LEARN HOW TO LEARN: The People and the Role They Play

The impact of your current learning culture and its effectiveness with internal and external stakeholders presents an array of options and issues to consider. But in order for high impact learning cultures to foster, the ecosystem needs to play an active role, and equally important, learning and development must be recognized as a critical function within the organization.  How can you set your organization up for learning success?  Find some helpful tips and answers in this latest post. 

This 4-part series of articles will be followed by a seminar on November 18th at 12pm EST – 6pm CET. You can register by clicking here.

The people and the role they play

In principle, as leadership development coaches, we feel that one important part of our job is to help our clients with the complex task of how to intricately weave a talent and people focused culture that is coherent and aligned with their strategic and ambitious business goals.  Oftentimes we see that there is a misalignment between these two.  This is where the fun begins!

We help our clients to keep a close eye, a metaview of sorts, on how well these areas are overlapping.  In addition, we support our clients by being able to add perspective and shine the light on how these two areas actually can co-exist and may use helpful examples from other markets and organizations.  This is in fact how our true value to a company is highly recognized and undeniably beneficial.

One place we like to start is helping clients with the alignment of a people focused organization within an overall corporate strategy.  We begin talking in detail about the principles of continuous learning environments and more specifically, “High Impact Learning Organizations” or “HILOs”. We then cover a few important learning & development notions and the framework of key concepts.  In other words, we assess and observe to see if across the management committee there is a common and overall understanding and acceptance of the following:

  1. The Learning Organization; High Impact Learning Culture
  2. The role of Human Resources
  3. The role of Learning and Development
  4. The role of Managers
  5. The role of Peers
  6. The role of the Company
  7. The role of Artificial Intelligence
  8. The role of the Coach

 

1. The Learning Organization

As long ago as in 1990 Peter Senge, a well-known systems science expert and MIT professor, used the term of “The Learning Organization” and it is still applicable today. We can take peer learning one stage further and take steps to transform our company into a learning organization. What does this actually mean? Although its origins came from the total quality movement, it has evolved towards capitalizing on the learning that takes place everyday within our workplaces. It transforms the culture of an organization from not just “doing”, but also towards “reflecting and learning together”.

As Peter Senge says :

“A learning organization is a place where people are continually discovering how they created their reality and how they can change it.” This leads to generative learning, where we learn not only how to adapt to circumstances, but how we can bring about change.

So what might this company actually look like? Well, a learning organization experiments and tries new things and they use those experiments to produce knowledge. They take the time to extract the relevant knowledge from those experiments and they then share that knowledge within the company.

It sounds straightforward, but it actually requires focus and commitment.

“High Impact Learning Organization/Culture”

According to an extensive study by Bersin & Associates, HILOs that have a strong learning foundation in place tend to significantly outperform their peers in many areas including engagement, productivity, quality, customer needs and future needs. Learning functions within organizations drive impact.  The development of a strong learning culture is the most significant contribution that HILOs will make to organizational performance.  The true goal of learning is not to train the individual, but to give them the knowledge and tools which enables them to perform, remain happy & satisfied, and to equally ensure that the company stays competitive.  This is what we see as best practices over and over again.  By HILO we mean a strategic learning culture that includes people focus and ambitious business outcomes using a vast array of learning approaches, techniques, and tools.

As mentioned earlier, companies that have the most impactful learning systems are set up for success.  Business outcomes, even the most ambitious and far-reaching, become more tangible and highly attainable.  Below is an image which depicts many of the facets to a learning system and the veritable impacts on a large array of business results:

2.  The role of HR

Strategic Human Resources – as a true business partner, HR leaders link people programs to business results and engage other leaders to achieve those goals. They think of themselves as driving business results through people so any key people initiatives they undertake support business goals.  The Human Resources Manager is not necessarily also playing the role of Learning and Development.  In fact, we have found when the L&D position is a dedicated role (and/or department within larger organizations) that the culture of “HILOs” is more prevalent as the differences and contribution of this role is distinct and acknowledged.   As seen in numerous Google searches, it is impressive to imagine all of the “hats” that human resources professionals may wear including compensation, recruiting, succession planning, employee engagement, performance management, labor relations etc.  Naturally all of these responsibilities contribute to the people side of the business, however learning and development is not always a separate role and may unfortunately get buried under a cluster of other human resources areas which explains why it is not always set up as an organizational priority.  This goes with our experience and belief that learning and development must in fact be a dedicated and very specific role, one that has distinct competencies, skills and deliverables, if a HILO is to be achieved.

