{"id":218,"date":"2017-01-30T09:30:54","date_gmt":"2017-01-30T09:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/modernworkplacelearning.com\/magazine\/?p=218"},"modified":"2018-12-24T13:38:10","modified_gmt":"2018-12-24T13:38:10","slug":"continuous-curated-learning-the-business-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/modernworkplacelearning.com\/magazine\/continuous-curated-learning-the-business-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Continuous, Curated Learning: The Business Case"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-214 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/modernworkplacelearning.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/filtering-300x150.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"246\" height=\"123\" srcset=\"http:\/\/modernworkplacelearning.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/filtering-300x150.jpeg 300w, http:\/\/modernworkplacelearning.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/filtering-768x384.jpeg 768w, http:\/\/modernworkplacelearning.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/filtering.jpeg 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 246px) 100vw, 246px\" \/>Business is changing. The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.towardsmaturity.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Towards Maturity Benchmark Report <\/a>notes that 72% of CEOs believe the next three years will be more critical for their industry than the last 50. The challenge to Learning &amp; Development teams is how they\u2019re going to help their CEO and internal customers stay smart in uncertain times. We need to shift to a model of continuous and curated learning in the workplace. Here\u2019s why continuous curated content matters to businesses, and how Learning Professionals can make a business case for it.<\/p>\n<p>The drivers for business: continuous learning is a competitive advantage<\/p>\n<p>If you worked for AT&amp;T 30 years ago, you were probably feeling pretty good about things. You were working for the company that once owned the patent for the telephone. How cutting edge can you get? You were trained once at the start of your career, and that stood you in good stead until retirement. Skills for life, a job for life. Learning is for newbies.<\/p>\n<p>Flash forward a few decades. AT&amp;T find themselves fighting to survive. They\u2019re chasing the tails of companies less than 10 years old, and losing to them. What happened? In simple terms, they didn\u2019t keep up with changes in their industry. They got Ubered (or in their case, Googled, iPhoned and Amazoned).<\/p>\n<p>Think back on any piece of knowledge, training or skills you acquired 10 years ago, or even 1 year ago. How relevant is it today? To make the lesson of AT&amp;T personal: whatever skills and knowledge have got you this far in your career are not going to get you or your company to the next stage.<\/p>\n<p>For proof, read <a href=\"http:\/\/www.exponentialorgs.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Exponential Organisations <\/i><\/a><i>\u2013 Why New Organisations Are 10x Faster, Better and Cheaper than yours (and what to do about it)<\/i>. It\u2019s a sobering read for anyone who thinks they\u2019re on top of their game:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The average shelf life of a business competency has dropped from 30 years in 1984 to 5 years in 2014<\/li>\n<li>89% of the companies on the Fortune 500 list in 1955 were not on the list by 2014<\/li>\n<li>The average lifespan of an S&amp;P 500 company has decreased from 67 years in 1920 to 15 years today<\/li>\n<li>In the next 10 years, 40% of all S&amp;P 500 companies will disappear from the list<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The only defence against our skills and businesses becoming irrelevant is to remain agile and continuously learn, becoming what Google calls a \u201clearning animal\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><b>Continuous Learning is an Economic Imperative<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The Economist recently ran a special report on the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.economist.com\/news\/special-report\/21714169-technological-change-demands-stronger-and-more-continuous-connections-between-education\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">economic imperative for lifelong learning.<\/a> They note that with 47% of American jobs susceptible to automation, technology will force change on people and the skills they need to remain employable. As they put it:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>\u201c<\/i><i>The answer seems obvious. To remain competitive, and to give low- and high-skilled workers alike the best chance of success, economies need to offer training and career-focused education throughout people\u2019s working lives.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>So what do you do if you\u2019re AT&amp;T? Get smarter, and fast. Continuous learning is their only hope for survival. Their CEO\u2019s edict is that everyone spends 5-10 hours a week continuously learning to \u201cstay on top of the firehose of new information\u201d. And if they can\u2019t stay on top? \u201cMark my words, if we don\u2019t do this, in 3 years we\u2019ll be managing decline\u201d, their CEO says.<\/p>\n<p>Do they even have that long?<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>&#8220;In a world of rapid change and increasing complexity, the winners will be those whose rate of learning is greater than the rate of change and greater than the rate of their competition.&#8221; &#8211; Tom Hood<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Learning continuously is how the winners will stay ahead and outpace change. That needs to be fed with curated content that\u2019s recent and relevant.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The drivers for learning: 14 Reasons why Learning Professionals Should drive continuous learning<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>So we need curated content to help us stay sharp and continuously learn. But who\u2019s going to find and filter this content? Most people don\u2019t have the time to do it for themselves every day.<\/p>\n<p>In our view, the modern learning professional is ideally placed drive this change in the organisation. If you need to convince stakeholders (or yourself) that this is the right shift for L&amp;D, here are 14 reasons:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><b>You\u2019re giving people what they really need.<\/b> Formal courses only account for about <a href=\"http:\/\/charles-jennings.blogspot.ie\/2016\/08\/70-20-10-origin-research-purpose.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">10% of how we learn<\/a>. The rest of our insight comes through informal and social learning from each other. So curated content fits right in with our preferences, into what Jane Hart calls <a href=\"http:\/\/www.modernworkplacelearning.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">everyday learning<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><b>You\u2019re saving people time. <\/b>Towards Maturity found that two thirds of leaders say that they struggle with finding the time to learn, and 44% can\u2019t find what they need, despite having the desire to do this.<a href=\"http:\/\/blog.anderspink.com\/2015\/12\/content-shock-why-youre-drowning-not-learning-and-how-to-get-back-on-top\/\">IDC<\/a> estimates that the average knowledge worker spends 9.5 hours a week searching for information. If you could reduce that by just 10%, what would that mean for efficiency and productivity in your organisation?