On-Target Learning: Redefining Organizational Learning

Throughout his 40 years in learning and development in a variety of companies, Dan Tobin has been known as an innovator and a disruptor. More than 20 years ago, he created a process for tying all… Lue lisää Throughout his 40 years in learning and development in a variety of companies, Dan Tobin has been known as an innovator and a disruptor. More than 20 years ago, he created a process for tying all learning initiatives directly to corporate, group, and individual business goals - a process he called a "Learning Contract" and he has presented this model to dozens of executive, human resources, and training groups throughout the world. When explaining the learning contract process, he has often been asked when he would create a toolkit for people to use in implementing the process. On-Target Learning presents this toolkit. The Learning Contract starts with the organization's goals, determines how learning can contribute to the achievement of those goals, develops a learning plan, and follows through to ensure that what is learned is actually applied to people's work to help them meet those goals. Further, it recommends that people in the field redefine their roles from "trainers" to "learning facilitators. "On-Target Learning not only explains the Learning Contract process, but also provides practical advice to training groups on how to implement each step. It is full of examples from Dan Tobin's own career and from other companies whose stories Dan has collected over the years from the research he has done for previous books. The chapters on the Learning Contract are followed by a discussion of "Evaluating Your Learning Initiatives. "As a bonus, Dan has included a chapter on "Other Lessons Learned. " This chapter contains a variety of stories from Dan's career in hope that people currently working in the training/learning/development field can glean some ideas that will be helpful to them in their current jobs and their careers. Training groups often complain that they are not valued by their organizations, that they cannot get "a seat at the planning table. " On-Target Learning shows you how to earn that seat at the table. Dan is now semi-retired, doing occasional consulting and speaking engagements. He is the author of seven previous books on corporate learning strategies, and he hopes that On-Target Learning will be his legacy to the field.