How to achieve collaboration
The growing need for interdependency must shape the future relationship between Information Technology and Training. But how can two different cultures, and years of non-collaboration, be turned around? Based on our practical experience, we offer these eight concrete recommendations.
- Recognize existing limitations, even while working to alleviate them
- Develop an e-learning technology strategy, iteratively and jointly
- Establish work-level relationships, partnerships and processes
- Establish an appropriate governance mechanism
- Allow time for network testing
- Learn each other’s language
- Create a new technical liaison position in the Training group
- Establish a technology “sandbox” for experimentation with leading edge e-Learning platforms
It’s only natural to want to shape e-Learning into a more interactive, media-rich experience, especially when it enhances learning. But these requirements will, at least initially, put a strain on the I.S. infrastructure. In the short-term, if the organization’s capability is not yet ready to handle the desired level of sophistication, Training should design programs for the current state while IT continues to find ways to advance network capacity. So Training should focus on being ready to upgrade training applications when the infrastructure is ready to handle it, and IT should be upgrading its capacity to handle the training applications.
Efforts that mutually clarify expectations and establish clear responsibilities can build a mutual understanding. One of the most effective tools is to establish a technology strategy. To strengthen the relationship between Training and IT, the strategy should seek to carefully deploy e-Learning technology, use it to solve increasingly bigger and more complex business problems, determine which components should be replicated and scaled, and, ultimately, enhance the infrastructure of the organization with each solution. If this is done well, both groups will share success, while, at the same time, keeping investment and implementation at a level that is manageable for the organization.
Although a strategy sets out a longer-term plan and identifies responsibilities, it usually stops at defining what happens in the everyday environment. That’s the purpose of work-level relationships, partnerships, agreements, and documented processes — to create the next level of documented detail in the relationship between IT and Training. Professional development, joint goal setting, establishing cross-functional teams, and integrating training development processes with IT development processes, are just some of the ways to build better relationships.
More often than not, disagreements between IT and training arise not so much out of differences in goals, but out of differences in approach. Having a mutually agreeable way to make decisions, resolve differences, allocate resources, and manage interdependent processes can help surface problems earlier, when they can be more easily resolved. In addition, a governance framework can ensure that what was learned from one experience is applied to future activities so that, over time, differences are mitigated, redundancies are eliminated, and productivity and innovation are enhanced. It is important that the CIO and CLO form a collaborative relationship to provide strategic guidance and sponsorship for lower level collaboration. One critical aspect of the relationship between the CIO and CLO is to agree to support e-Learning as a mission-critical business application that might require investment in the network, the desktop environment, and certainly, in the IT and Training people and processes that will drive success.
Although a Training group might have already performed a variety of tests, including user acceptance testing, field testing, SME reviews, and debug testing on e-Learning materials, the IT department will likely still require testing of network compatibility and performance before a new e-Learning application or technology is "certified." Ideally, this IT testing should be built into the process for designing and developing the approved courseware, so that this step becomes part of the natural development workflow.
One of the core problems in the relationship between IT and Training is that they speak different languages. To avoid talking past each other, IT and Training must create a common lexicon of terminology, processes, and work flow. IT must develop a clearer understanding of e-Learning courseware in order to work effectively with Training. To do so, IT professionals need to acquire knowledge of training standards and terminology. Similarly, training professionals should gain experience in developing use cases and defining functional requirements that clearly communicate learning requirements in ways that an IT professional can appreciate and use.
One of the best ways to build bridges between IT and Training is to make that someone’s job responsibility. The primary responsibility of someone in this job is to build the bridges needed between IT and Training by looking for opportunities to collaborate and avert misconceptions. More significantly, this person would take a longer-term approach to e-Learning technology planning. He or she would work closely with the infrastructure experts in IT to shape an organization’s e-Learning delivery capacity, and with the instructional experts in Training to understand their goals and translate them into a set of documented requirements that can be handed off to IT.
Trainers must be able to experiment with new or evolving technologies in order to assess their value and appropriateness in delivering instruction and other productivity improvement interventions. By equipping Training with a private network and a set of servers under their control, IT can enable Training to test new tools and approaches without risking any negative impact to the enterprise network. This approach enables IT to monitor Training’s experimentation, and helps establish a cooperative working relationship where Training and IT are collaborating from day one.
Concluding thoughts
The relationship between Training and IT is at a crossroads. Both groups understand the need to expand technology-enabled learning in the organization. Both agree on why they need learning technology, and see great advantages and benefits to the business if technology-enabled learning initiatives are successful.
What they often disagree on is how to make technology-enabled learning happen, and who does what in the process. Continuing conflict in this relationship makes both groups weaker, and increases the likelihood of one or both being downsized or outsourced, forcing internal and external clients to go directly to outside suppliers who can give them want they need. In some cases, Training’s almost stubborn reliance on doing it themselves is hurting the larger organization and the “our way or the highway” attitude of some IT groups isn’t helping the situation.
To build the needed bridges, trainers must develop an appreciation for the professionalism that IT brings to the table and an understanding of the goals IT people have for enterprise technology management. In contrast, IT must develop an appreciation for the business value of learning technologies, and an understanding of the goals trainers have for their e-Learning programs.
IT professionals possess a set of skills that many Training organizations do not have: systems analysis and management. E-Learning programs can have more impact when IT professionals are involved in identifying the technology requirements, and ensuring the reliability, performance, and security of the solution. Likewise, Training professionals bring to the table a set of core skills that many IT organizations do not have: human performance analysis and instructional design. By working more closely with Training professionals, IT may eventually find great value involving trainers in analyzing user performance requirements and advocating a performance-centered user interface design, improving context-sensitive help systems, and strengthening the learning and performance value of any technology intervention.
The time is now for IT and Training people to recognize that the best possible future results from a mutual collaboration. The collaboration can start with something as simple as a lunch meeting where common issues and disagreements can be discussed and joint opportunities can be identified. It can then move to some working agreements, and the birth of a simple governance model. A demonstration project can be identified where this newfound collaboration can be exercised. Small steps to be sure, but real, important progress will be the result. Get started.
Editor’s Note: This article is an excerpt from Carliner, S. & Shank, P. (2008.) The e-Learning Handbook: Past Promises, Present Challenges. San Francisco: Pfeiffer. Used with permission.
