MWL Newsletter No 8

News and articles about Modern Workplace Learning (MWL) selected by – and with commentary from – Jane Hart for the week 2 – 8 April 2017


From around the Web

HOW TO ACCELERATE TEAM LEARNING Tanmay Vora, 3 April 2017

“I read Elizabeth Doty’s post titled “How to Accelerate Learning on Your Team” at Strategy+Business blog with great interest. It adds on to the ideas we have explored further and provides fresh perspective on how to catalyze learning within teams.”

JH: Some good ideas on how managers can inspire their teams to learn


SOCIAL TOOLS FOR LEARNING 2017 Jane Bozarth, 4 April 2017

““People love to take, edit, and share images. Look past the usual uses of a tool—shopping, selfies, home décor—to find ways of supporting workplace learning and relationship building.”

JH: Some interesting (and more unusual) ideas for use of social media in different workplace learning contexts


LEADING CHANGE: ADAPTIVE SKILLS FOR THE NEW AGE Gary Bradt, Forbes, 5 April 2017

“Well-meaning leaders compound the problem by encouraging followers to embrace change, without backing up their exhortations with the necessary skills training to help people do so. That’s akin to encouraging folks to build a house, but not providing them the necessary tools or materials. Frustration and failure are the inevitable results.

JH Gary recommends leaders equip themselves and others with an individual “change toolkit” –  or ways of thinking, feeling and behaving to get better results


CAN AI EVER BE AS CURIOUS AS HUMANS – Thomas Chamurro-Premuzic, HBR,5 April 2017

Curiosity has been hailed as one of the most critical competencies for the modern workplace. It’s been shown to boost people’s employability. Countries with higher curiosity enjoy more economic and political freedom, as well as higher GDPs. It is therefore not surprising that, as future jobs become less predictable, a growing number of organizations will hire individuals based on what they could learn, rather than on what they already know.’

JH: AI is way more obsessed with learning than humans are, but at the same time, AI is constrained in what it can learn.


NO WHITE SPACE Steve Wheeler, 6 April 2017

“Creativity isn’t something you can keep inside a box. Expression of ideas cannot be contained with rules. Colouring outside the lines should be allowed. Some of the best inventions of the last century were made by breaking or bending the rules. We need to realise that the most agile workers in the 21st Century are those who are creative in their approach. How can we nurture our future generation of citizens if their creativity is stifled?”

JH: This is taken from education, but are training efforts similarly stifling creativity in their one-size-fits-all, standardised approach to learning.


WHAT KIND OF LEARNING CULTURE DO YOU HAVE   Kelly Palmer, CLO Magazine, 6 April

“First, let’s look at the different types of learning cultures that exist. I’ve put them into broad categories, but I’m sure we could identify variations and combinations of all of these:

  1. A culture of compliance training.
  2. A culture of necessary training.
  3. A culture of learning.
  4. A culture of continuous learning.”

JH: Kelly also provides an analysis of each type of culture. Read this then take/consider the poll below.


This week’s Twitter Poll

From the MWL Magazine

HOW LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT CAN AID HIGH PERFORMANCE INTERNATIONAL TEAMS

Nina Mehta-Vania, 3 April 2017

“In cases when businesses don’t see a return on investment in learning, it is generally because the company is failing to slot in the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle. Having spent money on training someone in new skills, there is a gap when it comes to checking that employees are applying their new skill effectively … To see the ROI on learning, it’s up to supervisors and employees to create time and space to acquire skills that will help the employee progress in their role or career and then apply what is being learned while at work.”


Upcoming MWL Workshop

MODERNISING TRAINING AND E-LEARNING

Next workshop runs 8 May – 2 June 2017

There will always be a need for organisational training, but this just needs more relevant and appealing for appealing for today’s workforce. This 4-week online workshop will help you to consider a number off ways to organise modern content and learning experiences – in line with the ways people now learn on the Web.


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.is Newsletter to others as long as any use is not for resale or profit and I am attributed.

Jane Hart
Director, Centre for Modern Workplace Learning