PROVOKING THOUGHT
GENERATING DISCUSSION
ENGAGING EMPLOYEES
DELIVERING RESULTS
Reimagining L&D
Power to the people
Jack of all trades, master of everything
Helping organisations to grow
Democratising L&D: what it means in practice
How L&D can facilitate lifelong learning and help build the workforce of the future.
The value of embracing a growth mindset
“ Success is not just dependent on before-the-event reasoning, it is also about after-the-trigger adaptation.� Matthew Syed
Cover Shutterstock / Inner Pixabay
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Learning & Development Forum, 21 March 2018
thinkBites Arguably any business forum is about learning and development. So what can we take away from a forum on L&D itself? The answer is a whole lot of new knowledge, fresh thinking and great ideas. Ian Barrow, Client Services Director
Paul Jones, Senior Engagement Consultant
As the world becomes more complex and change happens faster than before, we’re going to need these new ideas. As our keynote speaker Matthew Syed has described, this complexity and rapid change will require a different approach to learning and development, one geared up to continuous improvement and a growth mindset. Learning and development is going to be a constant, lifelong goal. The days of dull, mandatory training presentations are coming to an end. The future of learning is online, on demand and on the agenda of businesses looking to hold a competitive edge. Karian and Box in association with Richmond Events
David Clark, Project Manager
Contributors: Ian Barrow, Paul Jones, Myriam Day, Matthew Midgley, Rachel Gartner, Ed Clews, Liam Quinn David Clark, Project Manager dclark@richmondevents.com 020 8487 2203 Liam Quinn, Project Director
Liam Quinn, Project Director lquinn@richmondevents.com 020 8487 2250
Karian and Box 1st Floor, 22 Lendal, York, YO1 8AA 01904 654454 info@karianandbox.com www.karianandbox.com
www.richmondevents.com
Intro
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Power to the people Democratising L&D We’ve all seen the practical role of L&D shift within organisations in recent years, with learning becoming more embedded in the business, and self-directed learning taking precedence in many organisations. But what does this more ‘democratic’ approach mean practically? We look at simple, applicable ways you can address challenges and get colleagues moving.
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“ We adopt a “Field of Dreams” approach: if you build it, they will come. FOMO is a powerful driver for that, so you need to show people using your learning product on internal social media.” Workshop participant
“Self-directed learning can be lonely. People miss the collaboration and comradeship of the classroom. We’ve introduced a learning buddy system for self-directed learners to get around that challenge.” Workshop participant
Power to the people
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Case study: Empowering people to take ownership over their learning One major retailer faced the big challenge of helping their 150,000+ frontline colleagues take responsibility for their own learning, and navigate a massive array of learning courses, toolkits and other resources. Everyone trying to navigate needs a good map, so we developed an interactive learning map, that gave colleagues a clear, integrated bird’s eye view of all the learning resources available to them, broken down by function and level.
The L&D team at the retailer are already seeing the impact of this approach as a simple way to boost ownership of learning. Critically, it has removed the excuse of colleagues saying ‘I don’t know what’s available for me’, and set the clear expectation that everyone in the organisation needs to take responsibility for their own self-directed learning.
A colleague using the map simply clicked on their specific function / level to see the learning resources relevant to them. These resources were sorted into what they must do, what they should do and what they could do, to enable them to prioritise their activity.
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Using social power to drive learning One of the major advantages of a democratic approach is the opportunity to use social dynamics to embed and drive the right approach to learning. Key to this approach is identifying the people with real influence in your organisations – and this can be a team or function as much as an individual.
“In our business we had an audit department who were really feared across the company and had a lot of power and influence. By shifting their emphasis from catching people out to identifying and spreading best practice, they actually became a leader in teaching and developing other parts of the business.” Workshop participant
Case study: Shifting learning culture through viral change financial services business faced A the challenge of embedding a growth mindset approach: getting teams to reflect and learn from projects in the right way at the review stage. This change was as much about mindset and behaviours as review processes. Before they rolled out the new approach, the business identified the most active and influential users of internal social media – based on how many times their posts were liked or shared.
When the new approach went live and was rolled out to the whole business, these viral influencers were already role-modelling the right behaviours. They also provided invaluable feedback to the project team on the practical challenges to adopting the new approach in practice. Early signs are good, with the new approach already beginning to shift measured behavioural traits away from a blame culture towards a growth mindset.
