Discuss the future trends that will affect training.

INTRODUCTION The previous ten chapters discussed management, and training's role in contr ous ten chapters discussed training design and delivery, development and career ent, and training's role in contributing to social responsibility through managing diversity and inclusion and helping the multigenerational workforce prepare a fully deal with career challenges. This chapter takes a look at what the future of train- ing and development might look like. The chapter opener highlights how technological advancements will shape where and how we work and learn. Technological advances rep- resent one trend that is likely to influence the future of training and development and your future as a trainer. Table 11.1 shows the future trends discussed in this chapter that will influence training. TABLE 11.1 Future Trends That Will Affect Training Need to contribute to sustainability Use of new technologies for training delivery at instruction Breakthroughs in neuroscience about learning Greater emphasis on speed in design, focus on content Increased emphasis on capturing and sharing intellectual capital and social learning Increased use of just-in-time learning and performance support Increased emphasis on performance analysis, Big Data, and learning for business enhancement Increased use of stakeholder-focused learning, training partnerships, and outsourcing training al Responsibility and the Future without sacrificing the INCR DELT Training for Sustainability Sustainability refers to a company's ability to make a profit without sacrifi see the community, or the environment. A growing number resources of its employees, the community, or the environ companies have made sustainability an important part of their business strate ing and development can contribute to companies' sustainability initiatives h leaming opportunities for employees in organizations in developing countries that resources, providing development experiences for employees in poor and emere nefit the local community, and teaching employers to protect the environme Consider how training at Novartis and Ingersoll Rand is helping these companies reach their sustainability goals. of their business strategy. Train- stainability initiatives by providing companies have my can contribute to comotions in developing countri loping countries that lack the ing and developmies for employees in orices for employees in poor ees in poor and emerging coun- caming opporviding developemunity, and teachi Rand is helping TABL New Techr Adva Will Train Novartis, the pharmaceutical company, is actively involved in improving health in Africa by helping the fight against infectious diseases that have made life expectan in Africa fifteen years less than the global average.' The Novartis Malaria Initiative had delivered more than 500 million free treatments. To support health professionals work with sick children. Novartis worked with the World Health Organization to develon e-learning for managing childhood illnesses. Alcon, the eye division of Novartis, has trained eye care professionals in Sierra Leone. Also, Novartis supports the Regional Psy- chosocial Support Initiative (REPSSI), an African-based philanthropic organization that provides emotional and psychological support to children affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The company's trainers provide REPSSI's employees with leadership devel- opment training. To help meet the organization's goal of helping children and youth so that they can live with hope and dignity, REPSSI managers need training in communica- tion skills, providing feedback, intercultural skills, and project management. Novartis has transformed its corporate training programs into a form useful for REPSSI. The training content is delivered through instructor-led courses and e-learning. Novartis and training vendor partners, including business schools, send speakers at their own expense to Africa Instructors are also available for follow-up after each course is completed. Ingersoll Rand, a global industrial company, wanted employees to understand how to reduce energy consumption and waste and to lower emissions. The company has sev- cral target goals for becoming more sustainable by 2020, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions of its operations 35 percent and a 50 percent reduction in the greenhouse gases produced by its heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, and refrigeration products. To accomplish these goals, Ingersoll Rand developed the Design for Sustainability train- ing program. The training emphasizes understanding sustainability and incorporating product design and how to analyze and communicate the value of sustainability in produce markets. Employees can receive two levels of credentials in the program. The silver and focuses on understanding why Inger- ten hours of self-paced s led by a virtual instructor e silver-or gold-level certifi- the program included Temployees working in is collecting data on the eenhouse gases, the use of costs and increases fuel Source K. Ever report: in the (Mare from 18.20 Tinc April -Adv tecto requires seven hours of self-paced online learning and focuses on understanding way soll Rand focuses on design sustainability. The gold level includes ten hours of online learning. It also includes three ninety-minute sessions led by a van from UL Environment, a consulting firm. To receive either the silver- or gold- cation requires employees to pass an exam. The first participants in the progra design and manufacturing engineers, product managers, and other employee product development. To evaluate the program, Ingersoll Rand is collecting number of new products developed using materials to reduce greenhou new material to reduce product weight (which reduces shipping costs and Chapter 11 The Future of Training and Development 495 efficiency), and employee engagement. Based on the positive feedback it received from the first participants in the program, Ingersoll Rand