Wow! Have you seen what is happening in the world? Have you felt the pace of change?
Times have certainly changed, we have made a swift entrance into the digital and knowledge based economy, and it certainly does feel as if we are living through what Sarah Horowitz, U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS calls the biggest Industrial revolution of our time.
This is a new world of work driven by a new breed of worker, and it needs a new breed of learning professional. As learning professionals we need a paradigm shift to keep pace with the modern world. Below is my call to action!
As a Learning Professionals, we are “curators of learning”– Deloitte – Global Human Capital Trends 2016. Learning Community Leaders that need to acknowledge our learners and draw on their existing knowledge and expertise, to facilitate a process wherein they can illicit their own inner expert. We need the courage to accept that this is also a learning journey for us. We should be asking the Big Questions wherein we engage in the co-creation of knowledge and insights. By using Big Questions at the beginning of the learning process you allow learners to expose their existing knowledge but also for them to make a personal connection with the information, most importantly you are stimulating new synaptic paths. Getting neurons to fire, readying them to start beating a path to developing unconscious competence.
We need to become increasingly Student Centric in our approaches, and learn to sit comfortably in the space of assigning active learning projects, asking big questions and designing SOLE (self-organised learning environment) experiences. We can enhance the design and delivery of a learning experience by embracing what the digital world has to offer. Our role is that of a guide, and as such we need to determine the destination not dictate the path. We need to concern ourselves with continuous objective setting, observation of our learners, and provide them with feedback as immediately as possible. This will greatly accelerate the learning process.
We need to stay agile and adaptable in our delivery, learning to read our learner and adjust our style ensuring their engagement. We do this by remaining curious and open to new ways of thinking and doing things. We must break free of a predefined process, and instead create a safe place in which learners can make their own way to reaching those objectives.
This is a point in time for deep self-reflection. We need to understand our own world view, our own generational lens and how this influences us, and the shift we need to make.
As leaders of the learning process it is our duty to inspire an intrinsic motivation to learn! Be fearless! Try new things, detach from your preconceptions and allow the learning process to develop as the journey unfolds.
Kerryn Kohl – CEO: The Coaching House – Talent Cultivation
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