The CIPD has noted a shift in human resource development in recent years from training as a top-down, isolated intervention to supporting and encouraging ongoing individual learning. The research, which began with ‘How Do People Learn?’, a project undertaken in conjunction with the Cambridge Programme for Industry, has been followed up by Martyn Sloman, Adviser of Learning, Training and Development, in Training in the Age of the Learner.
In ‘How Do People Learn?’ the difference between training and learning is defined as follows:
‘Learning is the process by which a person constructs new knowledge, skills and capabilities, whereas training is one of several responses an organisation can take to promote learning’.
Sloman investigates the extent to which the shift from training to learning is taking place by analysing 12 case study organisations. He concludes his findings by proposing a new paradigm for trainers:
‘Interventions and activities that are intended to improve knowledge and skills in organisations will increasingly focus on the learner. Emphasis will shift to the individual learner (or the team), and he or she will be encouraged to take more responsibility for his or her learning. Efforts will be made to develop a climate that supports effective and appropriate learning. Such interventions and activities will form part of an integrated approach to creating competitive advantage through people in the organisation.’
Two key factors, according to Sloman, have started the ball rolling towards this new approach.
First, the impetus is coming from learners themselves, who prefer to learn through informal activities such as on-the-job training rather than through ‘deliberate interventions that constitute training’.
Second, from an organisational perspective, intellectual capital has become critical for competitive advantage. As organisations become more knowledge-intensive and change is constantly on the agenda, committed individuals with the appropriate knowledge and skills and a willingness to learn further are the key to success.
Sloman terms this willingness ‘discretionary behaviour’, which manifests itself in a number of different ways, from a desire to develop oneself to attitudes towards sick leave. It arises when individuals feel satisfied with their job and the organisation. He describes a link between HR practices and discretionary behaviour, which leads to high performance and therefore competitive advantage.
What organisations must therefore do, explains Sloman, is to encourage individuals to demonstrate discretionary behaviour towards their own learning by implementing the appropriate systems and guidance and creating a supportive climate. Achieving this effectively, he believes, will require a vastly different approach towards training and development. This has important implications for the training profession, posing a great challenge in the short term, but enhancing the status of training departments in the long term as their contribution to the achievement of organisational objectives becomes more clearly understood and learning becomes ‘recognised as a key business driver’.
Sloman proposes a significant change management programme undertaken to change the systems, culture and attitudes across the organisation to create a platform that supports individual learning. This will involve everyone from managers and employees to trainers themselves.
Managers will be particularly important, because the effectiveness of an organisation’s HR policies and practices depends on how managers interpret and implement them. It is therefore crucial to get managers on board and develop their ability to support their team members’ learning.
Trainers will need to re-skill themselves, argues Sloman. As they transfer ownership for learning from themselves to managers and individuals, they will become consultants and ‘strategic partners’ rather than deliverers of training, and will focus more on learning methods and processes than content. There will still be a need for ‘classroom’ training in some instances, but with a different focus. Rather than providing training solutions, the emphasis will instead be on providing opportunities for individual learning.
Perception of the training function
However, the real challenge for trainers will be to change the perception of the training function without loss of credibility in the short-term. This was identified as a key risk by participants in the case study organisations. A clear and compelling vision, strong business case and high-level management support will be essential for getting people on board and implementing the changes successfully, along with a good understanding of the organisational culture and the types of initiative that will be effective.
Sloman outlines three activities that will be central to achieving this change, which were demonstrated in the case study organisations:
1. Coaching
Coaching is no new phenomenon and is already used extensively as a training method. What Sloman proposes is to develop a coaching style of management across the organisation, which managers should use in their day-to-day work to share knowledge and help individuals to take responsibility for their own learning.
2. Competency Frameworks
Competency frameworks have been used in many organisations for several years, but Sloman proposes using them in a new way, to provide a framework for individuals, in conjunction with their managers, to take responsibility for their own learning. He believes that e-learning could play a major role in supporting the achievement of the performance indicators in competency frameworks, and that its full potential has not yet been realised.
3. Modular Training Activities
A transition towards shorter training sessions, believes Sloman, will help to facilitate learning. With modular activities, individuals are not away from the workplace for too long, which brings less pressure and more flexibility and makes learning easier to digest. Again, Sloman suggests that e-learning will be central in the provision of short, digestible, accessible and flexible modular learning activities, although its use should be balanced along with other methods in a ‘blended’ approach.
Conclusion
The shift from training to learning that Sloman describes has been happening for some time now and is well known among leading professionals in the field. Learner-focus has been at the core of people development concepts such as accelerated learning for the last few years, and systems such as competency frameworks are being used increasingly. However, Sloman captures this shift in a way that raises a conscious awareness of the increasing focus on the learner. He promotes a greater understanding of the importance of learning and its link to organisational success, not only among training professionals, but, more importantly, across the organisation. This will mean changing mindsets as well as repositioning the training function and existing systems (as well as creating new systems) to support managers and individuals in taking responsibility for their own learning.
Reference:
Martyn Sloman, Training in the Age of the Learner (CIPD, 2003).
Training in the Age of The Learner, p xiv.
Focus on the Learner, p 11.
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