GUEST EDITOR
Vicki Colman
What comes to mind when you hear the word technology? Depending on where you are on the spectrum of knowledge and adoption, your response may range from digging your heels in to embracing all that it has to offer and looking for more.
Admittedly, I put myself in the heels-dug-in crowd, though certainly open to the possibilities this strange (to me) new world has to offer. Artificial intelligence (AI) is the most foreign, while I am willing to use Microsoft Teams or Zoom (I had used Centra videoconferencing as a new trainer in 2004 after all!).
More recently I have been an early adopter of Microsoft Forms for surveys. Fortunately, I have a few tech-savvy training colleagues to help me.
Let’s explore how we can move along this continuum and see that we are not as early on our journey as we might think.
I talked with Karen Connolly, senior director of commercial training and development at Eisai.
“Understand what you are trying to achieve: Technology itself is not the goal but rather a vehicle to achieve, assess or make more efficient achieving our learning goals,” she told me. “Starting with technology, which can be the new shiny penny that loses steam, is difficult for gaining organizational buy-in, transformation and adoption if it is not aligned to organization and/or learning goals.”
As a huge Simon Sinek fan, I often use this as my true north. Once I had what I wanted to achieve – to create surveys to evaluate the effectiveness of training – I looked for why I should apply new technology.
For cost savings, I was encouraged to use Microsoft Forms rather than a familiar licensed platform. I gave it a shot and found not only that response rates increased, but that it was easier to duplicate and to share results with stakeholders. They even included graphics.
Mercy Indyk from Eisai’s commercial training and development technology team, suggested changing from sending a survey link via email to assigning the survey on Eisai University, our learning management system. The “why” was to house data in one central location.
We gave it a try. At first it did not work as well as we wanted, so we tried again. And it worked! The survey became the final item in the learning plan for them to complete. Results were housed with all the other training data.
Technology can make a difference, including managing data, reporting, adapting the training curriculum, increasing workflow efficiency, improving organizational processes and collaborating within and between teams.
We all seek to meet our learners where they are. They are exposed to automation, AI and machine learning in their everyday lives, just as we are. At the very least our goal should be to keep up with that, if not to set the bar for how to experience and learn from the technology.
Possible peripheral benefits to taking the lead on applying technology can include expanding your footprint within the organization into compliance, organizational development, operations and global training. You might even get some recognition along with winning friends and gaining influence.
Identify an objective aligned to your organization’s goals and use this as a starting point. For example, it could be the need to generate reports that reflect learners’ completion of content.
Already started? Find the next big win for your training and development team to make impact. Take those Excel spreadsheet reports and apply AI using Smartsheet to incorporate graphics and call-outs for stakeholders. This can save you time and can lead to saving money.
Another potential next step is to use AI for my new hire surveys. Forms already incorporates AI when writing the questions; I am going to try using AI to share the results.
Who knows, maybe the next guest editor article will be written using AI.
Vicki Colman is associate director, Alzheimer’s disease & LEQEMBI training, at Eisai. Email Vicki at vicki_colman@eisai.com or connect through linkedin.com/in/vickicolman. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the position or views of Eisai.