3. The role of Learning and Development

Learning & Development –   the role of L&D involves identifying learning gaps, designing and developing learning solutions, completing assessments and evaluation, providing training all in an effort to enable the execution of strategy and business goals.

They are often called training and development leaders, and are a key part of an organization’s talent management strategy and responsible to align group and individual goals and performance with the organization’s overall vision and goals. To get the most out of investments in training and development programs, L&D leaders must have a highly recognized and credible role in the organization and be able to formulate an ambitious vision for the function.

Coupled with this strategic vision, L&D Leaders need to take into account today’s employees who are looking for a learning environment that is more than traditional classroom training, one that is specifically designed to support thinking. They prefer a learning environment that enhances their ability to learn and one that gives them a sense of accomplishment.  All of this while allowing them to adapt and interact with their colleagues and managers, trainers, etc. In short, they want to enjoy the process in order to be active and committed actors throughout the learning journey.

According to the American Society for Training and Development, L&D’s role encompasses a wide array of competencies:

  • Knowledge Management
  • Change Management
  • Performance Improvement
  • Instructional Design
  • Training Delivery
  • Learning Technology
  • Evaluating Learning Impact
  • Managing Learning Programs
  • Integrated Talent Management
  • Coaching
  • Business Skills
  • Interpersonal Skills
  • Industry Knowledge
  • Global Mindset
  • Technology Literacy

 

Having all of the “right” competencies is no small endeavor.  Learning and Development professionals also have to take into account their learning “ecosystem”.  An ecosystem is a structure made up of the people, content, technology, culture and strategy which exist within and outside of an organization.  All of which has an impact on both the formal and informal learning that goes on in that organization.  This goes hand in hand with the notion of not working in a silo.  The term “ecosystem” shows up in many training and development articles, below is a helpful image designed by Arun Pradhan, founder of Learn2Learn App, of what an ecosystem for high performance environments may look include:

Becoming “strategy enablers” is at the core of their purpose and goal.  This may only be accomplished if L&D competencies and systems are adequately aligned with the key business strategy and vision.

4. The role of Managers

The role that a manager plays in helping to foster a High Impact Learning Organization is twofold.  One of these roles is the ability and level of frequency to work closely with HR and L&D Leaders.  The second role is their commitment to learning.

If HR and L&D is not seen as a vital part of meeting ambitious business goals, then the chances of having a HILO is naturally slim.  The more managers seek out the help and partnership of L&D and HR, the more their development needs may be expressed and met.  Ultimately the managers will be in a better position to attract and retain lifelong learners if they are recognizing and utilizing the skills and unique contributions of L&D and HR.

Regarding their commitment to learning, Managers may ask themselves how they are modeling lifelong learner behaviors?  Do they know how to identify learning qualities in candidates and in their team members? Do they share in the development of their teams and the company at large?  Do they recognize and reward learning behaviors?  In our experience, having this type of mindset goes a long way in helping organizations to embrace and desire the effectiveness of a HILO.

The role of a Manager is no longer simply to “command and control”. A Manager is there to support his team and to make sure that they can do their best work. From an L&D perspective, that means that Managers have a vital role in assessing what skills are missing within the team and in helping team-members develop their strengths and prepare themselves for upcoming challenges.

We often hear the term of Manager/Coach, where Managers are being asked to develop skills which are more common place among coaches. These include things such as active listening, asking powerful questions, creating and building trust, to name but a few. The Manager will have to go one step further in finding out what developmental goals will serve both the individual and the company and she will become a vital link in the L&D chain, reinforcing the importance of learning for all team-members and throughout their careers.

