OLL2002 Gloria Gery

Gloria Gery blows my mind. She looks for all the world like an old-time schoolmarm and yet year after year, she comes up with an inspiring message.

This morning she said “We’ve engineered the supply chain to the fourth decimal. We’ve done the same in re-engineering our processes and customer relationships. Human Capital Management comes next.”

Gloria says that we can’t define eLearning as installing an LMS. We’re not about KM or documents or technology – What’s important is the performer, to be able to name that tune in one note, to perform in exemplary fashion. We have to understand the work that people do. Most of all we have to be able to sit in the learner’s chair, to find out how the work comes at them. For the call center, we shouldn’t model how things should go theoretically. (Gloria’s visited many a call center – and they are reminiscent of a Charlie Chaplin movie’s factory frenzy.) This feel for the context enables us to shift the responsibility for success to the situation.

On a recent visit, Gloria found call center reps who had to deal with a dozen software apps acquired from mergers, a nearly impossible task. They had to construct mental maps of complex processes just to function. We need to put the real truth into our training. We need to understand what really goes on. Courses are necessary but not sufficient. We must have a strategy. Architecture is a part of it. Courses are a part of it. But we must understand people, how they learn, how they collaborate, how inquiry teaches, how we learn from observing models, incremental development of understanding.

“I was born when White Out was a technological innovation. I remember when I first saw word-wrap; everybody came over to take a look. How young are you?” asked Gloria.

In addition to eLearning, think as well of automating the task, teaching, providing content, supporting processes, supporting collaboration.

Why should we have to live with error messages like “File sharing illegal error?” Look at the evolution TurboTax. Simplify, simplify. `

Repetition is the mother of impression.

What are the best strategy and tactics to accelerate performance improvement? Our job is to develop computer-mediated environments that fuse, integrate…

You need to look at examples – they’re on the web. You purpose is to enable performance, not to implement eLearning. If not us, who? We must partner with our business clients and make life better for people who are skilled.

Posted by Jay Cross at September 23, 2002 11:45 PM | TrackBack