Re-ignited! Meme-ing the Innovative World of Learning

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INNOVATION. It’s what this conference is all about. Making innovation happen.

But what if I reminded all of us that innovation doesn’t mean chasing shiny new objects? That instead of innovating by looking ahead, we should be innovating by looking behind us?

Consider this – apprenticeships in the US are on the rise. Is this surprising? The apprenticeship model has been around since the middle ages…with groups or guilds forming around specific industries and trades.

In South Carolina – or maybe it’s the US -- An average of 120 new apprenticeships are created each month, and the number of employers offering registered apprenticeship programs has gone up from 90 to 748 since 2007 – a 731 percent increase.”

In fact this year, Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.) introduced the LEAP Act. The LEAP Act offers employers a new federal tax credit in hopes of expanding apprenticeships in a wide range of fields. So lawmakers are into this idea. We’ve got to fix a broken education system and maybe this will be a part of that, right.

Let’s think about that model. Let’s go back to apprentice, journeyman, master of the 1500s.

I say, we’re not going to party like it’s 1999, we’re going to innovate like it’s 1532.

OK. Now let’s move forward from 1532 a few hundred years to 1940.

In 1940, Chrysler put out a short training video called “HIRED”. Now, it’s no Casablanca, but for what was probably one of the earliest training videos of its time, it’s actually not that bad. It’s a scenario based video.

In HIRED, we meet Mr. Warren, a sales manager for Chrysler. Mr. Warren has a problem – he’s hired a promising new sales guy, who just isn’t getting it. And Mr. Warren doesn’t know why.

Sound familiar?

So Mr. Warren goes to his dad – a retired sales guy with lots of experience and insights to share.

Now, although Mr. Warrens’s dad sits on a front porch wearing a handkerchief on his head to keep the flies away, he’s got some great insights to share with his son

Mr. Warren Senior shares his wisdom in five key points that basically boil down to this: A manager plays a critical role in helping his or her employees do their best work. You need to hire good men, he says, and you need to train them, help them plan their work, stay close to them, and encourage them. Essentially, a manager is a trainer, a coach, a mentor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWIQuvbxu0E
Mr. Warren is a used car sales man and his team is just not performing. In this training video from 1940 for Chevrolet, he talks with his father who shares his wisdom and advice:
•"First — Hire good men and then see they are well trained on their own product and on competitive products."
•"Second — Be sure they have all the equipment and selling helps they need, and know how to use them."
•"Third — Help them plan their work to make the most effective use of their time."
•"Fourth — Stay in close touch with every man. Know what each one is doing. Work with them."
•"Fifth — Keep up their enthusiasm. Encourage every man every day."
Finally he tells viewers that those they hired need the help of their managers.
Hired (1940)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAB_5z5lPDM

So that was 1940. What amazes me is how we’re still having to turn people on to this notion in 2015. Managers still need to be clued into the fact that part of their job is to HELP THEIR EMPLOYEES do their jobs well, that it’s part of their job to be a leader and a coach.

And even more than that, companies need to be clued into the fact that their managers need to be trained in these skills and STAT.

So let’s learn from Mr. Warren’s dad from HIRED.

Let's innovate like it’s 1940 and provide managers with support and tools to help their teams thrive. And unlike 1940, we now have technology that can actually support that process in a meaningful way.

OK. Let’s consider another one….how do you learn au natural? And by that, I mean in the real world? When given a challenge of your own? Do you go out and take a self-paced eLearning course?

Or is it something like this…let’s say your air conditioner in your car is broken.

You start Googling things, you check out some YouTube videos, you read some forums, you buy some parts and stuff at thecar shop, you try…you fail…you try again. And maybe, just maybe, you solve the problem. And some of you might even post some commentary back to one of those forums once your air conditioner is working as it should be – you want to share what worked for you with others who might be struggling with the same thing.

Have you ever done something like this at home when trying to solve a problem? Maybe it was a plumbing problem – or your kid learning how to rainbow loom or even play the ukelele.

I say, let’s innovate like it’s 2015.

What’s old is new again. That’s the innovation I’m seeing.

After a few decades of lousy elearning creating lousy expectations for training programs – and even lousier results – I’m seeing some trends and resurrection in some classic and more natural ways of learning…

What if we don’t equate innovation with chasing after shiny objects and buzzwords? Ooh, eLearning! Ooh, mobile! Ooh, gamification! Ooh, microlearning! Ooh, social learning! Ooh, edutainment! Ooh, Tin Can! Ooh, responsive! Adaptive. Ooh, ooh, ooh.

What if we innovate to a new future by looking back to the past? And we use technology to support what actually works rather than trying to invent new models that don’t?

So here’s our collective challenge.

How can we innovate to build on apprenticeship models here in the US and make that number grow even more?

(According to Wikipedia, 40% of Austrian young adults are in apprenticeship programs – we’re not even close!)

How can we innovate today using tools we may already have and build on those lesson from Mr. Warren’s Dad in Hired! – how can we insert managers back in the process? How can we provide scaffolding and structure – perhaps using technology tools we already have – to support that manager so he or she can support the employee?

How can we innovate to support the kind of learning that happens in the real world – how can we emulate the ways we naturally learn in our LIVES – and build on them and improve them in the workplace?

Innovation happens every day. But let’s make sure it’s not innovation for innovation’s sake. Instead, let’s innovate and actually make a difference. In our case, let’s actually help people do their jobs better; let’s help people LEARN.

REFERENCES:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWIQuvbxu0E
http://99u.com/articles/6932/experience-trumps-theory-reviving-the-apprenticeship-model

Apprenticeships: America’s Best Kept Secret: http://morningconsult.com/opinions/apprenticeships-americas-best-kept-secret/

Re-ignited! Meme-ing the Innovative World of Learning

Cammy Bean

Re-ignited! Meme-ing the Innovative World of Learning