is planning to offer it to all employees. INCREASED USE OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES FOR TRAINING DELIVERY AND INSTRUCTION TABLE 11.2 New Technological Advances That Will Influence Training The use of social media, smartphones, and other new technologies will likely increase in the future for several reasons. First, the cost of these technologies will decrease. Second, companies can use technology to better prepare employees to serve customers and gener ate new business. Third, use of these new technologies can substantially reduce the train- ing costs related to bringing geographically dispersed employees to one central training location (e.g., travel, food, and housing). Fourth, these technologies allow trainers to build into training many of the desirable features of a learning environment (e.... practice, feedback, reinforcement). Fifth, as companies employ more contingent employees (e.g.. part-timers and consultants) and offer more alternative work arrangements (eg, flexible work schedules and working from home), technology will allow training to be delivered to any place and at any time. Sixth, new technologies will make it easier for training and performance support to be accessible to learners anytime and anyplace. Table 11.2 shows technological advances that will likely influence training delivery and instruction. Wearable technology is being used for consumer applications. For example, guests at Walt Disney World wear MagicBands that substitute for their park tickets, charge cards, and hotel room keys. MagicBands link to a phone app (My Disney Experience). which tracks groups visiting the park, allowing them to see the location of others in their group in order to arrange meeting places. Wearable bands such as FitBits allow us to track how many steps we walk each day, our heart rate before, during, and after exercise; and how many calories we burned. Smart eyewear allows images to be projected directly onto the retina of the eye. The technology takes what can be shown on a computer screen, reduces it, and projects it on the retina where it can be seen in full color. Wearables are just beginning to be developed and used for training and performance support solutions. Wear- able Intelligence provides smart eyewear technology and camera technology that gives employees hands-free, voice-activated access to procedures and checklists: live access to experts using tablet computers that allow data and live video sharing the opportunity to review best practice videos before or during the performance of complex procedures Source: Based on K. Everson, Special report: Learning is all in the wrist Chief Learning Oficer (March 15, 2015). from www.cloredia .con, acceed March 18, 2015: "Overview Tin Can API." Tecamapi.com overview, accessed April 20, 2015; J. Ford and T. Meyer, "Advances in training technology: Meeting the workplace challenges of talent development, deep specialization, and collaborative learning." In The Psychology of Workplace Technology. eds. M. Coovert and L. Thompson, (New York: Routledge. 2014): 43-76. Wearables (smartwatches, bands, smart eyewear) Gamification Wireless Tablet-Based Technology Mobile Learning Augmented Reality Virtual Communications Tin Can API (or Experience API) Learning Records Store (LRS) Artificial Intelligence al Responsibility and the Future 3 The technology is currently being and operations, and real-time notifications and alerts. The technology is curre used in energy and health care. An operator who might be working on a remote oil ri a surgeon in a sterile operating room can share live video with experts and get their ad needed to fix a broken valve or complete a medical procedure, while remaining on the equipment or patient. Wearable technologies can also potentially be used to provide useful needs assessment data by tracking what tasks employees perform the most. For example, a health club could track how much time fitness trainers spend in their offices working in the gym providing personal training, or conducting group exercise classes This helps managers and trainers identify how frequently tasks are performed, which is useful information for determining what tasks and skills should receive the most atten tion in training programs. Also, this information could be useful for evaluating if fitness trainers are spending too much time performing certain tasks, for example, administrative tasks in their offices. This could trigger further needs assessment to determine if this is a training problem. That is, fitness trainers may be spending more time on administrative tasks because they lack the sales and interpersonal skills needed to interact with custom ers and convince them to sign up for personal training. Smartwatches, such as the Apple Watch, could be used to provide training and help make sure employees complete it. For example, an employee's smartwatch can deny them access to certain areas of a manufac turing plant until they successfully complete a required safety compliance course. PlayerLync, a training and development software company, has developed wireless tablet-based technology. This technology shrinks video and documents with integrated, interactive messaging to miniscule sizes and delivers them quickly and automatically even in low-bandwidth environments. Professional and college sports teams have used the tablet-based technology to develop digital playbooks and game preparation video, include ing the coaches' comments. This technology is beginning to be used in companies for training retail, construction, and restaurant teams. Augmented reality refers to a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are supplemented by computer-generated sound, Video graphics, or GPS data. Augmented reality can allow a learner to enter books, magazines and training rooms and experience them in three-dimensional form as in real life. An inter ligent agent such as Apple's Siri can help the learner navigate their learning experience Un-demand learning and message boards allow employees