Do you know why refrigerators with the freezer on the bottom are popular today? Because it just makes sense.
90% of the products we use most frequently are easily accessible in this design. But it wasn’t always this way. It probably took a thoughtful engineer to observe where most people spent their time and ask “why not make accessing the 90% easier and the less needed 10% lower?” Yet even after observing and discussing the advantages of this change, the traditional models persisted to dominate the market place. The new offering didn’t look like the old model everyone had and was accustom to – it didn’t fit the paradigm; a fridge should look like this, not that. After many years of marketing, of people experiencing the new model and early influencials who bought in and spreading the word… BOOM! A new paradigm emerged.
I suspect 702010 is on the brink of a similar paradigm shift. You see, 702010 is alive and well but most are just too busy to notice as they read articles and talk to people who use “learning” and “training” interchangeably and they sit in awe of big old firms grappling with new training related technologies. Meanwhile under their nose are smaller companies, augmented by technology, where people are learning in their work and placing a greater priority on social and experiencial (work flow) learning. They know the answer they need right now is a click away or just down the hallway. It’s convenient, it’s efficient and, similar to the freezer on the bottom, it just makes sense. Unfortunately, most are still trapped in a paradigm where anything different than training is odd and threatening. Yet momentum is building, conversations about workflow learning are increasing, people are sharing stories of success, and thoughtful leaders [maybe yours], like an engineer who observed real refrigerator use, are asking similarly – “why not make accessing the 90% (of how we really learn) easier?”
A paradigm shift is coming.
