The document promotes Innovative Trainer, a learning platform designed by MindShare Consulting to close the gap between learning and doing. It emphasizes that Innovative Trainer allows for effective education in entrepreneurship and innovation through collaborative, modular learning that can be done at one's own pace. Key features include tools for creativity, connectivity, and collaborative curation and mindmapping to ease requirements analysis and support idea generation, analysis, and project planning.
“Learning and innovation go hand in hand.” The original quotation continues: “The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow.”William Pollard (1828–1893) was a Quaker writer and recorded minister.
EDUCATION
Face-to-face, self-paced learning, online collaborative learning.
(Blended Learning as a fruitful effort in integrating live classroom activities including face-to-face instructions along with online learning and instructions so as to reap the maximum benefits by utilizing the best elements of all through effective planning by an ideal facilitator.)
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Creativity – many ideas
Collaboration and networking for leverage
EFFECTIVE
Modular structure deliverable in one, two or multi-day sessions. Bite-sized online materials to support, supplement and focus the learning – making it both real and actionable.
Especially for younger people the image and metaphor of a journey in multiple stages, a climb towards excellence resonates strongly. This is the modular and incremental approach we have taken in Innovative Trainer building on the known to attain ever higher levels of knowledge and action.
Especially for thoe « new » to innovation a FRAMEWORK is essential to focus actions.
Pearltrees, collaborative curation leading to a knowledge base.
One of the key tools for CONCEPTION.
We feel that Innovative Trainer demonstrates the essential role of entrepreneurship education to stimulate economic growth by identifing the key ingredients of effective entrepreneurship education since it presents new, innovative methods and tools designed to bridge the traditional gap between learning and doing.
Closing the knowing-doing gapA field of research has emerged to address the training transfer issue. It focuses on finding ways to enable positive transfer of concepts from training to action and prevent relapse to old behaviors. This field provides many suggestions that focus on trainee characteristics, training design, and the work environment to improve training transfer. I am going to focus on something that is under the control of an individual interested in changing her/his leadership behaviors.
Specifically, my goal is to suggest an intervention that can be used by someone who has either acquired new leadership knowledge from a book or undergone some sort of leadership training to bring about a change in her/his leadership behaviors. This intervention should apply equally well to someone who is leading a virtual team or a traditional team. Moreover, I expect this intervention to apply equally well to leadership knowledge or tips acquired from different sources. As long as one is trying to apply behaviorally oriented leadership knowledge or tips, the following intervention should work.
Goal-setting as a simple interventionA simple intervention that research has shown to work is goal setting (see an exampleof such research that appeared in the Academy of Management Journal). Goal setting involves creating a list of desirable leadership behaviors, setting targets for those behaviors (e.g., 5 times per week), and monitoring progress towards achieving those targets. When creating a list of desirable behaviors, make sure that the behaviors are specific, actionable behaviors rather than general behaviors. For instance, corresponding to the general behavior of showing energy and enthusiasm, some specific behaviors would be to ‘show willingness to take on additional responsibilities,’ ‘come in early to work,’ or ‘finish the work assigned to me before others remind me to.’ You will have to consider your unique situation to translate the desirable leadership behaviors into specific actions.
You will find it useful to share your list and targets with someone you trust (e.g., your peer or superior). Such sharing builds public commitment to your goals. To strengthen this commitment, also consider sharing how well you are achieving your targets with them.
How do you set targets? During the first week or two, monitor opportunities for displaying desirable behaviors. Make a note of their frequencies. As a first pass, the frequencies of opportunities you experience could be used as targets. You don’t have to get your targets right the first time. Give yourself the latitude to adjust the targets to make sure that you don’t exhaust yourself and have the energy to perform well.