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Andrea Williams is senior vice president and controller at Perdue.

Andrea Williams | Senior vice president and controller at Perdue

Andrea Williams is the director of the health sector portfolio for the Center for Creative Leadership’s Societal Advancement Group. She also is a faculty members, designing and delivering transformational leadership development programs for clients around the globe. Andi has led work in public health, both in academic and nonprofit settings, for 25 years.

Andrea Williams

July 2019 - TD Magazine

Skill Set Refresh

Recharge Your Rituals, Recharge Yourself

Clark Aldrich, in his insightful blog several months ago, said "As I work with organizations in developing e-learning, I am increasingly aware of dead elephants in the room, large reference points that we have to avoid because we can't wrap our minds around them." He then went on to give several examples, where we talk about one thing (the traditional approaches and methods), and do not bring up the related Dead Elephants of e-learning (the new, innovative tools and techniques). Clark ended his post by asking readers "What are some other dead elephants?"In the 10 comments that followed, Godfrey Parkin touched upon what I think is not only a dead elephant, but the huge rotting carcass of a Wooly Mammoth. He said "One very large elephant that nobody wants to talk about is the increasing marginalization (and ultimate demise) of centralized training, and its implications for training departments as we have known them."That was the point of the Snake Oil post. Back then, when it was first published, it was a wake up call for those of us who worked in corporate training departments. Back then, a lot of people paid attention and responded.As I understood the post, the purpose was to start a dialogue, to try and build a business case and discover a migration path from what Sam called "Snake Oil" - training that had been proven NOT to work - to new approaches that DO work (e.g. affective and cognitive learning, mentoring, collaboration, database-driven embedded and portable WIFI 'performance' systems, etc.). In Sam's words, it was an opportunity for us to be " rated on whether you save or make money (or both) for the company."Two years later, after the alarm was sounded, it seems as if many of us have not only gone back to sleep, we're disappearing.People left inside corporate training organizations are still selling Snake Oil. To quote a friend of mine, "This is professional suicide." The new (now old in PC years) learning and knowledge transfer methods that the Snake Oil post listed are still not being discussed or widely adopted.The reason I thought the Snake Oil post was so important - I remember forwarding it to almost everyone on my email contact list - was that it was a chance to bring the Dead Elephants to life and have them enter the room. By doing so, I thought we could move away from the old Snake Oil approach, and begin to employ and incorporate the more readily measurable methods and tools into our work. The net result would have been several years of providing corporate education that would have had a more visible impact upon performance and profitability.Because we did not take the Snake Oil post either to heart or to work, that window of opportunity is lost. And the consequences are apparent.I recently read some research about our industry by Ambient Insights that shows that we - corporate trainers - are gradually going away. We are moving from inside the corporation, where we might have had a tremendously valuable impact, especially in the Knowledge Economy, to the outside. In 2004, there were about 75,000 corporate training professionals in this country. The trends towards off-shoring, outsourcing, downsizing and capsizing indicate that by 2008 there will be about 45,000 of us left.Most of us will be working for companies outside the corporation. As an outside vendor, our influence and impact upon corporate decision making, with regard to education and training, will be minimized. And if the trend continues, and we cannot break away from using Snake Oil, more than 75-80% of us by 2011 will be looking in from the outside, as we develop and deliver corporate training programs .The upshot of all this is that 6 years from now, by 2012, only 20,000 of us (or less) will be working inside companies as part of a training department. As Godfrey Parkin said, we will be even more marginalized, our ideas for innovation and new approaches even more discounted, and our primary role will be as project managers of outsourced contracts. The majority of us will work for outside companies as low paid and/or contract workers. And becasue there will still be money in Snake Oil, that's probably what they will sell.I had high hopes, when the original post was first published, that we could change direction. I knew that we were NOT on the right path every time I bent over backwards, using some clever new system, to try and prove an ROI for a training program. I was looking forward to a new and exciting dialogue about the different role we could play. I was envisioning a more rapid adoption of the innovative methods of learning that were surfacing as part of the Digital Revolution.I had even hoped we could broaden our scope to learn what was going on outside the workplace, look at what was being done in the government, the military, Grades K to 12, and post-secondary schools. My goal back then was to reverse the trends, move away from just being 'the training department', jettison the canned Snake Oil approach, and move onto a better track that could help us become more valuable and valued by our companies.And so, two years later, the infamous Snake Oil blog is posted once again. I still believe, despite the trends, that it's not too late, that those of us inside the company can still change what we are proposing and doing, get away from what measurably does no good (Snake Oil), to what works better if not best. I look forward to 'walking the talk', using the newer and more collaborative technology of the wiki, to discuss the possibilities posited by the Snake Oil blog. As Andrew Williams wrote in his response, perhaps the original post can still be viewed as "an inflection point" in the history of this industry.

E-Learning: Back to the Future

ATD developed the talent development framework and puzzle to help practitioners understand the different components of talent development, and how organizations can build their own frameworks to address their unique needs. This blog series explores each component of the talent development framework, why it’s important to the field, and what resources ATD offers to practitioners who want to learn more.Employee EngagementEmployee engagement is a critically important topic for talent development professionals. Gallup’s engagement survey shows that only 13 percent of global employees are engaged. This leaves 87 percent unengaged, indifferent, or actively disengaged. Statistics like this are alarming, especially when considering that employee engagement may determine the eventual success of a company. Gallup’s research shows employees who are actively engaged bring more discretionary effort to their work and contribute more in terms of innovation and growth. A culture of engaged employees may result in lower turnover, fewer safety incidents, lower absenteeism, and higher productivity, to name a few benefits. ATD’s research for the talent development framework shows that employee engagement is a core component for talent development efforts in many companies. Employee engagement grows when there’s one objective in mind: to put the employee first. Employees who are treated with respect and loyalty feel valued by the organization. Understanding the top five barriers to engagement is beneficial for talent development professionals. According to Andrew Graham of Forum Corporation, unappreciative or unhelpful management is the single most demotivating factor in the workplace. When employee engagement is a known strategic goal for the company, working toward it becomes a daily objective. Engagement first comes by acknowledging basic needs such as belonging, enjoyment, and recognition, and then overcoming them through education, balance, and demonstration. Investing in employee engagement and talent development practices may have a more cost-effective and meaningful result than new compensation and benefit plans, according to an ATD study. We’ve assembled some additional resources to explore:• Learn why employee engagement is so essential to your organization. • Take the first step in creating a world-class and engaged workforce.• Take the steps to overcome barriers to employee engagement. • Calculate the return on investment for your employee engagement program.• Evaluate your employee engagement strategy.• Measuring the Success of Employee Engagement by Patti P. Phillips, Jack J. Phillips, and Rebecca Ray• The Manager's Employee Engagement Toolbox by Peter Garber• Coaching Employee Engagement Training by Peter Garber• Motivating Employees in the Digital Age by Sharlyn J. Lauby• Creating Engaged Employees by William J. Rothwell• For more information on training delivery and other major components of talent development, check out the ASTD Handbook, 2nd Edition (Now TDBoK™ Guide, second edition).

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