Angela's Final Thoughts and Observations

(May 7)

Thought #1: What a Symposium! Several interesting sessions that fostered hallway discussions and exchanges (dare I call that informal learning). Interesting to note that most presenters who were internal to the organization never referred to what they did as ‘training’, but seemed to selectively choose the words ‘learning’ and ‘development’. The word ‘training’ was used by an external consultant. I ascribe no meaning to this publicly, but only mention it as an observation.

Thought #2: What I learned from all this…there are some terrific people doing terrific things for their organizations. I learned a little about informal learning (and obviously have a lot more to figure out in order to make sense of evaluating this elusive creature). One common theme that seemed to recur was the need to establish good and consistent communication with regard to strategy, change management, etc., and this communication and engagement needs to be at all levels of the organization. Everyone needs to be on the same page, talking the same language, moving in the same direction.

Another common theme was the need to link to corporate/business objectives and goals. The subtitle of the Symposium is ‘How to know if your learning is meeting business needs.’ Well, the message was clear that we should be linking to business needs, and we should be mapping/measuring the impact of training to corporate goals – this was the WHAT. What I need to do is link to corporate goals and objectives, and measure. But where’s the HOW? How do I show learning’s distinct and specific contribution to corporate outcomes? Am I talking just about formal learning? How about informal learning’s impact on performance and, ultimately corporate goals?

Ahh – it was a good Symposium. Thank you for letting me share my thoughts, my learnings, my questions. And a respectful expression of gratitude to all the presenters who shared experiences and wisdom with me. Now, where do I get a ticket to Le Cirque du Soleil?

Submitted by: Angela van Barneveld