Jackie Clifford and Sara Thorpe have a wealth of experience in training/learning and development having worked both as practitioners and managers in the field, across a range of sectors. Jackie currently occupies a role as a senior manager in public service, and Sara is a freelance management development and change management consultant. They have co‐written previous books in training and coaching for Kogan Page. Essentially the potential readership of the book comprises busy line managers responsible for development of their staff and HR practitioners who seek an “encyclopaedia” of different learning and development approaches and methods.
The authors advise in their introduction that the book is targeted at readers who are interested in finding out more about flexible learning strategies. They also claim that the text is about truly making a difference through learning and development and contributing to the “business” by changing people's skills, knowledge and behaviours.
The first three chapters set the scene in putting learning and development in context as regards the move from training to learning, presenting basic methods of analysing development needs and commenting on adult learning. The latter covers Bloom's taxonomy, Kolb's learning cycle, Honey and Mumford's learning styles, sensory learning preferences, theory of competence, motivating adults to learn, and organizational learning. Descriptions are brief and cover seven pages.
By far the greatest content of the book is taken up by a chapter describing a range of 27 learning and development methods, set out in alphabetical order, the majority of which can be carried out on or through the job. While many of these will be known and utilised by experienced training/ learning and development practitioners and facilitators, they may be less well known to those who have followed more traditional routes of training course delivery. Each delivery method is explained using a formula of:
use it because…;
making it work;
it is useful for…;
In each section this is followed by a short list of suggested reading which is very current as regards the dates of source material.
The following chapter provides a checklist for selecting the most appropriate methods in terms of clarifying the required outcomes, identifying who has the development need, time constraints, organizational factors that need to be considered, and budget and resource availability. A chapter on development plans presents useful case studies in respect of organizational, departmental/team, and individual development plans. This is a well constructed and thought provoking chapter which is perhaps the area of the book which offers most added value.
The chapter on assessing impact is another short chapter covering validation, and evaluation (of which Kirkpatrick's model forms the greatest part of the content). The final chapter (two pages) presents a review checklist for the reader to reflect on having read the book.
This is very much a “how to do” book, written at a practical level which as one of the back cover book reviewers comments is a “no‐nonsense, up‐to‐date, whistle stop tour of learning and development in the workplace”. It is not an academic text and does not claim to be. Theoretical models presented are base‐line and will be known to the majority of practitioners. The learning and development methods are described partly in bullet point lists using the formula explained above. After a time this format becomes very predictable for the reader, who may find that to digest the content, a number of separate visits to the text followed by reflection, seems the best way to cope with the volume of words. Summary of the chapters would also have been a useful aid to the reader. The title of the book suggests that it may contain some content on delivering competitive advantage. While the development methods suggested may indeed give some element of competitive advantage, the reader may be disappointed that competitive advantage per se is not covered as implied in the title.
