Could You Be Replaced By an App? – #1: Are You Still Just Designing and Delivering Training?

This week, we introduce our Could You Be Replaced By an App? quick tip series.

The role of training professionals has changed as technology has advanced.

Fifteen years ago, it may have been enough to design or deliver a great training class. If that’s all you do these days, however, you are in danger of being replaced by a smart phone app or other technology marvels that can do the same thing on demand, for little or no money.

What can you, as a training professional, do to protect your organizational role and the future of our industry?

You need to approach your job as if you were a civil engineer. Civil engineers design, construct and maintain access to the natural environment with roads, bridges and buildings. In a similar way, training professionals need to design and build “roads and bridges” into the job environment before, during and after training, and then monitor them regularly. Instructional designers need to do more than design formal classroom or virtual instruction. Trainers need to do more than deliver it.

This Kirkpatrick Quick Tip series will provide practical ideas to extend your influence beyond the classroom and into the work environment. The first step is to make a choice to redesign yourself and/or your L&D function.

Begin by building strategic “bridges” between L&D and line managers, stakeholders and sponsors. Get involved in the on-the-job environment, and initiate conversations about business needs. Speak their language rather than boring them with training jargon. This will begin to move you from being a training order taker to a true strategic business partner. 

Join the Discussion

In what ways have you moved beyond training design and delivery? We’d love to know. Here are some ways to join the conversation:

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Additional Resources

Kirkpatrick Four Levels^® Evaluation Certification Program – Bronze Level

Bringing Business Partnership to Life

Good Is Good, and Bad Is Horrid

Acting as a Learning and Performance Consultant