Replace the word "learning"?

"The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence. It is to act with yesterday's logic."

Peter F. Drucker

L&D folks: Try replacing the word "learning" with the words "working" or "performing".

How does that feel?

Why?

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

Breaking the familiar cycle of the way that Learning and Development teams operate in corporate organisations

There is a familiar cycle for the way that many L&D teams operate in corporate organisations. The common recipe includes: 1. The organisation hasn't defined the role and priority of 'learning'; (i.e. to accelerate change, move the work culture, improve individual and team performance, enable the business strategy) 2. The L&D team (who are unable to influence the'Why?') get stuck as reactive training order takers 3. Ideas get watered down through rounds of 'pleasing the teacher' meetings resulting in 'Learning programs' and 'Learning solutions'; (interchangeable words for ease of political passage) 4. 'Learning programs' are a drain on time / costs / interest for everyone; (especially for 'busy people' on the 'front line' doing the 'real work') 5. Measurement of benefits from 'Learning programs' is difficult / negligible / hard to keep people's attention on 6. As the work performance i...
Read more

Corporate 'Learning and Development' is over-indexed

"Beware of programs. By definition, they end. Continuous improvement, on the other hand, never ends." Geary Rummler 'Over-indexed' can be defined as ' over-emphasising or over-weighting a specific factor, at the expense of others, potentially leading to illogical conclusions .' The corporate 'L&D' industry and its potential for positive, sustainable, performance impact is massively over-indexed.   Put another way, focusing on the performance of individuals (through training for example) has limited potential to improve outcomes and so should be employed sparingly; (only in specific circumstances to which it is suited, e.g. for a new role or when performance expectations change). Performance problems are almost always a result from failures within the overall work system: Unclear expectations Inconsistent feedback loops that confirm expectations are being met Poorly designed processes Poorly managed processes Insufficient / ineffective tools Insuff...
Read more

No one in corporate 'L&D' wants to create LESS 'L&D'

"I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.' Maslow The Shirky Principle  prevents corporate 'Learning and Development' teams (note the how this team title reinforces what's coming...) from looking beyond a 'learning' 'solution'. In the complex organisational systems in which the 'L&D' team work, there are a host of influences and factors that could be reviewed, considered and challenged first: Are performance expectations clearly defined? Are performance expectations fully understood? (Are the barriers to achieving the agreed performance expectations understood and accounted for?) Is there a routine of regular and insightful feedback provided to support people to achieve the agreed performance standards? Can people easily access information, data, resources and guidance needed to achieve and maintain the agreed performance standards? Are performance and processes - and supp...
Read more