Technology Changes. Learning Should Too.

I've worked with organizations for long term training projects, and it's truly a joy to watch them grow in their skills. We have an opportunity to uncover the real questions and use cases that move their business life forward.  

I've also worked on short term training projects. 

I always offer more engagement, and sometimes the organization thinks that maybe they don't need it. We can cover Excel training in 90 minutes, can't we?? 

(Insert one raised eyebrow here) 

The question is not whether your team needs more training. 

The question is whether the technology has stopped changing. 

When it does, then yes. Your one-and-done day will be fantastic. 

What's left for me to learn?

Take a second and think about how you use the tools you have. I mean, really think about it. How is it different now than when you started using Microsoft products? How much have things changed? 

Ok, that's enough thinking. We'll be here all day. 

Let me count the ways..... 

Copilot did not exist. Even at its genesis, not every organization embraced it. Now you'd be hard pressed to find an org that doesn't have it. Everyone is using it (correctly or incorrectly, that's another blog post). 

Teams has expanded, giving you more access to tools that allow you to connect and share projects in real time. Real time now people! 

My old favorite, Excel, keeps expanding. There are new capabilities added all the time. All the time, friends. 

Then let's consider Outlook (New Outlook anyone?), Power Point (what can you do, again, with the AI integrations that are available now, it's amazing), I bet there's even some updates and upgrades to boring old Word that you could check out. 

The challenge isn't learning Microsoft 365. 

The challenge is keeping up with the pace of changes and making sure you are part of the solution. 

Learning is layered

One of the reasons that ongoing learning matters is that new skills build on what you already know.  

When you get Excel fundamentals, you can learn where Copilot can add value. 

When your team is comfortable with Teams they can adopt new collaboration tools faster. And isn't that really the point? 

Knowledge compounds over time. 

Does your organization have a learning culture? 

The organizations I work with that turn on the most value with their tech are frankly, the long-time training events. The ones I've worked with to stay on top of the changes, trends and expose the time wastes (those exist too, believe me).  

They value ongoing learning, they host conferences, and they encourage refresher sessions and office hours.  

The best investment is pouring back into your training so that the tools that you have already brought in add value.  

Add. Not subtract. It's an ongoing process. 

Let's face it. We'll never know everything, no matter how much we think we will. That's not the goal anyways. The goal is to keep learning, fire up those big, beautiful brains and solve the problems right in front of us. 

If Excel and Flourish is a training option for you, we'd love to talk. Email us at support@excelandflourish.com. Let's do this.