<\/li>\n<li><b>You\u2019re reducing costs. <\/b>Budgets for training are under constant pressure. Curating content on the latest trends in pricing, management skills or big data is a lot cheaper than building a custom elearning course or a blended programme.<\/li>\n<li><b>You\u2019re helping the organisation to stay agile:<\/b> By being outward looking and alive to the next trends in your sector, you considerably reduce the risk of your organisation being sideswiped by disruption or a competitor\u2019s actions. That\u2019s very different from the traditional mode of L&amp;D.<\/li>\n<li><b>You\u2019re adding value.<\/b> You\u2019re not just aggregating content from multiple sources. That\u2019s what machines do. You\u2019re acting as an intelligent human filter, drawing attention to what really matters \u2013 because you understand your audience, their needs and their context. It\u2019s a very personalised service \u2013 and it scales really well if you use the right tools. As Beth Kanter put it, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bethkanter.org\/content-curation-3\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">you\u2019re spotting the awesome<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><b>You\u2019re providing a more responsive service.<\/b> If a sales team wants continuous, curated learning on the latest trends in Nanotechnology, or an overview of a new prospect, or a regular set of insights on pricing, effective curators with the right tools can respond rapidly. By the time you\u2019ve built a course to answer those questions, the question will have changed.<\/li>\n<li><b>You\u2019re helping teams stay smart. <\/b>Rather than producing courses that decline in relevance over time, effective curators are continuously keeping teams briefed on what matters to them. You become a go-to resource. You\u2019re reducing FOMO. And it doesn\u2019t have to be a massive drain on your time.<\/li>\n<li><b>You\u2019re building your own expertise. <\/b>A great side-benefit of being a content curator is that you consume a huge amount of information in order to filter and select what\u2019s relevant. For your own personal development, it\u2019s a great way to stay sharp and develop your own skills. It\u2019s also very rewarding to deliver really relevant content through curation.<\/li>\n<li><b>You\u2019re creating a lasting resource. <\/b>Curated content, if well managed, remains relevant over time. There\u2019s long term value in hand-picking the very best articles on sales leadership, SaaS pricing, or Negotiation skills from authoritative sources. They become the new reference sites and knowledge bases.<\/li>\n<li><b>You\u2019re helping people be self-directed.<\/b> <a href=\"http:\/\/towardsmaturity.org\/article\/2015\/11\/05\/embracing-change-fast-facts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">88% of learners want to take charge of their own learning experience<\/a>. Set up properly, continuous and curated content is self-service. It\u2019s not an enforced linear experience like a course, you\u2019re serving up relevant content for people to tap into. You can create paths and structures, or let people make their own.<\/li>\n<li><b>You\u2019re encouraging sharing and working out loud.<\/b> The number one way we learn is through<a href=\"http:\/\/www.c4lpt.co.uk\/blog\/2016\/05\/08\/the-professional-ecosystem-the-future-of-work-and-learning\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> knowledge sharing in small focused groups<\/a>. Great curators do not present themselves as experts who have the final say on a topic. They start the conversation by saying why an article is relevant and invite people to comment. Curation is the engine behind helping teams to share insights and work out loud.<\/li>\n<li><b>You\u2019re delivering at point of need.<\/b> Learning teams need new approaches to help their customers deal with information overload and increased competitive pressure. If you could say to your internal customer that you can help their teams stay up to date on any topic, in less than 10 minutes a day, on any device, with no need for a course, would they keep listening?<\/li>\n<li><b>You\u2019re defending your competitive advantage: <\/b>curating and sharing valuable content every day is by definition helping people to learn and stay smart continuously. Curation habits are the best safeguard against becoming obsolete.<\/li>\n<li><b>You\u2019re harnessing collective intelligence:<\/b> by inviting collaboration within teams to discuss, add value and act on content, you\u2019re harnessing the power of collective intelligence, and encouraging others to find, filter and share relevant content in their teams continuously.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Make the case for continuous, curated learning in your organisation, and you\u2019re making the case for business survival in an immensely challenging environment. That\u2019s as close to any CEO\u2019s heart as L&amp;D can get.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon sd-sharing\"><h3 class=\"sd-title\">Share this:<\/h3><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-twitter\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" data-shared=\"sharing-twitter-218\" class=\"share-twitter sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"http:\/\/modernworkplacelearning.com\/magazine\/continuous-curated-learning-the-business-case\/?share=twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Twitter\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-facebook\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" data-shared=\"sharing-facebook-218\" class=\"share-facebook sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"http:\/\/modernworkplacelearning.com\/magazine\/continuous-curated-learning-the-business-case\/?share=facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Facebook\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-linkedin\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" data-shared=\"sharing-linkedin-218\" class=\"share-linkedin sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"http:\/\/modernworkplacelearning.com\/magazine\/continuous-curated-learning-the-business-case\/?share=linkedin\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on LinkedIn\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-pinterest\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" data-shared=\"sharing-pinterest-218\" class=\"share-pinterest sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"http:\/\/modernworkplacelearning.com\/magazine\/continuous-curated-learning-the-business-case\/?share=pinterest\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Pinterest\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-pocket\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-pocket sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"http:\/\/modernworkplacelearning.com\/magazine\/continuous-curated-learning-the-business-case\/?share=pocket\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Pocket\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-end\"><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Business is changing. The Towards Maturity Benchmark Report notes that 72% of CEOs believe the next three years will be more critical for their industry than the last 50. The challenge to Learning &amp; Development teams is how they\u2019re going to help their CEO and internal customers stay smart in uncertain times. 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