Future-Focused with Christopher Lind

Skills. In the famous words of Inigo Montoya, “I do not think it means what you think it means.” Like many other trendy buzzwords, people often say the same words but mean very different things. Given their significance and the critical role L&D plays, we  must be clear on the definitions, their implications across the talent  spectrum, and the specific impact on our operations. To start the year, I’m hosting an ad-hoc Learning Tech Talks  covering all of the above and more. As we embark on the new year,  there’s no better time to revisit our strategies and ensure they're  aligned with one of the most significant opportunities of our time.

Last week's session just wasn't enough time.   The effort to support folks dealing with a job loss, potential upcoming loss, or even struggling with the overall uncertainty in their current role continues. The first session focused primarily on skill development, staying relevant, and networking as an L&D professional. This week, the focus is on standing out and navigating seemingly impossible and defeating application processes. I'll also highlight some watch-outs that may inadvertently hinder your success. Additionally, I'll share some of what I believe are the best skills you can develop to shine in an interview. While far from a guaranteed playbook for success, I hope people find this two-part Learning Tech Talks mini-series helpful.

I've recently seen and heard from an unfortunate number of folks in my network about the loss, or potential loss, of a job. Even many securely in their positions are questioning their stability and planning for the worst. With global economic uncertainty and many companies attempting to get their bearing, I predict it's a trend we'll see for a while. To help people through this turbulent time, I captured some of the experience I've gleaned over the years and my perspective as an L&D  hiring manager. While there was originally an intended break in content planned, this seemed important enough to supersede the original plan. While far from a guaranteed playbook for success, I hope people find this two-part Learning Tech Talks mini-series helpful. In part one, the focus is on best practices and considerations for  building skills, staying relevant, and networking as an L&D  professional.

“I’m confidently competent in constructing critical core criteria and capable in connecting conditional constraints with care,” said the alliterating learning leader during their annual review. Learning and competency assessment is, well, complicated. The biggest challenge lies within the burden of proof. Streamlining evidence-based assessment at scale is still something L&D often overlooks as a result of its traditional format and application in specific sectors. I predict as we continue to experience a remote work shakedown, we will see more evidence-based assessment tools to validate our roles. In this Learning Tech Talks, I'm hosting Japman Bajaj from Vametric to go deeper into assessment tools and what sort of applications learning leaders can take from them and their potential to shape the future of L&D.

“People who know what they’re talking about don’t need PowerPoint” – Steve Jobs The advent of presentation software brought us out of the dark ages from the classic overhead projector that had been used for decades. Anyone remember those?   However, much like other early digital transformations, it became a blessing and a curse. The ease of use built an overdependency on cut-and-paste creation with little intentionality.    Without continual improvement and progress in software design, will slide decks become the overhead projector of our era?   In this Learning Tech Talks, I'm talking with David Warren from Prezi to explore the past, the present, and the future of presentation software and how to push boundaries that balance usability with cutting-edge technology and advanced capabilities to engage learning in the #futureofwork.

Interactive content is an expectation from users.   Static video won’t cut it in the #futureoflearning. Digital learning has historically relied preponderantly on the logic of passive consumption. The key for learning leaders today is identifying interactive opportunities within the scope of industry parameters and then designing and creating them.    In this Learning Tech Talks, I'm reconnecting with John Hudson and Tiera Ellis from LUMA1 to learn more about their journey with interactive content and how it has influenced their drive to push learning further and faster to help organizations hone their learning strategies and stay on pace in the #futureofwork.

Recommendations are everything.    Good or bad, recommendations fuel the discovery of new ideas,  compound preexisting knowledge, or challenge pre-existing assumptions. Stop and think about your life and how many things have come based on a  recommendation.  When it comes to learning, recommendations are key to building a sustainable learning culture.    With content on the brink of oversaturation, how do we scale recommendations on a personalized level that is effective and transformative to a work culture?   In this Learning Tech Talks, I'm teaming up with up with Phil Purver and Jari Järvelä from Valamis to tackle what a learning ecosystem looks like for the everyday learner and what tools learning leaders can utilize for data-driven learning to recommend success for everyone.

“How did it get so late so soon? It's night before it's afternoon. December is here before it's  June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so  soon?” ~Dr. Suess The conference season is here. The holiday season will be here before you know it. Before you know it, we’ll be stepping into 2023. In our industry, we talk about not being  order takers, but that requires a clear plan before the proverbial  “stuff” hits the fan. There’s no time like the present to wrap our heads around all the lessons we’ve learned over the past few years. Add to that, the technical landscape, while familiar, looks very different than it did even six months ago. In this Learning Tech Talks,  I’ll be flying solo to share reflections, insights, and perspectives while answering questions about the current landscape and what it means for us as developers of talent. At a time when the business, people, and technology lens is all directly focused on the work we do, there’s no better time to capitalize on the opportunity to be a strategic voice at the table.

How do you tell a story? Some of my most formative learning experiences have come from someone else’s story. A story is nothing more than an account of a real person with a real experience. How a story is perceived is rather subjective. Everything from the medium  that a story is shared to the language used to detail an account can influence a learner's understanding of the moral. How do we, as learning leaders, ensure that our stories are shared with consistent understanding? On tomorrow’s Learning Tech Talks, I’m having another conversation with Carl Hodler from StoryTagger to check in on some of the newest features of the platform and explore the insights that can be observed as L&D continues to see a growing trend of user-generated micro-content and what can be expected as the medium continues to progress in ways that have yet to be discovered. 

Does anyone ever wish that they could create change magically? It sure would be a lot easier to put on a sorcerer’s hat to create change and influence with the flick of the wrist and have immediate results. However, if the sorcerer’s apprentice taught us anything, it’s that effective change doesn’t magically happen. Dreams of grandeur can influence our ability to make change a reality. Change happens with wisdom, strategy, and methodical insights. Change takes more than a flick of the wrist. In this Learning Tech Talks, I'm talking with Larry Mohl from Rali about how to effectively create change with technology that is available to leaders and what sort of keys it takes to drive the engine to a common goal throughout an organization.