Exchange value or use value?

Anyone who invests in further training - their own or that of their employees - should consider what direct benefit the training should bring. This makes it easier to choose the educational institute and helps to focus on the topics during the training instead of just concentrating on a title. There is no doubt that academic degrees are important for Switzerland as a research location and workplace. Those who employ people with academic titles are seen as attractive employers and business partners. But there are good reasons why not everyone takes the academic route. We refer to the book "Die Akademisierungsfalle" by Rudolf Strahm [1].

business needs

The basic principle is, of course, that training and further education should bring a high level of benefit. Before even looking for further training, it is important to know what demands will be placed on managers and employees in the next three to five years. Trend researchers predict an individualization in the world of work and education.

Each generation develops different values, and there are always several generations represented in the world of work. In today's companies, we find people from the "baby boomer generation", i.e. people born before 1960, as well as people from generations X, Y and Z with their different values. In addition, employees come from different countries and cultural backgrounds. In addition, each person has a different motivation for working in a company, and each company, all supervisors, all employees experience change processes on a daily basis. This poses demanding interpersonal challenges. In order to survive, it becomes indispensable to regularly reflect and question one's way of thinking and acting. Further training must therefore always include the Personality development in view.

The winners in the race for success will be those companies whose employees can think in an interdisciplinary, networked and systemic way. The most important characteristics of successful people include curiosity and innovative strength as well as comprehensive action competence. This means that not only knowledge, but also ability and willingness are decisive. Only those who know what they want, where they want to go and set themselves goals will end up where they want to be. Awareness of one's own values, characteristics and behaviour becomes a prerequisite. Regular reflection and goal optimisation form the basis for a healthy, personal life balance. In addition to technical and methodological skills, future managers and executives need orientation and (self-) leadership skills.

Needs of the employees

If we want to take those directly involved seriously, the changes in expectations must have consequences for educational concepts. For example, mindfulness and a stress-free personal life balance are becoming more and more important. A look at the values and attitudes of generations Y and Z shows that classic frontal teaching no longer corresponds to the new way of thinking. Those born after 1981 are concerned with "importance of questions of meaning", "striving for self-determination and self-fulfilment", "motivation through activities and results that correspond to one's own values ", "low respect for age and status as a sign of expertise and claim to leadership" and "demand for flexibility and individualism instead of standardisation ".. New forms of cooperation are needed, e.g. networks and informal groupings.

Of course, not all of these ideas and needs have to be implemented in all training and development courses. But it is important to support people individually and to create vessels for the exchange and confrontation of one's own world views with the real business world.

Methodological requirements for training and further education

In order to cover the needs described, new forms of teaching are necessary. Frontal teaching and model examples do not bring the desired learning success. Concepts are necessary that take into account the characteristics of the students, their individual, professional starting position as well as entrepreneurial and personal learning goals. Figure 1 lists the crucial core competencies of the future and compares them to an assessment of learning success with different learning concepts.

Peter Addor - lecturer, systems theorist and complexity thinker - very aptly describes the connections between the requirements of contemporary education and the mechanisms of the education market [2]. He comes to the conclusion that, for cost reasons, traditional educational institutes are in danger of failing to provide training in line with the market. Diplomas from these institutes will lose value because they do not lead to the skills that are in demand. Of course, it is more cost-effective to impart pure technical knowledge through frontal teaching. But that is not enough. Skills in demand are generated by teaching systems knowledge and promoting participatory and connectivist learning. Connectivism is a relatively new theory about learning in the digital age. The learning person is not an isolated individual, but is - learning - networked with other people and e.g. digital sources.

Benefit-oriented, sustainable further training

Further training that makes people fit for future success must therefore take individuality into account, for example by allowing courses to be thematically modular. And it must offer measurable and sustainable benefits. IdeeTransfer has developed a concept for sustainable personnel development for this purpose (see Figure 2 below).

This is based on the strategic goals of the company, departmental goals and the employee's personal goals related to the company (annual goals) as well as topics from the personal life balance, results from personnel diagnostics and the precise ideas of the supervisor. From these, potentials can be identified and defined as measurable learning objectives. They are defined in an individual Training contract which is signed by all participants. In a structured, goal-oriented approach, participants are theoretically introduced to new areas. Topics are discussed, based on current challenges of working life, and then reflected on and deepened with a process facilitator with entrepreneurial experience. We do not work with school examples, but exclusively with actual situations in the workplace. The personal process facilitator is a discussion partner for the chosen leadership topics and their implementation in practice, a supporter for attitude and habit changes, a motivator for the implementation of one's own challenges, a lateral thinker in the achievement of corporate and personal goals and a guarantor for sustainable knowledge transfer and practical implementation. This process takes about eight to twelve months and delivers a measurable implementation of defined goals.

The supervisor receives a brief report on the progress of the training process after each process monitoring and a detailed interim report at the halfway point of the programme. At the end, the results are compared with the training objectives and the findings are recorded in a final report.

Exchange value or use value? - Use value considerations

Companies that contribute to the training and development costs of their employees, and of course anyone planning training, should be clear about the motivations and expected benefits. The benefits offered by traditional training courses compared to IdeeTransfer's certificate courses are shown in Figure 3.

Goals formulated in writing and a benefit-oriented comparison of the available alternatives help with the decision. Ask for the real reasons for the training and answer them honestly: Are you looking for a general broadening of horizons or are you aiming for an (academic) title? Do you want to work more efficiently, become a better leader, simplify the work process as a result of what you have learned? Is the individual development potential in the foreground? Should the training bring the greatest possible benefit for the employer and the employee?

Written goals and a benefit-oriented comparison of the available alternatives help.

or is it more of a reward and appreciation? The small effort for this clarification pays off in any case.