MWL Newsletter No 67

Here are posts, articles and news about Modern Workplace Learning (MWL) selected by Jane Hart for the week 27 May – 2 June 2018


From around the Web

What skills does the 21st century L&D professional need?  Donald Taylor, 24 May 2018

“The LPI is running an open consultation to gather people’s thinking world-wide on the answer to the key question: What skills does the 21 Century L&D professional need? We are looking for the big-picture skills (e.g. ‘Communication’ rather than ‘HTML 5’), which have a life-time of several years. We also want to check the ongoing relevance and definitions of the skills currently in the Map.”


Why today’s business schools teach yesterday’s expertise  Steve Denning, 27 May 2018

“As the world undergoes a Fourth Industrial Revolution that is “fundamentally altering the way the way we live, work, and relate to one another—in its scale, scope, and complexity, a transformation … unlike anything humankind has experienced before”—one might imagine that business schools would be hotbeds of innovation and rethinking, with every professor keen to help understand and master this emerging new world.

Paradoxically, it’s the opposite. For the most part, today’s business schools are busy teaching and researching 20th century management principles and, in effect, leading the parade towards yesterday.”


The problem with “learning styles”  Cindi May, Scientific American, 29 May 2018

There is little scientific support for this fashionable idea—and stronger evidence for other learning strategies.


4 ways to transform your people strategy  Scott Erker, Industry Week, 30 May 2018

“3. Traditional Approach: Hire for skills and experience: The common-sense approach to recruitment in manufacturing is to hire people who have the experience and skills to meet the demands of the job. In the environment of Industry 4.0, however, the pace of change has accelerated, quickly making skills and experience irrelevant. Instead, personality is proving to be much more relevant on the job.

Industry 4.0 Approach: Hire for learning potential. Industry 4.0 leaders must demand a radical shift in their hiring and promotion practices to focus less on skills and experience, and instead look for individuals who demonstrate strength in agility, continuous learning, interpersonal communication, and proactive problem-solving skills.”


Internet Trends 2018, Mary Meeker, Kleiner Perkins, 30 May 2018

Slides 232-236 Lifelong learning = crucial in evolving work environment


20 important takeaways for learning world from Mary Meeker’s brilliant tech trends  Donald Clark, 31 May 2018

“Mary Meeker’s slide deck has a reputation of being the Delphic Oracle of tech. But, at 294 slides it’s a lot to take in. Don’t worry, I’ve been through them all. It has tons on economic stuff that is of marginal interest to education and training but there’s plenty to to get our teeth into. We’re not immune to tech trends, indeed we tend to follow in lock-step, just a bit later than everyone else. Among the data are lots of fascinating insights that point the way forward in terms of what we’re likely to be doing over the next decade. So here’s a really quick, top-end summary for folk in the learning game.”


The 10 principles of digital work  Esko Kilpi, 31 May 2018

“The human protocols of creating value in the post-industrial world …

10  – work is interaction between interdependent people, therefore competence and learning capability are not the attributes of individuals, but the attributes of social interaction.”


Diversity training doesn’t change people’s behaviour. We need to find out what does  Odette Chalaby, World Economic Forum, 1 June 2018

“Unconscious bias training is money ill-spent. But it is just one particularly striking example of a wider issue. There is a lack of evidence about what actually does work to improve gender equality and diversity at work. Companies spend their diversity budgets on a range of initiatives that promise change, from women’s leadership development programmes to new assessment systems. Many of these investments are done in the dark, and their impact is rarely assessed. They are chosen because they’re easy, fast and popular, not because we know they work.”


Next MWL Workshop

Continuous Learning & Development in the Workplace

Next public workshop runs 11 June – 8 July 2018

Continuous learning and development in the workplace doesn’t mean continuous training or self-study. Whilst, it is up to everyone to become a lifelong learner and keep up to date with what’s happening in their industry or profession to remain employable, it’s also up to L&D departments to support those activities as well as provide continuous learning and development opportunities for their people.  In this 4-week workshop we will look at how you can help individuals become modern continuous learners as well as how can you provide continuous L&D opportunities.


Modern Workplace Learning 2018

This new book includes some (updated) content from Jane Hart’s previous books as well as new material. 

Part 1: An Introduction to Modern Workplace Learning in 2018)
Part 2: Designing, Delivering and Managing Modern Training for the Workplace
Part 3: Supporting Independent Continuous Learning at Work 

Available as a PDF to download.

Find out more about the Modern Workplace Learning 2018 here.


How to become a Modern Professional Learner

In the modern workplace there is no longer such a thing as a job for a life – only a life of jobs – so it’s up to everyone to continuously update their knowledge, skills and productivity and become an independent modern professional life-long learne

This newly updated resource now contains 60 Tasks to help you get the most out of your work life and take control of your career.

Find out more here


Jane Hart
Centre for Modern Workplace Learning
w: ModernWorkplaceLearning.com
t: twitter.com/C4LPT 
l: linkedin.com/in/C4LPT

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