I have a confession. I’m not a fan of auto racing. NASCAR, sprint car, Indy car, Formula-1… you can have it all. Even if you took me out to a live race, and sat me down in a prime spot with proper ear protection, it’s still just cars going in a circle to me at the end of the day. It’s probably because I’m not a car guy in general (evidenced by the fact I drive a 1998 Lincoln Continental I picked up used for $1700) and mechanical things simply don’t interest me – I’m more of art, music, and humanities person, but that’s a discussion for another day.
However, if you took me to a professional auto race and told me I could go or sit anywhere I wanted, I wouldn’t choose the stands with the fans. I wouldn’t even choose the infield where I could rub shoulders with the big wigs. No, put me with the pit crew. This is by far one of the most interesting and intriguing groups of people at the speedway. Not only do they have expert knowledge of the cars in their service; they execute a pit stop with the precision of a cut from Zorro’s blade – swift and clean without an errant move.
In 1950, an Indianapolis 500 pit crew (limited to 4 members at the time) could service a vehicle in a blazing 67 seconds, changing tires, refueling, and polishing the windshield. Fast forward to the modern-day when a crew can grow to a size of 20 or more, all working on the car at once, reducing pitstop times to as little as 2.5 seconds. Upon watching this video showing the comparison, you’ll likely exclaim, “…but they had better tools!” Did they? The pneumatic wrenches you see being utilized by the later crew were invented in…wait for it…
1939. And they didn’t even use it.
Part of the change we face as learning professionals catering to a new wave of learners is thinking that everything we do has to have a “never-done-before” flair to it. This simply isn’t the case. However, we do need to have an awareness and understanding of modern learning architectures and growing opportunities for digitization to excel in this climate of disruption.
The New Learning Architect Workshop offers the opportunity to understand, explore and adopt new modern methods in learning and design. Sign up today and spend more time on the track.
And less time in the pits.
Author
Ray Jimenez, PhD
Vignettes Learning
“Helping Learners Learn Their Way”
Vignettes Learning Workshops
1. The New Learning Architect
2. Developing Critical Thinking for Modern Learners
3. Microlearning for Disruptive Results
4. Instructional and Experience Design for Workflow Learning
5. The Masterful Virtual Trainer Online Workshop
6. Hyper Story-Based eLearning Design Workshop
7. Training Frontline Leaders as Learning Accelerators
8. HYBRID Remote and Hands-on Training
9. Advanced Skills in Webinars