"To navigate change companies need fear free cultures of diverse people and mindsets led by leaders who continuously learn, incentivise and train for change and worship no scared cows." Rishad Tobaccowala  What if we imagine a new focus for the contribution of corporate 'L&D'?  To enable what is difficult, valuable and differentiating for our organisation today. What might this collaborative work look like in practice ?  Prioritising support for the pockets of individuals, managers and teams where learning from and through work is already actively encouraged Working with managers and team members to understand and agree on the work that needs to be improved and why Working across teams to identify and define the gaps in 'performance' that need to be closed and why    Coaching and role modelling that inspires people to take responsibility for their own continuous, self-managed inquiry and learning Facilitating new opportunities to bring individuals...

"It is not an intelligent strategy to train people to overcome system deficiencies. Instead, we should design the system properly to make sure that performers can leverage all their capabilities." Klaus Wittkuhn Performance of individuals only ever reflects the system within which they are working. Seven system interventions that can positively impact performance - in descending order of effectiveness: 1. We are open - and excited - to reinvent our approach towards something fundamentally different and better. 2. We recognise fundamental change is only enabled from a change in management mindset - out of which the system arises. 3. We acknowledge that the system is determined by our goals. Being deliberate in our goals - and trade offs - enables the most appropriate system to emerge. 4. We are open to enabling and accelerating the agency and autonomy of individuals to continually evolve and optimise the system. 5. We recognise our incentives , consequences and constrain...

"When we see work as control, competition and extraction, there is an increasingly sharp conflict with work as a path of realising purpose and potential." Simon Terry What we could choose to mean by developing as a ' digital organisation ': Decisions are increasingly based on informed choices enabled by psychological safety and diversity, rather than 'policy compliance' Active relationships, rather than the ability to 'accept instructions' is the new basis of growth and development More and more work is carried out within a framework of purposefulness and self-direction, rather than directed 'from above' The focus is deliberately shifting from 'tasks and roles' to relationships and interactions People are increasingly responsible for their own actions, rather than seeing someone else, somewhere else as responsible Work is progressively based on curiosity and exploration with others, inside and outside of the organisation  Connected ne...

"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...

"In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists." Eric Hoffer Some alternative questions to pose when defining goals for organisational learning. (NB. goals are not tactics, tools, technologies, operations, administration or marketing). What matters most to the organisation and why? What matters most to the 'L&D' team and why? What differentiates the organisation? What differentiates the approach to enabling learning? How are the L&D team enabling change ? How do you define 'learning'? Who benefits most from this definition? How can the organisation learn faster? What are the barriers to learning faster? What does the organisation need to 'unlearn' and why? What would happen if the L&D team did nothing new?... Dynamic organisational development strategy for mid sized companies www.jocelynconsultingltd.co.uk

"We are moving from a world of problems, which demand speed, analysis, and elimination of uncertainty to solve, to a world of dilemmas, which demand patience, sense-making and an engagement of uncertainty." Denise Caron What are the trade offs from the way your organisation approaches building capability and learning?  (Are you even aware you're making trade offs?) Are the trade offs clear, deliberate and explicit for all those involved and affected? (" Everyone understands the implications from our chosen approach and we recognise the pros and cons ") For examples: Are you choosing to centralise ownership, leadership and responsibility for 'learning' across the business into one team ('L&D')?  ( over setting and acting a new expectation of learning as 'the work' for everyone in the organisation? ) Are you still banking on developing more compliant, standardised workers?  ( over   prioritising creating agency and autonomy? ) Are you...

"Short term thinking repeated again and again doesn't lead to long term thinking." Seth Godin Two time saving memos for busy CEOs: What the annual learning and development budget $ can buy: 1. Software - to digitise, optimise, scale and track 'learning content' distribution 2. Third part contractors - to deliver one off 'learning events' or a series of 'learning events' 3. Subscription service packages - That enable automated access to externally sourced 'learning resources' 4. Tools to enable cheaper in-house creation of centralised and / or standardised 'learning programmes' 5. Industry awards What the annual learning and development budget $  can't buy: 1. A new ambition - for the role and priority for learning within your organisation 2. A new leadership team commitment to learning  - over control - as the basis of continually developing your organisation to meet new challenges 3. Ownership and accountability from your lead...

