The classroom of the world

Rediscovering the Essence of Learning by Alan Gregerman

An appeal to common sense…

Our companies and organizations need every employee to be brilliant to unlock and deliver compelling value for those we serve. They don’t need the CLO and learning department to be average. In fact, they can’t afford it.

But at a time when leading companies finally have come to appreciate learning’s critical importance, most are clueless about how to deliver learning that really matters. Instead, most provide learning that sparks incremental thinking and incremental action. They teach skills and hope they stick. And in the name of innovation, they give employees “new” ways to learn — through “state-of-the-art” classroom sessions, video conferences, webinars and many other virtual and customized learning experiences.

…and…

If the learning profession is to be relevant, it must commit to teaching people how to cast a wider net, to hang out in places filled with inspiration, to read things they would not normally read, to ask questions they would not routinely ask, to talk to strangers who know nothing about their world but a lot about their own, to walk in someone else’s shoes, to pursue a new hobby or look at the world with different eyes.

Learning professionals should be curious enough to enter the classroom of the world, which surrounds us with a sense of possibilities. This is where real learning occurs. And it is this real learning we must nurture if we are to remain relevant in a world that demands genius. It is our only real competitive advantage as companies and organizations.

Learning matters more than ever before — but it’s a different kind of learning. Are you and your organization up for the challenge?

By the way, CLO has spiffed up its website. Finally they’ve added some graphics. The digital version of CLO is one of those page-turner widgets. There are new names on the masthead but I have yet to talk with them. Overall, the new site is an improvement over its predecessor.

Before the first issue was published. I remember telling Norm Kamikow that CLO was the wrong name for his future magazine because there weren’t really many CLOs out there.

Can’t win ‘em all.