It is a emotionally charged question with no definitive answers, as I
realized when I was discussing this with my leadership team in a late
evening coffee shop conversation.
The middle road and an easy
answer can be that it is art as much as science. A variation of the same
is that, while IDs follow a process it is creativity that makes the
training package outcomes unique, tailored, relevant and effective. And
to think of it, any work, job is always the same. A process is defined
and individuals using their thinking skills to deliver unique value in
every job that exists in the world.
However, the trigger to this post, is to highlight that when decisions are to be made on
people,
such middle ground exercise is a danger. Because, people need to be
selected, oriented, trained, motivated and given responsibilities to
build them up for success. Thus, the leaders and operating teams views
matter only if it is either way - so that decisions are consistent and
fast.These decision, then determine:
- Hiring and selection,
- Retaining the right fits, and,
- Choosing the type of customer where successful partnerships can be built.
My
argument and stand is that, Instruction Design is a pure process driven
domain satisfying most (well, almost all) of the needs of corporations
and programs commissioned to resolve learning gaps. Supporting my case
is:
- Analyzing content to meet the learning needs (follow a
structured traceability) has to be a process-driven to get solutions in
time,
- Content/Context/Environment/User devices/time availability and attention span, drives logical decisions
for crafting the learning paths/modules, repeating learning objectives
and defining interaction patterns, deployment mediums and
- The
important step of writing instructions, has to be style guide driven,
just as in editorial rooms for maintaining standards, consistency,
understanding, error-free, audience appropriate, build brand identity,
which all has to prove to be successful instructions to drive the
learning which is the aim of the whole exercise.
- Determination
of Learning Object is a collaboration between developer on what can be
implemented as a SCO (if made SCORM compliant).
Having said
this, it is important to clarify that the thinking behind all this is
not to create a large step by step documented procedure manual and that
robots can replace humans in this field. The human mind wins in
developing instructions for fellow humans. Over-hyping this piece of a
process, probably gives Instruction Design a narrow window of evaluation
to prospective talents who could make a successful career. Instruction
Designers can be successful, where natural competencies are being good
at
process management and can deliver good outcome with the reserves of
empathy, Learning Agility (mentored on best practices that are available to read aplenty on the SoMe world).
Next
time, when you are in job market understand the hiring manager
philosophy to your job and if it aligns to the job perception you hold,
express your wish. It will save both the manager and individuals from
the path of draining the energy and enabling success to reach the
business.
I took Instruction Design as an example, as the
in-world, in-person discussion happened on the question, which am sure
is applicable in any industry, domain, work.
