The disruption advantage – preparing for the future of L&D
Laura Overton
Continually curious about learning innovation and business impact |Founder Learning Changemakers |Co-creator of Emerging Stronger
I have just got back from an amazing trip down under and it is clear that the L&D’s enthusiasm? and passion for our work is global! The word cloud below captures some of the aspirations of that audience that we captured during my keynote and the majority of us would probably be nodding our heads in agreement!?
This passion for making a difference attracted me into our industry over 30 years ago and also kickstarted my 20 year research history.
For those of you who don’t know, I established and provided an independent L&D maturity benchmark* [1], a not for profit model that brought the industry together to learn together. Over 15 years, often with the help of their originators, our Towards Maturity research programme deconstructed the many models, tips, tricks, and technologies in use and emerging, to explore what works. For the past five years I have been digging deeper in my research in pursuit of my original research question-why are some L&D teams more successful at driving business benefits than others-and what can we learn from them?
The difference today compared to 20 years ago is that as a profession we have more access to models, evidence about successful learning, and easy to use tools than ever before. In one way or another, we can call on proof that they can help us deliver against our vision… in an ideal world!
Embracing workplace realities
However we look at it, the techniques we’ve known about for years are still limited in their application (take a look at my latest research conducted with the CIPD if you don’t believe me! [2]). And that is not for lack of interest. 65% of us are in this career because it is meaningful. We WANT to make the difference that our colleagues in Oz highlighted.
The trouble is that most of? the resources that we have at hand have been designed to help us navigate a known world, albeit a complicated one. A world where we have to operate within a system of many moving parts (stakeholders, measurements, existing supply chains, processes and technologies) but in this complicated world, we expect those parts to work together in predictable ways.?
Hence our focus on evaluation methods, change management tools, design methodologies that have helped us navigate the world of work in the past and pave a path to learning success.
The reality however is different – our world of work is not just complicated, it is complex. It is a world where well considered plans can come to nothing while a tiny comment can completely change the direction of an entire organisation. It is a world that economist Brian Arthur described as ‘a fundamental uncertainty where the systems that we relied on before can’t be trusted to work in the same way’ [3].
Dr Sharon Varney expresses the challenge of operating in this environment so well in her book ‘Leadership in Complexity and Change’ [4] where she explores complexity as the science of uncertainty. And boy are we all facing fundamental uncertainty right now! The logical steps and processes that helped us prepare in the past don’t work as well in a world of global turmoil.
Complex systems are similar to complicated ones in that they have many moving parts but these parts are entangled and combined in unpredictable ways. And as a result, the overall impact of a change on a complex system is unknowable in advance. Sharon makes an important observation:
As soon as humans get involved, complexity enters the room. It is an important implication because it means that organisational systems cannot be ‘designed’, ‘re-organised’ or ‘transformed’ without tripping over complexity!
Sharon also points out that as humans we might be frustrated by complexity, disruption and uncertainty but we are also uniquely equipped to cope with a world that is in constant motion. The pandemic showed us how we are able to continuously adapt, making small adjustments on the fly, just to maintain stability. These are unique human traits that set us apart.
Preparing for the future of work
In Australia, we explored the implications of continual disruption on the modern day practice of L&D professionals and our unique ability to cope with it, to consider how we might better prepare ourselves for the future of work. I wanted to share some of the emerging themes that surfaced during our discussions:
1 Choosing to embrace disruption
5 years ago, Justin Trudeau pointed out that ‘The pace of change has never been this fast, but will never be this slow again’. Change and continual changing is here to stay and is set to disrupt our plans and processes whether we like it or not. The first line of my first research report back in 2003 [5] talked about how L&D needs to respond to a changing environment in order to remain useful and every study I have written since has flagged the same thing!?
Change causes disruption and whilst disruption can create havoc, it can also create energy, momentum and opportunity. Our job is to equip and enable others for today and tomorrow, which means we also need to find a way to equip and enable ourselves.
This means making a decision today about how we choose to respond to disruption as an advantage vs an adversary. Do we observe and harness the energy that it potentially creates or take cover until it hopefully returns to normal?
2 ‘What got us here won't get us there’
Fundamental uncertainty in our world and economy and the complexity of our workplaces means that we have no true way of being certain how the decisions we make today will play out tomorrow. There are too many unknown unknowns.
But as human beings, we like to know. As L&D professionals we rightly want to ‘know’ in order to be equipped to act professionally. Many of our models help us to be equipped.
Over the past 20 years I have found ways to deconstruct the models and frameworks of our time into behaviours. Consistently the core principles underpinning them correlate back to business impact and are more prevalent in high performing teams.
Some (but not all) of these models, ideas and frameworks are highlighted in the diagram below.
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What I have observed over the years is our desire to put our trust in these types of frameworks in order to guarantee ourselves an outcome.?
Don't get me wrong, many have strong evidence backing their role in contributing to business results and performance. They are all useful approaches to help us look at our world through different lenses and make decisions appropriate for the time.
