Citation
(2013), "Professor puts case for more productive and affordable learning", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 45 No. 7. https://doi.org/10.1108/ICT.03745gaa.010
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Professor puts case for more productive and affordable learning
Article Type: Notes and news From: Industrial and Commercial Training, Volume 45, Issue 7
Too many people are offered general-learning programs rather than the specific and personalized support they need to be effective in their jobs, according to Professor Colin Coulson-Thomas.
Speaking in Chicago, Illinois, USA, at the 2013 Corporate Learning Summit, he said that corporate learning needs to refocus on helping key work groups to excel by adopting the superior approaches of high-performers.
He criticized many contemporary approaches. “What is being shared is often commodity knowledge that is available to others, he said. “It does not differentiate or represent a source of competitive advantage. It is hard to stand out, innovate and become a market leader by copying everyone else.
Investigations for Colin Coulson-Thomas report, Developing a Corporate Learning Strategy, revealed that many organizations could obtain a higher return on their spending on corporate learning if a different approach were adopted. “There needs to be greater prioritization and focus on quickly delivering tangible improvements to performance and other corporate objectives, he said.
The professors report, Talent Management 2, shows that integrating working and learning and providing job-focused performance support can deliver multiple benefits for individuals, organizations and the environment by working with ones existing people and without requiring a change of corporate culture or structure.
His Transforming Public Services report shows that advantages such as low barriers to entry and cost-effectiveness also apply to the public sector. Performance support can enable people to cope with new requirements and changes of policy and priorities that occur at different stages of a transformation journey.
Colin Coulson-Thomas also led the investigation for the Managing Intellectual Capital to Grow Shareholder Value report. The investigating team looked at 20 areas of intellectual capital. It found that even the best companies were effectively managing only a few of them. Categories of know-how managed are not always the ones offering the biggest potential for additional income.
The report finds: “Training and development inputs are not giving rise to intellectual-capital outputs. Many people draw from the wells of corporate knowledge. Far fewer add to them. Corporate learning should result in the creation of know-how and competitive advantage.
The professor feels that: “[…] some companies could be many times their size if they fully exploited their corporate know-how. Imagine what these companies could achieve if they also properly exploited what their best people knew.
Colin Coulson-Thomas commented: “In short, we need to step up from information and knowledge management to knowledge entrepreneurship. Some 37 possible revenue-generating services using readily available information are listed in his book The Knowledge Entrepreneur.
The professors investigations reveal that many corporate initiatives promise jam tomorrow rather than a measurable contribution to key corporate objectives today. Speed of impact can be vital. Competition is relentless. If todays problems are not addressed, and new windows of opportunity are not quickly seized, a company may not have a tomorrow.
Colin Coulson-Thomas stressed that: “[…] corporate learning needs to reflect current issues, priorities and concerns. In a business environment characterized by innovation, uncertainty and insecurity speed of impact, flexibility and affordability are increasingly important. Performance support can satisfy all these requirements and simultaneously contribute to multiple objectives.
He concluded: “The future of corporate learning is whatever our imagination will allow it to be. The reality can be better than our expectations based upon past experience. There are exciting and cost-effective possibilities. Better performance support can create a better, more affordable and more successful future for organizations and their people.