5. The role of Peers

For most people, learning is a team sport. Not only are we used to learning in a collective environment, but we actually learn more when we are in a group. Other people ask questions that we wouldn’t have thought of, or stimulate us and challenge our own assumptions. This means that our peers are a great resource for learning. They are working in the same environment as us and have often faced similar challenges to those we may be facing. Using a peer group allows us to reflect on our learning and to build on each other’s learning. This is one of the advantages in co-development groups.

It is also widely acknowledged that teaching is a great way to anchor learning, so encouraging teaching between peers helps both the teacher and the learner.

6. The role of the Company or Organization

While it may seem that HR and L&D is at the heart of a HILO, the overall company plays a significant role in whether or not talent and people focus strategies work.  In our experience, the companies that have HILOs are first and foremost very diligent about the choices they make regarding the HR and L&D professionals they have in place.  The bar is high.  These people are seen as equal members of executive boards, and they are not sub-reporting to say Finance or in some cases even IT!  The attraction, selection and retention process for these roles is taken very seriously and the technical and behavioral competencies and experience required and sought after is done so strategically.

In addition to the high caliber people in these roles, the company is equally responsible for showing visible sponsorship of HR and L&D initiatives.  The company has clear expectations for managers across the board to partner with L&D and HR for strategy execution.  The company also ensures that the responsibility is clear for all managers to be role models regarding mindset and behaviors necessary for learning and development to be continuous and ongoing.  Thanks to the company effectively playing their role, HR and L&D is unquestionably seen as a pivotal and core component to allow the organization to achieve ambitious business goals in addition to overall strategy implementation.

7. The role of AI

And what about the future? In an era of automation, where technology regulates most of our interactions and communications with our environment, Artificial Intelligence will likely be playing an increasingly significant role. In an effort to create a more flexible, human workplace, founded on authentic relationships and high levels of emotional intelligence, the big question for organizations is now how to create the conditions to develop the necessary soft skills for such a vision. How to deepen the actors‘ awareness of the organizational context, as well as the awareness of their impact on this context? How to enhance their emotional intelligence through experiential learning?

In response to this, some companies are starting to create training environments that use Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence to provide adaptive behavioral training similar in performance to expert coaching and role-playing, but close to the cost and scalability of online courses. These environments simulate realistic workplace scenarios to let learners role-play with virtual characters, explore problematic and challenging situations and learn by observing their own behavior. Basically, the participant’s avatar interacts with an actor’s avatar in a simulated real-life situation, and after that the participant could look at the scene from the client’s perspective and give feedback to herself.

We feel it’s still too soon to entirely grasp the implications of this new technology but, nonetheless, a few questions arise. We may acknowledge that a process of trial and error with a virtual system allows for an increased sense of psychological safety, and that in situations of isolation it could really help mental and emotional health. Nevertheless, we may ask ourselves:

  • What happens when the participants are with the real person they need to confront? The emotional intensity may be fairly different in this circumstance.
  • Does this preparatory “seclusion” help you or inhibit you? Would your capacity to interact be enhanced or made awkward by the “isolation” of the simulation?
  • Does this process enhance the propensity to control everything, while life and relationships are by nature highly unpredictable? Will this help to create trust and presence so to follow someone wherever the interaction itself takes you?
  • Would this encourage a “perfectionist” mindset so that during the real interaction our mind gets stuck in the process of looking at and evaluating our “performance”, instigating self-absorption?
  • In the end, will it bring us closer or move us further apart?

 

The future experience will tell.  Right now we can just prepare to approach this new exciting possibility with all the openness towards the major benefits it could bring, as well as an inquisitive mind in order to skillfully evaluate the inherent limits.

8. The role of the coach

How can we help our clients?

