{"id":1424,"date":"2009-08-03T12:27:42","date_gmt":"2009-08-03T10:27:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oeb.global\/OEB_Newsportal\/?p=1424"},"modified":"2016-10-10T17:51:41","modified_gmt":"2016-10-10T15:51:41","slug":"sharing-the-secrets-of-success-laura-overton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oeb.global\/oeb-insights\/sharing-the-secrets-of-success-laura-overton\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharing the Secrets of Success: Laura Overton"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Laura<\/a>

Laura Overton<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cShare, learn and grow\u201d is the motto that drives her forward, says Laura Overton, Managing Director at Towards Maturity and our latest member of the ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN Steering Committee. In her work, Overton applies her motto daily: The main task of her London-based not-for-profit organisation is to share successful implementations of e-learning at work. And in doing so, it helps companies grow \u201cinto maturity\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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One cornerstone of Laura Overton\u2019s work is to identify and share good practice. She is the author of \u201cLinking Learning to Business\u201d and co-author of other extensive studies on effective (or \u201cmature\u201d) e-learning practices. In the past five years, she and her team have assessed more than 700 organisations and published the results, which can be accessed free-of-charge, on their website (www.towardsmaturity.org). Their Community of Excellence also contribute to the site, which supports 2000 public and private sector companies who want to know how to improve the impact of e-learning in the workplace. Overton originally established this service as a result of working with the UK\u2019s Learning and Skills Council.<\/p>\n

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The organisations at which Laura Overton and her colleagues have looked use a broad range of learning applications. The Japanese car manufacturer Toyota, for example, works with e-learning to enhance their European distributors\u2019 product knowledge. British Telecom has started to move into social learning (peer-to-peer). Pfizer, one of the world\u2019s largest pharmaceutical companies, has brought in blended learning to enable their highly professional staff \u2013 people who do not have much time \u2013 to pursue an online Master\u2019s degree in pharmaceutical medicine. And Liverpool\u2019s taxi drivers literally learn on the road, using mobile phone technologies on their PDAs.<\/p>\n

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So what is it that makes e-learning a success in these diverse environments? \u201cThe secret of using e-learning well is not technology-related. It depends on how effectively the organisation aligns its use of learning technology to its business strategy\u201d, says Overton, who can draw on nearly two decades of experience in the e-learning industry. For ten years, she worked as a senior manager at \u201cSmartForce\u201d.<\/p>\n

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\u201cFirst and foremost, learning and development staff have to find out what their organisation actually needs\u201d, Laura Overton adds. But she has experienced that employers tend to concentrate on making the technology work and \u201cthrow their common sense out of the window\u201d. Consequently, Overton\u2019s task as MD of Towards Maturity, an independent consultant, as well as a fellow at the British Institute of Learning and Development and the Institute of IT Training, is to bring common sense back in. She also applies her pragmatic approach when working with learning providers, trade organisations, or the British government, where she is the founding ambassador of Next Generation Learning @ Work, part of a national initiative that helps to promote better use of learning technologies in universities, colleges and schools.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThose who do link learning to their business benefit immensely\u201d, Overton says. Through e-learning, they improve factors like customer satisfaction or the quality of their products or their work. She has distilled six \u201cstrands of activities\u201d that help to deliver business impact. One of them is \u201clearner context\u201d: E-Learning works well if the learner\u2019s motivation and career aspirations are considered.<\/p>\n

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Laura Overton becomes passionate when talking about the barriers that prevent organisations from achieving their potential. Her research shows how the reasons for failing to use technology-based training have changed: \u201cFive years ago, the employers told us that their main barrier to success was the lack of IT infrastructure. Two years ago, they quoted cost challenges. In the current recession, cost still plays a role, but the main obstacles the employers see this year, are resistance of staff to change and a lack of knowledge and skills.\u201d (2009 Towards Maturity Benchmark Review)<\/p>\n

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But while the workforce does not seem to be ready to develop, employers are nonetheless expecting learning technologies to deliver more for the investment. \u201cThis gap is a strong motivator for me to constantly raise awareness and share the stories of learning success\u201d, Overton says.<\/p>\n

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In her opinion, ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN 2009 will be an excellent opportunity to bridge this gap. In the fifteen years OEB has been running, she has been involved in various ways. But this year, as a member of the Steering Committee, Overton sees an even greater chance to address the skills issue. She further appreciates the conference because it brings education and corporate learning together, \u201c… two fields which have not forged strong links\u201d, she regrets. \u201cBut making available what works well in each field will drive innovation.\u201d<\/p>\n

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And where does her passion for learning, sharing her knowledge and linking it to business come from? After all, she holds degrees in Mathematics and Psychology, not in Business Administration; and she is not a teacher. \u201cI was driven to training early on in my career\u201d, she says. Her first job after graduation included managing distance-learning programmes for IT professionals. At the time, it was the use of interactive video that fascinated her. \u201cIt worked so well that I asked myself why don\u2019t we share this experience?\u201d Since then, sharing the secrets of success has become her profession.<\/p>\n

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\u201cShare, learn and grow\u201d is the motto that drives her forward, says Laura Overton, Managing Director at Towards Maturity and our latest member of the ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN Steering Committee. In her work, Overton applies her motto daily: The main task of her London-based not-for-profit organisation is to share successful implementations of e-learning at work. […]<\/p>\n

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