to choose what they want learn and to interact with their peers and experts. Employees will be able to see joc ings and career paths and have the freedom to choose courses to develop the skills knowledge required for these opportunities. They can share and communicate about what they find fun and challenging in their positions. Artificial intelligence will become even more humanlike and accessible and Amelia is a computer who learns from textbooks, transcriptions of conversation chains, and other texts. As long as the answer is in the data she receives, problems. She also has the ability to learn. Programmers have human ability to think. Amelia is already being tested at working in custom ability to learn. Programmers have tried to provide her W Customer service depends on providing the right answer to the same question, of who calls. Amelia can pro calls. Amelia can provide the correct answer because prior to working on she has worked alongside a human customer service rep, listening to every received and the answers given. Amelia helps aute ever, she does have three cmotional states arousal dominance, and picas d communicate with peers Asic d accessible at a lower cost. nversations, e-mail she receives, she can solve Cuslan abilire also has BRI ing in customer call centers. same question, regardless or to working on her own. to every support request ut she is not alive. How- c. and pleasure that are Chapter 11 The Future of Training and Development 497 influenced by how customers communicate with her. These emotions affect her decision making in dealing with customers. Robots with artificial intelligence such as Amelia will likely provide performance support increasingly in the future or entirely replace employ- ees in nonexpert repetitive jobs. The Tin Can API (or Experience API) is a specification for learning technology that makes it possible to collect data about an employee's or a team's online and face-to-face learning experiences. The Tin Can API allows the collection of data based in the reality that learning occurs everywhere using different tools and methods, including simulations, virtual worlds, serious games, social collaboration, and through real-world experiences and formal training programs. When an employee engages in learning, the Tin Can API sends statements in the form of a learner, an action, and an activity such as "I did this to a Learning Records Store. The Learning Records Store (LRS) collects and stores all of the learning experiences in the form of statements that can be organized and presented in a meaningful way. LRSs can communicate with each other, allowing data about learning activities to be easily shared across organizations. Also, LRSs can be accessed by learn ing management systems and reporting tools. Employees can have their own personal lockers," which include their personal learning history. Enabled devices can automatically send Tin Can API statements when learning is ongoing and completed. The LRS can be used to show the relationship between learning experiences and business outcomes such as sales, revenue, customer satisfaction, safety, and employee engagement (recall our dis- cussion of Big Data in Chapter Six, "Training Evaluation"). For example, Devereux is a nonprofit behavioral health-care organization that provides services for individuals with emotional, developmental, and educational disabilities. Devereux wanted to improve treatment outcomes for individuals served by enhancing employee performance. An LRS developed by Watershed allowed this by tracking the experiences that happen to employ. ces during training as well as during performance monitoring on the job, and correlating that experience data to the real-world outcomes of individuals served. The use of games and mobile learning is likely to increase as companies seek to make training fun, maximize the learning experience, and appeal to millennials' and other learn- ers' expectations that learning is quick, includes short interactive lessons, is available at their fingertips, and allows them to ask their peers questions, share experiences, and seek advice. Several surveys of business and learning leaders have found that companies not currently using games for training are considering using them in the next few years and mobile learning is expected to contribute significantly to how their organizations learn in the future. The gamification experience might include advanced simulations that leam- ers can explore in a three-dimensional environment. BREAKTHROUGHS IN ROUGHS IN NEUROSCIENCE ABOUT LEARNING functioning. Th Advances in neuroscience are increasing researchers aby earchers' ability to study the brain and its Honing. This is leading to a better understanding of how we learn which can be used sign more effective training and development programs. For example, researchers ve shown that whether an idea can be easily recalled is linked to the strength of activat- e hippocampus, located in the lower section of the brain, during a learning task. The ger the hippocampus is stimulated during learning, the greater the recall of the idea 14 Social Responsibility and the Future spective, curate hippoca nood managers' attention. Immand a two-hour webinar. Learen program that incalled me Further research on the hippocampus has identified the conditions that are per learning to occur attention, generation, emotion, and spacing). From a traini perspective, this means that learners have to eliminate distractions, they need to own connections to new ideas, they need some but not overwhelming emotional si tion, and long-term recall of learning is better when we learn information c o de ferent time periods rather than all at once. Time Warner Cable Enterprises applied resul of the hippocampus research to a leadership development program that included w videos, practice exercises, and a two-hour webinar. Leaming in short, engaging burstshell managers' attention. Immediate, one-page practice tools were provided to help manager use what they saw in the videos. The