Assessing their level as a “High Impact Learning Organization/Culture”

A quick search on the internet shows that the subject of impactful learning is an important theme, one that merits a thorough assessment and to be measured.  As a coach, we play a vital role in helping the organization ask the right questions to be able to accurately assess where to place their focus and energy.  Defining where they are right now and where they would like to target going forward in order to have or to enhance a High Impact Learning Organization/Culture.

Some of the essential areas that we as business coaches address with our clients regarding this subject are:

    • The role that HR plays today, their image in the organization as a strategic HR Partner
    • Strategic HR initiatives that marry up talent focus with business outcome
    • Talent attraction and retention policies that recognize and reward lifelong learner behaviors
    • The role and expectations of the Learning and Development Leader and how this role focuses on the “ecosystem” of a “HILO” in order to be seen as value added strategy enablers
    • How are managers actively involved in the development of their teams?
    • How are role model behaviors defined for management?  Are continuous learning attitudes and behaviors defined, recognized and rewarded?
    • How are managers able to identify and seek learning behavior in their teams and with candidates?
    • How is their learning culture measured?
    • How closely does management and L&D work together on training and development initiatives
      • Are learning & development programs designed to (be)
        • Modern – on demand, digital when necessary, personalized, experiential
        • Performance based + value added
        • Social/sharing based – are people permanently sharing and learning from others, collaboration with colleagues, experts, partners, customers, competitors
        • Include continuous feedback
        • Help employees and managers to be more agile/innovative/learning faster than their competition when there is a strategic advantage to do so?

 

Truly embracing a people and talent focused culture that is acutely aligned with strategic business objectives is only possible if the principles of a High Impact Learning Organization is taken seriously.  This is not always an easy subject to navigate.  With the help and support of people who have experience, such as business coaches and consultants, companies may in fact set themselves up for real success and increase the probability that their ambitious strategies are in fact “enabled” and achieved.

A call for action

It is our conviction that high impact learning cultures flourish most when the entire ecosystem is on board and at the heart of the process.

Considering the massive complexities and impact of the current global pandemic, Learning & Development professionals, more than ever before, are faced with the question of how to transform traditional learning to more digital allowing for customized and flexible learning to be available anywhere, anytime.  Adding to the challenge, offerings must also be acutely connected to an ever-changing strategy. L&D has an undeniably significant role to play, that of being able to quickly customize and adapt to today’s unprecedented business environment which involves (more than ever) the need for creating human connectedness.  So many people find themselves working remotely and thus taking into account the omnipresent social distancing parameter is a must.

What does your Learning & Development strategy look like today? If you were to measure the L&D initiatives from the past few years, would you find that there was a direct and positive link to your organization’s strategy and overall operational performance?  Are your current “crisis mode” initiatives being co-created with key stakeholders?  If not, how might the focus and implementation of a high impact learning culture help to transform team engagement and business results?

Raising the topic of the impacts of your current learning culture and its effectiveness with internal and external stakeholders can yield a useful array of options and issues to consider.  Creative synergies are made possible whereby practical and economical learning and development solutions may be identified.  But in order for this to be feasible, everybody indeed needs to play an active role, and equally important, learning and development must be recognized as a critical function within the organization.

In closing, the basis for high impact learning cultures is community and co-responsibility driven.  When acknowledgment of the need for organizational interdependencies and co-created learning and development actions becomes universally accepted, almost like magic, growth mindsets begin to emerge, and continuous learning is finally a reality.  The fruits of individual and collective learning may be tangibly seen, applied and celebrated!

Authors

Anna Gallotti, Selika Cerofolini, Jody Julien & Jo Leymarie.

