Agility
Adapting to necessary change in learning
Lewis Carroll was not regarded as a futurologist. A writer, most definitely, a mathematician and photographer yes, but a predictor of possible cultures and worldviews, no! However, Carroll’s vivid imagination in writing the Red Queen’s race in ‘Alice Through the Looking Glass’ back in 1871 seems to have glimpsed a vision of our increasingly fast-paced world.
“Well, in our country,” said Alice, still panting a little, “you’d generally get to somewhere else – if you run very fast for a long time, as we’ve been doing.” “A slow sort of country!” said the Queen. “Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!”
A century later, this weird, fictional event inspired biologist Leigh Van Valen’s ‘Red Queen evolutionary hypothesis’. His proposition was simple; there’s a relentless ‘arms race’ between co-evolving organisms which must constantly adapt to an ever-changing environment.
Survival in nature is a serious matter; it’s estimated at least 10,000 species become extinct each year[1].However, the implications of the ‘Red Queen hypothesis’, apply equally to the survival of organisations as they do to organisms. Government data reveals over 1,700 UK companies go insolvent monthly. High-profile collapses of household names emphasise there are no exemptions. Failure to adapt to new methods, customer demands, or technologies guarantees tragic exits from the race [2].
Amid the pursuit of organisational effectiveness, workforce development is crucial. Staff must adapt to new ways of working, embrace evolving service demands and technologies, and excel in a diverse, flexible, and dispersed work environment.
However, effective learning for organisational change isn’t based on traditional face-to-face sessions or generic e-courses. It’s not about staff picking from menus or completing compliance tasks for the sake of ticking boxes. Organisations that will thrive must shift to an agile learning approach delivered at the heart of daily operations.
What makes learning agile?
Agile learning must swiftly meet organisational needs, being accessible anytime, anywhere. It prioritises staff involvement in design, encourages learner-generated content, and fosters peer support. Development and deployment are rapid, leveraging diverse media. It isn’t limited by trainer availability. And perfection isn’t the goal at launch; but a commitment to iterative improvement.
For organisations to move to agile learning requires change on two key levels.
Leaders need to broaden their perspective on learning. Too often, they default to formal courses, a legacy approach favoured by senior teams. This mindset limits learning. Instead, leaders should expect and encourage imaginative learning solutions.
Secondly, learning and development professionals must embrace and confidently promote methods that will drive business improvement. They must shift to deliver agile learning that enables an organisation to move beyond the ‘red queen syndrome’ of simply running to standstill?
Here are seven keys to delivering effective, agile learning:
1. Agile learning is responsive to organisational needs
Often the connection between learning design and organisational goals is weak. Agile learning demands proactive analysis to support business change, with solutions collaboratively agreed by business and learning leaders. This necessitates L&D practitioners adopting a performance consulting role, developing skills in rapport-building, business acumen, and active listening.
2. Agile learning is informed by data and metrics
Data is exploding in our world, both in volume and velocity, and organisations are no exception. Traditionally, learning teams have focused on post-learning metrics like learner engagement. Agile learning, however, is driven by insights preceding design. L&D professionals must mine organisational to define opportunities for improvement. Sourcing such insights isn’t challenging, with data in recruitment, retention, customer service, complaints, and line manager feedback offering valuable insights for learning interventions.
3. Agile learning is never one-size fits all
Unlike traditional learning, which offers a one-size-fits-all approach, agile learning embraces flexibility enhancing targeted impact and outcomes. It acknowledges the importance of spaced content to enhance learning and transfer and to prevent cognitive overload. And with developments in artificial intelligence genuine personalised solutions are at our fingertips.
4. Agile learning uses curation as well as creation
Much like museum curators carefully select artifacts for visitors, agile learning involves L&D professionals becoming learning curators, guiding learners to existing resources. Unlike traditional methods that demand new content creation, agile learning leverages a wealth of readily available materials, bypassing lengthy development times. This approach offers timely and cost-effective learning solutions, emphasising speed and relevance over professional pride in self-created resources.
5. Agile learning is social as well as formal
Social learning, rooted in prehistoric community knowledge-sharing, was crucial for survival. Formal classrooms, while traditional for business learning, often arose from limitations in resources, and forced learners to become passive recipients. However, agile learning fosters social interaction, nurturing communities and collaboration to meet evolving needs.
6. Agile learning is delivered just in time, in the flow of work
In our fast-paced world, quick responses are the norm. While a posted letter was once acceptable, even emails now seem sluggish compared to texting. Customer service is judged on immediacy. Similarly, traditional learning, often taking months from analysis to delivery, falls short of needs and expectations. Agile learning adopts a ‘just in time’ model, providing access to learning when and where it’s needed, made available in the flow of work.
7. Agile learning is digital-mobile not just face-to-face
Agile learning maximises accessible, personalised content accessible on digital devices. It establishes online discussions and signposts learners to existing quality resources. It thrives in organizations fostering a can-do attitude towards systems access, often allowing learners to use familiar personal devices. The rapid development of artificial intelligence provides the opportunity for genuine personalised content and solutions.
The concept of agile learning is challenging to many organisational people functions. It requires fresh thinking and new competencies to leverage emerging approaches and technologies. Learning professionals would be forgiven (possibly) for being somewhat alarmed at the radical change taking place and the transition required.
That takes us back to Lewis Carroll and another strange exchange in his book ‘Alice in Wonderland’ entitled ‘Advice from a Caterpillar’:
“The Caterpillar and Alice looked at each other for some time in silence: at last, the Caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth, and addressed her in a languid, sleepy voice.
‘Who are you?’ said the Caterpillar.
This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation.
Alice replied, rather shyly, ‘I – I hardly know, sir, just at present – at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.’
‘What do you mean by that?’ said the Caterpillar sternly. ‘Explain yourself!’
‘I can’t explain myself, I’m afraid, sir’ said Alice, ‘because I’m not myself, you see.’”
Organisations serious about success and performance must implement agile learning. However, they will need learning professionals that, unlike Alice, are not bewildered by the changes around them.
The famous scientist Charles Darwin is attributed as saying: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one that is most responsive to change.”
How true this may be of organisations who embrace agile learning methods and a stark warning to those who don’t!
You can find out more about personalised learning in Andy’s books “Driving Performance Through Learning” and “Organizational Learning Communities”
Sources
[1] How many species are we losing? (no date) WWF. Available at: https://wwf.panda.org/discover/our_focus/biodiversity/biodiversity/ (Accessed: 14 May 2024).
[2] Insolvency service official statistics (no date) GOV.UK. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/insolvency-service-official-statistics (Accessed: 14 May 2024).
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Mark Reilly, Head of Learning Content Design, Global Learning and Development, McDonald’s Global Franchising Ltd.
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