Best Buy, a renown electronics retailer perhaps better known for its khaki pants and blue shirt dress code, could be viewed analagously with that of an evolved corporate learning structure.
Imagine that you're at one of their corporate stores. What do you see when you enter the store?
There she/he is, the greeter: "Hello sir, how are you today?"
As you pass the greeter in this vivid, brightly lit and humming environment there are a number of learning sherpas ... the guides on the side not pestering you to buy something, rather, able and available when you require assistance. There are no commissions at Best Buy to make a sale. Employees are there, quite literally, to help you as necessary.
Sure, it's a formal environment with walls, electricity and so on, but it is not a dogmatic, force-fed curriculum. Those learning sherpas do not prescribe the pedagogy. They guide your meandering requirements, your personal learning environment wishes, your own path on an as-needed basis.
In the corporate learning space, why can't our formal learning requirements (and there will always be formal learning requirements) be more like the Best Buy store? Why can't it be simple, open, flexible and built on user choice?
Now, picture yourself at an airport, scurrying down the powered walkways to make it on time to your gate. If you're at Charles de Gaulle airport, start praying. Those walkways are debatable at best.
Peer to the right, against the wall. What do you see?
That's right, it's a Best Buy Express kiosk. It's at this kiosk where you can purchase and thus pick up electronics at your convenience. Of course the selection is refined from that of the big blue shirt nation stores, but aren't these bite-sized chunks made available in a convenient format for times when you need it most? For example, at an airport?
Why doesn't the corporate learning sector think like this? Why can't it introduce the concept of bite-sized learning chunks? Why can't it grasp the notion that we all would like to learn at the speed of need? Couldn't it introduce a concept like Best Buy Express kiosks (metaphorically of course) into the corporate learning space? Isn't this a nice informal option?
Our last example, as you might suspect, has us venturing over to BestBuy.com.
It's at this site where I can peruse the entire catalogue of Best Buy products, but I'm able to do so at my own pace, at my own interest level, and in whatever order I choose. Even more important is that I now can utilize knowledge and expertise from my colleagues (in this case, the Best Buy crowd) to gauge whether they like the product through comments and rankings.
Want more?
Through the magic of repeat shopping and business intelligence within BestBuy.com, you are provided with recommendations on products you might be interested to purchase. Bought that 80 inch SHARP TV last week? Sweet screen, but did you forget the HDMI cable to connect your Blu-Ray player to the fancy new monster TV that your neighbours are already complaining about? Don't worry, the site will advise you on this important component. The next time you're online at the site, it might recommend a new sound system to accompany your massive LED light factory where those same neighbours have now lodged a formal complaint at City Hall.
The site is an example of social learning. Thus, why aren't more corporate learning functions taking charge of their own fate by employing this type of social learning strategy? It boggles my mind to be honest. There are too many goalies in the corporate learning space. There need to be more center forwards trying to score goals.
In summary, if you were to think about Best Buy and compare its physical stores, its kiosks and its website to the corporate learning function, you might agree with me. It's time for everyone in the learning space to start wearing khaki pants and blue shirts and echo the formal, informal and social construct of Best Buy.
Perhaps it's simply another way of looking at the Connected Learning model.
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We are so proud to have had you at our event. Your talk was a big hit. It moved us. We can’t thank you enough.
Malin Björnell, Salesforce
Dan challenged us to have clarity of purpose, both as individuals and as an organization. He related inspiring stories drawing on his experience in business, technology and academia. As he said, ‘There is no ownership without belonging.’
Christian Pantel, D2L
Fantastic engaging talk for our global partner summit. Thank you so much, Dan!
Barb Kinnard, CEO Response Biomedical Corp
Dan not only brought his presentation to life with his charisma, but also content, style and presentation finesse. Our members were especially interested in his thought provoking and top of mind topic on the future of work and how we’re going to be leading the next generation of leaders.
Cheryl Goodwin, CPA
Dan is a conference organizer’s ideal speaker. Not only did he inspire and energize our group, but he also masterfully adapted his content so it resonated with the audience and our conference theme. As a bonus, Dan is able to nimbly navigate to adjust to a reduced time slot when other speakers went over time without sacrificing the impact of his session.
Director and General Counsel
Dan accomplished what we set out to do, which was not only to be inspirational, but also to leave everyone with tools and food for thought / self-reflection to improve their personal and professional lives.
Best Buy, a renown electronics retailer perhaps better known for its khaki pants and blue shirt dress code, could be viewed analagously with that of an evolved corporate learning structure.
Imagine that you're at one of their corporate stores. What do you see when you enter the store?
There she/he is, the greeter: "Hello sir, how are you today?"
As you pass the greeter in this vivid, brightly lit and humming environment there are a number of learning sherpas ... the guides on the side not pestering you to buy something, rather, able and available when you require assistance. There are no commissions at Best Buy to make a sale. Employees are there, quite literally, to help you as necessary.
Sure, it's a formal environment with walls, electricity and so on, but it is not a dogmatic, force-fed curriculum. Those learning sherpas do not prescribe the pedagogy. They guide your meandering requirements, your personal learning environment wishes, your own path on an as-needed basis.
In the corporate learning space, why can't our formal learning requirements (and there will always be formal learning requirements) be more like the Best Buy store? Why can't it be simple, open, flexible and built on user choice?
Now, picture yourself at an airport, scurrying down the powered walkways to make it on time to your gate. If you're at Charles de Gaulle airport, start praying. Those walkways are debatable at best.
Peer to the right, against the wall. What do you see?
That's right, it's a Best Buy Express kiosk. It's at this kiosk where you can purchase and thus pick up electronics at your convenience. Of course the selection is refined from that of the big blue shirt nation stores, but aren't these bite-sized chunks made available in a convenient format for times when you need it most? For example, at an airport?
Why doesn't the corporate learning sector think like this? Why can't it introduce the concept of bite-sized learning chunks? Why can't it grasp the notion that we all would like to learn at the speed of need? Couldn't it introduce a concept like Best Buy Express kiosks (metaphorically of course) into the corporate learning space? Isn't this a nice informal option?
Our last example, as you might suspect, has us venturing over to BestBuy.com.
It's at this site where I can peruse the entire catalogue of Best Buy products, but I'm able to do so at my own pace, at my own interest level, and in whatever order I choose. Even more important is that I now can utilize knowledge and expertise from my colleagues (in this case, the Best Buy crowd) to gauge whether they like the product through comments and rankings.
Want more?
Through the magic of repeat shopping and business intelligence within BestBuy.com, you are provided with recommendations 
on products you might be interested to purchase. Bought that 80 inch SHARP TV last week? Sweet screen, but did you forget the HDMI cable to connect your Blu-Ray player to the fancy new monster TV that your neighbours are already complaining about? Don't worry, the site will advise you on this important component. The next time you're online at the site, it might recommend a new sound system to accompany your massive LED light factory where those same neighbours have now lodged a formal complaint at City Hall.
The site is an example of social learning. Thus, why aren't more corporate learning functions taking charge of their own fate by employing this type of social learning strategy? It boggles my mind to be honest. There are too many goalies in the corporate learning space. There need to be more center forwards trying to score goals.
In summary, if you were to think about Best Buy and compare its physical stores, its kiosks and its website to the corporate learning function, you might agree with me. It's time for everyone in the learning space to start wearing khaki pants and blue shirts and echo the formal, informal and social construct of Best Buy.
Perhaps it's simply another way of looking at the Connected Learning model.
