Time is money.
—Benjamin Franklin
After seeing the movie Interstellar,I was intrigued by the concept of time and the powerful role it plays in astrophysics,not that I understand much of it. While not as mind-blowing as the influence oftime on the nature of the cosmos, in our little universe, time plays a hugerole in what we do. If we don’t put time in the right perspective, we may soonbe out of time to make an impact. Time for 10 timely ideas!
1. It’s not about how much information is out there; it’s abouthow fast it’s changing.
If it was just the overall growth of knowledge, we might be able tohandle it—maybe. But the bigger issue is that the “half-life” of knowledge, thetime it takes for half the knowledge to become unusable, is shrinking. Increasingamounts of information that may have been valuable for several years may nowonly be useful for a few months. Managing information shelf life is thechallenge.
2. It’s not about how much time it takes to create and publishgood content; it’s about how much time it takes to find it.
There is no question that it takes time to create and make contentavailable to all who need it. But if it takes too long to find it, the value ofthat knowledge takes a big hit. Studies show that it can take knowledge workersas much as 25% of their day just finding information. We don’t have to decreasethat time very much to have a considerable impact on productivity.
3. It’s not about how much time it takes to learn; it’s about howmuch time it takes to unlearn and relearn.
Alvin Toffler, of Future Shockfame, noted that success comes not just from learning, but also from unlearningand relearning. How much time does it take you, or your organization to changedirection, reject old ways, and learn new things? This is speed ofadaptability, and in a successful enterprise it applies as much to learning asit does to anything else.
4. It’s not about training time; it’s about time to proficiency.
Forget how much time it takes to train someone and think more about howlong it takes someone to become proficient. This would include real workexperience, informal learning, and other approaches that are—unfortunately—notgenerally calculated into “training time.” It may take three weeks to train anew worker, but many more months for that worker to really perform.
5. It’s not about development time; it’s about delivery time.
Sure it takes time to develop a good learning program, and even moretime to develop solid eLearning. But these costs pale in comparison to deliverycosts. By shortening delivery time, not only are costs (including costs ofbeing away from the job) reduced, but also needed knowledge gets to all whoneed it quicker. This is the real business case for eLearning.
6. It’s not about how much time you present content; it’s abouthow much time you exercise and evaluatethe learner.
We are learning more and more that exercise and evaluation, with goodcorrective feedback along the way both during and after a learning program, mayhave more learning value than the original instruction. Building more exerciseand evaluation time into training pays off in greater training efficiency and areduction of the need to “retrain.”
7. It’s not about how much time training takes; it’s about howmuch time training saves.
A no-brainer here. Would you rather have a too-short training programthat costs less but results in little or no increase in performance, or alonger program that has better results in the field? Shorter training programsmake sense only if they still get the job done. Keep in mind the significantconsequences of sending unprepared people to jobs, having them make mistakes, andthen bringing them back to do it all over again. That’s costly.
8. It’s not about spending more time in training; it’s about spendingless time.
Pioneering performance engineer Tom Gilbert once said, “There is asuperstitious belief that if a little training is good, more must be better.” Trainingcosts lots of time and money to create and deliver, but the time allocated foremployees to be away from the job (lost productivity) costs even more. If thereare better, more efficient workplace solutions to augment or reduce sometraining, use them.
9. It’s not about how much time you get to sit at “the table;”it’s how much time others at the table listento you.
We all want a seat at the table. A noble desire, and the more time wespend with those who make key decisions, the better. But a better measure ishow much time those executives listen to you, how engaged they are in thediscussion, and how much they look to you to lead them to a solution. Being there means little if you are not engagedwith them, and they with you.
10. It’s not about how much time you spend pitching your ideas toexecutives; it’s how much time theyspend pitching your ideas to others.
Even a better test with executives is not just that they listened toyou; that’s a good start. But if they now go out and evangelize your proposal;if they use their considerable influence to help you get going, that’s theprize. Don’t worry about your time in the spotlight. Instead, delight that theyare taking time to spotlight your ideas.
Someof these shifts are strategic while others are tactical. Some are important tothe business, while others are important just to you and your organization. Butnone can be ignored. If you are looking for a way to make a compelling businesscase for any training or performance improvement initiative, there are fewbetter arguments you can make than effectively leveraging time. The eLearningGuild’s DevLearn 2014 keynoter, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tysonwould be proud.
