"Head of Learning and Development" job descriptions demonstrate the underlying challenge


"It's difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on him not understanding it."

 Upton Sinclair

'oxymoron' - noun
'a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction'

Here is a collection of direct quotes from some (random) 'Head of Learning and Development' job descriptions I found online. The first set of quotes are from the "Objectives of the role" sections:

"Drive the new strategy"

 "Supporting behavioural change in accordance with the People Strategy; aligned to the strategic vision and priorities of the organisation"

 "Create new knowledge and confidence across the organisation"

 "You will mould the learning culture from he group up and partner with clients to develop a learning community"

 "Make a big impact by implementing a future thinking learning strategy"

 "Set up and drive forward our Learning and Development strategy"

 "Work in conjunction with the Business Planning and Strategic Workforce Planning functions to establish capability strengths in relation to current and future business requirements"

 "You will help drive learning culture through influence of business and HR"

All sounds promising. And yet, these next quotes are taken from the "What you will be doing" sections of the same job descriptions:

"Develop learning solutions"

 "Set up and embed all stages of the training life-cycle"

 "Delivering an excellent cost efficient service ensuring a fully budgeted and scrutinised training plan"

 "Develop cost effective training and development interventions"

 "Ensure the Behavioural Competency Framework" is embedded in all of the learning and development interventions"

 "Partnering with related functional areas to establish end to end training capabilities"

 "Deliver the Line Manager training programme to drive consistency on how team members are managed"

 "Support with organising and maintaining materials for training and tracking engagement"

 "Work closely with the Training Manager to plan, schedule and deliver training courses"
Clearly the status quo culture continues to "eat strategy for breakfast"...
Paul works with Learning leaders who have to chosen to change what people expect from them

 www.jocelynconsultingltd.co.uk
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.

Comments

Post a Comment

Please let me know your thoughts on this...

Popular posts from this blog

The human stuff is the basis of 'digital learning transformations'...

The human stuff is the basis of 'digital learning transformations'. The technology platforms are secondary. They work best when: They help to simplify or speed up what people have always done while working; (research / answer questions / share / store) They enable people to work in new ways that they have learned are more efficient and effective; (cooperatively / 'out loud' / across different teams) A 'digital mindset' for businesses could include these ideas: Constant change is inescapable - so it's curiosity and adaptability that create value in work teams New possibilities and solutions come from connecting many sources of information People can take responsibility for solving work problems Failing fast is helpful Creating wide and diverse networks of expertise and experience is crucial Customer ('end user') centricity keeps everyone better aligned Silos don't help Flatter, less hierarchical teams move ideas and solutions
Read more

Why organisations resist thinking of themselves as connected 'systems'

“In a world of separation and domination, systems thinking is subversive.” Dr Elizabeth Sawin The key to improving the work of organisations - and the contributions of the people in them - is to look at them as connected 'systems'. (Put another way, because improving the performance of individual silos won’t make the overall performance of the organisation any better). However nobody seems to want to do this. So, who’s resisting systems thinking? Executives don’t want it because means questioning the current mindset and behaviours that have brought them status and ‘results’ Individual managers don’t want it because they assume it threatens their control over their local silos L&D / HR don’t want it because their remit does not extent to the organisation, as its still rooted in the ‘performance’ of individuals (and occasionally, specific teams). And employees don't want it because they often don’t care / need to care about the overall organisation.
Read more

"The future of corporate Learning and Development" debate is five different things

"Pushing fancy new stuff onto your organisation will not change the outcomes if that is not emerging from your system itself, through the ripening of a different worldview." Stelio Verzera The perennial topic  of "The future of corporate Learning and Development" is always everywhere. This ' Shirky Principle ' fuels and sustains the status quo and the players that continue to benefit from it. I'd argue that the discussion is in fact five very   different conversations happening in parallel, but unequally distributed. They are - in current descending order of noise, ambition and opportunity: 1. 'MAKE THE TRAINING BETTER'. The status quo. The economic model. Dependent on maintaining the belief that educating individual workers changes the system through which complex, interconnected organisations perform. This narrative is carefully preserved by (mostly) commercial vendors who have filled the strategy vacuum. New technologies, new (and old) instruc
Read more