Pick-and-Mix

Posted by mattpoy on March 14, 2013 Posted in Education, Skills, Technology Tagged Education, People, Skills, Talent

I enjoyed being a part of the ‘Voice of Apprenticeships’ Conference this week, where I presented immediately before Skills Minister Matthew Hancock MP. I shared my views on how technology is changing not just how we must think about educating the next generation but how we engage and reach these students today.

MOOCs, Massive Open Online Courses, are getting a lot of press currently and the UK’s FutureLearn programme led by the Open University is leading the way. Smartphones and tablets are changing how we absorb information and education must follow suit, in smaller, bite-sized chunks, when and where the learner chooses to digest it.

Education may well take the form of a pick-and-mix bag of choices, but hopefully not as expensive as the pick-and-mix outlets selling confectionery. It may be that the role of the education institution includes tracking and approving building blocks of learning that add up to a unique qualification and that very few degrees actually look the same, but are pieced together based on an individual’s requirements and more importantly, the needs of a job role and the workplace.

What are the choices? History and prestige means the top tier universities will always have a demand for places, because of the prestige of having the institution listed on one’s CV or profile on LinkedIn. But for the rest, there is no choice. The majority of learning establishments have to change their value proposition; a student in a small town in England, or even as far as Africa or Asia, won’t pay to attend a mediocre lecture, when they can learn online from world experts.

The Professions Paradox

Posted by mattpoy on January 22, 2013 Posted in People, Skills, Technology Tagged Education, Future Technology, People, Skills

Technology is one of the great levellers. With a smart and creative online presence, a small business can often give the impression of a large organisation, and yet technology alone doesn’t hold the key moving forward.

A look at unemployment rates across Europe shows that the employment bubble of the past 30 years has burst and the need for lower-skilled roles is drying up. There are currently 25m unemployed people in Europe plus 15m discouraged workers, which together would make the unemployment rate over 15% in total. Plus, over 20% of the true unemployed in Europe are under 24.

Yet a common thread amongst employers looking to fill skilled positions is that they can’t find the staff, and this trend is global! Almost half of employers in Europe report a shortage of skills (Accenture: ‘Turning the Tide’ survey).

By 2020, it will only get worse. An extra 16m high skilled jobs will be needed, countered by a decline of 12m less low-skilled positions.

That was the landscape. We must solve it by training and certifying our employees; we must use ‘big data’ to predict, anticipate and better target our customers, and we must apply technology to engage and connect everyone to our brand. Once again, the solution revolves around companies investing in their people, and individuals investing in themselves, in lifelong learning, in whatever shape that may take.

One of my favourite quotes comes from Richard Reed, one of the founders of Innocent, the smoothie drinks maker, “You can imitate our services and technology, but not the quality of our people.” I am guessing not many people choose to leave that company in a hurry.

The MOOC thing

Posted by mattpoy on January 10, 2013 Posted in Education, Future of Technology, Learning, Skills Tagged Education, Future Technology, Learning, Skills

Technology continues to disrupt and next in line is education. There has been a lot written about Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and many renowned institutions are involved – Harvard, MIT, Stanford and more recently the Open University here in the UK with their FutureLearn model. The Khan Academy, launched by Salman Khan, delivers 200m classes via YouTube, with zero hosting costs, now that is clever.

MOOCs are still trying to establish their model and this may take some time, but what is really important is that traditional learning institutions cannot just sit back and disregard this wave of change. I accept that tier-one universities such as Harvard or Cambridge will always have demand for places due to the prestige associated with studying there. But a student in Europe or Asia will refuse to pay large sums of money to sit in a mediocre lecture in their own country when they can learn online from world class tutors and be associated with a leading university.

Currently the MOOC interest is more about bridging the gap between current knowledge and acquiring new skills in order to do a better job, or find a new one. These modular, bite-sized chunks of learning are possibly the icing on the cake. If 5 candidates interview for one role and have a similar degree and one has an additional 20 certificates of mastery in a specific area of study, it is likely that their CV will stand out. In today’s world, it is all about differentiation. The modules offered by MOOCs not only allow an individual to keep up with changes in the business world but possibly in future even anticipate how market sectors will evolve.

This is just one example. Technology is breaking up the majority, the mainstream and the mundane. Which sector is next?

Extraordinary people

Posted by mattpoy on December 20, 2012 Posted in People, Skills, Talent, Uncategorized Tagged People, Skills, Talent

The simplest statements are the most powerful.

Do not try to make ordinary people extraordinary.

Just hire extraordnary people.

Hardware, Software or Brainware

Posted by mattpoy on September 16, 2012 Posted in Future of Technology, People, People Skills Talent, Skills, Talent Tagged Education, People, Skills, Talent

I am just back from the European ATP conference, where more than 200 certification and assessment experts gathered to discuss learning and testing and its future. As always the common thread throughout all presentations and panel sessions was technology. From ‘Bring Your Own Device’ to student engagement via social media, technology excited the delegates but also made some nervous about change.

Vice-Chancellor of the Open University, Martin Bean, a personal friend and mentor for some 20 years, delivered a sensational presentation showing how his institution was moving with the times. From the Frozen Planet to iTunesU, the OU continues to lead the way both here and abroad. Our Group CEO Rona Fairhead (of the Financial Times Group, the division of Pearson I work for) shared the most thought-provoking of stories talking about the professions paradox. So many people, so few skills and demand continues to grow. We will stumble and fall if we don’t address the skills shortfall that faces all Europe.

