Learning Services

These types of activities are clearly important to ensure that companies remain relevant, on top of their game and profitable. However, in order to successfully drive this work, business leaders are being asked to be almost heroic in their efforts to guide  their teams through the fog and successfully get from point A to point B without a good map or navigator to show them the way. (Think of Homer’s “The Odyssey” …a journey of change driven by a goal riddled with turbulence, monsters and muses. Doesn’t that sound like a familiar?) And now, due to the current  economy, once again we are being asked to make this and all business journeys with less resources and with  strategies that need to still be thought all the way through.  Did we ever recover from our previous exercise in  “efficiency” from 2001/2002??

That is why it is critical that in the middle of the storm of current activity, transformational in nature or just keeping the ship on course, to remember that people work here. It is important to think about and pay attention to what does your leadership pipeline look like, (that includes the plan b if the resources that you have anointed as your new bright and shining starts leave…who is behind them?) and if needed, how do you get the right talent from outside the company? Are you prepared for a more aggressive recruiting and work/life strategy to attract the top talent from that new mysterious  generation called the Millennials or GenY? (Remember this isn’t your father’s or even your college recruit – these are people that can type an email, text a friend and all while leading a networking meeting amongst their peers elegantly without missing a beat.) What is your plan to develop your people and ensure that your company is really capitalizing on its investments?  Does everyone understand the system or process that you just implemented and why it is relevant to them and their ability to perform? We can put in all of the flashy systems and efficient processes we want, but without the right people and a plan to guide them to success, your long term and strategic goals will not be fully realized, and you might just get stuck on an island.

OK – now that we have observed what may be casing a healthy headache…what do we do about it?

Here are things to consider:

1)Pick a good and solid partner/navigator. History and the present are reminding us that people do business with people that they can trust and know have the experience to help them succeed. Work with a company that has thought solutions all the way through and in effect, have helped themselves.

2)Assist / upgrade / transform / provide strategy to the Learning and HR organization. Although these organizations are filled with smart people with good intent, (you may have even outsourced it) these divisions have lost sight or are having trouble staying closely aligned to business requirements and/or maintaining the respect of their business client counterparts. Doing it yourself outside of the organization is the strategy of many people (I am guilty and have learned my lesson), but a new problem arises of how much is the company spending, who is managing it, are we doing it the best way across the whole company?  My advice, don’t do that…if you do it great, everyone else should to and if it isn’t great, someone will just have to clean it up later!

3)Look at your knowledge and information strategy. Knowledge management systems and online tools are not enough. There is always a corporate DNA or “the way we do things”. Gathering and transferring corporate tribal knowledge as well as information on process and technology is never truly effectively communicated through a blog or a wiki. How do you get company culture from a Wiki?