As I embark on the immersive trading route, I find myself reflecting on the core reasons behind this shift. My journey into training began with a desire to address the struggles faced by individuals and organisations alike. Back in 2010, when I first delved into DevOps, I witnessed firsthand the challenges people encountered and the disconnect between their needs and what organisations were providing. This disconnect often led to a vicious cycle where organisations blamed their people for failures, rather than addressing the root causes.
The Role of DevOps in Value Delivery
DevOps was a game changer for many. It streamlined processes and automated repetitive tasks, allowing teams to focus on delivering value. My work with Azure DevOps highlighted that while tools are essential, it’s the practices surrounding them that truly make a difference. This realisation led me to explore agile methodologies, including Scrum and Kanban, which emphasise collaboration and continuous improvement.
Rethinking Training Approaches
Through my experiences, I recognised that traditional training methods often fall short in helping people retain and apply knowledge effectively. This insight prompted me to reconsider how I deliver training. The concept of double-loop learning became pivotal in my approach. It’s not just about teaching; it’s about ensuring that the training style aligns with how people learn best.
To enhance the learning experience, I’ve adopted a flipped-ish learning model. This approach allows for a more practical, hands-on experience, which I believe is crucial for effective learning. However, this shift comes with its challenges. As a trainer and business owner, I will have less time to conduct multiple training sessions. Instead of cramming four half-day classes into a short period, I’m opting for eight half-days spread over eight weeks.
Prioritising Value Over Revenue
This decision may seem counterintuitive from a business perspective, as it means fewer classes in the same timeframe. Yet, I firmly believe that providing a richer learning experience is worth the trade-off. If students can learn more effectively and apply that knowledge in their organisations, the value created far outweighs the immediate revenue concerns.
It’s essential to focus on a value creation model rather than a revenue extraction model. If organisations feel they’re not gaining enough from traditional training formats, they will seek alternatives. By prioritising the needs of the students and the organisations they represent, we can foster a more positive perception of our training offerings.
A Win-Win Situation
Ultimately, this approach benefits both sides. From a business standpoint, investing in a more effective training model can lead to greater satisfaction and better outcomes for clients. When organisations see tangible results from their investment in training, they are more likely to continue seeking our services.
In conclusion, my commitment to delivering value through immersive training is rooted in a desire to effect real change. By embracing new learning formats and prioritising the needs of students, I believe we can create a more impactful training experience that resonates with both individuals and organisations.
Thank you for joining me on this journey. If you found this post insightful, please like, follow, and subscribe. I welcome your comments and would love to chat about agile, Scrum, or DevOps—feel free to book a coffee with me through Naked Agility.
So the question was why am I going the immersive trading route?
Because I want to do the thing that’s best for not just the students but their ability to make changes in their organisation. I got into this training thing for the same reason that I got into the DevOps thing back in 2010. It’s that I saw that people and organisations were struggling. Right, people were struggling and organisations weren’t getting what they needed. So the organisations were blaming the people and suddenly you’ve got this vicious cycle.
DevOps helped grease the wheels, give people more because you automate a lot of stuff away. Again, I was working with Azure DevOps and more from a technical perspective and how do you improve the flow of value delivery so that then we have time to look holistically and figure out what’s going on.
In doing that, I think I said before, I very quickly figured out that it wasn’t actually the tools that were the thing that was helping people. It was the different practices that people were using and that led logically towards this idea of agile and scrum and kanban and those kind of things as well.
So this is that logical progression of we’re using double loop learning in and of ourselves. Right, the outcome of the training styles that we’ve got is not the most optimal for how people retain knowledge, learn and use that knowledge. People are much better in that practical world. So closing that loop again and saying, well, we need to change how we do training.
Part of that was moving to the flipped-ish learning experience. This is the next progression and I know that there are trainers out there that have been experimenting with different learning formats and this is starting to pull that information together. What are the best learning formats? Not the best, that’s probably the wrong word, or what are more effective learning formats for people and how do we incorporate it into the way we do things?
The harder part for us is that it’s, as a trainer and as a business owner, it’s actually going to be less. I’m going to have less time to be able to do other training classes. Right, so instead of it being four half days or four half days spread over a couple of weeks or, you know, four half days spread over two days, right, it’s going to be eight half days spread over eight weeks.
So in the time that it takes me to deliver this, I could have delivered in the old format two food classes. But for me, this is a better experience for students. If the students are going to learn more and be more effective, then this type of training is going to be more valuable.
It’s providing value to the customer. That’s the most important thing rather than, you know, if we just focus on a revenue extraction model rather than a value creation model, then we’re not going to be able to affect change. We’re not going to be able to have people look favourably on what it is we’re doing. Right, we’re not going to have people.
We both need to get something out of the experience. If companies are realising that they’re not getting anything out of the two field days and even the four half days is starting to not provide them with the value that they’d really like to get, they’re going to start buying that training and they’re not going to be able to provide that to the people in their organisation.
I think this is part of that story of we want to deliver more value to our customer even if it means that it takes more time to get there. I think that for me is that piece from both sides, both the business side, right, because I’m running a business, as well as from the helping people side. It actually benefits both.
Thanks for watching the video. If you enjoyed it, please like, follow and subscribe. I always reply to comments and if you want to have a chat about this or anything else agile, scrum or DevOps, then please book a coffee with me through Naked Agility.
