L&D in the Virtual Environment – What’s New (And What’s Not)?

By Robert David and Eugene B. Kogan (Harvard Business School)

Last week, we co-facilitated an interactive exchange of 'forward looking' ideas with ten senior L&D leaders. Here are six key takeaways from this discussion.

1)     From on-site to virtual – what changed and what didn’t:

a.      Changed: on-site executive development allowed a more effective intellectual transition from “office” to “classroom” – leaving behind the urgent, and enabling a focus on the important; some of the “mindset change” challenges brought up in the discussion may reflect this; 

b.     Didn’t Change: understanding and growing executive motivation is particularly important and challenging given the complex nature of each organization's deliverables and each executive's unique approach to leadership; 

c.      Didn’t Change: preparing “early and often” and providing executive development as a team (instructor, TA, etc.) remain key ingredients of an impactful program;  

d.     Both: Zoom fatigue is new, but the answer to it is not. Commitment to implement desired changes (demand, see below) will not result simply from intellectual stimulation (supply, see below), which goes roughly 55% of the way. The remaining 45% is due to the physical and emotional chemistry between the audience and the trainer. Bottom line: motivation is a function of intellectual, physical and emotional intensity.   

2)     Three perspectives on executive learning:

a.      Supply: what can I do for you?

--- this perspective focuses on the executive coach / trainer / professor, their philosophy of executive learning, substantive background and proposed agenda for executive development; Eugene’s presentation reflected this perspective;

b.     Demand: what problems am I trying to solve?

--- this perspective focuses on the reasons that executive development participants pursue such training: signaling their readiness for promotion; broadening their professional networks (in open-enrollment programs); taking a deep dive into academic subjects;

c.      CLO: how do we get the supply and demand perspectives to have a dialogue?

--- L&D professionals intermediate between the supply and the demand sides of the executive development process, and negotiate the contours of the learning space (with the executive leadership) within their organizations.

If you have reactions, we’ll be interested.