InformationWeek

March 20, 2000

Businesses Must Demand A Commitment To Learning

Illustration by Jon Conrad ome business managers break out in a cold sweat at the sound of tech talk, and there are IT professionals who may question why they need to take sales training.

The transformation to an E-business environment, and the staff development that it requires, is unlikely to get the support of every employee. Some managers may even be threatened by learning requirements. Consider the seasoned business manager who now finds the Internet at the center of most executive-level strategy discussions. "It's a tough stretch for a guy who may have spent 20 years in a paper environment," says Bill Braddy, director of knowledge services for Schneider National Inc., a Green Bay, Wis., long-haul carrier.

Braddy's strategy is to identify the most outspoken critics of new learning programs and directly address their concerns. "Most of their anxiety is fear of the unknown," he says. "As soon as they know, the fear melts away. I find they not only learn, but they become champions."

Companies that don't demand a commitment to learn from their executives, managers, and other employees could find themselves in trouble. "Dramatic leaps have to be made. You can't always just evolve," says Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor. "Everyone 'gets' the rhetoric. When it comes down to implementation, many people get nervous."

With a never-ending cycle of new IT buzzwords, it can be hard for business managers to keep up-to-date on technologies. Shirley Singleton, CEO at consulting firm Edgewater Technologies, says her years as a high school teacher help with educating businesspeople about technology. One of the first tasks in working with managers and executives is to demystify the technology vocabulary, and she does this by referring to concepts that they recognize right away. "If they don't know ASP or Java, we translate it and put it into terms that make sense to them," she says.

Internally, Edgewater Technologies uses the Web as a platform for shared knowledge. The marketing department is responsible for managing an online information sheet called "The Edge Files," which includes a new topic each week. Information on any given topic includes a definition, historical context, and links to other sites with good information. Topics may include technologies or background on one of its clients, complete with industry context and information on the competition.

Return to the main story, "The ABCs Of E-Business."

Illustration by Jon Conrad

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