"Managers love empowerment in theory, but the command-and-control model is what they trust and know best." Chris Agyris " Order taking " and " No seat at the table " are symptoms for legacy L&D teams. We know that if the work of L&D is positioned, structured and measured in the traditional way then frustration with the lack or resulting influence and authority is inevitable. Some common signs of tactical, 'cost centre' positioning of the L&D function from my experiences include: The 'L&D' team lack understanding of business goals / strategy / brand strategy / commercial differentiation There's no connected, aligned, L&D strategy, tactics and success measures which enable the business goals / differentiation in the market Traditional expectations from 'senior leaders' of the work of the L&D function (training courses / 'solutions' / 'content' / events / programmes / curriculum / complianc

"Most of us are so stuck on the short-cycles of urgency that it's difficult to even imagine changing our long-term systems." Seth Godin Beware the lure of complicity in the old, entrenched, vanity metrics in corporate learning. These include: Increasing course attendance Increasing course 'satisfaction level' Increasing 'Log ins' Increasing 'Clicks' Increasing 'Views' Increasing 'Likes' Increasing 'Downloads' Increasing the level of centralisation  Increasing the level of standardisation " Leadership team approved " Increasing learning technology spend Increasing level of focus on ' learning goals ' Increasing level of focus on 'teaching what we already know' Scaling formal learning Increasing 'learning topics' focus "High performing" ( really ) meaning "Highly compliant" A focus on 'individual performance change' An increasing level of interaction with the Learni