D Foster Associates

I wanted to take a few minutes to summarize some notes from last weeks CMASTD & NELA Roadblocks to Learning Technology Seminar. You can read the description on the NELA blog.

The seminar started with Mike Brennan from Knowledge Infusion giving the key-note. He spoke of the K-I “Strategy -> Plan -> Action” Methodology using some of his current clients as examples.

One interesting quote he used was from a Towers Perrin study that said

“92% of reasons for failed projects are ‘soft issues’ – organizations, people, and culture.”

Mike said that delivering value is the universal key factor in driving success. To do this he recommended focusing on:

• Aligning with key organizational initiatives
• Creating “buzz” through internal marketing
• Doing pre-emptive change management by seeding adoption before the launch with key stakeholders or groups

Another key item I wanted to share came during a discussion on ROI and how you can quantify the softer side of internal training initiatives. Mike suggested that a metric he has used successfully is to measure the number of people promoted internally as a measure of training success and succession management effectiveness.

I’ll have some more comments from the panel discussion that I moderated, and I’m working to get Mike’s slides posted on the NELA Blog as well.