"Be careful of asking the passengers and crew of the Titanic about the risk of the Titanic. They're on the ship, that tells you everything you need to know. If you paid for it or you're making a living from it, you're probably not going to have an objective risk view." Paul Portesi Most organisations still have lots of infrastructure around symptom identification and cost management but very little around enabling and accelerating continual learning. Set repertoires and processes. Approved tools and 'solutions'. 'Content' and 'resources'. All focused on 'fixing' individual workers. The 'L&D' function is typically positioned as an active contributor to these accepted 'social norms' and the resulting work cultures they inevitably develop.  But could this focus shift? - from identifying problems, creating 'solutions', and 'proof measurement' towards: Enabling the evolution of the organisation and the...

"You can't get long term outcomes with short term people."  Shane Parrish We can all now see that business models are evolving faster than ever. This means that new capabilities are valuable and differentiating for organisations. Cultures in successful, resilient, and sustainable businesses are now differentiated by: Their 'social structures' - the level of alignment, connections, dialogue and psychological safety  Their 'organisational learning DNA' - the level of commitment to work as continual learning Which enable them to deal with new complexity, new demands and new dilemmas effectively. New characteristics are increasingly critical for a business to create new value for its customers: Clarity on the specific customer challenges and opportunities it seeks to uniquely solve Customer 'closeness', context and empathy Embracing uncertainty and ambiguity  Adopting continual learning as a strategy. These fundamental shifts away from the old indu...

"Profound change can happen through the almost invisible work of developing the capacity of ordinary people to see things differently." Carol Sanford 1. Spend more time with people who are responsible for developing business strategies and the management models that (aim to) enable them. Reflect on the thinking and capabilities needed in front line teams to realise the goals of the organisation. 2. Spend more time with teams and individuals responsible for ' delivering ' / ' executing ' / ' managing ' the business models in practice . Reflect on the challenges and unmet opportunities they describe. 3. Identify, and spend more time with, 'exemplary performers' across the organisation. Understand the challenges they have identified and how they've overcome these. Reflect on how their ideas could be 'scaled' so that more people in the organisation might benefit.  4. Reflect on the ratio of L&D team time /effort / annual budget c...

"If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading." Lao Tzu ' As a Learning and Development function are we seeking to align, to enable or to disrupt? ' Can be a helpful way to frame your goals . For examples: The L&D function aligns organisational learning to organisational development and culture The L&D function aligns our organisational learning strategy to brand and business goals The L&D function aligns goals, strategy and tactics to the capabilities needed to develop a more adaptable and differentiated organisation The L&D function enables the expectation of and conditions for learning from, through and at work The L&D function enables a more connected, empathetic and psychologically safe work environment The L&D function enables every employee to connect with the people, experiences and opportunities to grow their confidence, connection and contribution The L&D function is deliberately disrupting the curre...

"Change the way the work works, and people's behaviours change for free." John Seddon The 'Big Leaps' for corporate Learning and Development teams: Opportunity focused road map (vs. 'solution' focused) Grounded in building new organisational resilience / adaptability / differentiation 'Work systems change' focused Shift from 'design and delivery' stance to enablement and agency stance L&D team can link day-to-day work with short / medium / long term corporate bets Ability to facilitate concurrent, context dependent, learning operating models across the organisation Prioritises new, emerging, differentiating capabilities Optimises (including automating) 'table stakes' capabilities to free up time (see above) L&D leaders shift focus to servant leadership - facilitators, coaches, catalysts Value oriented team structure vs. structuring around delivery channels and administration Goals, missions, capabilities and services over d...