Milling & Baking News - October 22, 2019 - 32

Letter to the Editor

Potential challenges seen in
AIB International's new strategy
Dear Editor,
Your editorial entitled "Altered baking sector mirrored at AIB" from the
Oct. 8, 2019, issue of Milling and Baking
News was very interesting, and I want
to provide a perspective on this issue
that may be valuable to your readers.
Firstly, I count myself among the
persons who find the changes at AIB
"confounding and demoralizing." On
the surface, it makes business sense to
move from a resident course to only
customized and online training. However, there are some inherent flaws
with this strategy that are not obvious
to your average reader. When customized training is brought to a particular plant site, because of the ongoing
demands of the business, it is very
difficult to get 100% targeted participation. The course leader also often
finds him or herself "competing" with
other priorities in the minds of participants who are not fully engaged in the
course material. Lastly, it is difficult to
accomplish "hands-on" training at the
plant site because the host company
may be unwilling or unable to sacrifice production line time to training
activities.
Adding online training options to
customized in-plant training will help
fill the gaps as well as help those learn
who are unable to participate in the
customized training. However, online
training is inherently static in nature,
because there is no spontaneous interaction.
As a person with experience designing instructor-led as well as online
courses, I can honestly say that the
interactive features in an online program are thought out ahead of time
and planned as part of the course.

Having human interaction is much
more dynamic, and in our industry
we also need to use the five senses. If
we can smell it, touch it and taste it,
we will learn better, especially when it
comes to baking.
In my current job responsibility, almost all of the training that we do is
with Alchemy Systems. The benefits

and laboratories where new ideas
and new products can be tested and
new knowledge can be gained. There
is no opportunity for persons to focus
on learning deep industry knowledge
without distractions.
The AIB International resident
course was an important tool used
to grow the largest baking companies in the world, and this was done
not by living in the past, but through
dynamic and engaged staff that truly
cared about all of their students. The

'The AIB International resident course was
an important tool used to grow the largest
baking companies in the world, and this was
done not by living in the past, but through
dynamic and engaged staff that truly cared
about all of their students.'
- Dr. Kirk O'Donnell,
Bakers Growth L.L.C.

include consistency of information,
infinite patience and a data management system to help users assure that
all targeted persons have completed
the required courses. When I administer these courses, I lament the lack
of spontaneity and lack of overall engagement of the audience. I personally believe that persons participating
in training sessions should be learners
rather than members of an audience.
Where is the AIB International
headed? I certainly agree with the
statement in the editorial that "Preserving AIB International as a monument to baking as it existed in the
20th century makes no sense" and
"finding ways to serve baking companies as they operate today is exactly what AIB should be doing." In my
opinion, AIB International is continuing on the road to obsolescence because there is no longer a pilot plant

first responsibility of a teacher is to be
a learner, and now there is no "neutral,
non-commercial" place for the industry to generate new knowledge.
So where do we go from here? I suggest as an industry, we focus on the
following goals:
* Make people development a top
priority. If we only give this lip service, we will find ourselves deeper
and deeper in a deficit of qualified
persons.
* Budget the necessary time and
money to meet your development
goals, both in the short term and long
term.
* Use AIB International to provide
online and customized training.
* Support independent, non-commercial training centers as they become available.
* Look at the knowledge of experienced leaders as a treasure of information that can help guide your future,
without being stuck in the past.
* Challenge those who you groom
as leaders to be teachers and coaches.
Utilize resources to help them improve their skills.
Respectfully,
Dr. Kirk O'Donnell

AIB INTERNATIONAL

Dr. O'Donnell, a production manager at
Schwan's Food Service and president of
Bakers Growth L.L.C., was a member of
the AIB International staff for nearly 25
years, most of which was in the capacity of
vice-president of education.

32 / October 22, 2019

Milling & Baking News

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Milling & Baking News - October 22, 2019

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