In his review of Informal Learning on his blog, Clive Shepherd takes me to task for suggesting that informality is an all-or-nothing approach:
I got the impression (perhaps mistakenly) that Jay believes you’re wasting your time if you don’t approach this as a major strategic, top-down exercise (’a superlative training department is not enough’, ‘put an enterprise learning strategy in place’). This could be a bit of a let down for readers who don’t run the whole learning and development function, or even if they do, they don’t run the whole organisation. I’m sure there are enlightened executives that could buy into this idea, but in their absence I’d go for guerilla warfare, a bottom-up approach, rather than nothing. After all, the World Wide Web, social networking, open source and other initiatives have emerged that way with huge success.
Actually, Clive and I agree. Every little bit helps. You don’t need senior managemement buy-in to help people connect, adopt web 2.0 tools, or encourage meaningful conversations. Add informal elements before and after a formal workshop, and you get a more effective workshop overall.
Next week I’m joining fifty sales trainers for their annual retreat. My goals are to get them to think beyond formal learning programs and classes, to speed up the learning cycle in their organizations, and to optimize their blend of learning and knowledge. We’ll do those things and more; participants will depart with ideas to put into action back home. My client will have a very profitable two days; it won’t be a waste of time. And it’s entirely within the training organization.
Unlike many authors, I don’t shy away from hopping from one discipline to another. I advise business leaders that if they don’t wake up and smell the bottom-up, plugged-in, quick-response coffee, they won’t be in business much longer. I tell them that when you compete on knowledge, learning warrants a long-term approach, multi-year investment, and strategic management. When sweeping change is not going to happen because of a firm’s history, culture, or flexibility, I don’t push it. No use trying to boil the ocean.
My advice to training managers: Experiment with informal learning techniques because they can improve the results of your training. Do it, try it, fix it, Repeat.
My advice to business strategists: The business world is evolving rapidly; if your company is not changing very rapidly, you’re falling behind. Mark Oehlert gave me this delightful metaphor: no matter how much you improve a motorcycle, you’re never going to end up with an airplane. Tomorrow’s business needs airplanes.
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