Bibliography

16 Senge Peter M., The Fifth Discipline : the art and practice of the learning organization. Currency Doubleday,1990

Lawrence. (2017, Apr 4). Nine Competencies for HR Excellence Emerge. (Blog post). Retrieved from https://www.hrci.org/community/blogs-and-announcements/hr-leads-business-blog/hr-leads-business/2017/04/04/nine-competencies-for-hr-excellence-emerge

Prince. (2019, Nov 11). Learning culture: why we must champion curiosity and cultivate critical thinking. Retrieved from https://www.hrzone.com/talent/development/learning-culture-why-we-must-champion-curiosity-and-cultivate-critical-thinking

Association for Talent Development (2014).  ATD Competency Model. Retrieved from https://www.td.org/certification/atd-competency-model

Israelite, L. (2006). Lies About Learning. Leading Executives. Separate lies from Fiction in a $100 billion industry. Page 60. Retrieved from http://books.google.fr

Bersin & Associates (2011). How to Build a High-Impact Learning Organization? Participate now… Retrieved from https://joshbersin.com/2011/04/how-to-build-a-high-impact-learning-organization-2011-edition/

McKinsey & Company (2018). Elevating Learning & Development – Insights and Practical Guidance from the Field. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com

Pradhan, A. (2017). Infographic: Learning in a High Performance Ecosystem. Retrieved from http://arunpradhan.com/performance-ecosystem/

Biographies:

Anna Gallotti

Anna Gallotti has 20 years of experience as an Executive Coach. She is the founder of two coaching companies, one based in Paris (since 1999) and one in the United States (since 2013). She recently also founded a micro-learning based company with worldwide exposure.

Italian, she lived 20 years in Paris. Since 2013 she has been living in New York and has been working between Europe and the United States. In 2001 Anna received her first coaching certification in Paris. In 2009 Anna became a Master Certified Coach +5000h coaching), examiner and mentor coach for the International Coaching Federation (40 000 members worldwide). She is also Vice Chair of the ITL Global Board at International Coaching Federation whose mission is to study the future trends of coaching and the impact of coaching.

Anna holds a BA in International Law at University of Milan (Italy) and a MA in European Law at University Paris V (France). Anna is co-author of 3 books: “Make the right Choices” (in English, French, and Italian), “L’art et la pratique du coaching professionnel” (in French) and “Coaching for Leaders” (published in Q4 2020).

For more information, go to: www.share-coach.com and www.welead-coaching.com
To contact Anna: anna.gallotti@share-coach.com

Selika Cerofolini

Selika Cerofolini is a Certified Professional Coach through the Coaching for Transformation program. She founded Joyful Path, a holistic coaching practice devoted to approaching personal and systemic evolution with a deeper look, a compassionate heart and a broader vision, for the benefit of the individual and the collective. Prior to shifting her career entirely to coaching in 2018, she held managerial roles in Development and Communication for Art Institutions for 7 years, while pursuing her interests in psychology, philosophy and along with a devoted meditation practice. Originally from Italy, she holds a BA in International Communications and an MA in International Relations and Diplomatic Studies from the University of Perugia (Italy).

Selika lives and works in New York, and you can reach her at selikac@joyfulpathcoaching.com. More information on www.joyfulpathcoaching.com.

Jody Julien

Born in the USA, Jody Julien holds degrees from Oakland University in Michigan and RIT in New York in the areas of International Business and Strategic Human Resources.  Trained and certified in both Professional and Life Coaching with over 500 clients and +2500 coaching hours to date. Held global Operations and Human Resources leadership positions for more than 20 years in North America, South America, and Europe, and is currently based in Paris, France.  She is the founder of J2 Coaching & Consulting since 2011, a global firm specializing in professional development and international organizational effectiveness. Jody is a keynote speaker for international organizations on the topics of Women in Leadership and C-Suite Transitions.

More information may be found at www.J2coaching.com or by contacting Jody directly at jody.julien@j2coaching.com.

Jo Leymarie

Born and educated in Britain, Jo Leymarie holds a BA in Law and French from the Metropolitan University in London. She has lived and worked in France for the last 30 years.

Jo has 25 years of business experience setting up and managing profit centres in France for international companies. She founded Walden, a coaching and consulting company, in 2015 to support managers and teams during transformations and to contribute to building a people-centred workplace.

She is a member of SOL France (Society for Organizational Learning) and her core subjects include sustainable leadership, organizational learning and diversity and inclusion.

You can contact her at jo@waldencoaching.fr, www.waldencoaching.fr.

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