Wednesday, February 25, 2009

The future of the training department

A nice article by Harold Jarche and Jay Cross on "the future of the training department". The related slides are available here.


I totally agree with Harold and Jay that the line between learning and knowledge work is blurring and that we do need  a new model for "training". But, I would like to question the necessity of having training departments. I don't think that training departments have a future. I rather believe that training departments can/will be replaced by our personal knowledge networks (PKNs) which, unlike training departments, span across institutional boundaries. Our PKNs can lead us to valuable knowledge needed for self-directed learning. Our PKNs can also help us identify connections, recognize patterns, see the whole picture, learn throughout our life, and thus survive in a rapidly changing world.


In my opinion, management's job - if we still insist to have management - is to help us build and widen our PKN circles to embrace new knowledge nodes that can help us learn/work.

1 comment:

Harold Jarche said...

I agree, the training department, as is, is becoming redundant. Some of the existing skills may still be required by the organization but they don't need to be in a training silo.