New L&D perspectives for an impactful 2023

There is something invigorating about starting anew. A new year, a new job, a new relationship, a new notebook – all provide fresh opportunities to redefine our goals, our hopes, and dreams.

New perspectives

But here is the challenge. When the clock struck midnight and the fireworks exploded to mark the beginning of this new year, the date may have changed but the disruptions facing L&D did not.

One thing that my own research has shown me over the past 20 years is that our circumstances are not the best predictors of our positive impact in the year ahead. Our perspective is!

High performing L&D teams weren’t defined by their sector, budgets, or headcounts. Those that thrived through the turmoil of recessions, reorganisations and pandemics were not driven by delivering more courses with less money but delivering more value with less tradition.

When budgets for courses were cut or classrooms shut down, they reimagined new ways for delivering their core purpose of ensuring others are equipped and ready. They eliminated the nice to have from their portfolio, shifted from a sole reliance on courses to supporting learning while working, collaborated more effectively with others and equipped managers to support their teams more effectively.

Their perspective meant that their solutions adapted, their tools adapted. They adapted!

Getting into the habit of seeing things differently

What do you see when you look at your circumstances this year? A challenge, an opportunity, a reason to hunker down until things calm a little?

I’d like to propose that in order to make the biggest difference to those around us, it might be time for ALL of us to start looking at our circumstances and opportunities differently.

Even those of us considered experts in our field.

The challenge that we all have is that once we’ve become an ‘old hand’, reliant on a specific methodology, research study or technique, we view our circumstances through the lenses that have worked for us in the past.

This is dangerous, it can limit our thinking and prevent us from spotting the need to adapt and grow – something that economist Thorsten Veglin called trained incapacity.

To spot and be energised by the opportunity that the new year brings, it’s worth getting into the habit of viewing our circumstances through different lenses.

Swapping our rose tinted glasses!

Lenses can be super useful – when we know what we are looking for and what we are looking through! And high performing teams are looking to make a difference – making an impact on what will help their business the most!

Rose tinted glasses that provide a simplified but fairy tale perspective are not particularly helpful when we are looking for useful solutions to complex problems.

In 2023 L&D have a unique opportunity to make an impact – to team up with their business to make a difference to skills, drive innovation, facilitate change and enhance employee engagement.

If we are looking to drive value, we need impact tinted glasses that provide a multifaceted view. We need a range of lenses that will allow us to challenge our assumptions and release creative solutions to real business problems.

We need lenses that will help us see the bigger picture and different perspectives. We also need lenses that will help us see the opportunities AND the risks more clearly. We need lenses that will help us zoom into details and influence what was previously unseen.

And we need to establish new habits of exploring our environments through those lenses.

New lenses for a new year ??

During the pandemic, Michelle Ockers , Shannon Tipton and I noticed 4 lenses – Data, Community, Technology and Experiments - that were regularly used by those L&D professionals who were thriving through disruption and emerging stronger as a result.

Data, community, technology, and experiments - nothing new here you might say. These are tools we are already familiar with. We know we need to harness data and technology more effectively, build communities, and be agile in trying out new ideas.

What was new for us was the way that these 4 tools were being used as lenses to explore how to navigate disruption to improve business influence and impact.

• Re prioritising with the Data lens ?? means exploring the information around us (not just our LMS dashboard!) to make smarter decisions.?
• Rethinking with the Community lens involves leveraging diverse perspectives and skills of others.
• Reinventing with the Technology lens ??? means that technology is used as an enabler to support strategy rather than a saviour of learning.
• Reimagining with the Experiment lens ?? stops us jumping to age old solutions and moving to exploring instead, trying out new ideas, methods, or activities or improve a concept or idea.

Building the habit

These lenses look simple on paper (and we’re releasing an ebook to share more – ping me in the comments below or DM if you want a copy) but the simple things can have a profound impact as our Emerging Stronger masterclass alumni over the last two years found out https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/lessons-learned-our-road-emerging-stronger-laura-overton. The challenge is turning simple ideas into powerful habits.

Our alumni taught us that if we want to build new habits to shift our perspective, we need to be willing to be challenged. Joining with others to share what you see is also super useful.

James Clear (author of atomic habits) recommends tackling a small habit, looking for tiny improvements and breaking habits into small chunks.

If you have a bigger goal for L&D this year – to shift culture, to encourage self-directed learning, to improve employee engagement, learning to view and respond to the opportunity through these lenses might be the tiny habits you need to make a difference despite your circumstances.

Shifting perspective – keep on track!

So, do you see a year of fresh problems ahead? Or a year of fresh opportunity for L&D to take Smart BOLD action that makes a difference to the lives and experiences of those we work with?

I am absolutely not denying that the year ahead may be tough for many, but I have seen amazing people do amazing things in our industry over my tenure and am convinced that our perspective and the way that we support each other will win through.

How we view the pressure on our organisations influences the pressure that we place on ourselves. We can’t control our circumstances, but we can influence our perspective when we work on the challenge together.

So here are our 4 lenses for 2023! I would love to know what lenses you have used to help you navigate disruption and deliver impact. Please share! ??

Final note: Whilst our masterclass helped us all refine how we use these lenses they involved a significant commitment of time. This year we’re trying something new - a series of short intimate global roundtables to explore the lenses in teams or as individuals. These start on the 17th/18th January. We’d love you to join – message me or find out more here.