This book has been written for those people who hold senior learning and development positions within their organisations. I would add that it is also excellent reading for a wider audience of learning and development professionals. As the author says, “if you are new to corporate learning then this book will scope your job; if you are already there, it will fill in gaps and challenge your thoughts and assumptions”. This was certainly the case for me.
The book has been written by Nigel Paine. Nigel has been involved in corporate learning for over 20 years. He has supported companies large and small and has worked in the public sector. Probably his highest profile role was Head of the BBC's Learning and Development operation, where he introduced a number of significant changes. He now runs his own company, which focuses on building more effective workplaces by promoting learning, creativity, innovation, and values-based leadership.
The book is presented in three sections. In the first, Nigel outlines why learning at work is changing. In chapter one he talks about factors such as the general need for increased performance at work, coupled with a need for a more engaged workforce. He talks about new technology which is changing the nature of work for many people, requiring more frequent adaptation, or indeed completely new ways of operating. In the second he suggests ways in which work itself is changing, along with the people who are carrying it out. For many people, being “at work” no longer denotes being in the same physical location as their colleagues. And in the third chapter he outlines how the role of the “learning leader” is changing. This person is often faced with the need to facilitate more ongoing learning as a means for their organisation to survive and thrive. With this greater importance and profile come greater accountability. The training department is no longer in the secluded backwaters of the organisation; instead it is central. This poses opportunities for leaders ready to embrace the new context of learning, and challenges for those who live in the past.
In the second section Nigel looks at “new ideas for learning”. The ideas may not be new to all, but they aren’t necessarily widely incorporated in the world of business learning as yet. There are some interesting concepts here, explored in sufficient depth for a book of this nature and with good reference for further research. So, for example, the concept of 70:20:10 is discussed. As many will know, this is the idea that formal learning only accounts for a small proportion of someone's learning, with the far bigger element being what they actually learn in the workplace by doing the tasks. Measuring the impact of learning interventions also has a chapter of its own, with the emphasis being very much on measuring impact rather than measuring learning activity or end-of-course reaction via that old favourite, the “Happy Sheet”! There is also an interesting chapter on Performance Support. This works on the premise that performance is the key, so if people can be helped “in-the-moment” this may be a better investment than sending them on training courses, possibly weeks/months/years before they will get to apply any of the learning from the course. It also points out that people may be more engaged in learning at that point when it is most meaningful to them, so there may be double benefits of such performance support mechanisms.
In the third section of the book we have three key developments – the Game Changers in Nigel's parlance. These are: the ability to gather and analyse much more data than we were ever able to do; the advances in our knowledge of how the brain learns or changes through a learning process and the impact of technological advances that can aid learning.
The style of the book makes it easy to read and engaging, with chapters of a reasonable length, broken down into short sections within each chapter and with many case studies. Nigel seems to be well-connected and uses a network of learning leaders (either from large organisations or from the world of consultants) to give their views and experience. There are plenty of lists and quotes from others, and good referencing if the reader wishes to obtain more information on a particular topic. Chapters usually have a conclusion and a “how you may want to take the ideas in this chapter forward” section.
I can’t say that everything in the book was to my liking. There will be a large number of organisations who are only on the threshold of the world outlined by Nigel, and for whom many of the suggestions raised in the book would be far less appropriate. And he suggests that the book can be used for those wanting to look at specific aspects, as well as those wanting to read it all of the way through. One of the philosophies espoused is that learning is often best delivered just-in-time, so why read it all now? However, I would suggest that reading it all of the way through would be a good investment for most learning and development professionals, and in this respect I would have liked to have seen a concluding chapter to the book. Still I was impressed overall by the book and will be recommending it to my network.
