In the last half of the 20th century in Canada it was mostly assumed that as an adult you had a driver’s license and that you most likely owned or had access to a car. I know, I didn’t get my license until I was 26 and that made me a very rare specimen indeed. Our cities, and especially our rural areas, are still primarily designed for motor vehicles. Malls continue to be built without designated pedestrian paths or bicycle lanes. Meanwhile, many older malls are abandoned and crumbling. Around here, it’s still assumed that everyone moves around by automobile.
enough training
In a recent CBC News story, a railway conductor lost her job following a derailment. She claimed she was not adequately trained. Here is a comment from the Railway Association representative:
“In your job, you are qualified and do your job, but you feel you should know more. It doesn’t mean you are not qualified for your job. You might have a personal perception, that you would need additional training, but the minimum standards for your position are determined by the railways.”
leadership is a continuous duty
I had a conversation with a flight attendant on a long overnight trip last year. Most of the passengers were sleeping and we had time for a nice chat. We swapped a few stories. I’m always interested in how organizations are viewed by the people nearer the bottom than the top of the hierarchical pyramid. You can learn a lot about the culture.
the machines and us
Every fortnight I collate some of the observations and insights that were shared on social media. I call these Friday’s Finds.
@EskoKilpi – “Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment, and the Industrial Revolution were about sharing new ideas within networks of people”
@RDBinns – “The RSS reader is an antidote to the algorithmic feed of facebook, the impossible tide of twitter, and news site editorial filters.”
@IndyJohar – “We are busy maintaining 17th C enlightenment notions of freedom in world where we have become slaves to the asymmetric power of networks“
work is personal
I think I have always been averse to hierarchies, yet I joined the Army and entered the most hierarchical organization in the country. I graduated from military college and began my career as an infantry officer. Career progression was through promotion, based on yearly performance reviews.
It was supposed to be a meritocracy but was much more tribal. Having a senior officer looking after your career was a great help. I did not have that. I also bored easily and it was the Cold War with us fighting fictional Soviet troops on the Canadian prairies. So I decided to leave the infantry and transfer to the medical services, where I thought I would do more practical work.
from training to social learning
This video provides an overview of my six-week online social learning workshop. It is focused on moving from training, to performance improvement, to social learning.
L&D outside the box
This article appeared in Inside Learning Technologies & Skills Magazine, January 2015
Harold Jarche issues a challenge to L&D professionals in an environment where getting the work done is more important than learning anything new.
In the mid 1990s I became involved with my most expensive learning project. I was then serving as a Training Development Officer with the Canadian Armed Forces, working in tactical aviation (helicopters that support the Army). We had just purchased 100 helicopters. A $25M full-motion combat simulator had been thrown in with the $1B budget.
I was able to watch as the new simulator was installed at our training unit, as my office was next to it. As it was tested, discussions began on how best it could be used. As the ‘training guy’ I started researching best practices in flight simulation, and was able to see what our NATO allies were doing.
every medium
Wirearchy is “a dynamic two-way flow of power and authority, based on knowledge, trust, credibility and a focus on results, enabled by interconnected people and technology”. It is a medium for organizing how people work together. Wirearchy is a new way to work. Viewing wirearchy through the tetradic laws of media might give some clarity on what it can be, and what we need to beware of.
friday’s beans and noses
Every fortnight I collate some of the observations and insights that were shared on social media. I call these Friday’s Finds.
The idea is blindingly simple, actually. Every so often, you’ll run into someone with beans who has, for no good reason, decided to put them up their own nose. Way up there. In a place where beans should not go.
Now, there is no logical explanation for this. There is no way to say, “Yes, I can see exactly why you’d want to do that.” They came to this decision all on their own. The way they got to this decision defies logic.
Yet, here they are. Waiting for the moment when the bean goes up the nose.
play the long game
Platform capitalism is the ability of a common internet exchange medium to enable easy commercial transactions. Buyers of services get convenience, while sellers get a larger market. The spoils go to the owner of the platform, receiving a percentage of revenues. Most of these platforms are created when regulations and oligopolies make these transactions difficult by traditional means. Platform capitalism initially disrupts a sector that is poorly served.