The Wednesday Evening Training: how and why does it work?

Our Wednesday Evening Training in 2018: 50 evenings, over 35 topics on innovative technology, frameworks, architecture, infrastructure, graphics & 3D modeling and Quantum computing in Capgemini’s CoZone.

We learned a lot and we had a lot of fun!

That was 2018, but the Wednesday Evening Training has been running for quite some years now... so how did we do that?

In this blogpost I'll try to explain this by our "rules of the road" that we've stuck by the past years and seem to work really well.

Rule #1: Offer many learning styles and experiment mixing these

Everyone has a personal learning style: the way he or she learns most effectively. As a child we all learned a lot by playing, by experimenting, at our own pace, in our own way. As we got older, the way of learning was increasingly restricted; playing was replaced by fixed learning rituals and focussed on the individual. We simply forgot to learn by playing. In our Wednesday Evening Trainings we offer a platform on which everyone can learn, experiment and share. We mix different learning styles to offer anyone an effective means to get to know new technologies. And having fun is mandatory.

Rule #2: About content: keep the water flowing

Learning content needs to be fresh. Technology is evolving fast. Therefore, publications become stale and less useful, just like water sitting in a glass for too long. To keep learning content usefull it needs to be constantly refreshed, new content must be added, content must be used and discussed actively. It must flow constantly. Dare to deviate from the beaten track. Use many forms of content, use, share and discuss. A discussion in a demo or walkthrough offers plenty of interesting knowledge. We discovered that even an unfinished prototype or crude idea generates more interest and is more inviting than a fully finished and varnished final product. It generates discussion, interaction, and feeds inquisitiveness and ideas. And that's what the Wednesday Evening Training is all about!

Rule #3: Offer a platform anyone can join, not a closed community

By a platform, I do NOT mean a software platform, an App or any other tool that is considered hot. Such tools are NO guarantee for success. A tool is an empty silo that needs a process to be succesfull, content needs to be refreshed and used continuously. If not, the contents of your silo will grow stale and the silo will deminish.
What I mean by a platform is a process anyone can join, at minimum effort. The Wednesday Evening Training takes place at a fixed day/time, in a fixed inspiring location (our CoZone). Joining is easy, just come visit and start working.

Rule #4: There are no guru's nor newbies

Anyone can learn from anyone. Senior professionals can share deep knowledge and broad experience, but young professionals can suggest new subjects that they have just learned at school, they can ask questions and stimulate discussion. It's not just the seniors that teach the juniors. A platform like the Wednesday Evening Training actively encourages exchange knowledge and connects professionals of all levels. And everybody needs to feel safe asking questions, posing idea's and sharing knowledge.

Rule #5: It's a process, not an event, nor a project, nor a program

An event, learning project and program may offer knowledge and experience, but these have a fixed start and and fixed finish. After finishing, learning stops as well. The Wednesday Evening Training, however, goes on continuously, constantly adding new topics and deepen our knowledge and experience in popular topics. Discussion and hands-on experimentation constantly feeds the need for further exploration. And that feeds our Wednesday Evening Training agenda. We plan for the upcoming months and build in plenty of flexibility to add additional topics. What is paramount is to keep the fire burning.

Rule #6: Do not manage, but do facilitate, support, connect, motivate

It may seem like a nightmare to managers, but there is no clearly defined business case, nor deadlines, nor is there a clear deadline on which some kind of deliverable is produced. The Wednesday Evening Training is fully self organized and self-steering. And it continuously produces results: knowledge added to the communities' knowledge base, experience using technologies and new partnerships between professionals. So how can management be involved? Well, in keeping the fire burning: facilitate, support, motivate people to join and actually reward collaboration.

Of course, these rules of the road are constantly evolving. We regularly evaluate how we work together and how we can improve. And if we find it necessary, we adapt. This way we keep up with new technologies, we deepen our knowledge and experience. And above all, we'll continue to have a lot of fun, each week, in our CoZone.