While the tsunami of information available on the internet may seem like a goldmine, it is costly to find the bit of information that you need when you need it.
In fact, in the paper, “How Executives Stay Informed: A Study of Resources Used and Time Spent Locating Critical Business Information” by Bersin & Associates revealed just how intense this problem is.
Approximately one-third of executives are spending more than four hours per week searching for answers, another third are spending two to four hours per week.
Why is this a problem? Because the productivity loss executives incur searching for credible information is astounding. If an executive’s salary is $153,000 per year, and if they are losing two hours a week on an information quest, that adds up to the equivalent of $7,600 in opportunity loss. Chump change you say? Extrapolate this out to just 200 executives it quickly eclipses $1.5 million.
Where is the opportunity? Address the executives’ time challenge with e-learning.
As I travel the world talking with large multinationals, a common remark that I hear is this one…“Our executives won’t use e-learning.”
“Really?” is my routine retort, “Do your leaders ever use Google?”
My question is always met with the same surprised response: “Well, of course.” At this point I explain that if an executive is turning to a browser in search of information, then they are already well practiced e-learners. At its core, e-learning is simply taking a digital route to answer a question or develop a skill.
So, your opportunity, and your obligation, is to give your executives the best source of authoritative, trusted information to optimize their productivity. Doing so provides them with time back, reducing the highly expensive opportunity loss.
It’s likely your leaders are out there searching the Internet right now. Still think they won’t use e-learning? Think again.
By Kieran King – SkillSoft
