When Life Gives You Lemons…
One of the first thoughts that enters our mind when we read the above is – …I will “Make a Lemonade”.
It is a phrase filled with optimism! but it stops there.
It doesn’t extend to – …and “Plant the Seeds”!
This would be optimism as well as an act of pragmatism! Think about it, a lot can be achieved with a few lemon trees in your backyard.
Now, why didn’t “Plant the Seeds” come up as part of the thought process?
Is it because it is a tougher route? or it was not thought through?
What is it about us humans that makes us continue to take the easy options? Continuing to prove the adage – “There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the real labour of thinking”.
The same phenomenon is seen when “training” programs are conducted. It is deployed as a mandate and the action ends with the module or the classroom session; there is no – what next?
When calendarized programs are de rigueur and success measures are limited to…
- How many people were trained
- Average Training man-hours per person
- Total training spends and the per person spend
- Program feedback score
It begets the question – What is the purpose of training for an organisation?
Is it to fulfil a “mandate” or is it to help deliver “better results”?
If the objective is the latter, then would “regular” training programs achieve it? With its focus on calendarized programs, feedback and budget spend! – “Making a Lemonade”.
Or should we “start the process of thinking”? – akin to “Planting the Seeds”!
If the realization is that we need to “start thinking”, then we should:
- Start by asking what business challenges are there to be solved? Not just for today but for tomorrow as well.
- Objectively review the competencies of the people tasked to overcome those challenges and identify gaps.
- Explore through an LNA what behaviours need to be demonstrated to overcome those challenges.
- Bounce your thoughts with a L&D enabler; make the L&D enabler a partner to your business instead of a contractor.
- With the L&D enabler, arrive at the skills and pedagogy that will help people demonstrate the desired behaviours.
- Understand and enable the process of transforming knowledge to behaviour.
But why should the focus be on behaviours? Aren’t “training” programs that impart knowledge enough to get the job done?
It is not knowledge that changes results, but the application of it in the form of skills & behaviours when required!
Behaviour transformation is easier said than done, while it happens unconsciously in social situations, venturing into it cognitively is a completely different ball game, it brings in a host of challenges, which are not usually addressed by “training” programs, since they end with knowledge dissemination. When this bridge is crossed, the “training programs” transform into “learning interventions”.
It is “learning interventions” that make a difference to the organisational results, but whether these differences are tangible and attributable to the interventions require multi-stage efficacy measurement.
This is when “training spend” becomes “learning investment” because of the Return on Investment (RoI) that is generated by the learners who are demonstrating desired behaviours to change business outcomes.
This then leads us to move away from the default position of “We train, then hope & pray that change happens” to “We engineer learning to influence outcomes”.
Welcome to the world of “Learning Engineering”, where every aspect of knowledge and behaviour application is designed for a purpose, measured for its efficacy, and delivers an outcome.
Is your Organisational Learning Effort Engineered for Outcomes?
We are IPA Enablers, we focus on augmenting YOUR effectiveness.
We work with
- Organisations to enhance the effectiveness of their human capital and
- Educational institutions to enhance the employability of their students
We are IPA Enablers, we focus on augmenting YOUR effectiveness.
We work with
- Organisations to enhance the effectiveness of their human capital and
- Educational institutions to enhance the employability of their students
IPA Enablers
From Knowledge to Impact
We are Enablers of:
• Business result oriented behavioural & leadership learning
• Frameworks for applying concepts@work
• Learning quality & skill uptake assessment
• Measurable behaviour change
• RoI for the learning program
• Global delivery in leading languages
Talk to us to find out how we can assist you in engineering effective learning solutions!
Ajay Alex
+91 9008310567
ajay@ipaenablers.com