Challenge
Within one year, the National Park Service (NPS) had assembled three training teams of instructional designers, training specialists and training managers across various curriculums, each with different backgrounds in training (e.g., from NPS interpretive learning, academia, the military or industry)–teams were working in silos using their own methods and lacked a common understanding of the mission and methods of producing highly effective workforce training to meet organizational goals.
My Role
Building on the success of the Book Club for Performance-Focused Learner Surveys, as Senior Instructional Designer with the Mather Training Center (one of the three training groups in L&D), I sought to bring employees together, with the Chief Learning Officer, to read “The CEO’s Guide to Training, E-learning, and Work” and discuss research-based learning at the NPS.
Action(s)
I acquired funding to purchase discounted copies of the book directly from the author (Dr. Will Thalheimer), proposed the effort and registered 20 participants across our training groups, then developed a schedule and platform to gather insights weekly in Miro as we read/discussed. The Chief Learning Officer joined our discussion as often as he was able.
Result(s)
The “Empowering Learning” Reading Group had a reach across all sectors of NPS formal training and leadership, exposing people to common language and research-validated practices for data-informed decision-making in training. It sparked important conversations at a time when L&D was revising its mission and vision for the future.
Project Link: More about The CEO’s Guide to Training, ELearning & Work (including free digital chapters)