I'm back from Learning 2007, which was a great opportunity to really dig into the latest and greatest thinking in the organizational training field. There are a lot of topics I could post about, but here's one popular theme that was a new thought to me: is the impending retirement of the Baby Boomers really that scary of a prospect?
I was surprised at the number of people who were less concerned about this. Don Tapscott, one of the keynote speakers, pointed out that the Generation Next that's arriving in the workforce now is even bigger than the Baby Boomer generation (I checked that out in the Census Bureau, and it seems to be bigger by about 15 million people.) The retirement of the Baby Boomers won't mean a reduction in workforce with all those newcomers arriving, just a challenge to make sure your leadership succession is in place.
The much bigger topic on everyone's lips was the arrival of Generation Next, especially the impact that their use of technology, social networking, and other Web 2.0 applications will have on the workplace and on workplace training. It's bringing about a radical shift in not just our training needs, but how that training is presented and applied.
The contrast between these two topics was interesting. I've talked about both with many people before, but it was interesting to see where they're falling on training departments' priority lists: retirement/succession planning is a minor concern, but the new generation of both people and tools are creating some earthquakes.
What's your biggest generational concern?
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