I was invited not long ago to speak to students and post-docs at The University of California, Berkeley (https://career.berkeley.edu/) about transitioning from academia to business and what it’s like to work in the field of training and development (a.k.a., talent development or T&D).
Speaking at events of this nature is always an honor for me and in preparation for it, I shot a note to some of my colleagues asking, “What should I talk about? What advice would YOU give to new graduates considering our field?”
My colleagues were generous and sent back a wealth of ideas. It was far more than I could include in my remarks to the UCB audience, but I thought it might make for a compelling article for anyone interested in our field, but especially for new graduates.
So without further ado, some advice, thoughts to consider, and words of wisdom for people considering entering the field of training and development. (Please note that this is an abbreviated article, for the fuller version, visit Peregrine’s blog: http://peregrine.us.com/practical-advice-for-career-in-training/)
Advice Specific to the Field of T&D
As training and development professionals, we play many different roles. We are consultants, designers, developers, project managers, coaches, technicians, advocates—sometimes all in one day.
The following advice is applicable to many of these roles:
Learn the language of business. We have many former teachers in our field. I’m a former teacher (I taught at the university level for many years). Whether you’re an academic or not, if you’re going to work in the world of business, you must have a solid understanding of the language of business. Even if just the basics. Learn:
- What to look for on a balance sheet or a P&L summary.
- What someone really means when they talk about “the bottom line.” What goes into that?
- How to translate what you’re doing (e.g., planning, analyzing, designing, presenting, etc.) into the language of business leaders—into hard business results such as faster time to productivity, increased safety, fewer errors, lower turnover, etc.
This is a valuable skill. You don’t have to be an expert, but having basic mastery over the language and concepts of business is essential. You’ll see this echoed in the remarks of many of my colleagues.
Focus more on business results and less on the tools. Roger Chevalier, consultant, president of Improving Workplace Performance and author of “The Manager’s Guide to Improving Workplace Performance,” reminds us “that training and development are means to ends. They are of value only when they contribute to the desired ends—more sales, greater profitability, better customer service, greater market share, etc.” (https://www.linkedin.com/in/roger-chevalier-0b71132)
Dawn Papaila, a performance improvement expert and president of WLP Consultants, echoes that with similar advice: “If you choose to work in the corporate space, you will benefit from understanding the current organizational business goals, as well as political, competitive, and financial pressures. Be aware that complex projects that take months to complete are at risk due to shifting priorities. Understanding the nuances of managing budgets and people is helpful.” (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawnpapaila)
And Faraaz Fashori, solutions architect at SumTotal Systems, says: “It’s important to master the ability learn, unlearn, and relearn. You also have to be able to speak the language of business. To succeed today, you must be ready for a constant state of adaptation—continually unlearning old ‘rules’ and relearning new ones.” (https://in.linkedin.com/in/faraazfarshori)
Realize that it’s a big world out there, but there’s room for you and your interests. Enzo Silva, learning strategist at SAP and director of Social Media, Greater Atlanta ATD, reminds us to be ourselves, ask for help, and build strong networks. “Bring your interests to what you do. Take advantage of existing development programs for yourself. And get your manager involved—make your desires known and work with your manager to plan your development with courses, tools, events, etc., especially when there’s little or no formal support for development. Join local interest groups. Share your experiences with others in the field, own your career, share what you know, network.” (https://www.linkedin.com/in/enzosilva)
On Getting Started in E-Learning
Joe Ganci, owner of eLearning Joe, workshop facilitator, and certified Adobe Captivate expert, offers this advice: “To start off on the right foot, seek out the best, most effective examples, of e-learning you can find. Look for examples that help achieve business results and learn from them. The vast majority of e-learning is poorly done, linear, with either no media or too much media, and could be easily and better substituted with a book or a video, for all the interactivity it contains. Remember the best e-learning experiences are those that challenge learners to solve problems that are rooted in their real-life careers.” (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeganci)
Additionally, Farshori explains: “To get into e-learning, you do not need an IT background. People with language, communication, and content capabilities from Fine Arts and English Literature backgrounds form an important constituent of the workforce. Some of the hottest career profiles in e-learning include visualizers, instructional writers, instructional designers, and learning solutions architects.”
Advice for Making Career Transitions
In my conversations with the students and post-docs at UCB, we focused a lot on strategies for moving from the world of academia to the world of business. We came back around several times to planning and coping strategies. Here are a few of the pointers we discussed:
Find six good friends. Someone once told me, “You need six really good friends.” When I asked, “Why?” they replied, “Well, because at any given time, five of them might be busy.”
I laughed. But I’ve found this to be true. And important. Life can be difficult sometimes, especially in times of transition. And having a solid support network around you is critical—perhaps more critical than you may realize—for coping with the ups and downs. So if you don’t already have them, develop six really good friendships.
Define what you want. One of the most helpful things I did for myself many years ago was make a list of my goals—things, characteristics, qualities about my life that I really wanted. This list included items such as these:
- Live in California
- Be a consultant
- Do work I enjoy
- Make a reasonably good living
- Teach and speak on occasion
My items were more specific and personal than this, but you get the idea. And I have achieved most of the goals on my original list.
When creating your list, remember the more specific you can be, the better. Put your goals in writing. And be specific.
For More
This is an abbreviated version of this article. For more on these kinds of things, including recommended resources, see the full post on PPG’s blog: http://peregrine.us.com/practical-advice-for-career-in-training/
Russ Powell is a performance-based training evangelist and learning industry veteran who helps mid-sized and large businesses create effective and affordable professional training programs. He and his business partner, Joe Halpin, run Peregrine Performance Group, a training consulting firm that helps business leaders reduce high rates of turnover, increase customer satisfaction, maintain quality and profitability, and increase employee productivity. To learn more, visit http://www.peregrinepg.com and follow Peregrine on Twitter at https://twitter.com/PeregrinePer4mc