entire program was spaced out over thirty days. The managers' emotions were stimulated by the communications about the sense of urgency for the program and the realization that thousands of their peers were participating in the program at the same time. There are many other areas of ongoing neuroscience research that can potentially influence training and development program design. For example, research is helping us understand the conditions that are necessary for learners to make creative insights between learning content and its application to work issues and prob lems. Other research is investigating the biological markers of cognitive processes that are known to accelerate learning (e.g., self-explanation or other meaning-based processing methods), which can help us understand how feedback can be provided to learners to help Pers' attenti kercises, ach to a leachce. Time wen we lewhelmin them consistently use the most effective cognitive processes for learning." NCREASED EMPHASIS ON SPEED IN DESIGN, FOCUS ON CONTENT, AND USE OF MULTIPLE DELIVERY METHODS Because of new technology, trainers are being challenged to find new ways to use instruc tional design." Shifts are taking place in who is leading the leaming (from the instructor to the employee), as well as where learning is taking place (from workplace to mobile learning). For example, trainers need to determine the best way to design an effective training course for a smartphone. Despite the use of new technology for learning, the fundamental questions remain: Why is training occurring? Who is the audience? What resources are necessary so that employees can learn what they need to know? As discussed in Chapter One, "Introduction to Employee Training and Development." the traditional training design model has been criticized for several reasons. First, it is a linear approach driven by subject matter experts (SMEs). Second, the instructional sys tem design model uses a rational, step-by-step approach that assumes that the training content is stable. Third, given the accelerated demand for training to be delivered just in time, traditional training takes too long. Rapid instructional design (RID) is a group of techniques that allows training to be built more quickly. RID modifies the training design model, which consists of needs analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation (recall the discussion of training design in Chapter One). There are two important principles in RID." One is that instructional content and process can be devel- oped independently of each other. The second is that resources that are devoted to design and delivery of instruction can be reallocated as appropriate. Design includes everything RID that happens before the training experience; delivery is what happens during the training experience. For example, if a company has limited resources for training delivery, such as Chapter 11 The Future of Training and Developmen! 499 large groups of trainees and a tight schedule. extra time should be allocated to the design process. Table 11.3 lists RID strategies. For example, learning preferences make it difficult to develop a training program that maximizes learning for all employees. As a result, if possible, training content can be offered through books, manuals, audiotapes, videotapes, and online learning. It may also be possible to combine some steps of the design process. such as analyses and evaluation. For example, knowledge tests and other evaluation out- comes may be based on task analysis and other needs analysis results. There is no need to conduct separate analyses of training needs and learning outcomes. If the client is con- vinced that there is a training need and if the trainer can quickly confirm this need, then there is no reason to conduct a full needs analysis (e.... new regulations that affect busi- ness transactions in financial services, or product changes). Job aids such as checklists, worksheets, and performance support tools can be provided to employees based on the results of a task analysis to identify activities and decisions needed to complete a proce dure. Job aids can be chosen to help employees complete the procedure, and training can be provided to teach employees how to use the job aid. The point to keep in mind is that use of a training design process (or instructional design process), as discussed in Chapter One, should not be abandoned. Rather, in the future, trainers will further develop RID techniques to reduce the time and cost and to increase the efficiency of training design in order to better meet business needs. Managers are demanding training courses that are shorter and that focus only on the necessary content." Training departments will be expected to reduce the number of courses and programs that are offered without directly addressing a business issue or performance problem. SMEs used as trainers will be expected to focus their presenta tions on information that is directly relevant to trainees. Seminars and classes that take place over several days or half-days will have to be retooled to be more accessible and individualized. Bass & Associates, P.C., is a law firm that specializes in debt recovery. In the debt recovery business, employees spend much of the time on the phone. Bass provides employees with Bits, mini-training videos that take three to twelve minutes to watch. The videos are available to employees on demand. After they complete the videos, employees take short quizzes to assess their learning. Other companies are ask- ing trainees to complete more pre class assignments and are using more post course job aids. The development of focused content will become easier because of blogs and pod casts that allow training content to be developed without programming languages such TABLE 11.3 Examples of RID Strategies Source Based on 8. Thagan Baldrictional Development in The ASTD Handbook Training Desige Delivery G urich Focus on accomplishment and performance, Develop a learning system instead of an instructional system. Use