L&D's Last Mile Problem

Amazon is moving so fast on getting you stuff in hours not days. What’s the impact? Goodbye 7/11. This is the world we live in. Convenience is king and the need to run to the quickmart for the one-off item is on life support. Another example of this growing speed expectation can be found with our mobile devices. Today we move between entertainment, work, and family & friend chit-chat with our thumbs!

I’m not telling you something you don’t already know or at least feel. The new reality is immediacy.

Products are products, good customer service matters but time savings matters most and it’s going to impact the work of HR and L&D if it hasn’t already. Here’s a scenario that is happening or will be very soon:

Executive: “We need our people to do X better.”

L&D: “Great. We’ll do some observation to determine the current state. Then meet the SMEs to flesh out the details. We’ll move then to determine the best mediums for the course to make it media rich and engaging. We can then create the storyboa…”

Executive <interrupting>: “Wait? What? Have you seen the numbers!? How long will this take?”

L&D: “With the current team we’d probably need 8 weeks.”

Executive: “Nope.”

L&D: “Ummm OK, with our REL tools we can develop and deliver an effective solution in maybe 2 weeks.”

Executive: “Nope.”

L&D: <muttering under breath> “Sh*t.” “You know, new skill development takes the right approach, content, practice and feedback loops to…”
Executive<interrupting>: “Don’t care. Fix it faster.”

And there it is, the Last Mile problem for L&D. If the last mile problem for social is the organizations’ design, the last mile problem for L&D is the organization’s new expectation of speed. The expectation of NOW is real and courses and microlearning aren’t going to answer the bell.

Just like Amazon will wipe out convenience stores, technology like voice, chat, and enterprise social will continue to pressure the course factory model of L&D. Tech has a knack for cutting out the “middle man” and since L&D sits between expertise and novice or knowing and unknowing, the need now is to carve more channels not create more content. L&D must get involved or get out of the way.