The Digital Natives Are Coming

Are You Ready?

I recently attended a workshop hosted by our local ASTD Chapter. The presenter was Anders Gronstedt of the Gronstedt Group. In his thick Arnold Schwarzenegger accent, he repeatedly urged the audience to quit using “boring PowerPoint presentations and that awful e-learning crap.” I don’t know if he realized it or not but he was speaking to a room full of people who make their living using PowerPoint. What else is there? We all laughed nervously as we waited to be enlightened.
According to Gronstedt, digital natives will not sit still for classroom style corporate training. Younger workers have grown up using digital technology and they want the freedom to download and go. Gronstedt suggested creating podcasts and webcasts to offer employees quick little shots of information that they can access whenever and wherever they want. Sound bytes of fifteen minutes or less are best because digital natives have short little spans of attention.  We were entertained by a slick video created by Jamba Juice in order to teach new employees how to create the perfect fruit shake. It was a fast paced, high tech and expensive looking production. A million questions ran through my mind about the practicality and affordability of this technical approach to training.
Eventually, Gronstedt unveiled Second Life. Second Life is a 3-D virtual world that can, among other things, be used as a training venue. Basically, you create a character and attend training sessions as an avatar on the screen. Gronstedt demonstrated how Second Life characters meet for coffee before the session. “You can even make your character fly!” I had been trying to keep an open mind but this is where Gronstedt lost me. I wanted to scream, “Fly? I don’t want to fly!”
I am probably showing my non-digital age but this type of training seemed flat and uninspiring. Where was the meaningful human interaction? Yet, I thought of my teenage son who rarely picks up the phone to talk to his friends.  Talking is so last year. Why talk when you can just text someone? Similarly, why stand in front of a room of people and try to teach a new concept when you can create a quick little MP3 instead? Surely, training is not the only aspect of business that needs updating. Most current business practices will likely leave digital natives fidgeting in their chairs and staring out the window wishing they could fly away. We should all be laughing nervously and seeking enlightenment.

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