the fact that all consultancy I provide will create L&D transformation that in turn directly delivers against the business goals.  Taking the previous example of an LMS and the MI it can generate.  The strategic bit is how we can ensure that the correct MI data is captured that enables L&D to demonstrate how the training held on the system is supporting business growth and inform future decisions relating to learning.   In a similar fashion putting new tyres on a car can improve handling but may increase the number of pit stops a car needs to make so does this benefit the overall race strategy?

At its most basic I am someone who can see the broader picture and understand that L&D is more than just delivering ‘shiny’ training programmes to the masses.  It’s an understanding that training needs to deliver against business goals as must all the other components that make up an L&D function such as governance, processes, technology, etc.  In essence my job is to help your L&D department run like a well-oiled machine, or even a championship winning F1 team!

Tom Ridley
Strategic Learning Consultant


 

1 comments:

Hold on, let me google this…

09:35:00 Learning Boffins 0 Comments


A human dilemma, I’m trying to stick to a healthy eating regime, but just 2 weeks in it starts getting tough. Wanting a quick fix and dreaming of chocolate/tangtastics/maoam/crème eggs/biscuits it is becoming difficult to think of healthy alternatives. So, naturally as a Gen Y I turn to google. And in front of me I have 12,500,000 different websites that share with me healthy snack ideas.  So luckily (or sadly) post-chocolate sugar crash and carbohydrate overload can be avoided!

This gets me thinking, because this is only one example of me using google to instantly seek information. Just as examples here are a few of my recent searches on Google:


·         Can you eat the skin of a Kiwi? (Yes and there is actually a dedicated Kiwi website).

·         How do I make a rainbow cake? (returns 51,300,000 results – mainly all recipes and ideas)

·         What exactly is meant by ‘hangry’? (Up comes 246,000 results and in case you’re wondering the meaning is – according to the Collins English Dictionary – ‘irritable as a result of feeling hungry’- an emotion I regularly experience).

I really could go on here, but you might be thinking why am I telling you this? What I am trying to say is this, google is just one example, but the internet, youtube, Siri, Cortana, social media (list could go on!) all of these are gateways to knowledge and as a Gen Y having knowledge readily available is second nature and quite frankly I’m not sure how I could be without it. I mean how many times have you heard ‘ooo let me quickly google it to find out’?.
If this is the way that many of us are now learning and acquiring knowledge outside of work, why isn’t it reflected (for so many) within the workplace?  An expectation of many (especially Gen Y and generations that follow) is that learning is on-demand, easy-to-access, available at the point of need it, personal and relevant. So should we be looking at ways to support this??
Continual developments of learning technology that can support social learning it is making itself known and present as a way of learning in the workplace environment.
A recent quote from the Towards Maturity report actually highlights the benefits the support for this type of learning in the workplace can bring: There is an ‘increase in employee engagement of more than 250% from employees who engage in on-the job learning and sharing’. Although this learning shift does require a slight change in Learning and Developments role, so we shift from courses to resources, move from a broker of learning to a guide and not to be forcing content on employees but rather tempt them to engage in content. But are we afraid to make this shift?
It’s a subtle shift and certainly can be effective when supported through technology. I’m certainly not saying that this type of learning should replace all the formal learning that may happen with an organisation, but it certainly is a thought for us to think about borrowing from the concept proactively. So supplement this type learning rather than seeing it as a replacement to what is of existence already, we know it can be done and we know it can deliver organisational benefit and with this way of learning being second nature to so many it’s certainly a concept we should be thinking about implementing, not ignoring!



Sophie Cannon

Strategic Research Analyst


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Strategic Consultancy De-mystified

16:56:00 Learning Boffins 0 Comments

So far this year there has been a strong focus within the consultancy team on focusing our offering and making it clear to people what we can do.  Answering the question of what we can do is made difficult by the fact that we have a team with a broad skill set in which each of us has then specialised within specific areas.  With this in mind it made sense for us to articulate our capabilities in way that matters to our clients and this can be summed up quite simply in the following statement...

"We can help you more clearly understand your goals for L&D.  We can select the capabilities within our team that are best suited to achieving your goals.  And by bringing this together we can bring about real L&D transformation"

And for those visual learners among you, this graphic might be better!


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