shortcuts e.a. use existing records for needs assessment; conduct focus groups). Combine different steps of the instructional design process. Implement training and continuously improve it. Skip steps in the instructional design process Use existing course materials that can be customized with examples, exercises, and assignments. Develop instruction around job aids and performance support. Use recording equipment, Internet, and e-mail to collect data and exchange information York with SMES. as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). Content-developed authoring tools will likely continue to become more user-friendly. More companies will consider using massive open online courses (MOOCs) for training (MOOCs are discussed in Chapter Eight, "Technology-Based Training Methods."). MOOCs are an attractive training delivery method because they provide consistent learning and allow employees to learn through collaboration, observing through videos, and listening to subject experts. Learning can occur anytime or anyplace employees can access the online course; credentials, certifi- cates, or digital badges can be used as incentives for completing the course. Given the increased popularity of notebooks and tablets, new types of apps for learning will continue to be developed. These likely will include apps related to locating experts, the training scheduler, retirement planners, and the development activities chooser. For example, the Assessment and Development Group International has developed apps to help increase coaching success and facilitate behavioral change, engage and retain employees, and improve sales and customer relationships. Using a smartphone, the Coach app allows users to identify their interaction style (driver, analytical, expressive, and supportive). A graph of team members' interaction styles is generated, and coaching tactics specific to each style are provided. The app also suggests how to modify behavior and be more responsive to team members and a question and answer exercise to help address specific issues that may occur during coaching. SED EMPHASIS ON CAPTURING AND SHARING CTUAL CAPITAL AND SOCIAL LEARNING Companies that recognize the strategic value of becoming a learning organization and are concerned about the loss of valuable knowledge because their baby boomer employees are retiring (see the discussions in Chapters One and Five) will continue to seek ways to turn employees' knowledge (human capital) into a shared company asset. As emphasized in Chapter Two, "Strategic Training." training functions will focus on learning, with an emphasis on employee training and development and the management and coordination of organizational learning. Sharing knowledge and contributing to the company's intel- lectual capital is going to become more common as collaborative social networking tech- nology and Web 2.0 tools make this simpler to implement. The rise of intelligent tutors and on-demand learning technologies will make connections to information faster, more current and accurate, and more easily customizable to employees' needs and work. More teams and groups of employees will make use of social media and Web 2.0 tools to share links and content with each other, participate in discussions, collaborate, and create learn ing content Social learning refers to learning with and from others. We can learn from othen in face-to-face interactions occurring in classrooms, conferences, and group meeting as well as online using social media such as Twitter, blogs, and social networks such as Facebook. Potentially, through sharing ideas, information, and experiences, we com learn more with others than we can alone. For example, EMC upgraded its collaboration platform and integrated its intranet to help employees learn, share, and access com news. Within two weeks of the upgrade, twenty thousand more employees used the form. Also, the number of documents created has increased over 500 percent. 200 perc Chapter 11 The Fun of Thing and Development 501 more discussions were created, and there has been over 100 percent increase in replies to discussion. Tata Consultancy Services Limited provides employees with a social learning application known as Knome. Nearly half of Tata Consultancy employees actively partici pate on Knome, forming communities to get work done and discussing ideas The increasing use of new technologies to deliver training and to store and commu- nicate knowledge means that trainers must be technologically literate. That is, they must understand the strengths and weaknesses of new technologies and implementation issues such as overcoming users' resistance to change (which is discussed later in this chapter Also, many companies have created positions such as knowledge manager or chief infor mation officer, whose job is to identify reliable knowledge and make sure it is accessible to employees INCREASED USE OF JUST-IN-TIME LEARNING AND PERFORMANCE SUPPORT Companies are moving away from courseware and classes as a performance improvement method and are instead adopting true performance support that is available during the work process." Just-in-time learning (or embedded learning) refers to learning that occurs on the job as needed; it involves collaboration and nonlearning technologies such as microblogs, and it is integrated with knowledge management. Embedded learning may become increasingly prevalent in the future because compa nies can no longer have employees attend classroom instruction or spend hours on online learning that is not directly relevant to their current job demands. Formal training programs and courses will not disappear but will focus more on the development of competencies that can benefit the employee and the company over the long term, whereas embedded learning will focus on providing the learning that the employee needs to complete key job tasks, Embedded-learning products include task-specific, real-time content and simulation that are accessible during work, as well as real-time collaboration in