In my days as a learning strategy consultant, I always began my discovery discussions with the question, “Do you have a training strategy?” Rarely did I receive a negative answer or a quizzical look; nor did I expect any. So, why ask a question when you already know the answer? Simple – it set up the next question that served as the real stimulus for conversation and meaningful discovery.
“Do you have a learning strategy?” Cue the quizzical looks of silent wondering if I had not just asked that question. Without waiting for an answer, I followed that question with an immediate third question.
“More importantly, do you have a continuous learning strategy?” At this point, I often saw the client’s eyes glaze over and a few even began to blow spit bubbles – a perfect response – and a perfect set-up to incite revolutionary thinking. Thinking had to be revolutionary to consider “continuous learning” as an acceptable shift worthy of breaking the traditional mindset of training. Training still plays a role, and always will, but as a subset of continuous learning, where the focus is on something very different – creation of sustained human capability.
Very often, my clients had a technology solution in mind and needed a consultant to validate their thinking … or worse … have someone to blame when it failed to deliver the desired results. This phenomenon is similar to our internal clients who have a training solution in mind before they contact the training department to validate their requested solution. We have perpetuated that thinking by responding as training order-takers. The age-old hammer and nail thinking, where organizations throw training at every performance gap, is a problem that we created – and it gets worse. If your organization has a learning management system (LMS), the bias affecting the ultimate solution may be even more locked-in than ever. The techno-zealots decree, “All training must reside on the LMS!” I think not, though I am a big fan of appropriately utilizing technology. It may sound like a contradiction for me to say this, but here goes – “Step away from the technology!”
That may sound extreme, but learners increasingly find the need to learn in the same environment where they work – their work context. In fact, the bulk of our learning environment continues to shift away from the classroom, away from formal training, and closer to the actual work performed. In a 2004 interview, Jonathon Levy, an e-Learning visionary, predicted: “Over the next 12-18 months, the end game will finally begin to come into view as traditional learning structures give way to more powerful performance support integration.” Integration into what? Into the work context!
Mr. Levy’s prediction implied we would not always be in the classroom when we learn. Instead, learning moments will increasingly confront our learners within workflows and processes. The need to learn becomes immediate, more urgent, and often encountered in a largely unstructured and uncontrolled context. This is a direct opposite to the stable realm of the formal classroom.
Again, in 2007, Mr. Levy confirmed this trend in a larger scope when he said, “Corporate universities will begin to question their positioning as a ’university,’ and some enlightened Chief Learning Officers (CLOs) will reject the academic model and begin to reposition themselves as performance support and change management specialists.” The references to performance support and change management in the same sentence denotes two major changes:
- equipping learners to learn within their workflow (performance support); and
- implementing holistic changes in learning methodologies necessary to drive sustainable capability (change management).
The flow of work, and the relentless demand for producing results, represents key drivers of the continuous learning environment. And, of course, most of the learning is occurring outside of the classroom.
My purpose in this article is to introduce the necessity of expanded discovery as essential to defining critical, design-influencing attributes of a continuous learning environment. Forget defining knowledge and skill requirements, at least for now. The starting point, and the primary focus of this expanded discovery, is the environment where learners confront opportunities to learn. Learning opportunities span the whole spectrum from premeditated moments (for example, new employee orientation, or annual recertification training), to unplanned, unstructured, and uncontrolled moments, often manifested in the middle of a workflow.
Regardless of the end of the spectrum on which they arise, there are environmental attributes that can invalidate the best design efforts if not considered early in the design process. There are three categories of attributes within the learning environment:
- Space – a blend of physical location, workflow, risk, and urgency
- Media – the most compelling mix of mode and venue
- Systems – the most effective and efficient application of technology
All the attributes that fall under space, media, and systems combine to drive or restrain design decisions. It is essential to define these attributes to ensure the learning solution delivers on one global objective, which is to enable a sustained capability.
Traditional design practices do not typically consider these elements during discovery (also known as the training needs assessment). In many cases, the ability to accomplish this degree of discovery represents a competency gap within the training organization. Recall Jonathon Levy’s 2007 prediction that describes the shift to performance support. That shift centers around the learners in their work context, with the focus zeroed in on sustainable performance and outcomes.
To produce an outcome, the learner must “do” something, not just “know” something. Once more, we exceed the tenets of knowledge and skills found at the root of traditional training design. It may sound as though Instructional Systems Design (ISD) methodology is getting a bad rap. Far from it! My team uses it daily to design solutions to improve performance. The difference now is the starting point of our discovery efforts:
- Identify the performance outcomes to be produced, and
- The work context where the learner produces them.
It is within the work context where the moments of learning need take shape. Keep in mind, individualized learning moments reflect upon the level of knowledge, skill, and capability of the learner. Permit me to add some contextual definition around some of the jargon I have thrown your way, and then we can dig into the discovery components. Let us begin with the moments of learning need.
