"Advocates of bold and ambitious strategies too often find themselves on the sidelines, labeled as losers, while the rewards go to those to those more skilled at working within the system." Kenichi Ohmae Some things that aren't your ' Learning Strategy' : The 'Annual Training Plan'  The 'Learning Offer' An 'Academy portal' where colleagues have to go to access the 'Learning Offer' A collection of L&D team 'to-do' lists for the year ahead The prioritised list of 'orders taken' from senior stakeholders by the L&D team The new 'learning technology' implementation and adoption project plan The 'L&D Marketing and Engagement Plan' for the current training curriculum Approved ' Instructional Design Standards '.  

"Quite often a 'Training Needs Analysis' is conducted by wandering around asking important people what they think less important people need to know. They usually have no shortage of ideas." Nick Shakleton Jones From my experiences, a 'TNA' can be a defensive instrument which only maintains the status quo approach to learning. Some questions to consider around the role and approach to ' Training Needs Analysis': Is the use of the word ' Training ' deliberate and relevant? How might this preempt outcomes and reinforce existing expectations? Who decides the construct of the 'TNA' template? Why? How effectively does the 'TNA' enable the agreed learning strategy? How effectively does the 'TNA' capture the context within which people are working and need to learn? How effectively does the 'TNA' limit the risk of jumping to solutions?

" Until you accept that it's the collective assumptions and beliefs of your organisation that constrain performance, success, etc., you'll ALWAYS be stumbling around in the dark ." Bob Marshall The most powerful forces affecting the performance of an organisation are the assumptions and beliefs of its leaders.  In most organisations there's a 'perfect storm' of inertia because  a) leaders are not encouraged to question themselves and,  b) no one is encouraged to question leaders. Looking outside of their organisation and its current rituals can help leaders to acknowledge the new forces at play and pose useful new questions. For examples: 'How is our thinking changing on what we now need more of / less of from all of our people?' 'How is our thinking changing on what is valuable to us and why?' 'How is our thinking changing on where we need stronger connections?' 'How is our thinking changing on the environment we now need to c...

"Bureaucracy is a massive, role-playing game. If you're an advanced player, you know how to deflect blame, defend turf, manage up, hoard resources, trade favours, negotiate targets and avoid scrutiny. Those who excel at the game, unsurprisingly, are unenthusiastic about changing it." Gary Hamel In most organisations there is a chasm between the mindset and assumptions from the industrial age of business and, what is now required today. On one side of the the chasm there is status, control, hierarchy, reactivity, process, self-servants and a deliberate separation between 'thinkers' and 'doers'. On the other side of the chasm there is an acknowledgement of organisations as connected systems, the role of 'leaders' as enablers and facilitators, empathy, curiosity, inclusion, possibility, and learning as the work. (If you're invested in and dependant on the first side of the chasm you'll inevitably see the other side as a risk and a threat).

"There's nothing quite so useless, as doing with great efficiency, something that should not be done at all." Peter Drucker It's the time of year for 'annual budgeting' in most (legacy) organisations. So, I've collated 10 interesting (new?) question CEOs might pose to their senior team in L&D / Capability to ensure the right conversations are in play: Is there a clear view on the role and priority of 'learning' in our organisation? Is there a clearly defined and well articulated L&D vision and strategy to enable this?  Is our L&D strategy aligned with, and connected to, the organisation's strategic goals? How do L&D recognise their role in developing current and future organisational capability and readiness? How important are problem solving, critical thinking and feedback to the success of our organisation? How is "learning" success measured in our organisation? To what extent is L&D success expressed in terms of...

"The way organisations are designed and managed, the ways people's jobs are defined, create fundamental learning disabilities." Peter Senge Clearly define the role and priority for learning - as a strategic enabler for the change / success the organisation seeks Agree the (new?) characteristics of the organisation when re-orientated towards continual learning; (what people will do and not do and why) Acknowledge the barriers to continual learning today ; (the prevailing mindsets and preoccupations, the resulting management model, the incentives and rewards in play, the processes and measures of success) Agree in practical terms how these systemic barriers to learning will be reduced / removed Agree the new goals, strategy and tactics for enabling and accelerating continual learning which capitalise on changes to the system Agree the new measures by which we can reflect on positive progress as a learning organisation and adjust course as needed.