These influencers were trained first on the new growth mindset and behaviours, and asked to role model them in their day-to-day actions and decisions – reporting back on their breakthroughs and the impact on others in the business. Unsplash
Power to the people
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Jack of all trades, master of everything The world of work is changing, without a doubt. AI, automation and the gig economy are all transforming not only the workplace, but our attitudes toward the work we do. Not so long ago, it was normal to retire at 65, after 30 or 40 years of service at one company or in one industry. But now, the modern worker will change careers an average of seven times in their lifetime. With each change in career, we have to be prepared to adapt and learn new skills – lifelong learning is the norm now and it’s no longer negative to be seen as a ‘jack of all trades’. L&D play a central role in helping businesses and employees to navigate through these changes. Here, we look at four ways L&D can facilitate lifelong learning and help build the workforce of the future. 8
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Facilitate multigenerational learning
The seven career trajectory isn’t just affecting younger workers, with over 10% of over65s still working. Part of our role as L&D professionals is to act as ‘learning consultants’, helping employees across generations tailor their learning to their needs and preferences. While learning preferences are often very individual, there are some universal truths for different age groups. For example, younger, tech-savvy workers tend to prefer techbased learning that allows them to tailor their experience and learn in their own time. Older generations -- particularly boomers – are more likely to favour traditional classroombased training. More than that, some older workers might need training specifically on how to use newer technologies.
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Embrace new technology
Technological developments, particularly in wearable tech and virtual and augmented reality, present a big opportunity for facilitating learning and development in hard to reach populations. VR isn’t for everyone – the experience can be physically and mentally uncomfortable. But it is a very useful way to give workers in dangerous environments like construction and mining a safe virtual environment to learn in.
Read more about different learning preferences across generations on page 10.
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Adopt a ‘learn it all’ culture
Being a ‘jack of all trades, master of everything’ takes an open approach to learning. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has shown that this can happen across all levels of an organisation. He’s been instrumental in introducing a ‘learn it all’ approach at Microsoft, encouraging leaders and employees to cross-train and work with a ‘growth mindset’ (more about ‘growth mindsets’ on page 12). This has helped his workforce adapt more quickly to technological change and create products and services that better meet user needs.
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Introduce a welcome back policy
Talent flight is something that we’ve been taught to fear, but with employees taking a more flexible attitude toward their careers, a new approach to attrition is needed. Creating an Alumni Network or a ‘welcome back’ policy is one way businesses can make the most of talent movement. Keeping in touch with talented leavers and keeping track of their growth and promotions means you can recruit them back when the right time comes. And any skills and knowledge they gain while they’re gone will only serve to strengthen your own business.
Jack of all trades, master of everything
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Age of enlightenment
With four generations in today’s workforce, tailoring L&D to different learning styles is even more important
BABY BOOMERS
GENERATION X
Most common names: Mary and James
Most common names: Jennifer and David
Percentage of UK working population: 28%
Born: 1946–1965 Age: 53–72
Mary and James… re more likely to have left A school by 16 and less likely to have attended university his is the ‘11-plus’ generation. In T school they would have been taught in a linear fashion to pass exams
To engage them rovide structured learning P pathways where new knowledge is received in a linear fashion emember to challenge them as R you would younger generations. It’s never too late to learn something completely new
Percentage of UK working population: 35%
Born: 1966–1980 Age: 38–52
Jennifer and David… Are ambitious and career-oriented ave grown up having more H independence than their parents’ generation re probably more sceptical A than their older peers
To engage them ffer self-directed learning to O satisfy that independent streak ut don’t lose structure entirely. B Make sure they have clear goals to work towards
ear in mind that they may not be B as used to technological learning
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O and A-levels are introduced.
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The GCSE is introduced
While our infographic highlights some differences in learning style between the generations, remember there are enduring human realities that matter whenever your people were born.
Although different generations may share certain learning traits based on their collective experience, learning and development should always be about the individual. Some baby boomers build websites and do degrees online, just as some Gen Z learners prefer books over blogs.
MILLENNIALS
GENERATION Z
Most common names: Michael and Jessica
Most common names: Emily and Jacob
Percentage of UK working population: 34%
Born: 1981–1997 Age: 21–37
Michael and Jessica…
Born: 1998–? Age: >20
Percentage of UK working population: 3%
Emily and Jacob…
re more likely to have multiple A degrees than previous generations
Are tech-focused and multicentric
ave had more career options open H to them than ever before, but this can make it hard to settle on a chosen path
ave grown up learning in H many different ways
To engage them I ntroduce teamwork and collaboration into learning scenarios how them clear pathways to S direct their development
Are used to things happening quickly
To engage them ffer options for classroom alternatives O such as self-learning and e-learning ffer more lateral development O they might not stick around long enough for promotion
ffer a ‘welcome back’ policy to O allow them to develop in a range of jobs and organisations
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1981
The government launches a campaign to put a computer in every classroom
1998
A growing number of households are online
Age of enlightenment
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Helping organisations to grow
Microsoft
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When the current Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella arrived at the company in 2014, he quickly realised that the culture needed to change. Bill Gates’ dream of a computer in every home turned Microsoft from a small team into a multinational business – through vision, drive and innovation.
