Dumb Things Companies Do

I've been working in education for over 25 years (first part time, later full time). I've had the pleasure of seeing how education can make a significant contribution to organizational efforts. Unfortunately, I've also seen some of the dumb things that organizations do with the end result that their educational efforts are reduced, become less than effective, and at the extreme even become a waste of time and money.

I want to include some of these things in the blog as examples of what not to do. It's my hope that presenting these examples will give people an opportunity to reflect on how their organization approaches training and education.

The danger, of course, is that I may become too negative or get too carried away. So I ask you to give me a good swift verbal kick in the pants if I do by commenting on these posts.

The first example will be posted tomorrow. It represents a significant and substantial failure. But as I write this I also realize that many of the dumb things companies do to reduce educational effectiveness are not done intentionally and often are not substantial. But they are significant from the point of view that they diminish the educational experience. I also realized that it was hard to create a succinct label for these posts. I wanted to create a category called "dumb things companies do to really screw up their training efforts" or "DUTHCODO TRESUTTE." Now is that ridiculous or what? I also realized that I was starting to rant. So I slapped my fingers and created the category: education.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
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