Yes, I’m consulting. No, I’m not leaving the Guild. Before you get too cynical of the notion of another consultant, know that I’ve been there all along but just not all that formal. And rest assured my fellow consultant brethren I’m likely not your competition unless we’re in the same niche; focus, market and location. Before I get to all that though, let me explain why (always start with why, right?).
One of the biggest strengths of the eLearning Guild is that the programming team of Dave Kelly, Bianca Woods and myself all have long careers in education, edtech, design and L&D management. We can relate to the needs of the community because we are a part of the community or atleast have been a part. Staying “sharp” isn’t going to happen by just reading, writing and speaking. We can best stay sharp by doing. Over the past few years I’ve been occasionally assisted (consulting) local business and non-profits in better understanding their learning needs and strategies. Most of this has been voluntary and informal. It’s been fun. I’ve enjoyed the green pasture they present as often they come with no previous L&D formality or function; much like when I first joined ADMI and then left to lead L&D for Systems Made Simple.
So, in an effort to both give back and stay sharp with my work at the Guild I’m rolling out ThruWork, a regional learning and performance strategy consultancy. It’s my chance to more formally help a few small business as well as nonprofits in getting their learning strategy right, right now and better inform my work with the Guild as well. A win-win!
A few key points:
- I won’t be chasing work. I just look to inform and for those that get it, I”ll be happy to take the next steps.
- The Internet makes it possible to extend markets but this region is my home and right now businesses here are struggling. I hope to help.
- Big companies trying to get small? Good luck. I’d rather help the small scale the connectedness they have today to avoid the transformation so many are struggling to make.
- It’s not anti-training. Training has it’s place but it shouldn’t be the first solution and when it’s right, it needs to include conversation and reflection as well as practice.
- Good organizational performance starts with good design… organizational design that is. This is where I start.
Why call it ThruWork? It came to me through my experience, many conversations, opportunities to share and advice given (all paid in cheeseburgers and coffee). We learn, we grow, we connect through our work. Work is the social object of our workplaces and we can better leverage the energy that forms around it to improve or maintain performance. Smaller businesses often already have the right behaviors and attitudes about learning but struggle to recognize it or to maintain it as they grow. So that’s it…
Oh, and I had WAY too much fun with WordPress but coincidentally and ironically through my work with it (heh) I saw how small orgs could benefit on the cheap to leverage WP internally.
