MWL Newsletter No 3

News and articles about Modern Workplace Learning (MWL) selected by – and with commentary from – Jane Hart for the week 26 February – 4 March 2017


From around the Web

THE FUTURE OF LEARNING: WHY SKATEBOARDERS SUDDENLY BECAME CRAZY GOOD IN THE  MID-80S – Forbes Magazine, 26 February 2017

“Seeing Is Learning

Another unintended consequence of the videos was the degree to which it elevated the skills of every skateboarder. Even kids who didn’t watch the videos were influenced, as their friends quickly mastered tricks that might have been impossible to decipher from still images in a magazine and showed them off at the local skatepark.”

JH: The power of video is now well recognised, but the key is tapping into the motivation of people. If it is relevant and useful it will be watched over and over again.


HOW TO OVERCOME 3 POPULAR OBJECTIONS TO MICRO-LEARNING – JD Dillon, 28 February 2017

“As you explore tactics for introducing “learning that fits,” you are likely to run up against a few familiar objections from your employees, stakeholders and peers. Here are my recommended responses to the 3 most common protests I have encountered during my years in microlearning.”

JH: I often hear the argumentThis subject is too complex for micro-learning” or”People will just have to focus on  long courses”. Here JD considers the responses to some of the usual objections


HOW TO MANAGE SELF-MOTIVATED,  INTELLIGENT WORKERS – David Tuffley, Conversation, 27 February 2017

“Knowledge workers dislike being micro-managed. They value independence and work best when given the tools they need, the authority to make decisions and the space to get on with the job.’

JH:  Knowledge workers need to be treated like adults; so highly prescriptive training courses don’t go down well.


5 EASY WAYS TO GET A NEW EMPLOYEE UP TO SPEED – Entrepreneur, 28 February 2017

“2. Empower new employees.

New hires should be given the resources necessary to improve their productivity from the get-go. For example, seeing that their work stations have been stocked with time-saving tools, like messages with hyperlinks to onboarding materials, makes it easier to get started.”

JH: Onboarding is not about offering an e-learning course but providing the resources for a new hire to get themselves up to speed.


WANT TO BE A BETTER LEARNER? CONSIDER HOW PILOTS TRAIN TO FLY PLANES – Inc, 3 March 2017

“Math or reading, biochemistry or gaming, playing the piano or knitting a sweater, there are proven ways to improve our skills and knowledge, and even something that seems as vague and ill-defined as situational awareness can be developed. The key, it turns out, is to make learning a dedicated process, to use a targeted approach that relies on focus, practice, and reflection.”

JH: This article looks at the steps for learning that you can use to strive for mastery: These are useful when thinking about helping others learn. Note, step one is “Value. It’s impossible to learn if we don’t want to learn. To gain expertise, we have to see the skills and knowledge as valuable. What’s more, we have to create meaning. Learning is a matter of making sense of something.”  Identifying the value is in fact often the part that is not  made clear in most training programmes.


FIND AND NURTURE THE NEXT GENERATION OF DIGITAL LEADERSCMS Wire, 3 March 2017

“You won’t necessarily find these people where you think, and there’s a strong possibility many aren’t in your current emerging/future leaders program. Such programs often still operate with old identification and skills frameworks — what we previously assumed were good leadership skills, such as command-and-control decision making.

JH: This is a key article in as much as it shows that traditional training problems won’t develop the new skills and behaviours required for future workers


THE CORPORATE IMPLICATIONS OF LONGER LIFE – MIT Sloan Management Review, 1 March 2017

ARTICLE OF THE WEEK

“As working lives become longer, the need for lifelong learning will increase. As working lives become multistaged and the sequence of those stages becomes more customized, individuals will take an interest in skills with value that extends beyond the current employer and sector. This will weaken the one-size-fits-all approach to learning and development. Instead, there will be a growing need for more decentralized and flexible approaches to learning, curated more by individuals than by employers. Skills and knowledge that are portable and externally accredited will be particularly valuable. Longevity will force a shift in responsibility for lifelong learning toward the individual.

“The capacity for individuals to transform will become an ever more valuable asset as employees work longer and make more transitions in their careers. Those most likely to make successful transitions will be those with self-insight and with diverse networks that provide alternative experiences and role models. There is much that organizations can do to support this — such as encouraging employees to regularly reexamine their own goals and skills, and helping them develop dynamic and diverse networks.”

JH: There are some really key points made in this report that shows that as people are living longer and working longer few organizations have yet to come to grips with the opportunities and challenges that greater longevity brings. An important read for all.”


Poll of the Week

This week’s Twitter poll asked the following question. Who knows best what YOU need to learn to do your job? The results are as follows.

  • L&D: 1%
  • Your Manager: 11%
  • You: 88%

What does this mean for the role of L&D?  Please leave you comments on the blog post HERE.


From the MWL Magazine

27 February 2017

TOP DOWN IMPLEMENTATION OF SOCIAL LEARNING DOESN’T WORK by Jane Hart

Now that social learning is a hot topic, many organizations are beginning to consider how they can implement or operationalize it. However, “social learning” is a very different type of learning from traditional training, because it is natural phenomenon (that takes place when people share and collaborate with one another) rather than something that is implemented by an organization. So it has to be treated very differently.  Here’s how.


L&D’S BIGGEST CHALLENGE AND GREATEST OPPORTUNITY: LETTING GO by Jane Hart

“L&D’s traditional role has been to organise, track, monitor and otherwise manage training – firstly as it took place in the classroom and more recently in the form of e-learning. However, now that it is generally recognised that modern professionals learn in many different ways, it is not just a matter of force-fitting these new ways into the traditional model of organisational Learning & development – which is essentially one of command and control. Rather, it means L&D needs to let go of their old ways of working, and instead offer a service that enables and supports all the ways modern professionals learn at, for and through work.”


Upcoming MWL Workshop

SUPPORTING MANAGER-LED LEARNING

Supporting Manager-Led Learning: 13 March – 17 April 2017

When it comes to manager-led learning, there is a huge opportunity to work with managers to help them recognise, value, encourage and support the learning that takes place everyday as a natural part of work – both individually as well as in work teams and groups.This 4-week online workshop looks at how you can help managers, individuals and teams learn from their everyday work as well as support collaborative problem-solving and innovation.


You may copy, print or forward all or part of this Newsletter to others as long as any use is not for resale or profit and I am attributed.

Jane Hart
Centre for Modern Workplace Learning