28 McGregor-MacDonald
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learning and bringing the “community” back together again. The conference call does
not, however, lend itself to support those colleagues who speak English as a second
language and the transcript of the call, while a valuable record of verbatim comments and
stories, is detailed and time consuming to analyse at a later date.
As the networking opportunity of the event holds such great wealth for the
participants and lends itself to the transfer of knowledge both to the network after the
event and to their colleagues back in the office, a digital photo is now taken on site on
the last day of the programme and circulated to the delegates approximately two weeks
afterwards via e-mail. For those people who learn more effectively in a group and through
visual stimulus (as opposed to audio or kinesthetic), the photo provides a reminder of
the experience and the learning.
The A5 laminate needs no translation, it’s colourful, and delegates do not need to
actually “do” anything with it other than hang it somewhere prominent on their desk as
a reminder. When walking around the offices, these laminates are becoming more and
more visible with the numbers of colleagues attending the programme. This is a simple
way to cascade the message as yet other colleagues ask questions about the laminate
on the desk and the explanation cascades the learning.
The central conference would provide value to the delegates and the organisation,
but taking more than 250 colleagues out of the business for a day and bringing them to
a central location has financial and work flow implications. A compromise suggested by
the participants has been to hold local country conferences. This is something the team
considered implementing in fourth quarter, 2004.
Three years after implementation, the learning management system the business
has implemented globally is becoming a powerful tool. European colleagues are begin-
Within two weeks Take time to reflect and think
Receive group photo of delegates
Commence three to six month challenge
Two weeks Receive the following information by e-mail:- E-mail distribution list along with ideas on how to use it, that is, “What I have
learned this month” - Copy of the APT^2 (see Transferring Learning Across the Organisation) model
previously completed on-site - Copy of Excel spreadsheet with all delegates’ background pre work
- Excel spreadsheet with names of all participants on the programme across
Europe since spring 2002
Receive an additional e-mail directing delegates to specific e-learning materials to
reinforce key learning points, accessible through the global learning management
system
Attend conference call with other delegates (recorded and transcribed for later
reference)
Three weeks Receive an A5 colour laminate for their desk with key models and messages from
the three-day event
Six weeks Receive notification of bimonthly WebexTM calls to share feedback on three to six
month challenges
Three months Line managers of participants receive online questionnaire to complete on
noticeable changes in participants’ performance since attendance on the
programme
Six months Attend video conference with delegates to reinforce the network
Annually Attend a central conference of delegates to review content and lessons learned on
implementation, and facilitated discussions around transfer of learning and
knowledge management
Table 1.