quick wins

The path of least resistance....

Do you spend more time trying to get the detractors onside than you do encouraging your supporters? As a trainer it is all too easy to focus on the one person who seems disengaged during a workshop than the other 11 who are clearly benefitting.

A high proportion of people come into Learning and Development after an internal move from an operational role. Most of us have another profession - and a passion for helping people to learn. So it follows that in any organisation there are likely to be other operational people with that same passion who perhaps haven't had the opportunity to pursue it more formally.

So if you want to start creating a true learning organisation these are the people to start with. You'll likely know how they are.

So select a few and extend a personal invitation to them to be involved in supporting a move to a learning organisation. Then get this group of people thinking about new ways to support learning. Start by asking:

If there was no Learning and Development department in this organisation, how would people find out what they need to know to do their job effectively and safely?

When great ideas come up allow this group to think about how they would implement them and hey presto the power is shifting from you to them.

Start as you mean to go on....

How do you introduce people into your organisation? We've experienced everything from 9 week inductions to people being thrown in at the deep end and we've seen good and bad in both of those approaches.

It's tempting to assume that a structured induction plan is the best option but we've seen very thorough and well intentioned plans backfire.

By taking control of a new employee's learning and providing everything you think they might need to know, you may be hampering their future ability to be a self directed learner in your organisation.

So is the sink or swim approach any better? No guidance at all can leave all but the most confident people floundering and with a negative first impression that is hard to get over.

People today will join with a wide range of previous experience and so a 'one size fits all' approach to induction is becoming less and less appropriate. What we need to do instead is let people have an experience of their new job and then let them shape their own learning.

Now it will take more than 90 seconds to change your organisation's approach to induction, but it will only take a short while to ask new starters these questions.

• How are you getting on?

• What else do you need to know/be able to do to be more effective?

• Who is best placed to help you with that?

Walk and talk....

How often do you work through your office, shop, call centre (add your own workplace as appropriate) just to get from A to B? Why not use that time to do something useful?

Some of the most effective learning professionals we have met on our travels around organisations are the ones who seem to know everyone. As we walk with them through the building they say hi to lots of people, enquire how someone is getting on since a workshop, remind a participant of an action they had committed to, or share some information about what's happening in the business.

By doing this they are demonstrating that learning doesn't just happen in the classroom and reinforcing the message that learning requires action back on the job. This has a real benefit for the learners and a real benefit for the learning professional who will build trust and understanding which is vital in creating a highly effective learning offer in the organisation.

So next time you're walking from A to B why not add in an extra 90 seconds and use that to talk with people about learning - what they need, what they want and how they are using what they've already got.

And, as learning organisations rely on people naturally sharing knowledge and skills, this is a great practice for everyone to make a habit.

The more people we know the more quickly learning spreads throughout an organisation.

What can the learners do for themselves?

We firmly believe that most workplace learning happens on the job and the more this can be encouraged then the more people will learn.

However if you have a culture that very much looks towards the Learning and Development department for all workplace learning then you will need to encourage greater self sufficiency gradually.

So why not start by looking at the workshops you run.

We like the quote:

'Don't do for the learners what they can do for themselves' David Meier

So what do you do in your workshops currently that learners could do for themselves?

Learners will remember more about:

• The information they research

• The case studies they create from their own experience than from the ones you produce

• The quizzes they write for each other to test learning

• The 'teach backs' they run to share their findings with each other.

Can you really change a workshop in 90 seconds? Yes, because you don't actually have to prepare anything, just make the decision to let your learners do the work for themselves.

Building self sufficiency

You've heard the saying that the best managers are the ones that can go on holiday without everything falling apart. Yet many managers still like to feel indispensible and love it when their teams ask for advice.

People ask 'How do I …' or  'What do you think…' questions for all sorts of reasons - not just because they don't know what to do. Often it's just for reassurance especially if you have a culture that doesn't tolerate mistakes well.

Start to build sufficiency by reflecting back questions with 'What do you think …' responses.

If the answer is still 'I don't know' then try this one.

'Just suppose you did know, what would you do then?'

Be amazed at the resourceful answers you get back!