Most senior people in large organisations only have one job. To keep their job.

Most senior people in large organisations only have one job. That is to keep their job. This is not a criticism, because it's inevitable. It is how hierarchy businesses have evolved over 100 years. The majority of senior people's time and capacity is spent assessing requests from stakeholders and processing how much risk they present. In a hierarchy business, where achievement equals status, this risk radar becomes honed. A bias towards short term thinking, about 'hard' stuff (risk, money, data, profit, reputation) often prevails.

Understanding this status game is a new challenge for L&D professionals who want to lead a change away from the old rules. Most corporate training is still based on the idea of knowledge transfer (regardless of the latest fad or technology). The objective of knowledge transfer is to scale understanding of the (one) way that things get done around here. This dates back to Henry Ford and the birth of industrialisation. Mass production, system based, efficient and effective. People were interchangeable, part of 'the system'. A few people were dominant, in charge of the process and minimising the risks. Everyone else stayed on the line and complied.

So choosing to develop a 'learning culture' presents leaders with a completely opposite view. A learning culture is less about the opportunities provided to learn, but the idea that everyone has an equal contribution to make. Questioning, trying, failing and reflecting are successes in themselves.

A learning culture relies on the shared belief that people have the will and the capacity to change their own environment and make their own fate. A learning culture needs a shared commitment to open (two-way) communication. A learning culture thrives on co-ordination and co-operation across many teams at every level of the hierarchy.

In the new post-industrial organisation, L&D can role model a new approach that appreciates whole human beings, their passions and their voluntary participation. The new challenge is to help leaders create communities who can organise themselves around shared goals and shared information.

It's L&D who should be comfortable to lose their old job and embrace something very different.