I had just 20 minutes in my session to highlight how some of the tech-trends are weaving into education, especially through mobility and handheld devices, and as always, I finished on no small matter of ‘Tomorrow’s Talent.’ One of the key messages that connected many presentations was that we must nurture our next generation of talent and understand them on their terms. If we don’t, they will opt not to work for us, because as we encounter a thinning supply of skilled people and we operate in what I call a stock market of human resources, it will be the holders of those intellectual assets (not hardware or software but ‘brainware’) who will wield the most power. They will choose their employer or go it alone, and we will be left with the greatest technology and no people to make effective use of it.

Gold Dust

Posted by mattpoy on August 16, 2012 Posted in People, People Skills Talent, Skills, Talent, Technology Tagged Future Technology, People, Skills, Talent

One of my favourite meetings recently was with Alan Loader (Publisher) and Sara Yirrell (Editor) of CRN magazine, part of the IncisiveMedia group. The conversation could easily have continued all afternoon. We talked about the speed at which technology is dictating how we do business, how education will remain the single biggest differentiator regardless of change and that the best people are becoming more elusive.

Alan coined a great term in human gold dust– how it is becoming harder to find good people and more importantly to retain them, to motivate them to stay. Surveys tell us the same thing over and over, that it isn’t always about more money. If somebody is fundamentally not happy doing their job, a few thousand pounds will not change those feelings and 3 months down the line, you will be back in the same position. My earliest blog posts talked about a formula, a magic blend of rapidly changing technology plus talented people equalling tomorrow’s great companies. This is the here and now.

Furthermore, Seth Godin asked, “Do we have to pander” [to people, to customers]? Should we trade our reputations for a short-term boost of awareness or profits? He argues that if we want to build a reputation that lasts, to be the voice that some (not all) in the market seek out, you must resist short-term greed and build something that matters. The same applies with our people. Don’t compromise just to fill a position. Look for the best, give them the bandwidth to be creative and spend a percentage of their time on crazy new ideas, and let them be exceptional. Let them use the technology at their disposal to promote your product or service from every conceivable angle, as long as what they do ties into a central theme for your business.

I think you will find they will flourish, and stay.

Remember, Remember

Posted by mattpoy on July 24, 2012 Posted in Future of Technology, Learning, Skills, Technology Tagged Education, Future Technology, Learning, Skills

I am just back from co-hosting the Pearson VUE Global Sales Summit, where the business development and client support teams from round the globe descended on Minneapolis to discuss learning and assessment technologies, share case studies and talk futures. It was an excellent event.

At breakfast in the hotel the waiter asked me if I would like some cranberry juice, my morning potion. How did he remember after so many months? That is some service. This led me to think where I would like to see technology heading in the learning space, using IT to remember our learning preferences.

I have been involved in many discussions around lifelong learning and how it will be the responsibility of the individual to keep their skills up to date, as companies reduced their core and people move around from project to project putting their skills and expertise to use. What we need is an App on our devices that tracks our learning, recognises completion of a module specific to our immediate task at hand and then recommends when we are ready for the next stage, each time suggesting local providers, special offers and development opportunities.

If the technology at our disposal can recommend discounted meals, city breaks and electronic goods, why can it not also recommend bite-sized chunks of learning and tailored education – the most important investment of all?

New York, New York

Posted by mattpoy on May 26, 2012 Posted in Culture, Pearson, People Skills Talent, Skills Tagged Pearson, People, Skills, Talent

I spent most of this week in the Big Apple at a Pearson event called Forum.

Forum brings together 120 people from across the company to brainstorm, network and focus on a specific theme to help drive continuous improvement throughout the company. This year’s theme was ‘Culture.’

It was a great experience, especially listening to Marjorie Scardino enthral us with her stories at dinner, meeting the Management Team and working with people I have never met before. We were assigned to ‘Home Group’ number 7. We called our group ‘I’ll Have Another.’ John, Allison, Ramesh, Natalie, Ken, Adrienne and myself. We hit it off immediately. I don’t know why and I am not sure how. But it clicked right away and it worked. On an evening assignment we created one of the best videos, as highlighted by our faciliators the next morning. Seven people in a group spanning a range of countries and continents – and yet it all came together very quickly. What does it mean? It tells me that when the chemistry is right, and when people get on, amazing things happen in the workplace. I thank the team for a great 3 days. We laughed so much.

I also learned that culture is not down to the CEO or management team to establish and cascade down to us. Culture is us. It is up to us as a team to find the connections, have the right attitude, communicate, share and motivate others, to feel and to be the culture. It was an inspirational week, especially going for runs along the Jersey shore facing Manhattan and waking up every day to this view. Thanks New York, thanks Pearson, thanks Team 7.

The Best Advice

Posted by mattpoy on May 14, 2012 Posted in People, Skills, Talent Tagged People, Skills, Talent

Often, the most profound things are the simplest.

I read an interview with Christian Louboutin who said his father gave him the best advice of his career. His father was a carpenter and once told him that to make beautiful sculptures in wood you should work with the grain. If you go against the grain, you end up with splinters. Louboutin took this as a metaphor for getting along with people.

I think that is a golden nugget of advice, especially when people, skills and talent are the future of everything.