The Problem or the Solution

Yesterday I passed along a link to a post from Karen at Bersin and Associates entitled, E Learning Takes a Hit. In it, she talks about the reduction in budget and staffing in Learning and Development organizations:

It is true that L&D organizations have modified their training delivery methods - but not toward e-learning. In fact, the proportion of training hours taken online has dropped for the first time ever, partly due to recent budget and staffing cuts. (See the recently published "Corporate Learning Factbook' report for more information.) This is somewhat ironic, since many companies originally turned to online learning to save money from their classroom programs. But companies have found that the investment in learning technology, content, and internal staffing adds up, and so they are switching to coaching, collaborative programs, and other less costly methods.

She then goes on to say:

The proliferation of social networking tools such as communities of practice, wikis, and blogs is helping this trend. Companies are recognizing that group exercises and facilitated communication improve not just the learning experience, but also social connections with the company.

Which got me to thinking, are we (introNetworks and others like us) part of the problem or part of the solution. On interesting quandary. I am talking to CLO's and people in Training and Development every day and talking about the solution that social networking provides, as Josh mentions in the final part of his post:

So if your company is facing budget constraints, try looking at coaching and collaborative approaches. These can be relatively inexpensive - and yet highly effective - methods for learning.

This leads me to believe that my continued focus on how social networking tools can be applied towards coaching and collaboration is indeed a solution for these firms, the problem is that because they are effective there is less of a reliance on old(er) methods of training.

Thanks for the brainteaser Karen.