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Showing posts from September, 2023

"No time to learn" :(

"A deterministic mindset and command and control culture leads to no or limited space for learning for individuals nor for the organisation." Jonathan Smart You can't prioritise formal learning (training courses and e-learning modules), which are separated from work - and then complain about people not having the time to stop working and 'consume' your 'solutions'. (You   decided to make it that way :)

Recap - Five fundamental L&D building blocks

"We need to make a shift from the institutional model of scalable efficiency to a model of scalable learning."  John Hagel Five fundamental building blocks for an effective corporate Learning and Development operating model: 1. A performance and change oriented vision; a clear and compelling 'appetite statement' (beyond 'provide training material and manage events') 2. A focus on enabling team and organisational performance; (over 'fixing individuals through attending training and consuming content') 3. A solution design ethos that capitalises on how people learn - namely through their everyday work and their networks (over formal learning 'interventions', separated from work) 4.  A solution design approach focused on employees' tasks to be done and concerns to be addressed (beyond vague 'understand...' and 'be aware of...' goals) 5. Performance oriented success criteria; (beyond 'course attendance', 'conte

Making the leap to joined up thinking

"We tend to focus on snapshots of isolated parts of the system. And wonder why our deepest problems never get solved." Peter Senge We know that providing isolated formal learning interventions (usually e-learning modules and training courses) have little or no impact on individual or team performance.  It takes courage, curiosity and foresight for leaders to see beyond the training paradigm (and to stop colluding in it) and start to see enabling new capability and performance as a connected, inter-dependent system. Some new questions that can help start this new practice might include: What are the short, medium, and long term success measures for this initiative? Who has defined these success measures? Why? How effectively do this success measures link to our overall strategy and stated ' values '?  How will we create time for leaders and their teams to focus on this new initiative? (What will stop?) Where does this initiative sit in the priorities of its 't

Reflections on 'cash cow' businesses

"Compliance is seductive because it comes with short term prizes. If you fit in all the way, it might feel a bit less frightening. The centre of the herd may in fact be safer, but the view is terrible." Seth Godin Long tenures can create blurred vision and / or blinkered vision Lack of incentives to change (discomfort, uncertainty, risk to status) Defending sunk costs  Leadership should be more than logistics management Strategy and tactics are very different things Plans are still the dominant currency (Which reinforces the training course as the unit of 'learning')  'Everything has to change' (but only if things can stay the same?) People do like to be busy (regardless) Systems thinking is feared - so status roles shape business performance instead.