Leading Links 2022 – Issue 7

After a summer break, we’re back with a new round-up of resources to help you increase the reach, revenue, and impact of your learning business. A couple of resources to mention before we dive into this month’s Leading Links:

• 3 Paths to Tapping the Full Potential of Your Learning Business – Join us in September for our next free Leading Learning Webinar. Sponsored by MapleLMS. 
• Presenting for Impact – Get review access to our free training to help your subject matter experts increase the educational impact of their presentations. 

Please consider sharing the above resources with your colleagues, followers, etc., and letting them know they can also sign up for their own free Leading Links subscription.  

Now, on to the links.

[Strategy]  Demand for online education is growing. Are providers ready?
Not really, in our opinion. Taking time to reflect on and address the types of issues this article highlights can be invaluable for growing your learning business – a great exercise to do with your team, if you have one. Ask (for starters): 

• How well do we really understand our market?
• How tuned in are we to employer and labor market needs? 
• Is B2B/institutional selling a part of our model?
• Do we provide coaching and other methods beyond traditional courses, webinars, and conference sessions? 
• Do we have a “bold and differentiated brand” for our learning business? 

Questions we all need to be asking – and answering.

[Portfolio] Here’s Your Chance to Experience the Potential of Flipped Conference Learning
It’s tempting to file this one under marketing, because it is, in fact, a great example of top notch content marketing. But what makes it a great example is that it provides substantive, useful content that delivers on the title. Regardless of whether you will be attending the ASAE Annual meeting, the resources linked to here are ones well worth exploring. And, to contribute to your potential flipped learning experience, we’ll add the following:

• Curate, Create, Commission with Veronica Diaz (Career Pathways)
• Putting Foresight First with Jeff De Cagna (Futures Thinking)
• The Adaptation Advantage with Heather McGowan (Future of Work)
• Go Small to Deliver Big Results: A Look at Microcredentials (Digital Badging)

That’s just scratching the surface. We’ve covered all of these topics in many ways on the blog and podcast, so be sure to use the search function on the right side of the Leading Learning Web site to find more resources. 

[Capacity | Leadership] Leading a Culture of Innovation from Any Seat
Our view is that leadership should happen at all levels of an organization, and a significant part of building capacity is working to make that view a reality. This article provides a very practical look at how capacity and leadership can connect through human-centered design – and transform into innovation. It pairs well with Transform Your L&D Function into an Innovation Powerhouse. (Most readers will just need to substitute “education department” for “L&D function.)

[Marketing] Marketing vs. promotion
With his usual concision, Seth Godin makes a point that we have returned to again and again over the years: marketing and promotion are not the same, and the distinction matters. For a related set of concise thoughts see Where Does Marketing Start?

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That’s it for this edition. Be sure to check out previous issues of Leading Links. 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.