Welcome to the second installment of April’s ‘The Voice of HR’ series. Today’s special guest is Jenny Blackwell who is celebrating 20 years of experience in training and development, has lots to say, and a lot of opinions to share. She joins Michelle today to discuss what good looks like in learning and development as well as some common mistakes being made in L&D these days.
Jenny begins by sharing some of her professional background, her perspective on what good looks like between L&D and the business, and the learning necessary to be able to implement effective training. She and Michelle also explore some L&D mistakes, the frustration to be found in the work, the importance of understanding the discovery phase and facilitation, and the hardest parts of L&D. Jenny finishes up by offering a powerful summary of the first steps to take when changing the narrative and direction of a dysfunctional L&D department. With a combined 50 years of HR experience between them, Michelle and Jenny reward listeners with solid gold insight and advice in today’s instructive episode.
The Finer Details of This Episode:
Quotes:
“Sometimes, everybody thinks they’re a trainer, everybody thinks they’re an expert.”
“Being a trainer, being a teacher, is a gift that some people were born with and some people were not.”
“I’ve also seen some rare instances where training becomes punishment.”
“We have an entire labor force that needs to be reskilled, but all we’ve focused on up until now is compliance.”
“You’re going to save the money by me creating your leadership training, but it is probably not going to be the same quality you’re going to get from one of these companies who’s been practicing and developing for decades.”
“I really started understanding the difference between teaching and facilitation, and I think that was a huge pivot point for me in my career.”
“When you don’t give us the time or the money to create those types of learning environments, that’s when we take shortcuts, and you don’t see the performance change that you’re looking for.”
“It’s about that behavior change.”
“We are constantly thinking about what does it take to get people to perform in the right way…you’ve got to let us inside your world if we’re going to do that correctly.”
“I’m not passing judgment on you, I’m just trying to understand how your world works.”
“First and foremost, if you do not digitize or automate those administrative tasks as quickly as possible, I’m unsure that you would be able to free up enough of your time to start working on the things that really matter.”
Show Links:
REL Talent: HR Consulting
