Last week I had a conversation with someone who in the past designed training as their profession. I told this person I had continued posting Fried Training Talk discussions on LinkedIn during the Pandemic (though I had not been posting them on the ATD sites I had been previously).
“Why would you do that? No one cares right now?” was the response.
I disagreed, and even went so far as to suggest that if people were trained properly with accurate procedures when returning to work, it could help the planet move forward a little more safely and a little more kindly.
“When people are dying or in some cases being killed, who cares about instructional design?”
I said, “I do.” At the time I followed that up with, “I’m not sure how many others do?” Looking back I should have said that I know there are a lot of others out there who care too.
I like to think I can be semi-eloquent at times, or at least communicate well, but I felt like I failed in that conversation.
How would you respond to someone who says, “In these days and times, talking about Learning Development/Design doesn’t matter?” or do you agree with my peer that everything else is so much more important we shouldn’t spare focus for this?