For some time, I've been pondering about what unique and interesting proposal, I bring to the corporate arena.
To rightfully define it, we need to know what my experience is:
CLO of a big global bank (http://www.bll.co.il/) - Bank Leumi. During my 5 years in this position, I actually received a "card blanche" to do whatever I wanted to and indeed I did!Among our main projects, I can mention:
Blended Learning (needed when we had to train all branch employees in a very short time), while the term wasn't even defined. Due to it, we won the ASTD In Search of Excellence Award in 2000.
We were the first customer in the world (1998), while eLearning was still in its infancy.
We decentralized learning and empowered the different LOB's of the bank.
We implemented Knowledge Management in the bank, realizing that the best unit to initiate it is the training one!
After leaving the bank, I crossed the street to the supplier's side (and what a change that was!):
General Manager of Interwise (Europe)
CEO of a training company ( Ergo Training)
Business Development Director of the Training Division in Ness Technologies (http://www.ness.com/).
During this time, I became a member of the academic staff of the Department of learning Technology in the Holon Institute of Technology – HIT (http://www.hit.ac.il/). This is the first academic institution that trains instructional designer in Israel. We'll have our first graduates this year and it's quite exciting!
Spirala – A very dear friend of mine (Gideon Ziler, the CEO and owner of e-Learning Knowledge Solutions – http://www.e-learning.c.il/) and I established Spirala, an institution aimed at professionalizing all those working in the training profession in Israel. We did it jointly with HIT and I must say it's proving very difficult to convince training professional (or maybe their bosses) to invest in their own professionalism. We won't give up!
The Training Community in Israel – I established it as a part of the Israeli Society for HR Management and Development (http://www.ishrm.org.il/) and I chair it. We have a regular Newsletter, member meeting in different organizations, are progressing the initiative for training certification in Israel, etc.
Developing employees/empowering the/helping them become better and more satisfied employees is my passion. This is the domain where I feel the most at home. I feel it deep in my bones, that I fully understand how to bring the corporate to the right position regarding these huge challenges.
When you add all these activities, it's quite obvious that the path I must take is one of being a well known expert in what? What's my business proposal? A very tough question! Selling training is very difficult and I'd like to make use of all my corporate leading experience, so the proposal must be one that has a meaning for all the organization.
This is where, I thought of: STRATEGIC LEARNING.
What's this? In the next post...
And before we finish, what's BTDT? Very simple: Been There, Done That. This is one my main strengths: I not only talk the talk, but I've walked the walk as well!
Yours,
Meir
