What does e-Learning have to do with saucepans anyway…

I had a meeting with some Human Resource managers yesterday about how geographically broad companies can induct their staff. I had seen a presentation at a seminar about a new induction sytem one of the banks uses which had some good underlying principles, but staff still had to travel great distances, so uptake was still improving, but still not excellent. So I started thinking about what could be done… then I had a conversation that brought me back to reality.

When I spoke of the possibility of e-Learning, I was met with great enthusiam for “self-paced modules”, made from death-by-powerpoint style slides which are apparently the be-all and end-all of e-Learning. I need not mention that death by PowerPoint doesn’t rate well, but are self-paced modules really appropriate for staff induction? Maybe that depends on the context for some people, so possibly I’ll get disagreement, but for me the answer is a distinct “no”.

What does sitting someone in front of a computer with noone on the other end for the first few hours of their working life with a organisation tell them about that organisation? Probably little about the content, and more about a low priority on people, which is definitely not the case. We are alienating our people! Will reading about our values from a computer (albeit showing video and words) really get people to live our values? Or will they just know what they are and feel a bit fuzzy.

I think the problem with using isolated self-paced individual modules for induction is that there is no interaction or relationship building. There is no opportunity for social or informal learning as you are speaking with a computer that has noone on the other end. Or if you are like me, you may engage in conversation with your monitor. Either way - there’s noone listening out there.

Perhaps a better way would be to divide the induction into transaction and transformational, as this particular bank has done, then determine the most appropriate method to deliver both. Perhaps an area/branch/line manager could deliver transactional training, and the rest could be done using a series of webinars so that employees can interact and connect with each other over a broader geography via a computer.

There are many options both non-techonlgy and technology related I am sure, but the underlying principle surrounds why technology is chosen, if chosen at all. Selecting an e-Learning technology is like choosing a saucepan to cook with - you don’t make a selection based on which is the prettiest, best looking or most personable - you make a selection based on which is most suitable for the task at hand.