Learnlets

Secondary

Clark Quinn’s Learnings about Learning

Learning and Work

30 April 2009 by Clark 3 Comments

In trying to get attention for work, a colleague is concerned with the ‘learning’ label being a potential detriment.   It’s probably true, and that’s a sad state of affairs.   While I joke that we who work in the learning/training/performance/etc field are those who’ve retained their love of learning despite schooling, I do believe that there’s some baggage associated with the term.

If you put on a ‘serious business’ perspective, learning can seem like warm and fuzzy coddling.   “What we really need is to hire the talent we need and let them know what to do and have them do it, right? They’ll do it, and like it, or they’re out!”   Which, of course, is ridiculous, but who doesn’t believe that view is out there?

What’s really the case is that each organization will have it’s own way of doing things, and that individuals will need to be brought up to speed, then provided resources to support performing, and expected to contribute. And, as I am coming to believe, as things get more complex, we’ll need more from people in terms of adaptation.

Or, as Kevin Wheeler put it:

Today success is in the hands of creative people who have energy and excitement over reaching a business objective. These people are hard to find and hard to keep as their energy and entrepreneurial spirit are not always suited to a controlled environment.   They need space, time, and freedom to experiment. They thrive in a networked world where they can exchange ideas, swap experiments, and engage in conversation.

That, to me, is learning.   To look at it another way, I lump innovation, problem-solving, creativity, design, and more all as activities of learning.   Herb Simon said “to design is human”, and I believe that design is about learning.   But maybe it’s about thinking?   Doing?

So, to me, it’s a shame that a ‘learning’ label would be a barrier to being perceived as relevant to business, but that seems to be the case.   My question is, do we rebrand, or do we reengineer learning’s status in the organization.   I don’t have an answer, do you?

Comments

  1. Cheryl Conner says

    30 April 2009 at 9:13 PM

    My opinion of “learning” being a label is that I believe learning is a process for all ages no matter where it takes place. Now, businesses may have given learning a negative view by their assumptions of what that process is.

    Does “learning” need to be rebranded? Maybe. Even if you rebrand I believe that the business (some but not all training departments within businesses) mentality will be to “give/train” employees what they need to do the job instead of using some of the exploring techniques facilitators use for allowing employees to be involved in the “learning” process. There is so much change today with the equipment and software that companies can use for educating their employees that I believe some of them just don’t care much about what the next “new gadget.” Yet, there are many businesses who are fully engaged in what is coming next.

    I do believe that learning does need to be reengineered. Many businesses are not using the tools available to them in order to engage employees in the learning process. Maybe their thought is that employees need to be given information in order to learn and that they cannot learn unless a “professional trainer” helps them. Granted, there is some information that does need to be given to employees – but not all of it. Their view may be that “this is how it has always been done.” Change is difficult for everyone. Another thought behind this is that they may not believe they have the proper equipment to do the job. I think if they look hard enough, they can find platforms they can use.
    Then there are the companies who use nothing but online learning instead of a blended learning mix. If there is no practical exploration and follow-up for what employees do learn, then are they really understanding and applying what they learn? Or are they just turning pages.

    In summary – if branding or reengineering of learning is take place, how do we get followers if businesses are not willing to change their point of view of the learning process? I believe that businesses need to participate in some learning of their own in order to keep up with the method of learning that is best for their employees, especially during this economic time of “getting it done faster, cheaper, and better.”

  2. sflowers says

    1 May 2009 at 11:53 AM

    We tend to define learning as a service implying that we have the power to capture, store, hold, and transport knowledge from the knowledge batteries to the learner’s motor.

    To me, this is a pretty twisted view. The transport metaphor is a big part of our problem – it feeds the belief that it’s not difficult to codify and distill the components of learning, box it up, ship it out, and it’ll be received as intended. Everything can be boxed like this, many would have us believe.

    Learning is a process, a journey, and something that can only be encouraged by well engineered packaging. Learning is done by the learner:) A far cry from the ‘lightning in a bottle’ view of learning packages in the commonly perceived state.

    Surely — learning needs to be viewed in a different light than is typical. Concepts and information (we can facilitate the supply of these elements – but these are acquired by many methods) feed the roots of performance (skills and values). Skills and values provide the foundation for task execution… Branching to the fruit of accomplishment.

    Learning is growth.

Trackbacks

  1. Working / Learning April Blog Carnival « Social Enterprise Blog says:
    30 April 2009 at 2:02 PM

    […] Quinn added some great thoughts today about “learning as a label.”  He raises some interesting questions about the […]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Clark Quinn

The Company

Search

Feedblitz (email) signup

Never miss a post
Your email address:*
Please wait...
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide

Pages

  • About Learnlets and Quinnovation

The Serious eLearning Manifesto

Manifesto badge

Categories

  • design
  • games
  • meta-learning
  • mindmap
  • mobile
  • social
  • strategy
  • technology
  • Uncategorized
  • virtual worlds

Blogroll

  • Charles Jennings
  • Christy Tucker
  • Connie Malamed
  • Dave's Whiteboard
  • Donald Clark's Plan B
  • Donald Taylor
  • Harold Jarche
  • Julie Dirksen
  • Kevin Thorn
  • Mark Britz
  • Mirjam Neelen & Paul Kirschner
  • Stephen Downes' Half an Hour

License

Previous Posts

  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007
  • July 2007
  • June 2007
  • May 2007
  • April 2007
  • March 2007
  • February 2007
  • January 2007
  • December 2006
  • November 2006
  • October 2006
  • September 2006
  • August 2006
  • July 2006
  • June 2006
  • May 2006
  • April 2006
  • March 2006
  • February 2006
  • January 2006

Amazon Affiliate

Required to announce that, as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Mostly book links. Full disclosure.