virtual workspaces. Recent, rapid adoption of wireless technology is connecting employees directly to busi- ness processes. For example, radio frequency identification chips are implanted in prod- ucts such as clothing, tires, and mechanical parts. These chips contain information that is beamed via radio waves to employees processing handheld wireless devices. The device, the task context, and the performance environment are incompatible with classroom or courseware-based learning but with performance support. Learning is a business process that is integrated with several other business processes. Learning is expected as a result of collaboration with employees and machines in the work process. Employees can be provided with real-time performance support through communications with experts and through automated coaching. More learning will become just-in-time, using mobile devices such as notebooks and tablets such as the iPad. As a result, instead of having to complete specific training classes, learning functions will focus on setting standards required to achieve accreditation, cre. ate systems to allow employees to meet accreditation standards, and track completion of standards. To achieve accreditation may involve having specific job experiences, observ- ing a expert-level employee, contributing content for helping peers and less experienced employees learn, and passing a test. JULLE O by and the Funere cyborg," who integrates social Facebook and other There is a new type of learner emerging, the "social cyborg." who integrate networks into the way they think, learn, and solve problems. As Facebook and social networking sites and smartphones with communications and Internet access tinue to spread and evolve, employees will spend more time on computers and playing games, working, and connecting to friends and work associates using e-mail text. "Social cyborgs" are already prevalent among the millennial generation who ex companies to accommodate their need to access the latest tools and technologies a including tablets and mobile devices, Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds, and social networking sites. This means that training, development, and learning functions will will need to adjust their assumptions about how and where we learn. Design and developments gies based on individual learners who learn alone and without technology will contin to become obsolete. Employees will expect training and development to include simula tions, games, and virtual reality, which will become more realistic than they are today. For example, researchers are developing wearable devices that allow the use of hand geste to interact with environment and contact lenses that act as a computer display. Also learn ers will expect training and development to use social media, as well as learning that is delivered when it is needed rather than during a scheduled course. A new set of learning strategies will be need to be adopted, including learning environ ments that include online mentoring and collaborative learning platforms. This means that companies will need to consider how, when, and for which employees to use social media such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as mobile devices for learning. Social network ing platforms will be part of learning management systems. This will allow managers to determine which learning content is in most demand and take content developed by social network contributors and use it in formal training courses. Not using or forbidding the use of social media will no longer be an option to attract, motivate, and retain talented employees and customers!). Instead, companies will need to establish policies regarding the use of social media. CREASED EMPHASIS ON PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS: BIG DATA ID LEARNING FOR BUSINESS ENHANCEMENT Because of an increasing focus on contributing to the company's competitive advantage. training departments will have to ensure that they are seen as both helping the business functions (e.g., marketing, finance, production) meet their needs and contributing to over- all business goals and the bottom line."26 This means that you understand the business enough to ask the right questions to develop an appropriate learning solution (recall the discussion of needs assessment in Chapter Three, "Needs Assessment"). Such questions might include how success will be measured and why the company has not thus far seen desired results. The role of the learning professional is to understand business challenges and consistently work to fill employee performance gaps. To enhance the business means that learning professionals have to be aligned with the business and take responsibility for the relationship and the business outcomes from learning solutions, have an agreed-upon business outcome tha is included in the learning function and business performance plan, attend business stan Chapter 11 The Future of Training and Development 503 meetings and network with internal customers, and identify as a partner with the business with the joint goal of improving performance. Consider how companies in three different industries expect training to influence their bottom line 27 The training offered at TRX, a company that provides transaction processing and data integration services, is expected to have a direct influence on boosting customer satisfaction scores and agents' productivity, Metries such as hours of training delivered are not as important as showing how training is contributing to customer service, productiv- ity, and profitability. Supply-chain training for Coca-Cola must be tied in some way to the company's three-year business plan or it will not be supported. At Ho-Chunk Casino in Wittenberg, Wisconsin, the director of training spends time educating managers on how the training unit adds value to the business. One of the director's biggest challenges is convincing first-line supervisors to support transfer of training. The training director has found that explaining