I am frequently asked “What is it that you actually do?” Beevers and Rea have provided me with a book which goes a long way to answering that question in respect of my learning and development (L&D) practice.
The reader is provided with a comprehensive view of practice L&D including sections on the organisational role of L&D, learning needs analysis, design, delivery and evaluation of L&D. The book therefore provides a useful resource for the student working towards CIPD qualifications which include an L&D component: the authors helpfully cross-reference the content to the qualification. The authors also link the content to the CIPD HR Profession Map, cementing the link to the CIPD qualifications. For CIPD students and lecturers there are links to Power Point presentations and other resources.
Who other than CIPD students and lecturers might want to read this book? As an experienced practitioner I found being taken through the chapters of the book and asked to reflect on my own practice a useful exercise, perhaps rooting out one or two bad habits which might have crept into practice over the years. The HR generalist or a manager who seek to gain a better understanding of the L&D function would find the book helpful.
The tone of the book is very much about L&D being closely linked to organisational needs, reflecting trends identified in CIPD survey 2012 and elsewhere towards L&D focused on business strategy.
Each chapter takes the reader through the key content, supported by examples and quotes from people coming from different backgrounds and sectors, providing insight to practical application. There are useful questions posed to encourage and enable reflection and activities to help review and consider ones practice. The structure of the book also lends itself to dipping in, referring back and for use as a reference or reminder when planning an L&D intervention. Covering a topic as vast as L&D in 265 pages is not easy: to assist with this the book also provides references for further reading and useful web sites.
Essential Learning Pages at the back of the book cover 12 essential areas. This provides a quick guide or reference to such models and approaches as the experiential learning style, the GROW model and Kirkpatrick's levels of evaluation. These pages are then referred to in the main text, a useful concept to reduce repetition and keep key concepts to the fore. My only concern here is that some of these Essential Learning Pages dealt in two sides with topics such as NLP Anchoring and Multiple Intelligences. Even with some links to further reading and web sites, it is asking a lot to do justice to complex issues so that they are of practical use in such a short section of the book.
This second edition has several additions to the content of the first, including the links to the HR Profession Map, more up to date references and links to resources and additional case studies.
Finally, it was a joy to find that Chapter One was entitled “Developing yourself as a L&D practitioner.” All too often our own professional development seems to be an afterthought.
