If we’re not being asked already, we will be asked for the data, by our leaders and our stakeholders. So let’s develop ourselves and disrupt our own practice before we’re disrupted from outside. This is a huge opportunity for us – and it’s up to us to grab it.
Help your team to realise that learning in the flow of work is where L&D is going and that it’s about the work and not about learning in the way that L&D have traditionally delivered it.
By being clear on outcomes, you become focused on supporting the organisation with something it cares about; increasing L&D’s currency; and doing things that matter. You also know what measures you’re monitoring to ensure you’re doing the right things.
Technology has been commonplace in L&D for decades but in an age in which digital is transforming organisations – and even industries – L&D is falling behind in both its approach to – and adoption – of modern tools.
L&D have to stop this silliness of working on something because we’ve been asked to – or because it’s the latest thing. We need to invest up front in understanding what’s really going on and relying on data to make decisions and progress.
Technology no longer simply refines previously accepted means and media. So, to understand – and shape L&D’s future – we first need to suspend the conditions that limit our imagination.
Outsourcing ‘digital’ and not investing in your own digital know-how will put you at a significant disadvantage – and over-reliance on one system will prove to be counterproductive.
When receiving – or diagnosing – the learning need, we are making grand assumptions about the needs of people whose roles we know so little about that we’d fail within minutes in their shoes.
Misalignment occurs as soon as we translate ‘business needs’ into ‘learning needs’, which is usually right at the very outset of our conversations with stakeholders. But why do we do this? Because we’ve always done it…
What is being neglected in this question is what really works: How do people actually develop the requisite ‘soft’ skills they need to be successful in their work and careers?