Beyond Performance Think Tank
In early December, Beyond Performance hosted a Think Tank session. Our objective was to explore the changing face of learning in the digital age, pulling in New Zealand L&D specialists from a diverse range of businesses to contribute. It was an energetic, thought-provoking session - here is a summary of the questions discussed and the thinking expressed.
How do we engage learners in the digital age?
The role of learning is becoming more important – it’s no longer just a tick in the box, according to the Learning & Development directors from some of Auckland’s most significant businesses. However, the way that learning is currently being deployed is very different from the way it has been in the past.
The importance of developing a more holistic approach to learning was high on everyone’s agenda. As was the need to focus more on developing competencies that will help teams to meet company objectives: instead of narrowing learning requirements down to specific technical skills.
Consensus supported the belief that the needs of the next generation can best be met by developing the whole person: engaging learners in a way that matches the changing shape of the workforce. A paradox lies in the fact that we recruit people because they are bright, enthusiastic and innovative and then often allow policies to put them in a box and disempower them.
When developing the whole person there needs to be cross-over between personal and professional development. L&D’s ability to relate to the needs of the whole person is often over-shadowed by the requirement for a technical skill or to fit in with some sort of compliance obligation.
The question we were left with was: What impact do we need to have on company policy to enable ‘whole person’ development?
Know your core values and communicate
The businesses represented at the Think Tank had clear values that served as a guide for both recruitment and communication. From the Jucy Group’s emphasis on company culture and community, Kotahi’s core values of resilience and flexibility to Orion Health’s focus on innovation and creating unique customer environments. Unsurprisingly communication is universally viewed as a challenge.
New Zealand companies are using many channels to communicate - both internally, and with their customers and influencers. From the new age approach using closed social media groups like Yammer to the more retro tactic of creating posters and desk drops of physical collateral to communicate. Now that email as a channel has become saturated, the perceived value of physical collateral seems to be experiencing a revival.
What is the difference between data, information, learning and knowledge?
Not all information is made equal. Some is only needed for a particular moment in time and there’s no requirement for it afterwards. You need to know what job that piece of information or learning is doing in order to impart it most effectively. Access to the right knowledge at the right time is essential.
It seemed more important to the group to turn the lense around 180 degrees, away from the specific technical needs of the individual, to look at the capability framework within the organisation: identifying gaps, building capability and measuring each individual’s contribution to achieving organisational goals.
How do you track an individual’s performance when each person is encouraged to be responsible for their own learning? The starting point has to be when you start the measuring! Measure the shift in performance and revisit it formally in reviews and informally through manager-level conversations. A discussion also centred on managing the return on expectations rather than return on investment so that the development investment could be assessed on outcomes rather than purely dollars.
There has been a shift in the way that OD and L&D professionals see themselves: they now view their role as facilitators of the learning infrastructure, creating access to content rather than curators, trainers and deliverers of training. All agreed that getting the whole organisation talking the same language is critical to success.
And the most effective modes of learning are...?
Story telling/experiential learning was identified as a powerful way to learn in a relevant context – rather than the old classroom style. Working through real-world scenarios and watching how colleagues (senior and junior) tackle the issue differently creates an opportunity for people to experience lasting learning. Alongside developmental action learning, this can create real world experiences that allow organisations to experience success more quickly.
Another key mode of learning is leaders as teachers, modelling how to apply their skills in the workplace. The success of this relies upon developing great people leaders by improving their coaching and mentoring competency.
Bite-sized learning can be valuable but it needs to be fit for purpose and depends upon the objectives. You can’t expect people to train in their tea breaks and come back to the job with better skills. Embedding the learning is crucial. In depth learning happens when we are deeply immersed in it – and that can’t be delivered in sound-bites.
There was also some caution around the over-digitalisation of learning. It was felt that swinging too strongly towards e-learning could be a pitfall, especially if the impetus to do so comes from operational pressure to reduce staff time away from the job. There’s a trade-off to be made between the convenience of digital learning and a genuine commitment to in-depth learning in key areas. Social/peer-to-peer learning is valuable but it is important to get the proportions right and not to get stuck in any one mode.
How do we know we’re making a difference?
Businesses are using many techniques to track progress and measure success. Some of the tried and true approaches are still very much in service:
The check in: What have you learnt/what can you do this month that you didn’t know/couldn’t do last month? How did you learn that? Then track and monitor feedback.
Manager conversations: Managers are being encouraged to have more conversations around career opportunities with their staff. There can still be an underlying fear of losing staff to other companies if they become too competent. Intentional conversations around career opportunities between managers and their staff are crucial because career progression is no longer linear. Now that progression can be more network, project or portfolio based, it’s important that employees identify these as opportunities for career progression to avoid feeling ‘stuck’.
Actively managed personal development plan: How engaged people are in their own learning is a key measure of L&D success. Customer feedback is another!
Self-evaluation post-training: Asking trainees to identify the key actions that they are going to take as a result of the training and then sharing this information with managers for follow up.
Stop/start/continue: What’s not working that I should stop? What’s working that I should continue? What can I do differently that I can start doing? This simple monthly self-evaluation can keep everyone (including L&D managers) on track and is still a framework that delivers a great discussion between managers and team members.
Should organisations own their learning?
People join businesses with the expectation of being developed and an exchange occurs: the business gets value from its people, and the people need to get value from the organisation through personal and professional development. Ideally individuals are also encouraged to be responsible for their own learning, rather than adopting a more passive approach.
Organisations don’t have to be responsible for learning design. Some learning is generic and can be effectively curated by external parties – and then businesses can wrap their own messaging around it. Most businesses agreed that organisations should partially own their learning – but not fully. Learning & Development departments can get stale without external input. L&Ds are now facilitators not teachers and own the structure within which people learn. Their role is to support the people who know the job to impart their knowledge and where relevant, introduce external trainers – to bring in a different voice that can be perceived as having more authority. It was also seen as very important that the people who are responsible for delivering or facilitating content are trained.
Summary
The way that training is delivered, the content itself and the way in which it is measured are all changing. The challenges we face often put us in the Organisational Development space rather than playing a traditional L&D role. It is clear that we need to start with a ‘top down’ view: considering our organisation’s goals, the capabilities we have to deliver against those goals and the competencies that we need to build in order to deliver. Both external expertise and internal resources need to come into play in order to succeed in this brave new world. The Learning & Development space is clearly in an exciting state of flux and we look forward to future Think Tank discussions on some of the topics below:
- ROE vs ROI
- Changing role of leadership (leaders as teachers)
- Learning curation: how to do it well;
- Great frameworks around social, peer-to-peer learning
- Accountability – how to change the perception of the word and how to encourage people to be more accountable for their learning
- How to build and develop a learning culture in your organisation
