Several reasons why initiatives fail. Too big a change, not enough sharing of the vision, not recruiting buy in, not aligning incentives, not detecting/rewarding behavior. And not anticipating trouble, not scaffolding the change, not supporting the long term change, etc. But yes, I suspect also a major problem is to neglect the nurturing, scaling it from one unit to another, leveraging into new areas, undermining the long term potential.

Chris, I guess the pain I’m drawing upon is the fact that right now L&D is largely irrelevant, and that they’ll eventually be unmasked as charlatans unless they start trying to right the boat. And I’m trying to point that out ;). The book starts out eviscerating the status quo, as do my talks. And in an earlier post I similarly pointed to the failings. I take your point and am hoping that some are seeing the writing on the wall and avoiding the potential pain, but I’m also aware others won’t be ready until they’re under threat. Hopefully that’s not too late. I think the assessment might help identify unknown pains, but you’re right that there will have to be some motivator. Thanks for the feedback!

Anand, I’m thinking at the strategic level, so I’m thinking that assessment is undertaken as the first step in moving forward. It’s not reactive to a trigger, but instead proactive on a path to productive change. And the process is cyclical, so that we’re in a continuous process of assessing, learning, initiating, guiding, and nurturing. Make sense? Thanks for the feedback!

Will need for assessment be triggered by performance issues – either gaps or sustained parking on a plateau ? Slow or stunted career progression might be another trigger. Is my thought on right track ?

Looking forward to growing exchange of ideas.

Cheers / Anand