As I was browsing through the top news headlines today, the title of one article JUMPED out at me. The news article was published by eSchool News and is titled, “Learning replaces teaching.”
As you all may know, as a corporate sales trainer in telecommunications, I am very involved with integrating the message of ‘Solution Selling’ into my various training courses. The message is simple, sell not with the product in mind, but rather with the customer in mind. What drives your customer’s business? What are your customer’s major business objectives now, and in the future? What critical issues could they experience that could potentially hinder their ability to meet these objectives? NOW, how can your product/solution HELP the customer solve these problems and in turn allow them to meet their business objectives? That’s it! That is basic solution selling. Learn about your customer inside and out, identify their needs, and THEN provide the solution.
So, as you can imagine, when I saw this headline, “Learning replaces teaching,” I was immediately drawn to it. This is solution selling in the world of education! Learn about your learners first, THEN teach to their need. Although this article discusses the topic as it relates to teaching in the public school system, this concept can easily apply to all types learning. In the world of Training 2.0, this paradigm shift should sit at the core of ALL training development and facilitation.
If we were to tie this concept into the most common instructional design process, A.D.D.I.E. (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation), it could easily apply to each of the five steps. We need to analyze the learning audience to identify their need. We need to design, develop, and implement according to that need. And finally we must evaluate to determine if the needs have been met. For example, maybe your analysis identifies the majority of the learning audience to be telecommuters. In this case you might identify a need for mobilized training, i.e. podcasts.
Solution selling in the world of education. This is the future!This is how training organizations of the future will succeed, or fail.
I would love to hear your thoughts!