But they are not a guarantee of success in a complex and entangled world of work. Trusting them completely to deliver is bound to result in disappointment. The danger is that we throw out one model for another or discard some of them completely when we can’t get them to work (hello evaluation, I am talking about you!).
Many of these frameworks were created during a more stable economic climate. They absolutely remain useful but we need to be more realistic and revisit how we explore and combine the principles behind them to help us navigate the messy world around us. As Marshall Goldsmith says ‘what got us here won’t get us there’.
Choosing our direction of travel
What I love about Dr Sharon Varney’s work is her focus on the fact that humans beat machines when it comes to handling complexity. We have an innate ability to adapt and shift as circumstances around us do the same. Currently, the digital tools around us can’t do that, despite the promise.
Brian Arthur comments ‘When you really do not know what’s coming next, there is no logical calculus that you can bring to bear. What's needed in this situation is not rational calculation but resilience’.
That means as human beings, L&D professionals have an incredibly important role to play in developing our capability to navigate complexity and helping others to do the same.
For me, this means developing and owning a clear sense of direction for our work. I have spoken before about how the value we deliver back to an organisation is determined by how we talk about our own value [6]. But it is more than that.
As L&D professionals we need to choose our direction of travel. Choosing to face towards learning value is easier and more comfortable - all the learning value elements on this spectrum are more predictable and within our control. Concentrating on them creates a sense of safety. But it also creates resistance as we are constantly trying to find ways to back them into the business value end of the spectrum.
Choosing to face towards business value, even when our current position is at the opposite end of the L&D value spectrum, means we are willing to embrace the uncertainty that lies ahead in pursuit of the goal of supporting performance, talent and culture in the world of work. We are better positioned to notice the world around us and explore ways of harnessing the wider opportunities ahead.
Developing our learning changemaker superpowers
The final theme that we explored in Australia was linked to Brian Arthur’s theme of resilience and Sharon Varney’s thinking about making a difference in a world that is constantly moving.
Once we have established our direction of travel the tools and technologies, models and methods, are all useful to help get moving. But it is how we work with those tools to identify emerging opportunities to support business values that matter.?
This means working out how to work in the midst of complexity, developing our extraordinary abilities-our superpowers-to both see and act on opportunities to make a difference as they emerge.?
In a world full of unknown unknowns, being curious about what is going on around us, observing and noticing what is going on in the wider system are essential. These help us to be in a better position to connect the dots and respond to and influence patterns of organisational behaviour as they are emerging.
This constantly changing unknown world can be uncomfortable but as we develop our awareness that we are constantly adapting anyway, this can help us develop another essential superpower: being comfortable outside of our comfort zone. This is the zone where we can start to get stuff done.? The big projects and the small experiments that we can initiate, in partnership with others, will allow us to continually observe the impact on the system, adapt and grow.
The disruption advantage – preparing for the future of L&D
One of my favourite benchmark studies in my 20 year research journey was ‘Embracing Change’ [7]. It looked at the role of business leaders, of individuals and L&D as we work through and explore change and disruption together.
I believe that the choices we make, the direction we choose to travel, the way we harness our tools and models, and evidence, are all vital. But our learning changemakers superpowers are the ones that will help us navigate the complex world of work - and equip others to do the same.
Thank you to EDUtech Australia for inviting me to work out loud - these themes have been on my mind for a while and I would love to know what resonates with you in the comments below ??
We are all on a journey to navigate change and prepare for the future of learning - if you would like to engage with me to provide a keynote or workshop in your organisation to continue exploring together please let me know.
1 *my original Towards Maturity Benchmark work is still going strong - it is now known as the Learning Performance Benchmark run by Mind Tools for Business and available to all [link]
Doing learning differently to make it part of business DNA.
1 年It was wonderful to meet in person at last Laura, and you gave a fascinating keynote! Embracing uncertainty is pretty much table stakes today, and it needs to be considered a team sport. I spend regular time with my L&D team coming together to discuss the state of play we find ourselves in and to constantly look ahead and try to ascertain what's coming and how we adapt (curiosity). Its a skill to embrace the discomfort of not knowing or not being sure, but to move ahead anyway, and its always easier to do this in the context of a team. The challenge is two-fold for L&D, first, to constantly evolve ourselves so that, second, we are finding better ways for the people we support to learn and grow. Both challenging and exciting at the same time.
Leadership & OD for a complex and changing world. Consultant, author and educator. Relentlessly pushing the leading edge of practice
1 年Love your article Laura Overton, delighted you took so much from my book. Disruption surely happens, the question is how we respond. Learning is critical, there's little point reaching for the old playbook. And developing too, so we can adapt. Learning and developing are vital skills.
Customer Success Director at QA Ltd
1 年Really interesting! I really like the angle of how we adapt to change, and disruption that technology can't replicate.
Author | Designer | Speaker | Social Design | Learning | Strategy | Program & Project Management
1 年Disruption is a big word but can be, or cause to be, a small change as well as something more massive (new process, new software, new leadership, new acquisition, etc). So I see disruption as really a constant force in work and life and must be expected and embraced. I think, to a degree, we all manage it - some more successfully than others and no question it starts with having a positive attitude about the opportunities disruption can bring.