Ditch the Training Cycle to Achieve Success
As the world of business faces ever increasing challenges and the pace of change escalates the world of learning becomes ever more important. This is both a fantastic opportunity and a sizeable challenge. Meeting this challenge with traditional approaches is doomed to fail. In this article we will outline why.
The Way We Do Things Around Here
The status quo is to follow the training cycle, it is tried it is tested and like many established ways of working, we can follow it without question. So, we settle back and churn the handle and follow the cycle. It probably looks something very like this:
· Needs assessment and analysis
· Design and development
· Implementation and Delivery
· Evaluation
It is more than likely an annual process, but may or may not have all pieces aligned. As performance reviews, budget setting and scheduling of learning operate on slightly different timelines.
But let’s assume that everything is perfectly aligned. So what is the problem I hear you ask?
The Wrong Question
As with any problem if you are not asking the right question, it is more than likely that your perfect solution will fail or underdeliver.
The training cycle is driven and rooted in answering the question of “what?” with the secondary question being “how?”. In an agile world these questions need to switch places. Focussing on “What?” is about control and phasing and is by its very nature slow. Whereas focussing on “How?” first drives agility, is action orientated and delivers results.
What is meant by a “How?” approach?
Leading with a “How?” approach is about creating a culture and infrastructure to allow your teams to perform, learn collaborate and thrive. The “what” of content is still important but as a secondary question it allows you to apply a greater degree of creativity, and agility in your answers.
How does “How” work?
Understanding the differences in approach created by leading with how is key:
Leading with “How?”
Focusses you on outcomes and impact
Is open ended and flexible
Is organic and grows
Empowers your teams to learn
Leading with “What?”
Focusses on inputs
Create fixed and finite solutions
Is static and labour intensive
Channels and restricts learning
Start by asking a few important “How?” questions such as:
- How do our people learn?
- How do our people perform?
- How can we share best practice most effectively?
To find out more about our “How?” based approach to learning get in touch:
Email: info@thelearningeffect.co.uk
Tel: 07920284086
Website: www.thelearningeffect.co.uk