The new challenge for corporate Learning and Development is to help organisations to re-orientate themselves


"Create environments that nurture uncomfortable connections."

John Atkinson

Much of the work of corporate L&D teams continues to maintain the status quo. The same industrial era dogma underpins the endless buffet of new tactics on offer:

 Align fixed skills and predetermined management goals to "learning content"

 "Drive" workers towards this

 Attempt to link access to content to useful performance change

 Repeat

Meanwhile, the urgent challenge in many '20th century' organisations is how to re-orientate themselves. As fixed strategies and plans become more brittle and employee expectations accelerate, much of the prevailing L&D approach based on control and standardisation falls short.

L&D teams can choose to refocus their efforts. There is a clear opportunity to lead and role model a change in the underlying system of norms and priorities in their organisations.

Ideas could include:

L&D teams identifying where energy already exists for a change of approach: towards learning from and through work - and 'feeding' it;

L&D teams generously creating 'safe spaces' where new ideas and perspectives can be heard, encouraged and developed;

L&D teams proactively connecting the competing and opposing camps in the organisation in new ways.


Paul helps L&D leaders to see what else might be possible

I work as a thinking partner and advisor with mid sized, value oriented companies going through significant change. I help you to build new capability and mindsets through shifting your approach to organisational development.

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