Kirkpatrick's evaluation model (reaction, learning, behavior, results) to the supervisors helps them understand that training is a process, not an event, and that they play an important role in determining the success or failure of training. (Kirkpatrick's model is discussed in more detail in Chapter Six.) Training departments must shift the focus from training as the solution to business problems to a performance analysis approach. A performance analysis approach involves identifying performance gaps or deficiencies and examining training as one pos- sible solution for the business units (the customers). Training departments will need to continue instructing managers to consider all potential causes of poor performance before deciding that training is the solution. Poor employee performance may be due to poor management, inefficient technologies, or outdated technology rather than deficiencies in skill or knowledge (recall the discussion of person analysis in Chapter Three). Three ways that training departments will need to be involved are (1) focusing on interventions related to performance improvement, (2) providing support for high-performance work systems, and (3) developing systems for training administration, development, and delivery that reduce costs and increase employees' access to learning. Training departments' responsibilities will likely include a greater focus on systems that employees can use for information (such as expert systems or electronic performance support systems) on an as-needed basis. This need is driven by the use of contingent employees and the increased flexibility necessary to adapt products and services to meet customers' needs. For example, companies do not want to spend money to train employees who may be with the company only a few weeks. Instead, through temporary employment agencies, companies can select employees with the exact skill set needed. Training depart- ments need to provide mechanisms to support the temporary employees once they are on the job and encounter situations, problems, rules, and policies they are unfamiliar with because they are not yet knowledgeable about the company. As was discussed in Chapter One, more companies are striving to create high- performance workplaces because of the productivity gains that can be realized through this type of design. High-performance work requires that employees have the interper- sonal skills necessary to work in teams. High-performance work systems also require employees to have high levels of technical skills. Employees need to understand statistical process control and the Total Quality Management (TQM) philosophy. Employees also must understand the entire production and service system so that they can better serve 508 Part 4 Social Responsibility and the Future TABLE 11.4 Skills for Future Trainers Source: Based on C. Malamed. "What will your training pole be in the future (February 13, 2012). from www. orased April 24, 2015 M. Lall "Trainerskie 2020," T+D (December 2008 42: P. Galagan "New skills for a new work reality." T+D (November 2011 Matching training content and methods to the local culture of the workforce Designing learning space, as well as content in technology-driven learning environments Use of multimedia tools, including audio, video, webcasts, and live action Delivering and packaging training in different formats for beginners and experts Use of assessments to determine trainees' learning styles Developing search-and-identify techniques so employees can find information and training when they need it Be a change agent: Facilitating learning and staying in touch with employees, managers, and business units to identify what they need and making suggestions regarding tools, processes, or procedures that could help them work more effectively Developing and delivering learning that is integrated with the job Understand how social media can be used for learning, the limitations of social media, and ability to make a business case for it Identify the root cause of job and business problems Aptara worked with McKesson's instructional designers to develop new training that included self-paced web-based training combined with the option to have either an instruc- tor-led classroom instruction or a virtual instructor-led session. The new web-based course engaged leamers using assessments, role plays, and simulations. Since the introduction of the new blended leaming program, customer training purchases and satisfaction have increased. Also, McKesson has benefited, too. They can now deliver more training requir- ing less staff; the program is easy to change and add new content; and it allows them to work with their customers to choose the blended learning approach that is best for them. Implications of Future Trends for Trainers' Skills and Competencies A recent study found that the competencies and expertise included in the ASTD compe tency model (see Figure 1.4 in Chapter One) are likely to be needed in the future. How- ever, increased emphasis will also be placed on the ability of trainers to more effectively use technology. Also, as companies become more global, they will need to adapt training methods and content to local cultures." Table 11.4 shows the skills that trainers will need to develop in the future. Summary This chapter discussed future trends that are likely to influence training and development nds relate to training delivery and structure of the training function. Training wi contribute to a company's sustainability goals. Trainers will be asked to design focuse content more quickly and to deliver training using multiple methods. New technology wi have a growing impact on training delivery in the future. Also, new technology will allo training departments to store and share human capital throughout the company. There w be an increased emphasis on integrating training with other human resource functions a showing how training helps the business. Training departments are more likely to devel partnerships with vendors and other companies in the future