But by the early 2000s, Microsoft had lost some of this vision. The business had become hierarchical, with a strong sense of deference to the leaders behind its rise. And this culture was stifling innovation, putting Microsoft at risk of falling behind its agile tech rivals. When companies become complacent and deferent, this suppresses adaptation. But Nadella recognised that being open to learning is key for businesses to thrive. So, he encouraged a shift from complacency to curiosity, turning Microsoft’s culture around by implementing an organisational mindset of ‘learn-it-all’, not ‘know-it-all’. In other words, businesses who embrace an organisational growth mindset put curiosity first, building their culture around continuous improvement. This shared culture sends a clear message to employees that it’s important to develop and improve through measurement, reflection and adaptation. The proof is in the bottom line: after 47 months of Nadella’s leadership style and culture shake-up, he has added almost $380 bn to Microsoft’s market cap. Matthew Syed, one of the world’s most influential thinkers on the science of high performance and a keynote speaker at the Richmond Events L&D Forum in March, says that creating a growth culture involves:
“discipline, measurement and reflection. Above all, you need a belief that you can get better, therefore you can learn from suboptimal results or errors”. A growth mindset applies as much to institutional behavioural dynamics as to individuals. Organisations with a fixed mindset are likely to have a cover-up culture, where people scramble to conceal their errors, fear blame, and try to pass the buck to other people because they don’t want the responsibility.
Helping organisations to grow
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On the other hand, successful institutions embrace collaboration, creativity and measured risk-taking: hallmarks of a culture with a growth mindset. Organisations with this mindset foster the belief that learning from errors or sub-optimal results lead to marginal gains, incremental improvements that add up to significant changes over time. However, the risk is that it’s all too easy for concepts like these to become vaguely defined, woolly buzzwords that everyone talks about but no one really understands. Businesses need to practice what they preach. It isn’t enough to state, in a mission statement or strategy, that they have a growth mindset. What matters most for organisations is being able to embed this culture – so that employees understand how it applies to them and can fully embrace this way of thinking.
“ It is about the willingness and tenacity to investigate the lessons that often exist when we fail, but which we rarely exploit. It is about creating systems and cultures that enable organisations to learn from errors, rather than being threatened by them” Matthew Syed
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In organisations, fostering a growth mindset culture of marginal gains can take the shape of: Changing the way people think about success
Encouraging collaboration and innovation
Leadership role-modelling
Syed suggests that one of the difficulties in adopting a growth mindset is that most people just see the performance, fixating on the end result. But they don’t think about the journey it has taken to get there: the times when things don’t work out, and the efforts to keep learning and moving forward.
If employees are stuck in a fixed mindset of ‘this is the way we’ve always done it, so this is the way we’ll always do it’, there’s no motivation to seek out new / better ways of doing things.
Leaders and managers in growth mindset institutions focus on nurturing talent, believing that it can be developed in everyone. This means giving employees the opportunity to develop and learn sustainably.
Organisations with a growth mindset recognise that being afraid of failure stifles progression. Crucially, creating a growth mindset involves using failure and practice as learning opportunities, analysing what went wrong and how it can be improved the next time.
Organisations need to actively encourage employees to work together and come up with ideas – and to make mistakes (within reason!). This will also lead to greater empowerment as employees feel they can make a difference in their work and their organisation.
Helping organisations to grow
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Next forum: The Richmond Human Resources Forum 22 - 23 May 2018 The Grove, Hertfordshire
Keynote speakers: Dame Helena Morrissey DBE, Head of Personal Investing, Legal and General Investment Management Lord Mark Price, former Managing Director of Waitrose, Minister of State for Trade and the author of Workplace Fables Simon Fanshawe OBE, co-founder of Stonewall, Partner, diversitybydesign
To receive an invite to attend one of our forums as a delegate, please contact: The Human Resources Forum Sophie Katon, Delegate Manager Tel: 020 8487 2261, Email: skaton@richmondevents.com
The Richmond L&D Forum
The Communication Directors’ Forum Vicki Barford, Delegate Manager, Tel: 020 8487 2202, Email: vbarford@richmondevents.com
Jack Richards, Delegate Manager Tel: 020 8487 2224, Email: jrichards@richmondevents.com
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