The Learning and Development Book - by Tricia Emerson & Mary Stewart (Paperback)

About the Book

This book was written for the experienced, time-challenged L&D professionals looking for ways to be more effective. The insights in this book are meant to help when you feel stalled. They are about the gotchas - the hard-won knowledge that comes from skinned knees and bumped heads. They might jump-start your creativity, give you a fresh idea, and remind you of something that worked in the past, or simply change your perspective. In addition to enabling effective learning, from time to time you must articulate the need for it. This book gives you simple ideas and concepts to illustrate these needs and illuminate learning and development efforts for you, your clients, your teams and your company leadership. L&D is simple. Our chapters are written to be short and easy to digest. Each contains just one "nugget of wisdom" from years of learning and development consulting experience. L&D is flexible. Open to any chapter! No need to start at the beginning. Read the table of contents and pick something that interests you. Each chapter is self-contained, so read one or read them all, in any order you like.

Book Synopsis

Everyone thinks they know everything about training. Right? We've all gone to school, been trained on the job, and maybe endured the occasional corporate seminar. But if you're a professional in this field, you know that's familiarity, not expertise. Instructional design and implementation are not as easy as they look. You know there's an art to enabling people to truly change their behavior, moving themselves and their organizations toward the right future.

That's what inspired The Learning and Development Book. Open the book to any page and you'll find a short chapter that holds one hard-won lesson--the reward of decades implementing instructional design in real-world settings.

Why should learning be more like playing?

Is the culture of your organization working against you?

Should you really measure the effects of your training program?

Have you ever thought that learning begins when training ends?

Each chapter holds a nugget of wisdom on subjects like these. Whether you're a battle-tested educator or embarking on your first big training job, we hope we can give you tips, tools, big ideas, and (bonus!) a smile.

About the Author

Trish Emerson has spent her career managing organizational change. Her passion is helping enhance the value of her clients' most important asset--their people. Trish so loves her chosen field that she launched her own firm, Emerson Human Capital Consulting (EHC). Since 2001, EHC has provided organizations with creative solutions that bring tangible results. She resides in Alameda, California. Mary Stewart loves to talk about change. A former Big Five change management consultant, Mary now considers herself a writer and communicator. She has found her groove helping Emerson Human Capital reach out to clients and the consulting industry. She helps craft messages to clients, maintains EHC's branding and image, and supports the communication line of business. Mary loves her work, but her true passions are raising her three children, finding and feeding two elusive cats, and spending time with her big, extended family in Oak Park, Illinois.