Leading Links 2021 – Issue 10

Here’s our final issue of Leading Links for 2021. We’ve curated it to help you develop yourself and your team, navigate the new landscape successfully, and deliver real, accessible learning impact in 2022.

In addition to the resource links that follow, be sure to join us for The Practical Implications of the Mythical Learning Business MBA, a great way to explore the knowledge and know-how critical for success in 2022. (Many thanks to Cadmium for sponsoring.)

November – December Links
Here’s what we’ve rounded up for the end of 2021. 

[Leadership – Capacity] Developing Yourself and Others
Leaders have a responsibility both to develop themselves and to help those around them learn and develop. With that responsibility in mind, we’ve combined the Leadership and Capacity categories for this issue of the newsletter and will point out a handful of relevant resources. 

First, we explored capacity in some depth in “Who and What: The Capacity Challenge,” one of the episodes in our recent learning business MBA series on the Leading Learning podcast. In it, we discuss the Learning Business Capacity Matrix and also highlight the personal learning roadmap, a valuable tool developed by Mary Byers, co-author of Race for Relevance 

In addition to those resources, we like this recent Leadership Freak post on How to Choose A Dynamic Self-Development Goal. 

Use these for yourself, and share them with others as you head into 2022. 

[Strategy] Navigating the 2022 Learning Business Landscape
Speaking of 2022, clearly things have changed quite a bit since this time last year and they will continue evolving in the new year. In addition to our recent Leading Learning Webinar on the learning business landscape, we also had the opportunity to chat with Mary Byers (mentioned above) about what thriving in a post-pandemic landscape may involve. 

We believe one key to success will be a much higher level of intentionality in developing and delivering educational programming – a view that MacKenzie Feldpausch also supports in this Event Garde post. 

Finally, we urge you to consider and discuss with others in your learning business the implications of the “unbundling” and “rebundling” described in this Getting Smart article. While the authors write from the perspective of K-12 and higher education, what they describe is bound to have a significant impact on learning businesses in the coming years. Really, it already has. Think, in particular, of your organization’s role in creating “coherent, personalized pathways where valuable learning–wherever and however it takes place– is recognized and valued.”

[Portfolio] Events That Actually Educate
In-person conferences are re-emerging and – assuming no major resurgences of the pandemic – they will continue to throughout 2022. In line with the focus on “intentionality” suggested above, Sarah Michel notes that there’s never been a better time to reimagine your conference education programming. She offers some brief but very useful suggestions to help you Elevate Your Conference Education in this Velvet Chainsaw post. 

Why is reimagining necessary? Largely because – as Adrian Segar suggests – when we ask the question “Did anyone learning anything” about our events, the answer generally ranges from flat out “No” to, at best, “We don’t really know.” While there are never any guarantees – so much is up to the individual learner – following the suggestions that Adrian offers will get you much closer to a clear “Yes!”

[Marketing] When is “Free” okay?
Pricing is a major focus of our consulting at Tagoras and one of the topics we write and speak about the most on Leading Learning. Perhaps not surprisingly, the emergence of the pandemic and the need to rethink educational programming and events led to a lot of confusion around pricing strategy. This post on the WBT Systems blog considers the ramifications of two key decision points and offers guidance for how to think about free offerings going forward. 

Along with it, you may want to revisit some of the many items we have published about pricing.

[Technology] Making E-Learning More Accessible
Accessibility has always been an important – and, too often, neglected – issue in online learning, but the massive shift to e-learning during the pandemic made it more important than ever – and also exposed the gaps in many courses and platforms. 

To help address issues with courses, we recommend Accessibility in E-Learning: Considerations in Your Courses by Diane Elkins at Artisan E-learning. 

For an introduction to LMS accessibility, see this video by Nicolas Steenhout, a specialist in inclusion, accessibility, and disability.

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That’s it for this edition. In parting, we’ll note that you can now access previous issues of Leading Links (starting with the December, 2020 edition). Be sure to check them out – there are bound to be valuable resources you missed or have forgotten about. We encourage you to use them as a catalyst for your own learning and for discussions with colleagues.