"The problem with poking fun at people stressing that it's all about systems is that there are those out there who will take this as permission to keep the focus precisely where they want it, which is on the performance of individuals and that is wrong, wrong, wrong." Charles Lambdin 'Green-washing' (noun):  ' When a company's marketing messaging doesn't line up with its actions. Typically the company will claim to be environmentally friendly but it's real-life activity is ineffective or insignificant compared to the negative impact the business has on the environment.' 'Change-washing' (noun):  'The process of introducing reforms that purport to bring about change but fail to result in any substantive shifts in systems, service or culture.' (Thea Snow and Abe Greenspoon). Most organisations are 'Learning-washing'. We know that providing access to 'Learning content' and measuring rates of access and consumption, ...

"If a factory is torn down but the rationality which produces it is left standing, then that rationality will simply produce another factory." Robert Pirsig If your organisational " Transformation " or your " Learning Transformation " is still being enabled by the previous mindset and approach then you will end up with the same results. 'Still being enabled by the previous mindset' might include: Content (digital or otherwise) as the strategy 'Learning' as the focus (rather than work and networks) Standardising employees through centralised curriculum Order taking and project management; (reacting and ' deliverology ') Leaders and L&D teams can choose to focus on new goals that have the potential to be transformative, for example: Prioritising facilitating experiences and exposure over education Deliberately creating social structures that help collaborative problem solving Defining the new capacity and capabilities now needed ...

 "The problem is that firefighting is thrilling and addictive and makes you feel needed - and installing smoke detectors is boring." Ed Batista The training paradigm still dominates corporate 'L&D' and this shapes cultures. There are three connected features that maintain this status quo: 1. Vague, reactive, L&D goals; (' up-skill people ', ' learn to learn ', ' engage with content '). 2. Tightly optimised L&D team structures; (program / milestone management, instructional designers, course administrators). 3. No measurement focus beyond reinforcement / justification; (content output volume, content accessibility, content consumption). 

"You can't be contemplative if you're in an achiever mindset. If you're actively trying to achieve, you're focused on hill-climbing, optimising, and efficiency to get good grades (or whatever the measure is). But being in a contemplative mindset is how you'll uncover big insights. You need to actively create space for long term thinking. You need to stop and smell the roses to clear your brain, and to actively seek to see the world around you in new ways." thecompendium.cards This reality is the basis of most failed organisational change efforts. Reflection, contemplation, critical thinking and re-framing are a risk and a frustration for the 'achiever' mindsets that still make up the majority of corporate middle and upper management. As Peter M. Senge says,  "There are only two mindsets that can infiltrate an organisation: control or learning. It's a question of which one is dominant. "

"Command-and-control managers like to buy change by training and projects, unaware that change really requires changing the system and unaware that that means first being prepared to change the way they think about the design and management of work."  John Seddon (I’m reflecting if many corporate L&D teams feel they are ‘stuck’ and if not, what might prompt them to reconsider?). I see three common characteristics of L&D teams that have limited impact on changing the organisation: 1. ‘Order taker’ positioning  The basis of the work of most L&D teams is ‘content’. Developing content, managing access to content, curating content, marketing content, tracking consumption of content. Inevitably, the work involves project and program management, reporting, governance and administration. A 'content as the strategy' philosophy and the mindset and infrastructure that grows up around this inevitably reinforces an ‘order taker’ positioning.  2. ‘Tactics first’ default...

"Addiction is finding a quick and dirty solution to the symptom of the problem, which prevents or distracts one from the harder and long-term task of solving the real problem." Donellea H. Meadows The positioning of the 'L&D' function' as a 'provider of branded products and services' limits its value. As business models and their resulting work cultures shift away from bureaucracy, the role of 'L&D' as 'training order taker' and curriculum manager / marketer is increasingly disconnected from how valuable change is enabled. L&D leaders can choose to challenge the entrenched approach and process through which their priorities are defined - and play a more strategic, and impactful role with the organisation. Six alternative framings to replace 'training order taking' might include: 1. Reshape the ratio of focus and investment on (only) developing the potential of individuals vs. developing connected teams vs. the organisat...